Need help with GMAT second attempt

Question

Hi there, folks!
So I took my GMAT Focus yesterday, and scored 645.
Quant: 87 (1 question wrong)
Verbal: 79 (Got 9 ques wrong)
DI: 80 (Got 8 ques wrong)

I'm planning to retake my GMAT for a better score.

I started off with Quant, and it went well. Maybe becasue of that, I think I got an exceptionally difficult Verbal (my English is pretty good, I'm a freelance journalist, and I've been consistenyly scoring 81+ in all my mock tests).

Maybe because of how horrible the Verbal section went, I got a pretty easy Data Insights section.

Now, I really need help understanding where and how I should improve.
1. I definitely ran out of time on both the Verbal and Data Insights sections. So that could be one area
2. Given that I got an exceptionally tough Verbal section, where / how do I improve?
I have ~18 days before my next attempt

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi rupertron, 1. Do you have a time management strategy in place? We generally want to be able to finish each section without guessing on too many questions at the end. 2. V79 isn't very different from a V81. But if by "V81+" you mean scores greater than (say) V83, then your V79 may just be a one-off. That is, you may not need to change your approach. 3. Right now, there's no reason to think that an entire section will be easier if the test taker doesn't do too well on the previous section. Here's what I think is the best publicly available statement by GMAC on this: https://www.youtube.com/live/Hfgby9-M__o?t=2210 All the best for the retake.

rupertron · Answer

Thanks Ajitesh!
1. I do NOT have a time management strategy in place, TBH. I struggle to complete all the questions in DI, but always managed it in Verbal in my mock tests. Any help on this front would be really helpful.

2. I ended up getting a 51 percentile on Verbal- I just couldn't understand the questions because of how convoluted they were

Archit3110 · Answer

Great score 645
.
What mocks have you been giving ? Are you practicing in similar test like conditions? It does impact performance..

Posted from my mobile device

rupertron · Answer

Took only OG mocks- all 6
Yes, the conditions might have been different
I also found myself getting extremely nervous during the actual exam, but I never got nervous during the mock tests.

rj3001 · Answer

Hi rupertron,

I took my test today.

Got 645 too.
Q83, V79, DI85

This is despite scoring 685, 695, 715 in official mock1,2 and 3 respectively.

For me it was a bad time management, wrong decision of going behind that one question towards the end in quant section
which created anxiety, resulting into skipping two questions.
Subsequently not taking a break after an axious episode affected the performance in verbal as well.

In case your mock scores were significantly better than 645, try to think of moments/types of questions where you were anxious during the test. It might reveal the topics you need to work upon.

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

rupertron , if you got 8 questions wrong in DI, despite getting (what you think) an  easy  Data Insights section, then you know which section you need to most focus on, for your next attempt.

Also,  good English  doesn't necessarily translate into a good score in Verbal, since Verbal is largely a test of your Critical Reasoning skills (not English grammar/construction).

Good luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

The GMAT is adaptive, so unless most of your mistakes were concentrated towards the end, you were probably not getting too many hard questions. Instead, I'd say this may have been nerves/exam pressure. If it was, that's actually a good sign: You'll almost certainly be more confident during your retake, and I expect that you'll get a better verbal score.

Have you considered using time markers? Sometimes we need that extra discipline, especially when things don't go exactly as planned.

rupertron · Answer

Thanks Ajitesh!
I went to the officla report, and realised that regardless of the difficulty level, I was doing most Verbal questions right, and then I realised that I had only 10 mins left for the last 8 questions. I panicked, and then got all of them wrong

Feel so stupid!

Any inputs on how I can time myself better?

Feel so stupid! Any inputs on how I can time myself better?

AjiteshArun · Answer

So your mistakes  were  concentrated towards the end. I think what's important here is how often you face this issue (running out of time). If it's usually not a problem, you may not need to change your approach.

That said, setting time markers could still be a good idea. Maybe divide your verbal section into 3 subsections? That way you could check whether you're ahead (or behind) at two points in your verbal section. Keep in mind that (a) we don't want to check too often (fewer questions = more variation) and (b) we may need more time if we get a long RC passage.

rupertron1 · Answer

Ajitesh, bro, your tips worked! Took my second attempt today, and used time markers. Quant fell, but V and DI went up.
Net net, 30 point improvement. New score is 675. Thanks soo much!

And thanks to everyone who shared their inputs!

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

That's great news! 675 is a very, very strong score. All the best for the application process.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi rupertron,

To increase your verbal score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.

For example, assume you begin studying Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to master the individual Critical Reasoning topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why you didn't get it right. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you would have had to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

Regarding RC, when students get those questions wrong, it’s partly because they don't truly understand what they have just read. To understand what you are reading, you may have to slow down even more (for now) in order to eventually speed up. You have to learn to comprehend what you read, keep it all straight, and use what you are reading to arrive at correct answers.

At this point, your best bet is to focus on getting the correct answers to questions, taking **as much time as you need** to see key details and understand the logic of what you are reading. If you don't understand something, go back and read it one sentence at a time, even one word at a time, not moving on until you understand what you have just read. There is no way around this work. Your goal should be to take all the time you need to understand exactly what is being said and arrive at the correct answer. If you can learn to get answers taking your time, you can learn to speed up. Answering questions is like any task: The more times you do it carefully and successfully, the faster you become at doing it carefully and successfully.

Another component to understanding what you are reading is being “present” when reading. Don’t worry about how things are going at work, or what you will eat for dinner, or even how long you’re taking to read through the passage. Just focus on what is in front of you, word by word, line by line. Furthermore, try to make reading fun. For example, even if you are reading about a topic that bores you, pretend that you are the person making the argument. By doing so, you will make the passage more relatable to YOU, and ultimately you should be able to read with greater focus.

One final component of Reading Comprehension that may be tripping you up is that RC questions contain one or more trap answers that seem to answer the question but don't really. So, a key part of training to correctly answer RC questions is learning to notice the differences between trap answers and correct answers. You have to learn to see how trap answers seem to follow from what the passages say, but don't really, while correct answers fit what the passages say exactly. Of course, the better you become at noticing the differences between trap answer choices and correct answers, the faster you will answer RC questions.

Here is also a great article that you can check out:

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal on the Focus Edition

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