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Question

I took GMAT last year after preparing only for 2 weeks and got 640( Q 49, V 28 and AWA 4.5). At that time my score on PP1 and PP2 tests was 640 and 610 respectively.

I have decided to have another shot at GMAT. It has been around 8 weeks since I started preparation and today I tried my luck again on PP1 and PP2 and got exactly 660 on both.

I am not pleased with my performance on these PP tests. My weak area is Verbal. I have been reading Economist for last 3 months to improve my reading. I have gone through OG 10 and 11. My sucess rate was around 85-90% when I did verbal problems in OG 10 and 11 but it dropped down to 65-70% in verbal part of PP tests. Perhaps I am yeilding to time pressure.

I am targetting 700+ this time.

Please suggest how to improve on verbal score.
thanks

meander · Answer

It's really hard to say. It sounds like you primarily need to work on your timing, which will develop as you work through more practice tests. Do you have any strategy materials (like the review guides from companies like Princeton Review), or just official practice materials? The official materials won't give you strategy (they don't think the GMAT can be "taught"), but you'll need to work on strategy.

dennisquah · Answer

Arjsingh, verbal is lots of familiarity with the (GMAT) language standard. Actually reading mags like economist uses language that may not be standard in the GMAT. I would suggest getting some verbal practice (OG Verbal?). 

But hang in there bud, Verbal is really quite tough. Not like quant where you can pretty much work it out, and be convinced of hte answer in a fair amt of time. WIth verb, you gotta keep reading and reading, and very importantly, even for the correct choices you made, you gotta find out why the wrong ones were wrong.

I just did the GMAT Prep too. Got 690 (Q46, V38) on PP1. Actual test on 1 nov.

I'm aiming for a 650 on the actual. From your experience, you figure this is fairly indicative?

Cheers,
Dennis

arjsingh1976 · Answer

Thanks Meander and Dannis,

It appears to me now that my mistake so far has been not to do CR and RC under time constraint. So far I have been going through OG's CR and RC with one a time approach. So far I have been preparing for Verbal from following sources:
1) OG 10 and 11
2) Kaplan and PR verbal workout books

Before exam( would probably take in 2nd week of Dec this year), I plan to go through Manhathen SC guide ,Offical guide for verbal and RC1000, SC 1000 and CR 1000. I hope that this would improve my verbal score.

On Q side, I seems to be doing quite OK without any preparation. Always landing in 48-50 Zone, but on V side it is varying from 28-35. I wish to make V score between 35-40. 

Dann, My personal experience with actual GMAT is that its quite close to PP tests. You have a very good chance of crossing 700 and I wish you all the best for that. Please share your score and experiences once you are done with the test.

thanks

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