udaymathapati wrote:
Hi All GMAT Champions,
I am seeking help from all those candiates who have gone through similar experience but have shown impressive comeback on verbal. I have taken advise from couple of folks on the forum by writing to them via pm.
Need guidance to improve my Verbal score. I have been trying hard to improve my verbal score for last 2 to 3 months but things are not changing.
I gave my GMAT and it was shock for me. I got 550 (Q47 V20). I have been preparing for last 1.5 years, although serious efforts have been put in last 2-3 months. I have completed all
OG (11/12) and Q/V review guides. Additionally I used all manhatten quant books and
MGMAT SC book for my study. I gave many GMATPrep test (around 8 to 9). I also gave 5
MGMAT test. In all of these test my score was around 600 with quant range of 42 to 47 and Verbal from 20 to 30. I am not getting how to proceed further with my second attempt. How to focus on Verbal and consistently remain above 35?
What should be my study strategy for second attempt? Should I re-do all the old material and GMAT Prep test or it should be selective study?
I have total 9 years of good experience in ITES industry. I am Engineer by qualification and already have an MBA from not so good school in India. I want to do one-year executive MBA from UK or Asia to accelerate my career growth. Do you think with my current score of 550, any of UK or Canada based schools will consider my application? or I need to give second attempt and improve my chances? I have two kids and pretty hectic work schedule. My GMAT preparation has taken toll on my personal life. I am afraid of taking second attempt but my mind is not allowing me to keep quite. I want to beat the GMAT and get into some good school.
Please advise.
Responding to a pm:
You haven't written how you prepared for CR and RC. I do hope you went through the basic concepts (few that they are!) for these 2 as well. Mind you, it is important to know what exactly the test maker wants to ask you in various questions. A lot of things are intuitive in these 2 sections but a lot can be learned from going through the theory too. You get a sense of comfort out of knowing what the test maker wants you to focus on and it gets easier and quicker to arrive at the correct answer when you filter out the noise and focus on the core.
You should check out a CR book. These books discuss how to approach, say a strengthen question, an inference question, a paradox question etc. (Veritas CR book has a few pages dedicated to each question type.) I have known students who, at the beginning of the course were extremely uncomfortable with CR since they did not understand what they were required to do. At the end of CR1, they were happy that it made much more sense to them. You might feel that you don't need CR theory but I am quite sure you will find it useful. Your speed at arriving at the correct answer will improve too.
I would suggest you to check out an RC book too. Knowing the various question types puts you in the right frame of mind. There is something comforting about reading the various strategies you can follow. You can select the right one for yourself. Also practice RCs of varying difficulty level from various topics. Learn to grasp the gist of any passage given to you. Once you understand what the passage is about, the universal questions (dealing with the main idea of the passage) can be done without going back to the passage. I would highly recommend the Veritas RC book since it has passages of varying difficulty level. Some of these are the most difficult you will come across. (or you can pick an RC book of some other prep provider but do go through one)
As for SC, I think the rules based approach is dated. The current SC questions focus on your use of logic e.g. the subject and the verb will not be in agreement or there will be dangling modifiers or grammatically the sentence will be correct but it will not make sense etc. So I don't think it will help you to learn 'when you have A, it should have B with it' etc. Actively look for errors they can trap you on. Break down the sentence into parts. Ensure that each subject has a corresponding verb, that pronouns have antecedents and that the sentence is logical. Errors are easy to spot. They are the points where the options differ. Go back to OG12 and go through every option of every question of SC. Ensure you understand why each of the 4 options are incorrect and why the 5th one is correct.
As for Quant, you can improve and go from 47 to 50 but in the same effort you can go from 20 to 35 in Verbal. So I would suggest you to put more time in Verbal but keep practicing Quant questions too so that you do not get rusty. Also, you can address any specific weaknesses you might have in Quant but don't get caught up in hours of aimless Quant practice (we tend to spend more time on things we find easier)
Thanks Karishma for your valuable advise! It is really helpful to devise my strategy for Verbal.