Disappointing score and Experience in Rome

1 month... non-speaking english country... non-native speaker... grasping fundumentals from bunch of books... not practicing GMATPrep or PowerPrep...

should I go on? IMO this is a definite recipe for disaster

if you are taking this seriously you have to completely change your strategy to succeed the 2nd time around...

I am in at least 1 of your shoes, because I am in a speaking-english country, yet I am ESL as well and had the same verbal score and overall score of 500... the good news is that you spent only 1 month to achieve it... I had the same strategy but it took me longer than that... conclusion: you aren't doing so bad considering your circumstances!!! so first of all... congrats... people score lower than you, so don't be upset...

now to you strategy... others might give you better advice, but I suggest you focus on fundumentals and the OG first, since you already know basics about GMAT (sections, time, types of questions, etc)

1) if you need to brush up on fundumentals/strategies use the basic math material (MGMATs, Kaplan Math Workbook, Arco Math for GMAT/GRE)
From these I would really focus on the 1st two... and I practiced with all of those at different stages of studying)

2) After getting down you fundumentals with math, do all the problems in OG 11 (the thick one with 800 questions, save the 2 reviews for the last couple of weeks before the test) Diligently go over *EVERY* problem and *EVERY* choice (right/wrong) to make sure you know how you arrived to the answer and why others are wrong!!! I can't stress "every* part enough... hope you get an idea!

3) Verbal is HARD to improve, but I believe it is possible. CRs and RCs require practice, in my opinion, and same strategy here "GO OVER EVERY ANSWER CHOICE" especially in CR and understand why the wrong ones are wrong... I was able to improve my logic quite dramatically after A LOT of practicing CRs... RC might be tough... I can't say anything about it yet, as I am struggling with it as well... SC, often said, easiest to improve, but you definitely need MGMAT here and sleep on it every day!!!

4) start taking CATs after you nail fundumentals, don't waste those, especially GMATPrep and PowerPrep... beware that those overlap with OG and your 9 paper tests!

5) try to identify your weakest links while doing all of this... error log, patterns, do whatever suits you, but this part is crucial... first find the general parts of the test that you think you are weak at (PS, DS, RC, SC or CRs), then zoom in on the type of questions (PS: algebra, geometry, etc... DS: number properties, equalities, etc... CRs: inference, weaken, etc... and so on) for that you have to know the types of questions and be able to quickly identify those upon reading the question first...

I don't know what else to tell you for now, but the most important point of all mentioned above is KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE... don't let the 1st attempt drown you... take it as a base and keep on climbing up!!! And be sure that there is someone else on another continent doing the same thing as you are doing. And under any circumstances DON'T GIVE UP!!!

Last, but not least, stick around this club... you will get some great tips about how to go about your prep... you might hear a lot of opinions, but choose to follow the one that suits you the most and one that you see improvement from... you need a lot of dedication and discipline to do this, so train yourself...

Sincerely, GOOD LUCK and I hope to see you around.

PS one last point... you might consider reading some english material like The Economist, WSJ or Scientific American, since you don't speak english on a daily basis... I can imagine how hard it is to study in english, when someone walks in and speaks another language to you...