Hi All - I want to start by saying hello and thanking everyone for making GMAT Club such a great resource! I have been poking around the forum a bit as I've prepare for the GMAT and have found the content extremely useful.
I have been studying for the GMAT for ~3 months and had my official test date this past week. I am a native English speaker who has never had much trouble with the verbal portions of exams, so I focused most of my prep on the quant side of the exam. My score didn't come out quite where I wanted it so I am planning to retake the exam in the coming months, but I wanted to quickly check in and ask for a few pointers as I take the plunge once again. My issue seems to be in verbal, and especially in RC - I will touch upon this further below. I am going to try to keep this post as concise as possible, but please let me know if there is any additional info I can provide that would be useful in recommending approaches. I will also attach my ESR outputs at the bottom.
Prep Resources- Books: All
MGMAT prep books, Powerscore CR Bible,
OG 18
- Practice questions:
MGMAT question banks,
OG 18 (did every quant problem), GMAT Club
- CATs:
MGMAT CATs, GMAT Prep
- Other: Various GMAT Club user guides (mostly the quant focused guides)
Performance- GMAT Prep 1: 41V / 48Q / 8IR / 720
- GMAT Prep 2: 38V / 48Q / 8IR / 700
-
MGMAT 1: 37V / 43Q / 8IR / 660
-
MGMAT 2: 36V / 47Q / 8IR / 680
-
MGMAT 3: 44V / 43Q / 8IR / 710
- Official GMAT: 36V / 47Q / 8IR / 680 / 6 AWA
Other Info- Given my profile / background, I believe I need a ~730 to be competitive
- My work schedule is very unpredictable, but my goal would be to retake the GMAT in the next month
- I will be applying in Summer 2019 (R1 for 2020 matriculation)
- Plan to apply to HBS, Stanford, Wharton
Analysis of Official GMAT- I was pretty disappointed when I saw the 36V / 680 total score flash on my screen, especially given my verbal score on my last
MGMAT CAT. I ordered the ESR and was happy to see I had gotten every SC question correct (I've always been pretty good at SC) and really shocked to see how poorly I did in RC. This really bummed me out for a few hours before I realized that all I needed to do was focus on my RC and I could likely string together a solid score in my next attempt (hence this post!)
- I was definitely very nervous taking the test. I usually don't get test day anxiety, but I think I was putting more pressure than usual on myself given I did not want to take the test again. I could hear my heart beating a mile a minute through the noise cancelling headphones the test center gave me
- Out of my 4 RC passages, I though that 3 were very easy to read and digest and one was extremely tough (comparing styles of two late 18th century feminist authors). I thought I did fine on my first 3 passages, but clear this was not the case.
Self Review- I find the toughest part of verbal for me is that I over-analyze every question. I tend to make second and third order connections when the obvious connection is the answer. I think this is what doomed me on my official exam - I was too focused on picking the "smart" answer when I should have picked the obvious answer. For example (as an extreme, made up case), if the passage is about reducing reliance on fossil fuel by investing in alternative energy sources and the question asks "What can we infer from this passage" I will pick an answer like "Fossil fuel will become prohibitively expensive in the near term if there is not a reduction in use" (my inner economist speaking) rather than the more obvious "Alternative energy sources are viable alternatives to fossil fuel"
- I know I can do better on verbal and am very motivated to put in the hours to improve here. I believe if I can get the score up closer to my last
MGMAT CAT or even my GMAT Prep CATs I will be walking away with a solid score.
- I oftentimes read suggestions from folks here that users should read the Economist, NYT, science journals, etc. to improve their reading skills. I don't think my issue is in speed of reading or in remembering what I read, it is more that I struggle with understanding what the question is looking for and selecting the "most correct" answer.
Questions for GMAT Club- My primary questions are (1) what would a RC-heavy study regimen look like and (2) what resources would you recommend?
- How can I train myself to stop trying to "outsmart" the answer choices and pick the correct answer even though it seems "too obvious"?
- I have read good things about both the PowerScore RC Bible and the Aristotle RC Grail. Does anyone have any experience or suggestions here?
- Is there anything in any of the above or in my ESR results that seems "off" to you? Anything I seem to be misinterpreting or coming to an improper conclusion on?
Thanks again for all your help! I appreciate your time in reading through and offering your help!
Attachment:
File comment: Verbal Output
Verbal.PNG [ 111.47 KiB | Viewed 1278 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Verbal Output 2
Verbal 2.PNG [ 113.35 KiB | Viewed 1278 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Verbal Output 3
Verbal 3.PNG [ 67.17 KiB | Viewed 1278 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Quant Output
Q1.PNG [ 151.34 KiB | Viewed 1267 times ]
Attachment:
File comment: Quant Output 2
Q2.PNG [ 128.21 KiB | Viewed 1281 times ]