Sanchitdd wrote:
Hello Everyone.
I recently gave the GMAT on 26th sept and received a score below my expectations.(Need a Q50 V40 to apply to Indian Universities as well)
Score-Q49 V37 IR6 AWA-pending
I would especially like to ask for advice on the verbal section that I would like to improve to V40.
To provide some reference-
GMAT official Practice Test#1-Q50 V35
GMAT official Practice Test#2-Q50 V33(missed 1 question at the end)
GMAT official Practice Test#3-Q50 V40.
On the latest Practice test#3 my ratio of correct to incorrect was as follows-
SC-8/12
CR-8/10
RC-13/14
I knew that the RC score was something not achievable in real life test scenario, but I still went ahead with my exam. Kindly find my ESR for verbal section in the attachments.
And unsurprisingly I performed very poorly on RC(actually didn't expect this level of drop in RC accuracy). Thus it would be of great help if people with experience on these matters could share their views on some of the doubts I have currently.
1. Is it possible to improve my Verbal score to V40 in 1-1.5 months. (I am currently working thus on weekdays I might be able to study 2-3 hrs. maximum per day.)
2. I will continue to practice SC/CR questions, but do I need to further improve on SC/CR to make V40 a lock. I am currently in the 87th(V40) and 91st(V42) percentile respectively for these 2 question types with 75% correct answers on both these question types.
3. Any source material/video material you could recommend for learning the approach to solving RC questions efficiently.(I have used MGMAT books for all Verbal studies till now)
4. On a side note, what is an acceptable level of AWA score for the top 20 universities?
5. Any other advice/ comments you might have.Looking forward to your comments.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Sanchit
Hi Sanchitdd,
To answer your question, an improvement is definitely possible. Given that you already scored a 36, focusing on right parameters will definitely take you to a level of V40. Having said that, you can always try to improve your performance in SC and CR. Let me explain it to you.
First of all, the focus while preparing should be to learn the right methodology. I'm sure you must have understood all the concepts by now. The only problem is that might be a few gaps in your application skills. Knowing the right methodology to solve questions will help you score a 40 on Verbal. As you are struggling with RC, let me explain the right methodology to solve RC questions.
How to approach RC questions:
The first rule to keep in mind while reading an RC passage is to approach with an open mind. It is important to have the right reading strategies to solve RC questions. GMAT gives you ample amount of information in the passage. It does not test your knowledge on topics such as physics, political science.
You need to read the passage in an inferential manner so that you can draw the right inferences and understand the intention behind writing the passage. If you are focusing more on the details, then I would recommend you let go of that process and start focusing on the inferences. There is a process called “Involved and Evolved Reading” which helps you read a passage effectively. You can refer to the following video to understand the strategy of “Involved and Evolved Reading”.
I recommend you to follow this approach to solve RC questions. You might take a little more time during the initial stages to solve questions, but once you solve a few questions using this methodology, this comes as a natural process to you. The focus should be on learning the methodology. Once you learn, the time will automatically fall into place.
And if you would like to know more about how you should plan your preparation, the amount of time you should dedicate to Quant and Verbal and any other study strategies, you can connect with me over a call. Hope it helped! All the best
Click here to schedule a call