Scored 590 (Q47 V25)

Question

guys, I'm VERY happy with my math score, but my verbal score brutally hurt my overall score. I know that I just need to maintain my math knowledge, but I STILL need to work hard on verbal. I really don't get it, whenever I practice on the CAT tests, I keep scoring high on the verbal, but I hardly pass the score of 30 on the real test. Any advice on this issue? Here is the debrief:

Quant: The questions were difficult, but I still managed my cool. I had one permutation & combination question that was too complex for me to grasp, so I guessed and moved on. However, I was running out of time so I had to randomly guess the remaining 7 questions. In general, before I started to guess in the remaining 7 questions, there was not a single question that I couldn't solve (except for that 1 combination question).

Verbal: Even though I thought I knew grammar, I still came across some SC questions that stumbled me. I felt the same way with the CR questions. As for the RC, I had 2 passages that were BRUTALLY difficult. How on earth can I improve my verbal?? I tried almost all the resources and I thought that I finally understood them, but the real test just gave me another slap in the face. Any advice people? I'll really appreciate it.

mbawaters · Answer

tarek99, I have seen your posts and I certainly believe you deserve better score than 590. How was your time management? What is the target score for you?

tarek99 · Answer

thanks! well, my time management was horrible to be honest. I couldn't complete the section properly. I had to guess the remaining answers. But even with the questions that I managed to answer, I still felt shocked by the difficulty. In my practice CATs, I usually understand where is the grammatical error in a sentence, but on the real gmat, the sentences looked way to tricky that I was no longer sure with my answer choices. the same thing went with the CR. So what do you think? do I just remain active on this forum?? because I've used up all the verbal resources and I honestly don't know what is it am I really lacking in this section. I've studied grammar in a VERY DETAILED way. Same thing with CR. So any help guys?

x2suresh · Answer

Sorry to hear that. I believe you are definitely around 700 candidate.

Looks like you are stressed out on Verbal section. How about your RC and CR skills.?

Did you go through POWERPREP BIBLE for CR?

mbawaters · Answer

Do you use Gmatter? that really helped me a lot. For SC, you just have to spend a lot of time really understanding why each choice is right or wrong - go for perfection on this! For RCs and CRs outside of OG, I used LSAT paper tests. You should also try to improve your Quantitative to 50. I'm sure challenges can really help even if you have used them before and they will also help you with time management.

To improve your time managemnt, train yourself to not check clock after every question because thats a lot of waste of time instead check as less often as possible. After first 6/7 questions, I wouldn't spend more than 2 minutes on any question.

tarek99 · Answer

I used the gmatter once and was dissapointed when i realized that most of the questions were from the OG because i was familiar with most of the questions, so it ruined the purpose of studying. Are all the questions from the OG?

tarek99 · Answer

yes, i did have a look at the CR bible. I thought that it was a great book, but i still get a low score on the verbal. that sucks!

Nerdboy · Answer

+1

Exactly. Looking at the timer actually wastes more time than just solving the questions away. I am trying to develop a system for this, say look at the remaining time only after the 10th, 17th, etc. question.

zoltan · Answer

I am in the same boat with you. My quant is little higher than your quant, but my Verbal is little lower than yours. Overall score is the same.

I am not able to improve my Verbal score. Also, I used all of the material.

tarek99 · Answer

and you know what sucks? I studied the grammar in DETAIL. I think I covered almost everything that needs to be covered. The only thing that I can think of is improve my speed. Also, I believe that since i'm not getting a good score on verbal and lack the speed, maybe I should try a different strategy: maybe next time, I should work my best to make sure that I get the first 25 questions correctly and, in order to save more time, skip the 26th question so that I can gain at least that extra 2 more minutes to work on the remaining problems. Since the questions way after the second half of the section are worth less than the questions in the first half, then may be this strategy will not affect my section score. what do you think?

I could consider skipping the 26th and the 32nd question. By doing so, I can gain at least 4 minutes and I could still finish the section strongly.

I could consider skipping the 26th and the 32nd question. By doing so, I can gain at least 4 minutes and I could still finish the section strongly.

JohnLewis1980 · Answer

well, I'm in your shoes I'm afraid

My idea is to improve my reading skill. If I would be able to read in english as I read in my own language (spanish) I'm sure I would reach my target score in verbal part.

Improving in reading will make you better in RC and CR, I guess.

For SC... man, you should pray to avoid difficult idioms...

Just my two cents...

Cheers

mbawaters · Answer

yes they do have those 1000 documents as well.

rakesh22 · Answer

I'd advise not be that hard and fast on skipping questions. If the 26 and 32nd questions are easier ones, it could hurt you for skipping those ones. If you running short on time and playing catch up, it is a better idea to skip difficult/timeconsuming questions, such as RC ones of kind - "The author infers each of the following except?" and difficult CR's.

I feel that you are quite good on the subject and concepts. Its more of a practice and identifying a strategy. Between your preparation, trying giving regular timed CAT's, if you encounter the questions you already done before - try solving them again as you are doing them for the first time, specially those CR's that tend to stick in the heads for long - Identify the premises and conclusion and eliminate each of the answer choices.

Don't lose heart, you are in for a 700+ one day.

tarek99 · Answer

The thing is, I have been practicing with the verbal a lot. How come I score really high on the verbal on the practice CATS, but then I score really low on the real verbal test?? I really don't understand this. Math has always been consistent for me whether i'm taking a practice test or the the real test. that is really really really frustrating! ahhhh....maybe we should ask the al qaeda to target ETS. lol...

JohnLewis1980 · Answer

it happens to me too :cry:

I think It's not the same doing practices than doing exams. During an (practice) exam, you reach the verbal part after more than an hour doing maths; therefore, you are not fresh... GMAT is also a resistance test Maybe, this could be an explanation for this problem Cheers

tarek99 · Answer

are you suggesting that I do my essay writing when taking a practice exam? well to be honest, I haven't been writing any essays when I was taking the practice CAT's. Maybe I should consider this approach? Well, there is no doubt that I was mentally exhausted when I had reached to the verbal section of the real test.

Then perhaps I should practice on my verbal after being mentally punished when doing both the essays and the math for over 2 hours and 30 mins, so that I can train my mind to remain focused for verbal after that. This is such a mental marathon exam indeed because I honestly don't feel that I lack any knowledge in verbal, so this must be the explanation.

JohnLewis1980 · Answer

well, I didn't neither do a AWA before my exams at home, but there is no doubt that this affect to the final score

For my next attempt, I will try to do at least half hour of AWA before quant...

When I started the GMAT process, I practiced with 5-questions sets (of course timing them) and after doing a full examn my score was nearly 700... :oops:

I absolutely agree with you: marathon is the apropriate word.

Cheers

I absolutely agree with you: marathon is the apropriate word. Cheers

suyashjhawar · Answer

Hey tarek even i have seen your posts...you deserve much better....jus dont give up.....

x2suresh · Answer

I agree.. with you.. TAREK, Shoot the GMAT until you win... "I will do the same thing" :2gunfire:

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Scored 590 (Q47 V25)

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