The journey from 710 to 760!

Hello,

I am writing this post primarily to highlight one of the most essential skills I learnt to score V40+ on verbal. After having learnt, through extensive brainstorming, about this gap in my skillset, I wished there were more posts during my prep that would help me learn the skill, which turned out to be a game changer in my GMAT prep. For all those who have hit a plateau in their verbal score, this post may help you cross the threshold and achieve your target score.

Background
This post would essentially be useful to those who want to improve their score in verbal. As I had Prepared for CAT (MBA entrance exam in India), I was geared up well for GMAT quant and consistently scored Q50/51 in mocks.

Despite being an avid reader (I regularly read news editorials and books), I found it very challenging to reach a score of V40+(my 2 attempts explain the difficulty only partially :D).Hence, I would like to stress that your voracious reading habit and immaculate English communication skills would not necessarily ensure an excellent score in verbal.

Index

Given the long post, here is an outline to help readers directly jump to the parts they might be interested in.

Part-I includes the materials I used for each question type, intermediate test scores and the method (an ineffective one in hindsight) I used to work on my mistakes. It essentially covers my journey towards GMAT 710.

The highlight of this post - the improvement phase - is covered in Part-II.

Part-III includes several tips for the final exam day and some other general learnings from my experience.

Part -I

For the limited availability of quality GMAT prep material and the boredom which might kick in after repeatedly solving verbal questions, I would recommend any test taker to prepare sincerely and efficiently.

I used the following study materials for understanding the concepts and learning a method for each question type:

Sentence Correction – I cannot recommend a better resource than Egmat to prepare for this section. Even though similar rules are covered in the Manhattan book, the egmat video lectures and the exercises make it much easier to remember and apply the concepts while solving questions.

Critical Reasoning – In my first attempt, I struggled with this section the most and ended up using several resources - Egmat, Manhattan, Veritas and CR-Powerscore Bible- in an attempt to get better at it. Post exploring all these materials, I would recommend CR-Powerscore bible. This book explains the concepts in great detail and provides test-maker’s perspective and an effective approach to deal with trappy options.

Reading Comprehension – I did not use any particular resource for concepts. Gin’s technique, however, does include some useful tips to tackle RC questions.

For further practice, I used the following resources:
1. OG’16
2. Verbal Guide’16
3. Veritas Prep
4. Manhattan
5. Egmat
6. GMAT Prep Pack1

Post learning the concepts, diligently practicing each question type and gradually improving upon my accuracy, like almost every other test taker , I hit a plateau. And everytime I analyzed the incorrect questions, I felt I could simply improve by practicing some more, committing my biggest mistake. Moreover, even though I maintained an error log- excel sheet containing the list of frequent mistakes and incorrect questions - I always practiced newer questions and avoided revising the previous mistakes,to my own detriment.

Intermediate test scores:
GMAT Prep Mock 1 – 720
GMAT Prep Mock 2 – 690
GMAT Prep Pack2 Mock 1 – 710
GMAT Prep Pack2 Mock 2- 720
GMAT: 710 (Q50, V35)
Amidst my prep, irrespective of solving plenty of questions, I was unable to improve my score beyond a point. As I had booked a date already,without expecting any miracles, I appeared for the exam and scored a 710.I was not contended with this score. After thorough analysis and introspection, I decided to give GMAT another attempt. While contemplating, I realized these mistakes:

Mistake#1- Mindless Practicing – After analyzing the mocks and figuring out the mistakes to work upon, I just told myself that I would not repeat them again and expected to overcome the barrier by practicing more questions. Clearly, that did not work out well for me.

Mistake#2 – Not following the exact technique as mentioned in the resources – After learning techniques from EGMAT and other resources, I did not follow them as it is but created a modified technique as per my convenience. For example, egmat teaches you to first understand the meaning, then look for errors in a particular sequence. However, considering it a lengthy process, I read the sentence, with minimum focus on understanding the meaning, and directly looked for errors. And right after spotting an error or two, I jumped to the options and eliminated the ones which had that error.
But this seemingly time-saving method of mine was only partially effective. In case of several hard questions, I was able to narrow the options down to 2, but could not mark the right answer with confidence. Only later did I figure out the reason: I was missing the integral step of the technique i.e. understanding the meaning. (More on this in Part-II)

Mistake#3- Even though, I prepared an error log, I did not use it effectively. I did not revise the incorrect questions from previous attempts and hence did not learn from my mistakes.

Part-II

After taking a month’s break post GMAT and pondering over my mistakes, I gathered myself to prepare for the exam with utmost dedication, studying each concept again and practicing questions. Unexpectedly, yet again, I hit a plateau.

But, instead of solving more problems, I spent time looking for a solution to get past this deadlock, reading several forums and watching the egmat webinars. In one of the webinar on “hitting a plateau”, Rajat Sadana spoke about working on the core skills to get over the threshold. This fundamental yet novel idea appealed to me and made me perform an in-depth analysis of my mistakes in each question type.

In SC, I was scoring well but could not get the questions – based on an error in meaning - correct; In CR, I was repeatedly committing the mistake of not reading argument/options properly. While reading in a flow, I didn’t pay special attention to words,such as almost, most, all, which were pivotal in understanding the argument; and in RC, I didn’t focus on the transitions in the passage and overlooked differences between author’s opinions and facts. Looking from such a different angle made it clear that I needed to work upon the core skill of reading.

In addition to identifying the gap in my skillset, there was another turning point in my preparation- a revelation about the habit pattern of our brain, which helped me break the barrier and drastically improve my score in mocks. Because of my interest in psychology and human behavior, I have spent time reflecting on how our brain functions in different situations. And it occurred to me that,while writing a mock, no matter the amount of extra care we take to attentively read the passage or options, our brain does it only for few minutes and then again switches back to the autopilot mode ridden with distractions.It was a moment of epiphany when I realized that, as a solution to this inherent behavior of our brain, it needs to be hardwired (trained) such that it behaves the way we want it to, even in autopilot mode.

Having figured out a new promising direction to work in, I began to ameliorate my new reading habit. Utilizing quality reading material such as Economist, I trained myself to read slowly and carefully, assimilating the meaning of each sentence and remaining conscious of each transition in the arguments/paragraphs. Each day, I dedicated at least an hour to reading and ensured to read any material I come across in this particular manner ONLY. One might wonder that such a focused reading might consume a lot of time in the exam. However, once this modified reading style became a habit, it not only improved the accuracy but also the overall timing of each question.
Moreover, I trained myself to incorporate minor tweaks in my methods to solve each question type, such that using the modified technique becomes my second nature. For instance, while attempting SC, I ensured that I understand the context and meaning of the sentence before even looking for errors. These seemingly minor tweaks in my approach helped me score 750(Q50,V40) in a mock. And as evident from the scores below, I consistently scored well in my mocks and thankfully in my final exam too.

GMAT Prep- Mock#1- 710(Q50, V35)
GMAT Prep- Mock#2- 750(Q50, V40)
GMAT Prep- Mock#3- 740(Q50, V40)
GMAT Prep- Mock#4- 760(Q50, V42)
GMAT Prep- Mock#5- 740(Q50, V40)
GMAT Prep- Mock#6- 740(Q51, V38)
GMAT – 760(Q50, V41)

Part-III

I would also like to mention some of the tips and tricks which worked for me and could be useful to you as well.

1. On the days I used to write a full mock, I realized that my brain took quite some time to get accustomed to reading and as a result I got anxious and spent more than recommended time on the initial questions. In some cases, such anxiety prolonged for an entire section thereby hampering my performance. To deal with this, I made it a habit to read an article or two from economist before writing the mock. This method worked out for me and helped me avoid the anxiety.

2. I had learnt meditation around an year before I started my prep. And after experiencing the benefits, I practiced meditation regularly during my GMAT prep. This habit helped me focus better and even stay calm in difficult situations. Even Magoosh, in one of its article , explains how meditation can help one with enhancing his/her performance. Maybe, you should try it out too.

Every time I felt low after failing to get a desired GMAT test score, I almost always benefited from several success stories posted on this astoundingly helpful forum. Some debriefs motivated me to not give up, and others gave me a useful direction in my prep. I even imagined sharing my own success story which would help other test takers and today, I am delighted to make this thought a reality and share my experience with you. I hope my testimonial would help you in your prep.
Good Luck!