Need help on verbal part - From V-30 to V-40

Question

Hi,

I have been getting varying results in the verbal part

GMAT OFFICIAL 1 | Feb 23, 2019 OVERALL: 620 VERB: 25 QUANT: 49 
Manhattan Free | Mar 16, 2019 OVERALL: 650 VERB: 35 QUANT: 44 
GMAT OFFICIAL 2 | Thu Mar 28, 2019 OVERALL: 660 VERB: 33 QUANT: 48
GMAT OFFICIAL 1 Re | Wed Apr 03, 2019 OVERALL: 720 VERB: 37 QUANT: 50 
GMAT OFFICIAL 2 Re | Sun Apr 07, 2019 OVERALL: 640 VERB: 25 QUANT: 50

Also, this variation is even more when I practice on eGMAT scholaranium (Verbal ability test)
Last 6 percentiles (in order from old to lastest)- 82,26,16, 70, 72, 26, 29

I have 10 days for GMAT and I am pretty confident on the Quant part. Would appreciate if someone can advise me on the strategy for the next 10 days (I am aiming for V-40)

Happy to give more information.

Thanks in advance

1Ace · Answer

Hello Jainbob .......
How come you are preparing for quant........that part seems covered pretty well..pls DM me your views

eabhgoy · Answer

I think once your concepts are clear and you are closer to the actual test, you should be solving only OG questions. It will help tune your mind to the actual test questions.

jainbob · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

I think once your concepts are clear and you are closer to the actual test  - Because of the inconsistency in the scores, I am always in doubt whether I have my concepts clear or not. Can you please share what were your scores (and strategy) before your final V-37 score?

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi jainbob Kindly visit this link : https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 42361.html It may help you. Thanks

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jainbob,

Given the 'swings' in your Verbal Scaled Scores, you might need more than just 10 days of additional study to get to the point that you could consistently Score V40+. As such, you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) Have you taken any other CATs besides the ones that you've listed?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

jainbob · Answer

Hi  @EMPOWERgmatRichC ,

Thanks for the reply. I can reschedule the date but only for the next 7 days.

1) Around 3 months
2) I initially used MGMAT books to prepare verbal but then switched to eGMAT Verbal after a month. Apart from that, OG-19 and Verbal Review-18
3) For verbal, only the tests mentioned above. For quant, I have been taking GMATClub tests - have an average of around 48
4) 730-750
5) Intake of 2020
6) Top 10 B-schools

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jainbob,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, most your CAT score results show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 640 +/- a few points) - the 720 was an "outlier" and unfortunately we cannot assume that that is your current 'ability level' at this point. You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. Raising a 640 to the point that you can consistently score 730+ will likely require at least another 1.5 - 2 months of consistent, guided study. As such, you have to consider what's MORE important: taking the GMAT in a little over a week OR hitting your Score Goal. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level - but you will likely need more time than you have currently allotted.

1) Will you keep studying (and retest) if you don't hit your Score Goal on this upcoming attempt?
2) What application Round(s) are you considering?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

AjiteshArun · Answer

Did you repeat practice tests 1 & 2? If yes, you may want to switch to the additional practice tests.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi jainbob,

Such variation among your verbal scores is a sign that you have numerous verbal weaknesses that must be addressed prior to taking your GMAT. Although you CAN improve upon those weaknesses, you’ll need more than just 10 days to do so. Are you able to keep studying and take your GMAT at a later date? In any case, here is some general advice you can follow to improve your verbal skills. Let’s start with Critical Reasoning.

When studying Critical Reasoning, you need to ensure that you fully understand the essence of the various question types. Do you know the importance of an assumption within an argument? Can you easily spot a conclusion? Do you know how to resolve a paradox? Do you know how to properly evaluate cause and effect? Do you know how to properly weaken or strengthen an argument? These are just a few examples; you really need to take a deep dive into the individual Critical Reasoning topics to develop the necessary skills to properly attack any Critical Reasoning questions that you encounter.

As you learn each Critical Reasoning problem type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you incorrectly answered a Weaken the Argument question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice Reading Comprehension, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. You can perfect your reading strategy with a lot of practice, but keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be stimulating. So, to better prepare yourself to tackle such bland passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as The Economist, Scientific American, and Smithsonian.
 
Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects. 
 
Regarding what you know, to be successful in Sentence Correction, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.
 
This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending less than two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.
 
There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and none of those reasons are that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answers were always the ones that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.
 
As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey meanings that make sense. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to put in the necessary time to see the differences between answers and to figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.
 
To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did to arrive at that answer and what you could do differently to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could do differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your skills improve, you’ll then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple SC topics.

You also may find my article with more information regarding
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

Feel free to reach out with any questions. Good luck!

jainbob · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Thank you for your reply. It certainly gave me some insights on where do I stand in terms of my preparation. In fact, I recently gave 3rd official mock and scored 660 (49,31), which confirmed your hypothesis.

1) Yes. I'll keep studying until I hit my target score
2) I'll apply in the first round itself

jainbob · Answer

Thanks for the suggestions,  ScottTargetTestPrep  . I'll certainly figure my weaknesses and try the strategies you mentioned, and most certainly reach out if I have any more questions!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jainbob,

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT. While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

jainbob · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC

1) Quant - of the 7 wrong choices, 4 were silly mistakes(marked the wrong choice, read question/answer choice wrong, calculation mistake) | 3 were conceptual )
Verba (13 wrong choices) - SC: Of the 3 wrong answers, 2 were silly mistakes RC/CR : No silly mistakes
2) NA
3) & 4) I made most of the mistakes because of 2 things: In a timed constrained manner - it became difficult for me to 1) comprehend the passage or 2) understand the answer choices. So, in a way, they became 'hard' questions and I was running low on time hence, had to guess.
5) Many answers choices (I'd say 6-7 out of 13)

enriquecruz8519 · Answer

It just takes some time, clearout any doubts that you may have and you will be fine.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jainbob,

Based on the date of your original post, are you planning to take the GMAT as currently scheduled (or did you pay to reschedule it?)?

There's no harm in taking the GMAT as scheduled, but you'll likely need far more time to hit your Score Goal. If you're taking the GMAT in 5 days, then you should NOT try to study too much additional study at this point. Instead, your focus should be on light study and review (so NO CATs and NO "cramming"). You noted that you lost a bunch of points because of silly/little mistakes, so your focus should be on doing precise work (on your PAD, not "in your head") and getting some extra rest before Test Day. For this attempt, you should note all of the details that go into Test Day - from the moment you go to bed the night before your Exam right up to the point that you leave the Test Facility. You can use all of that knowledge to better prepare for your next attempt.

After your Exam, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM/email me directly) and we can discuss the results and how best to proceed.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

My pleasure!

14Sushant · Answer

I am not very active on this forum but been here for a while.
My GMAT exam is a month from now and my latest score is 600 (Q45, v28) (Official Paid Mock 4)

My aim is touch 700 figure.
My quant scores usually range between Q44 - Q46 while my verbal scores vary between V28 - V30.

The max I have scored in verbal in a mock is v34.

After deep diving I have realized the following.

Accuracy in SC: 40 - 50%
Accuracy in CR: > 75%
Accuracy in RC: 50 - 60%

Target 700, aiming for something like q46, v40

Don't want to reschedule exam because deadline is near. Indian, male, targeting ISB. No plans of applying to other foreign B schools.

I have completed SC grail, gone through Manhattan SC guide, practiced a lot of questions in SC alone but I guess solving more questions is not really the solution in my case. Also, every time I analyse my mocks and especially SC, I learn a new concept. :/

From what I know, improving SC is the easiest as compared to RC / CR but apparently this is not the case with me.
Can anyone here please offer some advice which can help me in boosting my Accuracy in SC?
Would really mean a lot.

Thank you so much for your time!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi 14Sushant,

To start, you will likely receive more of a response if you start your own new post-thread (instead of piggy-backing on this old one). If you are regularly scoring in the high-V20s, then you're losing significant points in ALL 3 major Verbal categories (RC, SC and CR), so you will almost certainly have to work on more than just your SC skills to hit your Goal Score. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you mentioned? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) What specific application deadlines are you facing?

In addition, since you are interested in at least one highly-competitive School, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi 14Sushant, A significant improvement of 100+ points in one month is challenging but possible with hard work and consistent efforts dedicated in the right direction. For scoring 700 and above, you need to make sure you don’t get the easy & medium questions wrong as GMAT test is adaptive in nature. For that, being conceptually clear on all topics is really vital. Not only this, you have to be good with application of concepts also, because GMAT is a test of application of concepts. Good to see that you already know that the key, in your case, doesn’t lie in solving 'N' number of questions randomly. You need to understand first what is holding you back. Let me share my insights on this. Your verbal score clearly indicates there are many conceptual gaps and you may need to start from scratch, revisit the concepts and get a clear understanding of them before you solve the questions. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. Let me help you with the right way to approach your Verbal Prep. How to Ace your Verbal Prep? GMAT verbal is mostly about eliminating four incorrect answer choices rather than choosing the right one. Before you start learning, it's important to understand what is actually tested using the questions. Each module in Verbal (SC, CR and RC) has to be approached in a different way. For example, before you start learning the concepts of SC, you need to understand that SC questions on GMAT test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it's important to approach them from a meaning stand-point. You might have often come across answer choices which are both grammatically correct and convey a logical meaning but are indeed incorrect because they do not convey the intended meaning. So, the process to approach SC questions is to: Comprehend the original meaning of the sentence Identify errors if any (both grammatical and meaning wise) Eliminate answer choices which either are grammatically incorrect or do not convey the intended meaning You can go through the link below to understand the process in a better way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SGA8bwFNJM Also, improving in SC alone won’t fetch you the desired score. You need to prepare for RC and CR as well in a structured and efficient manner. You have to follow a methodical and systematic approach while solving the questions in order to work on your accuracy and increase your score. For example, In CR, you have to understand the argument, identify the premise and the conclusion and then pre-think the answer before looking at the solutions. In RC, you need to have the right reading strategies to understand the inferences which are not directly stated in the passage. I’d recommend you to follow this order for the verbal part - SC->CR-RC. The reason for this is very specific. Each question type on the GMAT is testing a specific skill. SC tests your comprehension skills. CR tests comprehension & analytical skills. Finally, RC builds on the previous two skills and also tests your ability to be able to grasp the central point of the passage i.e. Your inferential skills. Thus when you learn in this order, it's much more effective. Coming to your Quant score, it appears that you are good with concepts but you have to work a little more on the application of concepts while solving the Quant Questions. You should consider spending more time on analysing the solutions of the questions from the topics in which you are weak. By analysing I mean, go through each step of the solution, identify the exact step at which you made the mistake, compare your approach with the right one and then learn the right approach. This should help. A balance approach towards Quant and Verbal prep and working on your weak areas should ideally fetch you your target score. GMATWhiz helps you with all these things as we follow a structured way of teaching things, which makes the learning process simpler and efficient. It also helps you to develop an understanding of the test maker’s intention behind asking the question. It uses an AI powered learning platform to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz. It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes to help you improve. This helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas. You can check out GMATWhiz and go for its Verbal Prep Course. Here’s a link to our free trial – https://learn.gmatwhiz.com/?page=signup Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries. You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. Click here to schedule a call

Need help on verbal part - From V-30 to V-40

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