Why am i failing on verbal?

Question

Hi there,

My name is ataman. I'm from Turkey. I have graduated from a top tier university in Turkey with a 3.36 GPA. I've worked for a fund for a year and now I am in the telecom industry for 4.5 years.

I've always postponed my MBA dreams, but within COVID - 19, I have decided to study now.

My quantitative side is always good. After looking and practicing, I think I will be around Q48+ at least. The hard part is getting used to DS but now it doesn't hard at all also.

My main problem is Verbal. Right now, I am working on RC & CR on MGMAT book but couldn't able to understand well. Whenever I have tried to do examples, most of them are wrong. I think I am not dumb at all, but I couldn't understand why I am failing.

Please help me on how to resolve this failure circle.

Kind Regards,

A

toy9575 · Answer

Hi  ataman  we have all faced the same problem at some time.I will share my experience stidying CR from the mgmat books along with the powerscore CR bible.The first time i read them both i went straight into solving questions o could hardly cross the 50%efficiency mark.I read a post here on gmatclub where someone with a 700+ score had suggested how he/she read the cr bible 3-4 times during the course of the preparation.I realised my basics were not clear after i followed this advise
Now in your case you can try this method if your basic fundamental concepts are not clear you reckon.Also alternatively you can sign up for a verbal only on demand course since your quant score is already so high.

Posted from my mobile device

ataman · Answer

Dear  toy9575 ,

Thanks for your reply. It is really kind of you.

I am already registered for the Magoosh GMAT course. I think I'm really stressing about this issue. That's why I make failure over failure again.

I think I will clear my mind and make it in a way you propose to me. My English wasn't bad at all. Around 7-7.5 Score range in the IELTS exam but this GMAT prep really makes me stressed and sad.

I hope everything is resolved and I can get the point that I desire.

KR,

Ataman

unraveled · Answer

This is normal for any test taker. In CR, Take a good look at the passage and see words that guide the passage, basically read critically. These words help you look for premise and conclusion, knowing which will help you address the gap - normally. Keep doing it from easiest questions to hardest level questions gradually.

In RC, try to read first in a similar approach - know where it is going and why and what may come ahead. 
IELTS is way too easy in comparison to GMAT verbal. For GMAT better read NYT, WSJ and Economist articles parallely solving RC passages.

If you improve in CR passage, RC might eventually improve.

freedom128 · Answer

Hmm perhaps master SC first.

I am afraid that lack of understanding in sentence meaning may hinder test takers to perform well in CR and RC.

In addition, you can learn from powerscore CR bible. I don't use it because CR feels natural to me by practicing OG2019 last time.

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Ataman,

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you are early-on in your studies, then you should not expect to have mastered any aspects of the GMAT just yet.

From your message, it is not clear how long you have been studying, but have you taken any practice CATs/mocks yet? If you have not, then it would be a good idea to take a FULL-LENGTH practice CAT Test; you can access 2 for free from www.mba.com (and they come with some additional practice materials). That score will give us a good sense of your current skills, strengths and weaknesses and will help provide a basis for comparison as you continue to study. A FULL CAT takes about 3.5 hours to complete, so make sure that you've set aside enough time to take it in one sitting. Once you have those scores, you should report back here and we can come up with a study plan.

I'd like to know a bit more about your timeline and goals:
1) What is your overall Goal Score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

egmat · Answer

Hi  ataman

Thanks for reaching out on the forum, it feels good to see you coming out and asking for advice.

Before we delve into strategies to improve Verbal, you must

• Set a Target Score
• Make a study plan to reach that target score

Doing this will make your preparation focused on the target which is the most efficient way to study. A study plan would also help you estimate the amount of time you would need to study and thereby when to plan the test.

We have helped more than 25,000 people in last 1 year in achieving their target of a good GMAT score. Maximum people attributed their success to the structured process which we suggested them. I suggest you break your preparation into 3 stages and follow the below plan:

Stage – 1 --> Learn the concepts
Stage – 2 --> Cement the concepts by practicing a sub-section in Isolation
Stage – 3 --> Become test ready (practicing all the sub-sections together)

You should not directly jump to solving questions without learning the concepts. This is a trial-and-error based preparation methodology which cause a two-fold problem:

1. It increases your preparation time by up-to 5X. 
2. You tend to miss out on concepts even after solving many questions.

Prawee    (550 to 740) used all the books and local coaching classes but was unable to improve her GMAT score beyond a certain point. She changed her approach and finally scored 740 in her 5th attempt and got a $180,000 fellowship cumulatively from 3 top business schools. She is currently pursuing MBA from Kellogg. Kellogg was once not even on her radar.

7 Steps – How to score 700+ on the GMAT

You can start your preparation by giving a mock to test your current ability.

Hope the above strategy get you to your target score

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Why am i failing on verbal?

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