How can I improve my gmat score in 2 weeks?

Question

I have been scoring consistently around 595 & 615.
Quant 82/83
Verbal 79/80
DI 77/78
I have improved my quant and Di in the last 2 weeks but I have been struggling to improve my Verbal section.
I have my official test in 3 weeks and want to score 655+ to get into my target B School. What should I do?

Ayeka · Answer

For Verbal, consider checking out Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for Critical Reasoning. 
For RC, becoming familiar with how inference questions could be helpful as well.
 If you find CR assumption questions slippery, the “negation technique” could be useful to learn.
If you have difficulty finding the conclusion use “Therefore” test. 
For passages go for chunking instead of reading the whole passage carefully.

Good Luck!

Posted from my mobile device

kingbucky · Answer

To improve your Verbal score and achieve your target of 655+, I suggest:

Utilize the Error Log and Forum Quiz on GMATClub to identify and address your weaknesses.

With dedication and the right approach, you can achieve your target score. Best of luck with your GMAT preparation!

MalachiKeti · Answer

Hi,
For verbal CR - better to 
1. Check out Delv academy videos. These are by Ajitesh arun sir - great mentor
2. Consider few hrs of private tutoring
3. Check out powerscore CR bible for fundamentals clarity
4. Only practice official questions of every type and see if a certain type is at issue - method of reasoning, assumption etc

For RC
1. These needs time - you cannot just increase comprehension skills in a given time frame - but neverthless regular reading combined with official passage practice and raising doubts where you are confused can help.

Kudos if you like the explanation

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Reshab,

Here is some advice you can follow to improve your GMAT verbal skills.

To increase your verbal score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.

For example, assume you begin studying Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to master the individual Critical Reasoning topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why you didn't get it right. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you would have had to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

Regarding RC, when students get those questions wrong, it’s partly because they don't truly understand what they have just read. To understand what you are reading, you may have to slow down even more (for now) in order to eventually speed up. You have to learn to comprehend what you read, keep it all straight, and use what you are reading to arrive at correct answers.

At this point, your best bet is to focus on getting the correct answers to questions, taking **as much time as you need** to see key details and understand the logic of what you are reading. If you don't understand something, go back and read it one sentence at a time, even one word at a time, not moving on until you understand what you have just read. There is no way around this work. Your goal should be to take all the time you need to understand exactly what is being said and arrive at the correct answer. If you can learn to get answers taking your time, you can learn to speed up. Answering questions is like any task: The more times you do it carefully and successfully, the faster you become at doing it carefully and successfully.

Another component to understanding what you are reading is being “present” when reading. Don’t worry about how things are going at work, or what you will eat for dinner, or even how long you’re taking to read through the passage. Just focus on what is in front of you, word by word, line by line. Furthermore, try to make reading fun. For example, even if you are reading about a topic that bores you, pretend that you are the person making the argument. By doing so, you will make the passage more relatable to YOU, and ultimately you should be able to read with greater focus.

One final component of Reading Comprehension that may be tripping you up is that RC questions contain one or more trap answers that seem to answer the question but don't really. So, a key part of training to correctly answer RC questions is learning to notice the differences between trap answers and correct answers. You have to learn to see how trap answers seem to follow from what the passages say, but don't really, while correct answers fit what the passages say exactly. Of course, the better you become at noticing the differences between trap answer choices and correct answers, the faster you will answer RC questions.

Here is also a great article that you can check out:

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal on the Focus Edition

nosaj · Answer

A big question would be around the silly mistake rate in your exams/mocks? How often have you made silly mistakes and have you been able to change your behaviours to stop making them?

Reshab · Answer

I am still working on that. I have been making on average of 3-4 silly mistakes in Quant and DI each.
Still working on reducing the silly mistakes. Do have any suggestion on how to reduce my silly mistakes?

ChingWang · Answer

Hi,
First off, you're in a strong position with your Quant and DI, so your main focus should definitely be on the Verbal section over the next two weeks. To jump from your current score to 655+, here’s a plan based on what helped me: 1.  Target Your Weaknesses in Verbal

Given that you’ve been struggling in Verbal, it’s essential to understand exactly  where  you’re losing points. Here's how you can focus your study:

Sentence Correction (SC): 
Focus on the core grammar rules tested (subject-verb agreement, modifiers, parallelism, etc.). If you’re losing points here, consider devoting time to reviewing these concepts. I found it helpful to make flashcards for key rules and review them every day. Practice applying them in official SC questions. 
  Critical Reasoning (CR): 
For CR, it's about developing a consistent process. Focus on identifying the question type (strengthen, weaken, assumption, etc.) and methodically pre-thinking the answer before looking at the options. Consistent use of frameworks like the  Falsification method  for assumptions can really help here. 
  Reading Comprehension (RC): 
RC is tricky because it’s harder to improve quickly, but focusing on understanding the main point and structure of passages can help. Practice  active reading  strategies—taking mental notes of each paragraph’s purpose and how it contributes to the overall argument.  
 2.  Increase Verbal Practice and Review

In the next two weeks, dedicate more time to practicing verbal questions. Here’s a study plan:

Daily Drills (2 hours/day on Verbal): 
Do about 20-25 SC, 15 CR, and 2-3 RC passages each day. Time yourself so you can balance both accuracy and speed. 
  Error Log: 
After each session, review every mistake. Note what type of error it was (e.g., wrong modifier in SC, wrong assumption in CR) and revisit the concept if needed. I found that having a focused error log really helped me recognize patterns in my mistakes and avoid repeating them.  
 3.  Take Targeted Mocks

In the last 2 weeks, I suggest taking at least  two full-length mocks  but make them Verbal-focused:

Verbal-Intensive Mocks: 
Use one of the official GMAT mocks (or a high-quality alternative like Manhattan or Veritas). Focus on  Verbal timing  and pacing strategies, especially for RC where it’s easy to run out of time. 
  Simulated Mini Mocks (Verbal only): 
If you’re short on time, consider doing just the Verbal section of a mock. This will help you improve pacing, while still allowing you to work on review afterward.  
 4.  Verbal Pacing and Test-Day Strategy

You might already know this, but pacing is critical in Verbal:

Sentence Correction:  Aim to complete SC questions quickly, typically in  1-1.5 minutes . 
  Critical Reasoning and RC:  Allocate a bit more time here,  2-3 minutes  per CR question and  3-4 minutes  per RC passage.  
During the actual test, make sure to skip questions if you find yourself stuck for too long. Flagging questions can help you return later without losing valuable time.

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