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Struggling with GMAT Verbal as a non-native speaker? Harsh improved his score from 595 to 695 in just 45 days—and scored a 99 %ile in Verbal (V88)! Learn how smart strategy, clarity, and guided prep helped him gain 100 points.
Apr 2212:30 AM EDT
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12 Feb 2025, 12:30
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Hi GMAT Club Community -
I'm posting this more as a debrief for myself. I took the test the first time at the end of November - getting a score I wasn't thrilled about. My debrief here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/got-a-625-gf ... l#p3480288.
This time, I got a 665 (93rd percentile) including a V89 (99th percentile), Q81 (70th percentile), and DI79 (77th percentile). Strangely, when I finished it yesterday, the overall was listed as 94th percentile and the Verbal as 100th percentile so sounds like algorithm is still a WIP. Either way, I'm happier with the progress I made and see some next actionable steps.
I won't focus on the past as much until I get the score I need, but I'll share what worked and what didn't for me and next steps to hold myself accountable.
Goal's still to get to an M7, so shooting for 715+ (but I'd probably stop at a 705 depending on the Quant score).
Prep for Second Test: During the 1.5 months, I focused on the biggest letdown which was CR. I worked with Marty Murray, whose been one of my gurus on this journey, to come up with a good CR plan. It wasn't anything fancy but I basically did a search of GMAT Focus (Prep) for CR on GMAT Club and answered every question on that forum. Ended up being over 750 questions. I created a spreadsheet to track and averaged around a 95% accuracy rating. I think the biggest learning for me on Verbal, especially CR, was not to overcomplicate the rationale for an answer (if the answer I'm coming up with is convoluted, then it's probably wrong) and not to be dismissive on any answer choice (i.e., take each answer choice seriously). It started paying off as I was hitting streaks of 85+ and finished strong with a 25 question streak.
The issue was I was a bit lackadaisical on my Quant and DI studying. For Quant, I missed two on the first exam but I got bailed out by guessing correctly on two of the questions. I should been more honest with my performance on Quant and taken it more seriously. Instead, I got complacent and did recycled problems off the OG Online Question Bank, doing around 5 -10 per day. I was also a bit lazy on the DI prep and recycled around 5 - 10. I don't think I regret focusing on Verbal because I missed so many on the first exam that I had to take my studying seriously in that area to see improvement.
I took two final re-takes of the Official Mock GMAT and got a 795 and an 805. I won't say I deserve to have those scores on exams in the future as there were some recycled questions both from the GMAT Club and from prior Mock exams, but again lowest Mock after my diagnostic was a 675 so I feel like a 715+ is very achievable.
I think the other big thing that helped me to be honest was not overexerting myself the day before and day of the exam. I kept studying light, and unlike last time, where I went on a 10 mile run the day of and took the exam at 5:30 PM, I went on a light walk, did some Transcendental Meditation, and did some light problems. I think it really helped me get in a more relaxed, zen state.
Test Itself: I did Verbal, break, DI, Quant. In hindsight, I still don't love this order which I'll explain a bit later.
Verbal: The GMAT Club really paid off. I saw how to solve the CR questions fairly easily and even on the RC, I was pretty aware of the one that I thought might be wrong. In other words, I felt in control the whole time and had 5 minutes to spare to review my answers. I got 3 wrong (1 RC, 2 CR wrong at the end), so to get a V89, I am guessing one or two of the CR questions were experimental. I'm satisfied with my score but think I can get a perfect next time.
Data Insights: I got a string of 4 - 5 DS that were tougher at first so it kind of signaled to me that I did well on the Verbal. I think the lack of preparation caught up to me as I hit fatigue halfway through the DS and did poorer. I got 9 overall wrong so surprised honestly I did better on DI this time than last time (last time I got DI 77). I honestly think the fatigue factor is the biggest item and then figuring out how to work efficiently on Graphics / Tables and Two Part Analysis, so I need to work on doing larger practice sets.
Quant: I got 4 wrong, including a 5th I fixed to correct. Honestly, brain fatigue again and was missing dumb items.
My biggest takeaway is ultimately treat every Quant carefully (be careful in your work and treat Easy questions like they're the most important thing to get right) and working on fatigue training. On DI, I'll probably go back to reviewing TTP and look at GMAT Ninja's posts.
I'm also going to reconsider the order I do the GMAT. I've seen posts about do your strongest section first and don't worry about the Section Order. I don't fully agree with that rationale and here's why. First, contrary to what I've seen other posts say, I can confirm the Sections are adaptive to how you're doing previously. While some tutors are saying this doesn't matter in the grand scheme, the test is as much of a psychological test as it is a skill test. Getting streaks and feeling like you're doing well early helps with rhythm throughout the section. For DI, for example, I struggled to get a rhythm going the whole section and I think having those harder questions early really drained my energy for the later section. Second, I feel like you'd want to do your Strongest section last because fatigue will naturally hit and you should be doing a Section you're most comfortable with in the end. What I'm toying with is doing Quant first or DI first. No one seems to want to do DI first, which is interesting.
I'm feeling a lot better than I did last time about getting a 99th percentile score. Appreciate the Community and my mentors here on the journey. Look forward to sharing my third test when I re-take in the next 3 - 4 weeks.
I'm posting this more as a debrief for myself. I took the test the first time at the end of November - getting a score I wasn't thrilled about. My debrief here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/got-a-625-gf ... l#p3480288.
This time, I got a 665 (93rd percentile) including a V89 (99th percentile), Q81 (70th percentile), and DI79 (77th percentile). Strangely, when I finished it yesterday, the overall was listed as 94th percentile and the Verbal as 100th percentile so sounds like algorithm is still a WIP. Either way, I'm happier with the progress I made and see some next actionable steps.
I won't focus on the past as much until I get the score I need, but I'll share what worked and what didn't for me and next steps to hold myself accountable.
Goal's still to get to an M7, so shooting for 715+ (but I'd probably stop at a 705 depending on the Quant score).
Prep for Second Test: During the 1.5 months, I focused on the biggest letdown which was CR. I worked with Marty Murray, whose been one of my gurus on this journey, to come up with a good CR plan. It wasn't anything fancy but I basically did a search of GMAT Focus (Prep) for CR on GMAT Club and answered every question on that forum. Ended up being over 750 questions. I created a spreadsheet to track and averaged around a 95% accuracy rating. I think the biggest learning for me on Verbal, especially CR, was not to overcomplicate the rationale for an answer (if the answer I'm coming up with is convoluted, then it's probably wrong) and not to be dismissive on any answer choice (i.e., take each answer choice seriously). It started paying off as I was hitting streaks of 85+ and finished strong with a 25 question streak.
The issue was I was a bit lackadaisical on my Quant and DI studying. For Quant, I missed two on the first exam but I got bailed out by guessing correctly on two of the questions. I should been more honest with my performance on Quant and taken it more seriously. Instead, I got complacent and did recycled problems off the OG Online Question Bank, doing around 5 -10 per day. I was also a bit lazy on the DI prep and recycled around 5 - 10. I don't think I regret focusing on Verbal because I missed so many on the first exam that I had to take my studying seriously in that area to see improvement.
I took two final re-takes of the Official Mock GMAT and got a 795 and an 805. I won't say I deserve to have those scores on exams in the future as there were some recycled questions both from the GMAT Club and from prior Mock exams, but again lowest Mock after my diagnostic was a 675 so I feel like a 715+ is very achievable.
I think the other big thing that helped me to be honest was not overexerting myself the day before and day of the exam. I kept studying light, and unlike last time, where I went on a 10 mile run the day of and took the exam at 5:30 PM, I went on a light walk, did some Transcendental Meditation, and did some light problems. I think it really helped me get in a more relaxed, zen state.
Test Itself: I did Verbal, break, DI, Quant. In hindsight, I still don't love this order which I'll explain a bit later.
Verbal: The GMAT Club really paid off. I saw how to solve the CR questions fairly easily and even on the RC, I was pretty aware of the one that I thought might be wrong. In other words, I felt in control the whole time and had 5 minutes to spare to review my answers. I got 3 wrong (1 RC, 2 CR wrong at the end), so to get a V89, I am guessing one or two of the CR questions were experimental. I'm satisfied with my score but think I can get a perfect next time.
Data Insights: I got a string of 4 - 5 DS that were tougher at first so it kind of signaled to me that I did well on the Verbal. I think the lack of preparation caught up to me as I hit fatigue halfway through the DS and did poorer. I got 9 overall wrong so surprised honestly I did better on DI this time than last time (last time I got DI 77). I honestly think the fatigue factor is the biggest item and then figuring out how to work efficiently on Graphics / Tables and Two Part Analysis, so I need to work on doing larger practice sets.
Quant: I got 4 wrong, including a 5th I fixed to correct. Honestly, brain fatigue again and was missing dumb items.
My biggest takeaway is ultimately treat every Quant carefully (be careful in your work and treat Easy questions like they're the most important thing to get right) and working on fatigue training. On DI, I'll probably go back to reviewing TTP and look at GMAT Ninja's posts.
I'm also going to reconsider the order I do the GMAT. I've seen posts about do your strongest section first and don't worry about the Section Order. I don't fully agree with that rationale and here's why. First, contrary to what I've seen other posts say, I can confirm the Sections are adaptive to how you're doing previously. While some tutors are saying this doesn't matter in the grand scheme, the test is as much of a psychological test as it is a skill test. Getting streaks and feeling like you're doing well early helps with rhythm throughout the section. For DI, for example, I struggled to get a rhythm going the whole section and I think having those harder questions early really drained my energy for the later section. Second, I feel like you'd want to do your Strongest section last because fatigue will naturally hit and you should be doing a Section you're most comfortable with in the end. What I'm toying with is doing Quant first or DI first. No one seems to want to do DI first, which is interesting.
I'm feeling a lot better than I did last time about getting a 99th percentile score. Appreciate the Community and my mentors here on the journey. Look forward to sharing my third test when I re-take in the next 3 - 4 weeks.
Updated on: 13 Feb 2025, 20:32
Originally posted by GmatKnightTutor on 12 Feb 2025, 14:21.
Last edited by GmatKnightTutor on 13 Feb 2025, 20:32, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by GmatKnightTutor on 13 Feb 2025, 20:32, edited 1 time in total.
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All the best. Including working with a study buddy may not be a bad idea. With your V89, if you can find someone who is really strong on Quant/DI and looking for help on Verbal, that could be a good fit. Gratz on the score improvement so far.
5 Quant tips
12 Feb 2025, 22:07
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Thank you for sharing! 👍
Appreciate sharing and I admire your methodical and focused approach - I have provided you with a free GMAT Club Tests Pro 3-month pack so hoping that will give you a necessary boost for the last attempt!
Appreciate sharing and I admire your methodical and focused approach - I have provided you with a free GMAT Club Tests Pro 3-month pack so hoping that will give you a necessary boost for the last attempt!
