Verbal Help - V24 GMATPrep; 580 score (Q47/V24)

Question

Hello everyone!

I just gave my first CAT of GMATPrep after studying for a while. A quick background about my studying method: I covered all MGMAT books and completed OG16 (Quant section) and OG16 Quant Review. At the beggining I imagined that the Quant section would be my weak area, so I focused on this section. Though I completed the Verbal MGMAT books and completed the sets proposed by Manhattan, I didn't do all OG questions.

My score was 580 (Q47/V24). I think I can improve my quantitative score, but my doubt now is, should I focus 100% on Verbal now? And maybe go back to Quant later?

From the Verbal section, I got 17 incorrect answers (11 SC, 2 CR and 4 RC). When I reached question 35 I had 5 minutes left, so I tried to rush but it didn't go really well. From those 7 last questions, I got an RC passage with 3 questions (2 wrong), 2 CR (1 wrong/1 right) and 2 SC (both wrong).

What I try to conclude from the Verbal section is that I definitely need to improve SC and a bit of my time managment on the RC questions. What do you guys think?

Should I jump on SC questions? Go back to MGMAT SC book? Any and all advice is valuable!!!!

I'm an international student! So English is not my main language.

Thanks!!!

AjiteshArun · Answer

You should see at least some improvement as you work through more questions and tests. But try to avoid setting either verbal or quant aside. Focus on verbal now if you want, but don't ignore quant completely.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ramonguib,

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?
2) What is your goal score?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

ramonguib · Answer

Hello, AjiteshArun, thanks for your reply. My idea is to cover the SC material again and do more questions and tests. I realized that I didn't really study the SC section, I just covered the books. I went through some questions yesterday and got some "oh, now I get it" haha. And about Quant, I have a list of topics, equations and other stuff that I cover every day (I try to write a new list every day with the same topics from the day before) and I will add some Quant questions so I don't forget everything haha. Hi, EMPOWERgmatRichC, thanks for your reply! 1) I have been trying to study since the beggining of this year, but I didn't have quality study on the first months (because of work and I wasn't really focused on the GMAT). But I have been studying hard for the last 40 days - specially Quant. About SC, I feel like I just covered the books, I didn't really get the grammar rules. 2) I am aiming for a 700+, so I'm kinda far away

. But I'm 100% focused now. 3) End of June - but I can also take the GMAT on July or August. 4) Sep/Oct this year to start September next year. Any other information, please let me know! And thanks for your time and help!

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi ramonguib! Since SC seems to be your area of main concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book  Sentence Correction Nirvana  is perhaps the  only  book that offers a score improvement  guarantee , and is especially designed for  non-native  speakers.

After reading the book  twice  (yes! it's an  academic  book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to  reinforce  the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on  Flipkart  and  Amazon.in . You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

See  here  how Mohit, who scored 750 on GMAT, vouches for our book.

If you want to  sample  a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at  pothi .

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ramonguib,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so this 580 is pretty good (considering that you've really only been consistent about your studies for a little over 1 month). While your score goal is achievable, you're likely going to need at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study to get to that level. As such, taking the GMAT at the end of June is likely too soon.

Since you've done some self-analysis about SCs, I suggest that you practice as you see fit for the next week, then take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections). That score result will provide some evidence as to how effective "your way" of studying actually is. Once you have that score result, you should post back here. If your scores don't improve, then you'll likely have to make some adjustments to your plans and invest in some new GMAT materials.

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

ramonguib · Answer

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thanks for the words! I think that another 2 months of consistent, guided study sounds good.

Your studying plan sounds perfect. I just started practicing SC questions (first 50 on the OG2016) and got a nice result, but I took a lot more than 1 minute to finish each question. My approach was: 1) understanding the meaning, 2) trying to put in my words (also in my language, I don't know if this is good or not), 3) and going throught each answer trying to proove it wrong/right.

With the OG explanations and gmatclub explanations, I started building topics and taking notes about them, for example: I) Modifiers, I would write what I learnt; 2) Pronouns etc.

I will try to follow this approach until next week and I will take a new full-length CAT to see how efective this way is. I will post the score back here when I have it.

Thanks for the tips!!

Hello, EducationAisle.

Thanks for the recommendation. I'm gonna follow EMPOWERgmatRichC advice and keep studying with the material that I have until next week, when I will take another full-length CAT and see if this way works or not. I will definitely take a look at boook Sentence Correction Nirvana. A sample would be really nice, maybe after this week I will have a better idea of my main weak area? (right now I think it is modifiers haha).

Thanks for your reply!

ramonguib · Answer

Hello again guys!

Just an update about my journey: so, after getting that 580 score I ended up studying a bit more (verbal) and took the real GMAT test by the end of June and scored a 610 (Q44/V29). I improved just a bit on the Verbal section, but got a lower score on Quant.

About the real thing: it is really different doing the whole thing (AWA + IR) compared to just Quant and Verbal. I was really exhausted when I reached the tenth Verbal question.

I relaxed a few days after taking the GMAT and went back to studies (verbal, again). Just finished another GMATPrep and scored a 640 (Q44/V33). While doing the Quant section, I felt rusty and was struggling to figure out some questions, I thought I was gonna do really bad here, was a bit surprised about a Q44 score. And, again I got 17 Verbal questions wrong (SC 8, RC 3 and CR 6). I'm not really sure about what my studying plan is gonna be now. I feel like doing like 100 verbal questions (100 SC, 100 RC and 100 CR) this week and take another CAT next week, but I'm not sure haha.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ramonguib,

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, your recent CAT score results show that you essentially performed the same as you did on the Official GMAT (+/- a few points).

Now that you've faced the Official GMAT, you can use that experience to take CATs in a more realistic fashion ('mirroring' the parameters you'll face on the Official GMAT). Given your score goal, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in some new non-book resources and learn/practice some new Tactics.

1) When are you planning to retake the GMAT?

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

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Verbal Help - V24 GMATPrep; 580 score (Q47/V24)

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