Verbal Score Inconsistent

Dear Paula,

I'm happy to respond.

The first thing I'll say is that students seem to have this curious idea that GMAT score is a fixed and replicable value that one should be able to produce repeatedly without variation, as if it were a biological measurement. Variation is natural. I think we want to focus on increasing the overall range, which in your case would involve making consistent progress on the harder Verbal questions.

These are already strong verbal scores. I assume you are a native speaker of English.

In the larger picture, something is so bizarre about the fact about life in the electronic world that we all have access to so many numbers that purport to give us feedback. It's not clear to me that even half of these numbers measure anything rigorous or worthwhile. GMAT score is obviously meaningful because of its import, but what exactly is it measuring? I think students vastly underestimate how much diet, sleep, mood, emotional balance, etc. play directly into GMAT score.

I will say that the scenario you describe is quite similar to the one I discuss here:
Lower on the Real GMAT than on Practice Tests
In the blogs linked from that blog, I discuss the stress-management skills in greater depth. If you can make a habit of practicing those consistently, the payoffs will be huge in a variety of areas.

For strengthening your Verbal skills, nothing helps so much as a consistent habit of reading. You have to force yourself to read challenging and difficult material, on subject matters with which you are not familiar--such are the passages you will see on the GMAT RC. See this blog:
How to Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score
Especially for improving in the elite region of the GMAT Verbal, you need to read the most sophisticated stuff you can find.

Does all this make sense? Please let me know if you have further questions.
Mike