Scored 590 on my First attempt in GMAT, please help me to improve

Question

Dear friends,

Wish you all a belated Happy Christmas!

Today I have taken the GMAT for the first time and I have scored 590 (Quant-49 & Verbal-21). I prepared for almost 3 months before the exam. I am planning to take the 2nd attempt in June'2018, my target score is 690-710. I do not find much difficulty in Quant, but my Verbal is very weak. I have faced hurdles in all of SC, CR and RC in the today's exam. I have found that the verbal questions given in the OG do not match the level of the questions asked in the actual GMAT exam.

Please suggest me how to improve my Verbal score from 21 to above 35 in five months. Please suggest me the strategy for preparation, the source of study materials and strategy for taking the mock tests.

Thanks in advance 
Deba1990 (My username)

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Deba1990, Welcome to GMATCLUB! 5 months is a good enough time to prepare for GMAT. It’s a good thing you have given GMAT once. You now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for 5 months, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking an additional GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation. For verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas. I must add that if you are particularly looking to go from Q49 to Q50-51, a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG, the verbal review and most importantly GMATPREP QP1 for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision. https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html Hope this helps. All the best.

akela · Answer

Hi!

You can start with SC as it is the easiest section to improve. If you were using MGMAT SC guide, you might find Ron's videos helpful:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/compiled-thu ... 54538.html

Here are some great threads on improving verbal:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 13013.html
https://gmatclub.com/forum/720-q42-v47- ... 50635.html
https://gmatclub.com/blog/2015/08/how-d ... bal-score/

Good luck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Deba1990,

With 5 months of potential study time, you could improve a great deal (and it's likely that you would only need about 2 months of consistent, guided study to hit your Verbal Score Goal). With a V21, you would have lost significant points in all 3 major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR) when you took the GMAT, so you'll need to work to improve every aspect of how you handle that section. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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) What study materials have you used so far?
2) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
5) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's tempting to think that, but don't let it stop you from continuing to use the OG. Because the GMAT is an adaptive exam, the verbal questions you saw were, in all probability, generally easier than those in the OG.

bichthuy · Answer

Hi Akela,
May you please check the first two links? It is said that these links don’t exist. Thank you.

akela · Answer

Hi  bichthuy ,

I've updated the links. These are just examples, and you can find many more great threads on this forum.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Best Books 1. Manhattan GMAT Quant Guides 2. Manhattan GMAT Verbal guides or Aristotle Verbal Guide for CR critical reasoning bible is best book with 300+ pages of comprehensive Data Strategies Start with Quant, learn the concepts tested on GMAT. After learning, practice your learned section with timed practice. You can also take quizzes to meet the pace of GMAT. 1 Month for learning concepts and 15 days of practice and same with the verbal. When completed all the concepts learning and handsome practice. Take full lenght CATs, know your estimated score. Analyze the result with Correct/incorrect questions, pacing analysis trace your mistakes and learn from them, make an error log to know your mistakes in the previously attempted questions Best Mocks 1. Official GMAC (50+50$) 2. Manhattan GMAT (49$) 3. GMAT Club Quant CATs (80$) 4. Veritas CATs (49$ but you can buy at 15-20$ During sale period) Good Luck Cheers

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Scored 590 on my First attempt in GMAT, please help me to improve

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