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Hi guys,
I have been on this website for a while now and wanted to ask for some advice. I took the test today and scored a 650 (47 Q/34 V). The quant is exactly what I have been getting on my practice tests but I am so shocked by my verbal score. I believe that this is the lowest verbal score I have received since my first practice test (V32) and I am very disappointed. I ordered my ESR and will look at what caused it to be a 34. I have taken a Manhattan Prep course and I have completed 5 Manhattan Prep practice tests and 6 official GMAT practice tests, with my verbal scores ranging from 38 to 44!!!. I am so shocked and sad. I took the test in V-Q-IR+Essay order.
Here are a few factors I think contributed to 34:
- I am a nervous test taker and perhaps the first few questions threw me off as I was more nervous. Would you suggest I switch the V and Q sections?
- Practice tests had 1-2 paragraph readings while during the actual test I had 3 4 paragraph readings
What can I do to improve?
I have been on this website for a while now and wanted to ask for some advice. I took the test today and scored a 650 (47 Q/34 V). The quant is exactly what I have been getting on my practice tests but I am so shocked by my verbal score. I believe that this is the lowest verbal score I have received since my first practice test (V32) and I am very disappointed. I ordered my ESR and will look at what caused it to be a 34. I have taken a Manhattan Prep course and I have completed 5 Manhattan Prep practice tests and 6 official GMAT practice tests, with my verbal scores ranging from 38 to 44!!!. I am so shocked and sad. I took the test in V-Q-IR+Essay order.
Here are a few factors I think contributed to 34:
- I am a nervous test taker and perhaps the first few questions threw me off as I was more nervous. Would you suggest I switch the V and Q sections?
- Practice tests had 1-2 paragraph readings while during the actual test I had 3 4 paragraph readings
What can I do to improve?
hey, understand it is tough to handle such situations, but don't be sad. Since you have ordered/got ESR, you can analyse the areas which need more focus. Regarding Order(V-Q-..) of test, it's up to you. for e.g. I prefer Q first as i am able to focus within 1-2 ques and for V i need more time as by the time i reach that section i am more into the zone. However some people prefer V first as they prefer it with fresh mind. I am sure you would have practiced in same order in prep tests.
Be cool and don't take this attempt to your heart so seriously. Continue your learning momentum. You will get your dream score. All the best!
Be cool and don't take this attempt to your heart so seriously. Continue your learning momentum. You will get your dream score. All the best!
fauji
Thanks for that, I really appreciate it. Do you have any advice for materials I should use? I used the following
- Manhattan Prep All the Verbal guide
- OG 2020 guide
- OG Verbal Guide
- Critical Reasoning Bible
- Manhattan Prep live class
- Aristotle SC Prep
- GMAT OG Advanced Questions
kiran120680
Moderator - Masters Forum
Joined: 18 Feb 2019
Last visit: 27 Jul 2022
Posts: 706
Location: India
Schools: AGSM '20 EDHEC Sept 2019 Intake Great Lakes '21 IE
GMAT 1: 460 Q42 V13
GPA: 3.6
hopeful15
you can try veritas prep for verbal.
Posts: 1,341
hopeful15 - A 650 is not a bad score trust me. That said, I am sorry to hear that you did not achieve your target score. We have a well-structured in-house guide that can help you make a decision. Therefore, please take a few moments to review the GMAT Club retake plan: Retaking GMAT Strategies!
ScottTargetTestPrep
Expert
Target Test Prep Representative
Joined: 14 Oct 2015
Last visit: 15 Sep 2026
Posts: 22,740
Status:Founder & CEO
Affiliations: Target Test Prep
Location: United States (CA)
Expert reply
Posts: 22,740
Hi hiopeful15
I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT.
The good news is that you scored really well on quant, right? That said, I understand that you are not satisfied with your verbal score, so the question we need to ask is why you scored so high on your practice exams but lower on the real GMAT.
Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V34. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves (as you mentioned), stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.
For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.
Regarding section order, certainly you could try to switch it up on practice exams to see if that has any effect on your score. However, the main reason for your test day struggles may be what I mentioned above.
Moving forward, if you decide that you need some new quant and verbal materials, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses. You also may find my article with more information regarding
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
_________________
I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT.
The good news is that you scored really well on quant, right? That said, I understand that you are not satisfied with your verbal score, so the question we need to ask is why you scored so high on your practice exams but lower on the real GMAT.
Assuming that you took your official practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results show that, on a good day, you are capable of scoring higher than V34. Thus, it’s quite possible that nerves (as you mentioned), stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. However, it’s also possible that you have some lingering weaknesses that were exposed on test day. Although I’m unsure of how you prepared, it’s possible that, in your preparation, particularly in verbal, you did not really learn to do what you have to do in order to score high on the actual GMAT. Rather, you picked up on some patterns that were effective in getting you relatively high scores on practice tests. So, for you to hit your score goal, your preparation, particularly for verbal, probably needs to be more complete, meaning that you have to go through the various types of GMAT questions carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills.
For verbal specifically, you have to become more skilled at clearly defining the differences between trap choices and correct answers. Otherwise, you will get stuck guessing between two choices or be surprised to find that you incorrectly answered questions that you thought you answered correctly. Becoming more skilled in this way takes carefully analyzing all of the answer choices to lots of verbal questions to develop an eye for the logical differences between the choices. In other words, you have to go beyond answering practice questions and reading explanations to doing deep analysis of questions to learn to see everything that is going on in them.
Regarding section order, certainly you could try to switch it up on practice exams to see if that has any effect on your score. However, the main reason for your test day struggles may be what I mentioned above.
Moving forward, if you decide that you need some new quant and verbal materials, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses. You also may find my article with more information regarding
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
If you’d like more specific advice on how to improve your quant and verbal skills, feel free to reach back out. Good luck!
_________________
Scott Woodbury-Stewart | Founder and
CEO |
[email protected]
See why Target Test Prep is the top rated GMAT course on GMAT Club. Read Our Reviews
I just got my ESR back and it looks like I scored in the following percentiles for Verbal:
- Sentence Correction: 72nd (83% Grammar and 66% Communication).
- Reading Comprehension: 88th
- Critical Reasoning: 33rd!!!! (33% Analysis/Critique and 40% Assumptions)
So it seems like CR is what I should really focus on, as well as SC. I already have the Manhattan Prep All the Verbal and the CR bible. How else should I prepare?
- Sentence Correction: 72nd (83% Grammar and 66% Communication).
- Reading Comprehension: 88th
- Critical Reasoning: 33rd!!!! (33% Analysis/Critique and 40% Assumptions)
So it seems like CR is what I should really focus on, as well as SC. I already have the Manhattan Prep All the Verbal and the CR bible. How else should I prepare?
Dear hopeful15,
Just be sure that you will be successful and be really HOPEFUL to reach your desired MBA programs.
Power score CR is the top rated CR guide. Make more thorough revisions of it
Without delaying your next gmat attempt.
Want to ask wrt ADVANCED OG book , how you compare this particular book questions and the actual tough questions in terms of hardness of the questions??
Best of luck for your future endeavors
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
Just be sure that you will be successful and be really HOPEFUL to reach your desired MBA programs.
Power score CR is the top rated CR guide. Make more thorough revisions of it
Without delaying your next gmat attempt.
Want to ask wrt ADVANCED OG book , how you compare this particular book questions and the actual tough questions in terms of hardness of the questions??
Best of luck for your future endeavors
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
Dear hopeful15,
Just be sure that you will be successful and be really HOPEFUL to reach your desired MBA programs.
Power score CR is the top rated CR guide. Make more thorough revisions of it Without delaying your next gmat attempt.
Want to ask wrt ADVANCED OG book , how you compare this particular book questions and the actual tough questions in terms of hardness of the questions??
Best of luck for your future endeavors
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
Just be sure that you will be successful and be really HOPEFUL to reach your desired MBA programs.
Power score CR is the top rated CR guide. Make more thorough revisions of it Without delaying your next gmat attempt.
Want to ask wrt ADVANCED OG book , how you compare this particular book questions and the actual tough questions in terms of hardness of the questions??
Best of luck for your future endeavors
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
GMAT 1: 720 Q49 V40
Posts: 939
hopeful15
I, hitherto, never use any Manhattan prep series, from first to latest editions. However, it doesn't mean that the series are useless.
- OG 2020 guide
A must do for every question, both verbal and quant
- OG Verbal Guide
I completed all the questions too. But personally, I feel that OG2020 has more knowledge to learn than OGV 2020.
- Critical Reasoning Bible
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the book is useless.
- Manhattan Prep live class
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the course is useless.
- Aristotle SC Prep
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the book is useless.
- GMAT OG Advanced Questions
I haven't finished this. After taking 4x real gmat (last one is 49Q, 40V), I feel this book is very useful and invaluable.
Happy new year 2020
Posted from my mobile device
I, hitherto, never use any Manhattan prep series, from first to latest editions. However, it doesn't mean that the series are useless.
- OG 2020 guide
A must do for every question, both verbal and quant
- OG Verbal Guide
I completed all the questions too. But personally, I feel that OG2020 has more knowledge to learn than OGV 2020.
- Critical Reasoning Bible
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the book is useless.
- Manhattan Prep live class
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the course is useless.
- Aristotle SC Prep
I don't use this. However, it doesn't mean that the book is useless.
- GMAT OG Advanced Questions
I haven't finished this. After taking 4x real gmat (last one is 49Q, 40V), I feel this book is very useful and invaluable.
Happy new year 2020
Posted from my mobile device
Dear hopeful,
Happy new year.
Be positive and be hopeful.
You are v near to your target, donot lose hope.
What are plans now?
When you will retake the gmat?
Best of luck for your future endeavours,
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
Happy new year.
Be positive and be hopeful.
You are v near to your target, donot lose hope.
What are plans now?
When you will retake the gmat?
Best of luck for your future endeavours,
Basim
Posted from my mobile device
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