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Carlman
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Hi Carlman.

The three main moves you can make to increase your verbal score are to gain more concept knowledge, learn better strategies, and get better at seeing what's going on in the questions.

Given what you have done so far to prepare, it seems likely that, at this point, a big part of what you can do to increase your verbal score is practice effectively to get better at seeing what's going on in the questions.

The most effective way to practice answering verbal questions is to do them untimed and analyze each question choice by choice, waiting to choose an answer until you have fully understood all five choices of the question, even if doing so takes 15 minutes or more for one question. Yes, when you take the GMAT, you'll have only around 1:48 to answer each verbal question, but the thing is that, by spending a lot of time on each practice question, you'll develop strong GMAT verbal skills and thus answer the questions quickly when you go to take the GMAT.

For more on how to increase your verbal score, see this post. How to Score High on GMAT Verbal
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Hi Carlman,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better - although a 640/Q47 is still a solid Score. Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you've been studying for just 2 months, then it's likely that you just have not put in enough time and effort to lock-in that higher Score yet. In addition, when these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you mentioned?
2) Did you take any other CATs/mocks before October 10th?

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Hi everyone, thanks for the replies. As RetaketheGMAT correctly assumed, I'm targeting a score above 700 in order to get in top B school in US and EU. Almost all the application deadlines for the programs I want to apply for are in January. The problem is that I have to take IELTS so I can't spend too much time on GMAT. I'll try your advice Martytargettestprep, focusing on understanding the answer without looking at the time. I think that that's my problem because I finished every section 2 minutes early.
I've taken the online test so I don't think I can puchase the ESR. Thanks again for the advices, they are very appreciated.
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Hello guys, today I've done the Gmat and I got 710 (49Q 39V 8IR). I've really appreciated your help, thank You so much u helped me a lot!!!!!
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Nice work! May all go well for you going forward.
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Hi Carlman,

That's fantastic news! Based on this recent Score, it appears that you made some type of adjustment to how you were handling the Verbal section. Did you focus on any particular areas in that section over the last month?

If you're facing upcoming application deadlines in January, then you might find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

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