advice needed

Question

Hai

yesterday, I took official guide practice test. My verbal score is 17. I am very disappointed with my verbal score. I am preparing verbal for the past 8 weeks but I didnot see any improvement in verbal score. In the last test It is 21. I am using following books:
powerscore cr bible
manhattan reading comprehension
manhattan sc.

particularly in verbal, when i am trying to attempt questions my mind is totally blanked out. I am really had hard time when i am attempting rc, sc questions. what i need to do?. Daily , I am doing 14 sc, 13 rc, 14 cr questions ,but I do each section separately. I almost complete all questions within time. But i dont know what happened in the test. please suggest some strategy for verbal.I want at least 10 points improvement . Is it possible for me ?. my exam date is on feb25. do i need to reschedule my exam date? can anyone suggest me after how many days will i attempt another test?. verbal is the only problem for me. I am satisfied with quant score(39). please advice me.

ChrisLele · Answer

Hi Tom B., Hopefully, I can help out

I’m curious: how are you using these materials to prep? For instance, you may read a few chapters before doing any GMAT problems. By this time, your grasp of the concepts may have weakened. So when learning a concept, be sure to use Official Guide questions. For instance, if you’ve finished the MGMAT chapter on Subject-Verb Agreement, do a number of Subject-Verb agreement problems – instead of just doing problem sets at random. If you feel your mind is “blanking out,” describe the argument or RC passage in your own words. Drawing a blank often results when you didn’t get the argument of passage the first time around. Forcing yourself to use your own words will, over time, lead you to approach the passage differently. Finally, mixing problem types will probably be helpful once you’ve nailed the fundamentals and need practice that simulates test day. Speaking of which, Feb. 25h may not be to soon if you apply this approach – or any other approach that works – and you notice you are steadily improving. You definitely want to take the GMATPrep test, as is the most accurate indicator of your score (from your post, I’m assuming you are using MGMAT tests). If that score is close enough to your target score, then definitely go for it. Magoosh also offers another great source of problems, in which you tailor your practice so that you only receive certain types of questions. In your case this gives you the opportunity to focus on a specific question type, and, once you progress, mixing question types, and even sections, to prepare you for test day. As an example, here is a practice question: Practice Question

TomB · Answer

Hai chrisLele

Thank you very much for your response.

I’m curious: how are using these materials to prep? 
CR: i gone through strengthen,weaken,inference,assumption,cause and effect reasoning question types. After that, I have started doing daily 14 cr questions by maintaining an error log.

R.c: To be frank, I have completed mgmat RC 2 months ago(just revise some concepts) and started practicing passages from verbal review 2 edition (daily 2 passages)

S.c: I completed mgmat sc and started practicing by maintaining error log. I almost completed all sc form og 12 and 2 edition.

will it be a good idea to revise all 3 areas once again? or just check wrong answers in the previous test and ready for next test?

thanks

ChrisLele · Answer

TomB,

I think it is definitely important to revisit certain concepts, esp. if you are struggling. Also, the targeted approach is helpful vs. the random assortment of 15 problems. The Official Guide breaks up questions into different types and the MGMAT help navigate through the OG material. Even if you've gone through all the SC problems, go through them again. You should not only answer a question, but also be able to provide a clear reason - based on grammatical principles, in the case of SC .

Also, mix it up with the questions. You don't want to focus only on SC for a few weeks, while letting RC, and your recently acquired skills, languish.

So revise certain areas within RC, CR, and SC, mixing it up each day, you are are always practicing each section.

Hopefully, following this step will help you improve quickly. And don't do more than one practice test a week. Focus on building fundamentals with practice questions.

KarishmaB · Answer

I am guessing English is your second or even third language. Following is what I think would work:
1. Throw away your timer for the next two weeks. Slow down while working on Verbal questions and try to concentrate on what you are reading. 
2. Paraphrase the stimulus (in CR) and paragraphs of the passage (in RC) as if you are telling someone what is given in the small write up. If you are answerable to yourself shortly, it will be hard to go blank. 
3. Focus on building strong concepts first. Your approach in CR should be very mathematical. e.g. Read the question stem. Find out the question type. (Let's say it is a weaken question.) Find out the conclusion from the stimulus. Find out the option that weakens your conclusion. It is good to know the question types in RC as well. Helps you focus on the required detail. In SC, knowing the various error categories and how to correct them is necessary. Say, 2 options use 'was' and 3 use 'were'. You know it is a possible subject-verb agreement error. Look for the subject. Figure out which usage is correct etc.
4. If time is short, do only 5 questions of each type every day. But by the time you are done with these 15 questions, ensure you understand them in and out. Ensure you understand every option and why it is/isn't the right answer.
5. Get your timer back after 2 weeks. See if you understand things better. See if you can perform the same way under time constraints too. If not, it may be wise to postpone your GMAT.

egmat · Answer

Completely agree with Karishma. She has given some great suggestions. Overall, the crux is to focus on quality and not on quantity. Your verbal score indicates that you are at a point where you need to get the fundamentals right and then start building on them.

IMHO you should only focus on one section at a time. Again, your score indicates that you need to learn a lot more. Hence, if you focus your energy on all 3 sections at the same time, you may not retain as much. I usually recommend non-natives to start with SC and then move on to CR or RC. If you do decide to do the same, then I would recommend that you take some foundation concepts in our free trial - more specifically sentence structure 1 & 2 and importance of meaning. These concepts that will help you establish a solid foundation in Sentence Correction. Note, these concepts are free. You dont need to pay for them.

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