Hit rock bottom...How can I improve my verbal score?

Question

So I took official GMAT exam a few weeks back and scored 600 (V24 Q49). I am kinda lost. I never scored such a terrible number (V24) in the prep tests.. not even in the very first test which I took without any prep.

English is not my first language, so I know that I will never score 100/100. I have been consistently scoring in 30-35 range in the prep tests (MGAMT)... I am not sure what went wrong during the official test. After seeing my final score of 24 in verbal section, I was like: I could have done better than this without any GMAT prep work. It feels like whatever I did in terms of preparation was useless. I scored 710 and 660 in the mba dot com prep tests (I took full tests including IR and essay) leading to my official GMAT exam.

I am not very disappointed with my total score... I am just confused because I had no idea that I could score 24... If I had any such indication, I would have altered my plan. I thought I would score around 50 in quant and 33-34 in verbal. As I said earlier: I scored V31 in the test which I took before I even started preparing for GMAT.

I will take the exam again.... This time, I am focusing more on verbal and less on quant section. My plan is to review every single problem I attempt irrespective of whether I get it wrong and read articles everyday from recommended resources.

Any other tips?

I will take the exam again.... This time, I am focusing more on verbal and less on quant section. My plan is to review every single problem I attempt irrespective of whether I get it wrong and read articles everyday from recommended resources. Any other tips?

AjiteshArun · Answer

What did you do to prepare for the exam? Just keep in mind that exam day always brings with it additional pressure that is not there during practice. It could just be that you have to take the exam again. And you shouldn't look at that as a failure on your part. Learn from the experience, but do take into account the fact that very few people hit their score target on the first attempt.

apsahota · Answer

I enrolled in the MGMAT in-person classes, went through all of the books institute provided and solved most of the OG questions. I also used to study from online resources.
As I said, I am no expert in English but I didn't know I could do this bad. During the test, I did feel that I was in some kind of rush.... I think I was too worried about falling behind in terms of pace/time.
I don't mind taking the exam again.. I just never performed so terribly in my life before, so I was just in some sort of shock for a week or so....

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi apsahota,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. Your practice CAT scores clearly show that you're capable of scoring at a much higher level. 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.

If you can answer a few questions, then we should be able to figure this out:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take them at home?
2) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
3) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, listen to music, etc.)? 
4) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
5) When you took your CATs, did you ever come across questions that you had seen before (in these Forums, for example)?

Thankfully, the GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

apsahota · Answer

1) Did you take them at home? 
- Yes
2) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
-Yes (I always took full CAT including IR and essay sections)
3) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, listen to music, etc.)?
-No 
4) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?
-I took total 6 tests but didn't repeat any
5) When you took your CATs, did you ever come across questions that you had seen before (in these Forums, for example)?
-No

I used to score 630-640 on the MGMAT CATs but the main reason behind my low score was hitting 43-44 in Quant. MGMAT CAT quant section is really hard, So I wasn't worried about my performance in that section. When I took CAT from mba dot com, I did hit 50 and 49 in the quant section. Moreover before taking mba dot com's CATs, I was very nervous which I thought as a good thing since I would be nervous on the official test day.

But I must confess that I did spend most of my prep time (when it came to practice questions) on quant (I could be wrong but my brain is making me think that way now) since I didn't want to score fewer than Q50 (ego issue since I have a strong maths background). I was satisfied with average verbal performance. Oh well... It kinda backfired.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi apsahota,

The extra information that you've provided doesn't point to any serious 'red flags' in how you took your CATs, although taking your CATs at home is NOT realistic. I have a few more questions (about Test Day itself):

On Test Day:
1) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
2) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
3) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
4) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
5) Did you finish any sections early?
6) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?

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

apsahota · Answer

1) How did you sleep the night before your Test?
- I slept really well... which usually doesn't happen when I am in such situations. 
2) How long was the ride to the Test Center from your home?
- It's 40-45 mins train ride plus 15 mins walk to the center. 
3) Were there any distractions at the facility or during the Test?
- No.
4) What did you do during the two 8-minute breaks?
- I had some snacks/water and went to the restroom
5) Did you finish any sections early?
- Not really. maybe 1-2 mins early. 
6) Did you have to rush to finish any sections (and guess on questions just to finish on time)?
- I did skip a few questions here and there but I didn't have to rush.

Verbal section: I did spend 4+ mins on first SC question because it had an idiom which I never saw before. I got stuck because I didn't want to guess on the very first question and I feel that it was a huge mistake. Now I feel that perhaps verbal section was tougher than I had expected... Perhaps I was down to two answer choices and I tried to guess on most of em. Perhaps I gave up mid way after seeing some very easy SC questions...
Based on my enhanced report I performed terribly in SC and CR (20 some percentile in both sections which was kinda shocking because I always get 70-80%+ of SC questions right when I do timed sets from OG). Not sure if I can hit 90%+ accuracy... I was relying heavily on SC to lift my score. My RC performance used to fluctuate during the tests.. CR performance used to be ok but 50% was the worst case scenario.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi apsahota,

Are you comfortable posting your Enhanced Score Report? While the data in that report is somewhat limited, it can sometimes point to an 'issue' that you didn't realize was an actual issue on Test Day.

From this last set of answers you've provided, the only minor issue that stands out is the transportation time to the Center - 1 hour isn't that bad, but sometimes a trip of that length can impact attitude, energy levels, stress, etc., which can (in turn) impact performance.

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

KarishmaB · Answer

If you search on this or other GMAT forums, you will find many people with similar experience - a big dip in the actual GMAT Verbal score. It has little to do with extraneous factors - in my opinion - since you did not mess up your Quant. I think it has to do with your conceptual understanding. As you pointed out, you performed terribly in SC and CR. SC I can understand since many resources do not actively focus on accurate meaning questions (logic based) but they are perhaps the core of GMAT SC in recent times. I do not understand your performance in CR. With a Q 49-50, I would expect you to be very comfortable with CR questions since they are extremely logical and "quite mathematical" in their approach. Once you understand what each kind of question expects from you, it shouldn't be hard to ace CR. There are a couple of things I would suggest you to check out: A post discussing why people see lower verbal scores in actual exam: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/08 ... bal-score/ An SC video discussing the latest in SC: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/ The link of "one of the 12 video lessons" is an SC video. Our blog containing posts discussing how to attack different kinds of CR questions: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/category/gmat/ Search for critical reasoning. Ron has discussed various question types on Ron Point.

apsahota · Answer

Rich,

Here's probably what you are looking for:
mean time:
overall verbal: 1.82
CR: 2.26
RC: 1.5
SC: 1.82

I think I spent way too much time on SC questions.

apsahota · Answer

Hi Karishma,

Thanks for the response and I will definitely go through the links you provided. I am sure that there has to be a reason (my weaknesses) behind low verbal score and I must work on them. My only concern is that I hit pretty high accuracy when I solve (timed sets) questions from OG, Magoosh or MGMAT review books, so I struggle to figure out what's going on. Regarding my performance in Quant, I am not very surprised.... Irrespective of how I feel, I rarely struggle in Quant section unless I come across a question type which I have never seen before.

BTW I have gone through most of the Veritas videos, and I did score 710 and 660 on two prep tests which came with the GMAT test registration.

Thanks

apsahota · Answer

I am getting "Error establishing a database connection" for most of the veritasprep blogs including the one you posted (https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/08 ... bal-score/ )

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, I am getting the problem too. There is something going on with the blog link. Let me find out what it is (and the post will answer your question once it goes back online!).

GMATPILLBILL · Answer

Hey apsahota The SC section is the easiest verbal section to make improvements on. Once you understand how to think and approach this question type, there are only so many ways you can be tested. Here at GMAT Pill we developed the 10 core frameworks which detail the 10 ways to approach GMAT sentence corrections. Here is a sample video detailing one of the core frameworks: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... stion/2184 For CR, we recommend a visual framework approach to help you understand the complex short passages and how each item relates to each other. Here is a video describing the visual framework approach: https://www.gmatpill.com/criticalreasoni ... Estate.mp4 To improve RC - you really need visual guidance. Don't read articles about how to improve reading. You improve by actually doing or watching someone else do. That's why you might find these video walkthroughs helpful: https://www.gmatpill.com/practicequestio ... tions.html Best of luck on your studies!

KarishmaB · Answer

Some maintenance activity was going on and it had caused a technical glitch. All is in order now. Check out the posts.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi apsahota,

While that is some of the information that I'm interested in, I'd really have to see the full ESR to offer any complete insights. If you'd rather not post the full report, then you can PM it to me.

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

apsahota · Answer

I took another test from GMATPrep Exam Pack 1 and again hit 710 (my second 710 on GMATPrep Exam).... This score should be the most accurate one. Right? 
Perhaps I did have an off day on the official test day.

Btw I did drive to my office (same distance to test center from my home) to take the test. I wanted to simulate the test day scenario to rule out whether the commute affected my performance.

apsahota · Answer

Rich,

I emailed you the screenshot of my verbal ESR

KarishmaB · Answer

We do hope it was an off day on the official test day but I would request you to take the Verbal dip seriously. You don't want a similar second score, if possible. Of course, now one can cancel one's score without any repercussions if one doesn't like it, but every attempt does involve serious time, effort and money.

I have known people to get scores very different from GMAT Prep test scores. They could be much lower, and on occasion quite a bit higher than the prep test score. 
I suggest you to look properly at the shortfalls in the Verbal section and ensure that you plug them before taking the test again.

apsahota · Answer

Thanks Karishma! 
I have been focusing mostly (80% of my prep time) on verbal since my last official test. I do feel that prep test questions are easier than what I saw on the official test.

Hit rock bottom...How can I improve my verbal score?

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