My Gmat Disaster: From 500 to 530 in 18 months of efforts..

Question

I wanted to obtain GMAT score 650+( verbal-32 and quant-48). But I scored -500 (v-16 and q-45) on 23/01/11. After one and half year of study I merely scored only 530. I studied a lot for improving verbal. I covered Mgmat(8 books), GP verbal, OG-11, 12, and gmatclub posts. I was so much confident that i thought I will get a decent score in my second attempt. So I dared to be confident to get at least 650 on second attempt. But the nightmare was come again. I got 530(v-18 and q-46) on 5/8/12. My quant score indicates that I have the ability to score 48+ in quant because i got q45+ in both exams. My quant part was completed 15 minutes earlier, causing 23 minutes break. After this break my mental ability seemed to be fresh and energetic. I picked each verbal choice reading well, i understood all the topics, RC was very well, CR was very clear to me, but at the end the worst result appeared on the screen. I read MGMAT SC guides several times. But In the exam I got many unfamiliar patterns in SC. I got 650-690 in new GP 1 and 2. 690 in mgmat -1( v-34 and q-50). I used OG -12 & 13. I solved around 500 verbal questions. 
I read every explanation from MGMAT forum.

• What should I do now? 
• How can I improve in Verbal? 
• How can I overcome my problems in verbal?

I am thinking to write the Gmat again after two months. Is it possible to score around 32+ in two months? Please give suggestions in this regard. Thanks everyone for reading my posts.

A broken heart non-native……..

plz show me how can i overcome this verbal 16-18 boundary?

BrushMyQuant · Answer

Hi, First of all sit and relax! have faith and condifence on urself! Read this post of mine (this will boost you a bit!) 570-to-700-my-gmat-journey-133461.html Now, how to do the gmat preparation. Its always important to have good hold in Basics. So i will suggest you to read the theory once againa nd try to understand as much as you can! Check out this post: how-to-start-gmat-preperations-136048.html Also, Prepare a xls sheet (topic by topic).. and keep a track of your progress on a daily basis. Use color coding (Red,Orange,Green). Red: You are weak in theory - brush up your concepts. Orange - Done with theory but weak in application of the concepts Green - Done with the topic How to improve Verbal :-- Watch Thursday's with Ron How to improve Quant :-- Register in grockit.com and practice, practice and practice! Good luck for your rpeperation! Hope it helps!

rajeevrks27 · Answer

I second nktdotgupta on what he said about thursdays with Ron: A great material available free of cost, A must do, IMO.
Besides, you can try enrolling in the e-gmat SC course. I've heard great guns about it. You may check out it's free concepts in level 1.
Even I was bruised after my first attempt so i decided to go for the long haul, reading Wall street journal, NYT and gmatfiction. Doing so helps i feel.
For quant you can check out my signatures.

GMATPill · Answer

It looks like you've tried other guide books and they haven't helped. It's time you change your strategy. If others have been able to improve with your background (nearly perfect quant but ok verbal) you can too. How do you know the weakness is all coming from SC? You don't have problems in the other areas of verbal?

A video-based approach will do more for you than buying another study guide. It appears you're hitting a plateau and you need another strategy. The advice the others have given are all fine, good resources to read through and skim. But as you've said and as you've noticed, you've already done all the OG12 and 13 questions. Doing more questions is not really going to help you. You need to focus on accuracy. Then speed. Identifying question types is the first part to improving accuracy. Why? Because the next time you come across a question, you can spot what type of question it is and then be able to pinpoint where all the booby traps are. Once you do that, you can cut down your answer time from 2 min down to 1 sec hopefully.

Change your approach. You can improve your score.

machichi · Answer

I think you need to stop studying for a month or two and  just read in English . I don't mean to be rude, but your writing indicates only moderate proficiency in English. If you focus on reading you will have a better ear for sentence correction and you will be better equipped to understand, analyze, and answer critical reasoning and reading comprehension questions.

Your so-so writing skills make me wonder if you truly are understanding what you're reading. Perhaps even joining a book club of sorts to discuss short stories. You can learn strategies once you have this stuff down!

windofchange · Answer

IMHO, you should improve your general English competence first before prepping for the GMAT. Although GMAT is not a test of English proficiency, you still need to make sure you are capable of dealing with standard written English. So, if you have time, I suggest that you brush up English grammar, then start reading from Newsweek, NYTimes to more sophisticated ones such as The Economist, Scientific American. Once your English ability is improved, start studying for the GMAT.

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bb · Answer

I think you studied too long... 18 months is way too long of a time.
Spend 2-3 months max and do a very intense review starting from the basics. All your work should be focused on the Verbal!

See this too: gmat fiction

goelanu · Answer

I agree 
with bb & windofchange. 18 months is way too long for an exam like GMAT.
I think you should relax and take a break first before thinking of a retest.

First sit down and analyse what went wrong. Since your verbal score needs improvement, focus on verbal for the next 2 months.

Second, since you have read all MGMAT's books any OG12 & 13, change your strategy this time. May be you are not able to retain what you are reading.
Third, start reading newspapers, journals etc daily to improve your understanding of English. There is a free basic grammar book available on gmatclub, download it & start reading from the scratch.
 For CR- you can refer Powerscore & for SC- you can refer Aristotle. These books are typically easy to understand as compared to MGMAT's.
Fourth, keep practising different types of questions available at this forum once you finish each topic of Aristotle & Powerscore.

I think if you follow this strategy with full dedication & focus you will definitely see improvement in your verbal.
Don't lose heart. .Just Focus. .!.!
Good Luck. .!.!

Posted from my mobile device

duriangris · Answer

Hi,

I really think that you are taking the problem from the wrong perspective.
You have a good quant and should be smart enough to handle verbal, the problem must be a language problem, but you spend so long to prepare the verbal rather than improving your english.
I believe you should put your priority there, if you spend as much time, energy and money at improving your english rather than craming on the verbal, you should be able to double that score.

underscoregmat · Answer

Thanks a lot for responding my sufferings. I got

AWA-5.5
IR-5
TOTAL-530(46/ 18 )
I took 20 days rest for refreshing. i am now ready and fresh for 3rd attempt within 1 and half months. 
so i am urging effective way(s) for overcoming my verbal sufferings.

underscoregmat · Answer

I attempted two times and got 500 and 530- (awa-5.5/IR- 5/ Q-46/ V-18).
I want to appear for 3rd attempt in sept-12. so plz help in verbal.

plz show some clues that will be helpful for raising my verbal score 30+

what should i study now?
 i used 
og -11/12/13
testpaper 1 to 30
and gp questions

what else i need to do or how i need to handle this barrier ?

Bangladesh.

BrushMyQuant · Answer

Try Thursdays with Ron
Link in my signature

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