Took gmat today. Verbal crushed me. 31 V 49 Q total 650

Question

hi everyone
i took my gmat today, got over about 2.5 hours ago.

The quant was decent, manageable. The verbal seemed fine at the start as well until i came upon this extremely lengthy passage which was asking for the main idea. DAMN! i ended up spending Way too much time on that. and then panicked, couldn't not make heads or tails out of the rest of the questions, i.e. 14 questions with about 18 minutes left. I'm sure I got most of them wrong.

BUT this performance was very close to my gmat prep scores, i.e. 650, 650 and 680.

I wish to hit the 700 mark, for which i will need to improve my verbal score to 35 at least and all in a month's time, since i plan to retake on 13th feb.

I have access to Kaplan online material, but i have not used it extensively.. how close are the questions to the real gmat? 
 
Also I have done manhattan for verbal but not in considerable depth.

Is it worth it to purchase the verbal guide for this one month's preparation?

Should i join some online course for verbal, other than kaplan?  if yes, which one? I am a college going student and will need a very flexible study schedule.

Also, the IR on the paper was very easy, though i couldn't attempt all of it since i hadn't practiced them before but i was able to answer all the questions i attempted to my satisfaction. Its like a jumble of math, CR, and a little bit of DI.

Please suggest a study plan for this month, to pull my score from 31 to 35.

commdiver · Answer

Look at the above quote from your thread. That is exactly why you did not do well on verbal. If you spend a month really studying the MGMAT SC and CR guides, you should be able to get a 38+ on verbal. For RC, try reading articles in The Wall Street Journal , The Economist , Popular Science , or any of the book in this thread . Here is my suggested study plan for you: 1. Keep reviewing math. You do not want to forget what you learned. 2. During this month, spend some time every day reading to improve reading comprehension. 3. Spend two to three weeks studying the MGMAT SC guide. That is all you need for SC 4. Spend one to two weeks studying the MGMAT CR guide. Some also like the PowerScore CR guide, but the MGMAT one is good as well. 5. Take the GMAT and score a 700+. If you spend the month that you have studying for verbal, you should easily pass the 700 mark. I hope that helps

psharma21 · Answer

i sure do hope so too.

i will follow your advice..

thank you!

chains1910 · Answer

Having come from a similar but opposite position, I think I can speak to your study plan. I took the test 3 times, and crushed the verbal all 3 times, but it took 3 tries to get the quant score I needed. My study plan going in to the 3rd try, was to complete every math lesson in the Kaplan program and supplement it with videos from Khan Academy on certain areas i needed more focus. I studied after work about 4 nights a week, dedicating one night every other week to keeping fresh on verbal. On the weekends I took full length CATs (I didn't write the essays, though) to build mental stamina and ensure I was fresh on verbal, while driving home the quant I was studying heavily. I bet if you use a similar study plan with emphasis on verbal you will have no problem getting into the high 30s or low 40s and getting over that 700 barrier.

AbhiJ · Answer

1 month may be too small a window to improve by 50 points. Your score doesnot improve in last 2 weeks as you are revising. Would suggest you to prepare in a relaxed manner and then book a date 1-2 week in advance once you hit your target score in GMAT Prep. You can try pushing Quant to 50 and that would improve your score by 20 points. OG Verbal review 2 is a MUST. If possible try to get hour hands on GMAT Prep Question Pack 1.Please avoid other resources till you have exhausted official resources mentioned above.

midofnowhere · Answer

My result was also Q49 V31 and I got 660 - 1st attempt. I don't know why there is such a difference between your score and mine. I think the major problem to the Verbal part is that you were exhausted after three stressful parts (which really happened to me). So if you want to retake GMAT, you should practice with stress and prepare a good health. If I were you, I would do it.

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Took gmat today. Verbal crushed me. 31 V 49 Q total 650

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