Got 690 today, very bad on verbal. Need to retake

Question

Hi guys,

My name is Fabian and I took my first GMAT today and got 690 (Q50 V32).
I've been studying for the GMAT for over two months, I took an offline course with a company in my country. I must admit the course was really bad, a ridiculously low amount of attention was given to CR, IR or RC, the entire course was grammar, and even in the grammar we just learned the rules, without actually teaching us how to tackle questions as we see them.
A few weeks after starting my course when I did my midterm exam and I saw that I actually got no added value from taking the course, I signed up for e-gmat verbal online course. I will be completely honest, due to lack of time I did the course in a rush, without practicing too much and I barely finished it one day before the exam. I can say however, that in mock tests I usually got a higher grade than what I got in the exam including 3 times that I got V41.(I also must admit that there were times, especially in the workshops, that it was really hard for me to understand e-gmat lecturers accent)
I don't know what I've done wrong today but I screwed up. I can say however that while I think my SC isn't that bad, for most questions beyond the easy ones, I can't eliminate all 4 wrong answers but rather I can eliminate 2 or 3 and from the 2 or 3 that are left I choose the one that sounds the best.
I must retake the exam next month as I want to apply to top b-schools in this year's second round (I'm 31, I'm not getting any younger...)

I'd really be happy to hear from you, based on your experience, what do you think I can do in order to improve my grade in 50-60 points in a month? I am willing to spend more money if that will bring me salvation

Thanks,
Fabian

Thanks, Fabian

bb · Answer

Hi. I think you have a good solid score and potentially a great one. However, it seems you are looking for something much higher, in the 99th percentile range. I wish it was so easy and you could just throw the money at it. The good news, is that the work you have done with grammar should not be useless - you can leverage that in your next prep wave. Great job with Quant! There are a few options suggestions:

1. You can get the MGMAT books or the PowerScore or the Veritas Prep books and spend 1-2 months working on your verbal (your Quant is pretty much at the limit and all score improvement will come mostly from Verbal). You only need the SC, CR, and RC.
2. You can try getting a tutor if you know one locally or can find an ad in your location
3. I don't really know any decent Verbal-only courses besides the eGMAT that does have an Indian accent. However, since you have taken the GMAT, you will qualify for money back guarantee (read the terms and conditions fully to make sure you don't miss anything) in the Economist course. They will provide 50-70 points or money back.
4. Would recommend that you try to read as much as you. GMAT Fiction should be your friend
5. Here is a post to review as well: how-to-improve-verbal-from-v30-to-v40-142361.html

Good Luck!

EntMBA · Answer

Thank you very much for your help!!

Unfortunately, I am not eligible for the economist guarantee because I need to have at least 10 weeks between the sign up and the test. Had I known about this course earlier I wouldn't have thrown the money I had on the useless course I did in Israel. Guys, if anyone considers taking the GMAX in Israel. Forget it, it's useless. Courses outside Israel are cheaper and of higher quality. I will go over the other recommendations and see what I will do

EntMBA · Answer

So after reading the sources mentioned above and looking on courses reviews I am in a diemma, I would really like to hear what other people in my condition did. 
I saw that Magoosh and GMATpill both has a score guarantee of 50+ points. Magoosh price is definetaly more competitive, but GMAT pill ratings are higher (98% vs 94% and with more reviewers).
I wonder how do non-natives find these courses? Can anyone recommend?

Alternatively, I have OG13 and Manhattan GMAT 5th ED SC books. Unfortunately I'm an idiot and I wrote on the OG and the quantitative and verbal reviews.So I thought of buying the the 2015 OG and to get myself books on RC and CR, maybe on IR as well (on IR I got 7/8 yesterday) and just go over the all the books (start with SC until I get the other books) and then I will commit myself to solving 20 questions of each subject a day plus one mock test a week and after finishing all the material, a mock test each day until the exam day. And I will sign up for an exam in one month and a half from now.

Wow does these plan sound? which of them would you recommend?

bb · Answer

Hi. I don't think that's a meaningful difference. I would read their policies pretty carefully though to make sure there is no other "limitation" or "issue"
Keep in mind that OG 2015 is identical to OG 13 (it won't have any writings in the book but it will have identical questions).

The way I see GMAT Pill - it is intensive prep that you can cover in a few weeks or a month max. Magoosh is more of a longer course (not as intensive). I have seen people score well with both. They are obviously only a fraction of the price you would get with Veritas, MGMAT, or The Economist, so there is a bit of "you get what you pay for"

Best Regards,
BB

smit29may · Answer

Hello bb,

I scored a 710 last week. Q 49 and V 38.
A little panicked about the quant percentile. It is 79. Will that be a red flag? As I have read sectional scores are expected to be 80+ for top schools.

Awaiting your thoughts .

https://gmatclub.com/static/posted_from.png     Posted from    GMAT ToolKit

EntMBA · Answer

I am no authority on this, but from what I talked with some admission consultants, first, it's no trivial to get Q49, it's a pretty high score and well it depends on the rest of your application, usually if you come from a scientific/engineering fields, then they assume they have nothing to worry about your quantitative skills. If you come on the other hand, from a marketting field, or from a field where you don't really see numbers all day, then you need more to prove your quantitative skills and in this case a 50-51 will be better. All in all I think 710 is an outstanding grade, I totally understand if you think it's an annoying grade because top b-schools GMAT average is above it, but if the rest of your candidancy is good, I think that the GMAT won't be an issue IMO. As to myself, I just saw that gmatclub has its own SC book written by its founder so I'll use this book for SC and I'll use the RC and CR books recomended by this forum (RC MGMAT and CR from powerscore) and may god help me

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Got 690 today, very bad on verbal. Need to retake

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