I got 580, need 640...need advice

Question

Hi everyone,

I took the GMAT on 29th December 05, my aim was to score anything above 620, but i just managed 580 (37Q, 32V). The biggest problem I faced was sticking to the time limit. I spend too much time on the first few questions, checking and rechecking that was left with very little time later on. In the verbal section, I had no time left for the last 5-7 questions.

Anyways, was highly disappointed and totally lost. Now I am thinking to take it again and want to increase the score to 640. I have done OG-10th edition, done almost all practice questions and tests of Princeton and Kaplan. Please advice me what to do now, to achieve my goal and what additional books or course to buy.

I really enjoy reading the experiences, so please people keep sending in your experiences.

crazyfin · Answer

i got 560 (45 Q, 23 V) on my first attempt and 640 (46Q 31 V) on my second attempt. dont stress on collecting too many resources. remember it is a general aptitude test. take the 1000 sc cr and rc series. practise as many questions as possible. better idea will be to cut out proper verbal sections from these questions and sit in time limit to take the test.ur verbal seems to be better than mine. so u need prep with maths.take up kaplan 800 , its good.and practise..practise and practise.
one thing i will tell u....once u r taking the test BE CONFIDENT. no need to check and recheck ur answers....one shot and move on.....look at the aÂ´whole test..

bono · Answer

2 crazyfin

I've been looking for a post like this for a long time. I am almost in your shoes:

1st attempt 530 (q40, v23)
2nd attempt 580 (q43, v27)

How did you manage to increase your verbal score?

crazyfin · Answer

my verbal cud have been much better....i was soooo hungry at the start of the verbal section that i wanted to quit at the very first question,....i just cudnt think against the hunger....

i liked kaplan 800....basically verbal is throughly a logical reasoning section. even in RC u have to choose the best choice as at times there is no correct answer...or is quiet inconspicious. so improve your concentration...try to be more analytical...very critical in ur thinking....do this in ur daily life...it is actually an attitude....to quickly reject the illogical options.....am i sounding philosophical....well thats how it worked for me.

i used OG 11,kaplan 2005, kaplan 800, and some 400 sc questions from 1000 series. but as i picked up the logic i made almost all correct by the POE.

but the key to scoring high on verbal is to sustain the exhaustion after the first 2 sections...trust me on this. so this time when u prepare....make sure u practise complete tests....and if thats not possible...cut out tests from the 1000 series and take a looong verbal section for say 2 hrs at a stretch...do anything to exhaust urself beforeu take up the verbal section...say...when u come home tired....take a verbal section....funny?thats what i am gonna do this time...coz when i do only a verbal section with fresh mind i do terribly well but with a complete test the score falls....

best of luck...

kcng8 · Answer

Hey, you said you didn't have time to do the last few questions, does that mean you didn't even guess them and left them blank? If that's the case, then i think you will get a better score next time by finishing all the questions. Becuase leaving question empty is worst than getting them wrong.

sperumba · Answer

kcng8 is right 


the penalty for leaving unanswered questions is higher than the penalty of answering them wrong. 

so your score should improve if you complete the section.

girl17 · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I did answer the last few questions on my verbal, but had to guess on all of them as I had no time. The worst thing was that I got 4 RC's and the last one was in the last 10 mins, had no time to read and I was getting stressed thinking abt rest of the questions, and I knew that some of the last questions wld be CRs as I got lesser of them in the beginning. I really really messed up my timing. I think it happened coz i practiced OG right in the end and never timed myself.

I am still thinking of how to start preparing again, is there any post where the strategies for second time preparation are given. I have been looking around here for a long time.

Also read at a few places, that you might be able to increase the score marginally....I am really scared...what if I dont reach my target even this time.

God bless me and all the other test takers!! :roll:

sperumba · Answer

This what bb said on getting a low score.

10. If you got a low Score on the PowerPrep, reconsider your decision to take the test in such a short time. If your score is within the range  (hoping you can improve another 20-50 points) continue your studies. Study for 3 days and then take sample tests for 2 days in a row. Make sure you write the essays in the beginning so that you know how much energey is required for the WHOLE test. This way, you can leave some more brain power for Verbal rather than if you exhaust yourself completely over the essays and Math.

GMATT73 · Answer

This is so true. A vast majority of us take practice CATs only to ignore the two AWA essays, which will inaccurately skew your overall preformance. The AWAs do sap a bit of energy (especially if you are shooting for a 5+) so you need to practice on pacing yourself for the entire 3.5 hours.

I actually scored 30-40 points lower on the official test because I was only practicing with Q/V 2.5hr tests.

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I got 580, need 640...need advice

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