Advice needed for 2nd attempt; Got a 620 in 1st attempt

Question

hi,

I took my GMAT yesterday. got a shameful 620 (Q-44, V-31). Though in my powerprep test I got a 680.

After being very depressed for a day, i have gathered some courage to re-take the test. the date is 13th July 2006. But the problem I have is that I have exhausted all my test material. Though I have 1000 Ques sets, I do not know how helpful will they be at this stage. I have done OG-10th, 11th, Kaplan 2006 with CD, Kaplan 2006 verbal workbook, Princeton 2006 with CD, Powerprep tests.

Verbal -(CR, RC) is my weakness. My accuracy just drops while doing the tests. Otherewise I would get the same que in non-test conditions right. RC esp freaks me out in timed environment.

Kindly suggest as to what should I read and how should I bring my verbal score in the rage of 40-42.

Thanks

Regards

Veenu

kapslock · Answer

Veenu,

First things first. 620 is NOT shameful. I'd want to point out a couple of things that might help:
1. Set your goals. Are you looking at increasing only the verbal score to 40-42 range? Or are you looking at increasing both the verbal and quant, and have some overall score in mind?
2. Powerprep 680 implies that you should have hit 650 at least. 620 is not too bad, but the difference of 60 implies that you just panicked in the real test. This can be overcome by taking a lot of practice tests. This makes you "used to" taking tests.
3. Going through the test material would still be helpful. Focus on the mistakes. If it takes 150 minutes to take the test, spend at least 150 more minutes analysing it. Look at where all you did mistakes. For example, I used to commit mistakes like not reading the question completely and marking something else when something else was in my mind. You cannot completely eliminate these sort of mistakes, but can improve on conceptual problems.
4. Check if your speed is a problem. Try to pace your test that you finish everything with 5 minutes to spare. This way, if you run into a difficult question, you don't just have to take a wild guess, nor trying to solve it means you jeopardize your remaining questions. In my opinion, try to solve each quant question in about 1 min 45 seconds, and each verbal question in about 1 min 30 seconds. Having said that, RCs always appear to take more time. For a typical RC, that carries 5 questions, taking 3-4 minutes to go through the RC isn't a bad idea. That way, even if you spend about a minute on each question, you're still taking about 1 min 30 seconds per question overall.
5. This is a scheme I found good for me. For every RC/CR question, mark 1 2 3 4 5 on the notepad, and strike out the answers that you can rule out. Typically, you can rule out 3 options. This makes answering easier.

If you've any doubts, can message me.

Hope that helps.

rhyme · Answer

RC: https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=30247 I swear by this method. There are two examples in there. So far I've got one convert.

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Advice needed for 2nd attempt; Got a 620 in 1st attempt

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