Why is My GMAT Verbal Score Going Down?
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First: you’re totally normal, and you’re not doomed to get the worst GMAT Verbal score in history. Most people’s GMAT practice test scores go up and down with time, and most people, despite this, end up with a stronger GMAT Verbal score than they started with.
Does it even matter?
Yes (probably). A lot of people decide to spend all of their study time on Quant, for various reasons: Quant is more intimidating. Quant comes less naturally. And sure, Quant is important. But a lot of us spend too much time on Quant and not enough time on Verbal.
This is usually based on a misunderstanding of the GMAT scoring system. Because of the strange system of subscores and percentiles, Quant looks way more important than Verbal. However, that’s mostly an illusion. Here’s the low-down on how the GMAT scoring system works, and why Verbal still matters.
Is it even possible to improve my GMAT Verbal score?
One of my least favorite phrases to hear in class is: “You either know it or you don’t.” People like to say this about Verbal, usually when they’re trying to get out of studying it! But, take it from someone who’s done a lot of Verbal problems over the years: GMAT Verbal is not subjective.
The GMAC spends a huge amount of time and money developing and testing GMAT problems. The organization’s goal is to write questions that discriminate well. In the standardized testing world, a question that discriminates is one that’s good at telling the difference between high scorers and low scorers.
For instance, a great GMAT Verbal question would be one that’s answered correctly by everyone with a 35 GMAT Verbal score or above, and incorrectly by everyone with a 34 GMAT Verbal score or below. Real questions aren’t that good—probably—but the GMAT gets as close as it can.
In order for that to happen, questions have to be designed so that it’s always possible for someone who really knows the rules to get them right.
That doesn’t mean the rules are obvious, or easy to learn. The rules of GMAT Verbal, especially when it comes to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning, are sometimes counterintuitive and hard to apply. But there are rules, and you can learn them, just like there are rules for GMAT Quant. If there weren’t, the whole premise of the GMAT—that it reliably tells the difference among test-takers—would break down.
Okay, fine, I’m studying. Why isn’t it working?
There’s an important difference between Verbal and Quant. It’s possible to start out knowing almost nothing about Quant, because most of us don’t use math rules in our daily lives. On the other hand, if you’re reading this, you already understand written English. And a lot of GMAT Verbal is just about understanding written English. By going about your daily life, your Verbal skills stay at a certain level, without you needing to think about it. Let’s call that level your baseline.
To stay at your baseline, you don’t need to sit around thinking about the rules of grammar or the logic behind arguments. You just do what seems right. If you take a practice GMAT at this point, your GMAT Verbal score will reflect your baseline level of ability.
Then, you start learning the rules.
What happens? At first, you aren’t very good at the rules. You mix them up or forget them completely. You use the right rule on the wrong problem, or the wrong rule on the right problem. You know you’re supposed to be using the rules, so you try your best, but you’ve only been studying Verbal for a couple of weeks—that’s nothing, compared to how long you’ve been speaking English.
At this stage, you need to be patient with yourself. You’re trying to solve problems in a new way, and you’re not an expert yet. But with time and practice, you’ll start to see yourself improve…
…and eventually, you’ll end up back at baseline.
Why even bother, then? If going through all this studying just takes you back to where you started, why wouldn’t you just spend that time on Quant, instead?
Here’s why. Your baseline probably won’t ever change very much on its own (at least if you’re a native English speaker, or a very fluent non-native speaker). It’s tough or impossible to change your “ear”—if something sounds wrong to you, it won’t just start sounding right.
On the other hand, you can always improve your rules knowledge, and you can often do so quickly.
If you have very limited time to study, and you’re starting with a fairly high GMAT Verbal score, it might be better to just focus on Quant. But, if you give yourself enough time, you can make significant gains in Verbal.
If your GMAT Verbal score goes down, don’t panic, and don’t stop working on it. Verbal matters, and it is possible to improve! Stay tuned for some Verbal study tips in the next article. ?
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Chelsey Cooley
is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington. Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master’s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170/170 on the GRE. Check out Chelsey’s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here.