Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
abhi_k_29
 
 

Could not able to improve my verbal score

by abhi_k_29 Sun Aug 31, 2008 6:04 am

Hi
all the time in practice tets i screwed up in verbal and now even losing confidence in it .In quant consistently i am scoring 50 on scale but in verbal not even able to score more than 30 even though i am scoring well in OG questions. Please can any one give some suggestions to improve in verbal section.Any pointer will be appreciable

Regards,
Abhijeet
Guest
 
 

by Guest Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:47 pm

When you learn how to play any sports:

1) You learn the fundamentals and skills needed to play - Reading and Studying
2) You start practicing - OG Drills
3) You start practicing games - Timed OG Problems
4) AND YOU PLAY ON THE FIELD - REAL MATCH - CAT

Playing the game is different story and it is all about applying what you know in a given time against an opponent. SO going back to your question, you have been learning the fundamentals and practicing and but now it is time to play the game.

1) You have to be in good physical shape - 4 hours stamina!
2) You need a GAME plan - how will you attack or defence in the different parts of the game
3) You need to manage time.

GMAT is a business school test and it is all about how a business person can manage his time and make a decision with given data. And it is also a CAT test, which wonders how you will perform when the games harder and you are left with little time to move forward.

Hope this helps to understand my paradigm for GMAT.

EE
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9361
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

by StaceyKoprince Wed Sep 03, 2008 5:51 pm

I like your analogy, EE.

There's a ton of data in those practice tests and analysis of that data can help you get better.

How's your timing? Are you spending too much time earlier in the test and having to rush elsewhere in order to make up time? Are you running out of time at the end? Conversely, are you moving through the test so quickly that you have a ton of time left over at the end?

When you answer a verbal question, are you able to explain not just why the right answer is right but also why the wrong answers are wrong - in particular, the most tempting wrong answers?

On your practice tests, are you "screwing up" every last type of question and grammar area? Or are there only certain areas that are giving you trouble? What are those areas? How are they giving you trouble - timing? Not sure at all what to do? Narrow down to two and then mostly pick the wrong one (when the right one was actually part of the final two)? Etc.

Basically, you have to look at the data to figure out WHY you're not performing as you'd like to perform. Once you figure that out, you can do something about it. We'd be happy to help you figure out what to do, but we can't figure out why you're struggling - you need to do that yourself with the data. (Well, if you have a private tutor, s/he would help you figure that out - but that's a really expensive service.)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep