Help in developing a strategy for the verbal section

[mayaben]

Hello,
I would like your help with developing a strategy that would suit me in the verbal section on the GMAT.

English is not my first language, and RC is my weakest field trough the verbal section.

Observing my last MGMAT CAT exam (verbal 34 - 74%):

I saw that 1/2 of my mistakes are in RC, 1/4 in CR and 1/4 in SC.
In addition I saw that I usually spend between 1:00 and 1:30 minutes more than I am supposed to on each of the RC paragraphs (assuming 2 minutes per question, and a total of 6 minutes), and I get only around half of my answers for these questions correct...

During most of the verbal section, I am around 80% - 85% ile. estimation, however, because
I am running out of time in the last 10-15 questions of the test I have a lot of mistakes (I get only 1 right out of every 3 questions), and I spend less than a minute per question.

Consequently, at the end of the section my ile. estimation dropped from around 85% to 74% (final score 34).

What strategy would help me maximize my performance?
Should I pass / guess one of the RC paragraphs, and if so, which one?

Thank in advance for your help!

[StaceyKoprince]

First, you need to fix your timing problems. If you continue to try to take the test in the way that you're currently taking it, you will always run out of time, no matter how good you get, and your score will always drop at the end.

The test will ALWAYS give you things that are too hard for you to do in the timeframe that you have. No matter how good you get, the test will just give you something harder. So part of your task is to identify when you CANNOT do the problem sitting in front of you in the expected timeframe. That may be an RC question, but it could also be an SC or a CR - just depends on when the test gives you something really hard.

Go back and take a look at your last practice test. Which questions were so hard that you might have been able to recognize, at or before the one-minute mark, that your chances of getting this one right were pretty low? How would you then make a guess on a question like that? How will you recognize the same situation in future, at or before the one-minute mark, so that you can take a guess and move on?

This article may help you to do a more in-depth analysis of your practice tests:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23/evaluating-your-practice-tests

This article will help you to develop a study plan:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/09/developing-a-study-plan

And this one can help with time management:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/22/critical-skill-development-time-management

Finally, this article can help you with your RC reading:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/23/how-to-read-a-reading-comp-passage

Go take a look at some of these, develop a plan based on the article that I linked above, then come back here and tell me what your plan is; I'll tell you what I think. (I'm making you come up with the first draft of the plan yourself because this is a skill you need to develop!)

[mayaben]

Hi,
I would like to thank you for your detailed answer, it helped me a lot! :)

I decided to use you advice, and read the articles you gave me. I discovered that I am wasting too much time on my wrong questions, and decided not to get stuck on questions that I am usually wrong with
(RC interference, RC specific details, bold CR, and CR that I don't understand the english).

The results were immediate.
I did two verbal section since. In the first one I scored 38 (did just the verbal section). In the second one I scored 39 (full exam, with essays, no pause button :) ),

Although, I still get a lot of RC questions wrong (I don't think that any extra time will help me to correct those questions...), at least I am not wasting too much time on them.

However, I still have some timing problem, and some wonders about the results :

When I scored 38 - I noticed that most of the section I was around 70-74%. In the end of the section, since I had a lot of time left
I had a row of correct answers - which brought me to 38 (%85), but with 13 minutes left (!)
(Hence, I am not sure that this grade is reflecting the real exam, since on the real exam I thought that the first couple of questions are the ones that determine the grade),

The 39 test (%89), was more balanced (I was around the 80-85 precent most of the section), however I had 10 minutes left in the end.


Anyway, I find it a bit weird that from 34 with no time left in the end, my score jumped in a week to 38-39 with 10 minutes left in the end... I don't know how much this result is reflecting, since I've read couple of threads in this forum of people who scored high on the MGMAT CAT, but on the real exam was 50-70 points below. Also, the result of my 38 exam was a bit weird...

Moreover, with the new situation, I think that I still have some timing problem...
What do you suggest that I should focus more? where should I put more effort / time? In the beginning or in the end of the section?

[StaceyKoprince]

This is a myth:

I thought that the first couple of questions are the ones that determine the grade

The earlier questions aren't "worth more" than the later ones. So don't try to take the test according to that myth. :)

Also:

I've read couple of threads in this forum of people who scored high on the MGMAT CAT, but on the real exam was 50-70 points below

This does happen to some people; then there are others who score 50-70 points above on the real exam. Most people score (on the real exam) within 50 points of their final practice test score, but some people score outside of that range. If we look at the results of ALL of the students together, the average "skew" between the last practice exam and the official test is consistently +/- about 5 points. This is one of the ways in which we ensure that, overall, our test is reflective of the official test. Obviously, though, individual scores will vary more widely than the overall average.

Okay, so you've managed to see some really nice improvement so far, but I think you can do more! The jump in your score is due to the fact that you are no longer running out of time and getting a lot of questions wrong towards the end. When you have a lot of questions wrong in a row (or closely together without many right answers), your score really drops a lot, because the levels keep getting easier as you get more wrong. (But you can't start getting them right because you just don't have the time.)

So, great work! But you can get even better. How do I know that? Because you're finishing with a bunch of time left; you've swung a bit too far in the opposite direction. We can use that time! It's just as important to spend enough time as it's important NOT to spend too much time. If you're finishing with that much time left, various things might be happening:

(1) You might be working a bit too quickly on most problems, in which case you might be making careless mistakes that you can learn to avoid making. Use the below article to help:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/07/how-to-learn-from-your-errors

(2) You might be giving up too soon on the ones that are too hard for you. Do you know how to make educated guesses on those kinds of problems? (Educated guessing = finding and elminating wrong answers before you make your guess) If you can get good at this, you might actually guess right on a couple of those "too hard" ones! (You'll still get most of these wrong... but, hey, you've got an extra 10 minutes, so it's worth the time!)

Also, you mentioned that you think you might still have some of the same timing problems you used to have. That's not surprising; it's hard to break old habits. Keep doing what you've been doing in order to get better at spending enough time but not too much time.

[mayaben]

Hi,
I really appreciate your detailed replies.
They helped me a lot!!!

I have finally scheduled a date for the GMAT - 10 days for now. By now I am quite satisfied with my results (I want a grade with 7 in the beginning and according to all my recent results I am there).

My main problem is still the RC (either I get the points for the passage or I miss it), but in the overall grade I perform nice...

I would appreciate if you can give me "last mile" advices
What should I do between now and the test day?
(besides solving GMAT Prep 2 exams for the last time...)

[StaceyKoprince]

Take a look at the free e-book The GMAT Uncovered (under the Extras tab in your student center). There's a whole section in there about test day, what to do or avoid on or before test day, etc. I wrote that section, so it has all of the advice I would give on that kind of stuff.

Just some ideas here, but go read that section of the book I described above:

- switch your focus from trying to learn new stuff to trying to review everything you DO know already
- practice under real testing conditions, even when you're not doing a practice test (timing yourself appropriately, etc.)
- DO NOT take a practice test within 3 days of the real test (official MGMAT recommendation) or, if you want to follow my advice, within 5 days of the real thing :)
- general rule: the closer you get to test day, the less you do overall, and the more you focus on higher-level stuff for whatever you do review

Good luck!!

[mayaben]

Hey,
Today I took the GMAT. It is not the first time that I am taking the exam, and my previous grade was 680 (50 math, 29 verbal) from 6 months ago.

Today I retook the exam, and was shocked by the overall result 620 (49 math, 25 verbal).

In all the last MGMAT simulations I had at least 700 (around 38-39 in verbal).
Also in the GMAT Prep my results were between 740 and 770 (took twice each exam - around 40-42 in verbal).

All those exams were taken without the pause button and with the essay section. Also I tried to imitate the conditions of the real exam as best as I could...

So what happened?
1. During the first 8 minutes break, the palm verification device malfunctioned and was unable to verify my identity. I had to repeat the verification process several times and with different devices in the center.
Consequently, when my identification was finally verified I lost 2 minutes from the math section.
The same problem occured again in the break between the math and verbal sections. As a result, I could not use the full 8 minutes break before the verbal section.
I have no doubt that this incident hurt my grade,
made me feel very uncomfortable and caused me unnecessary stress.

2. Even though, I thought that the verbal section went ok.
I was stressed, but I was still able to think.
I was really trying to keep it up with the time, not to get stuck on hard questions, and was able to finish the whole section with around 2-3 minutes left. Yet, I got this shocking and dissapointing grade. What did I do wrong?

Did I threw questions too quick?, did I not really read through the whole parts of the CR and relayed too much on my intuition? Or maybe the strategy I was working with is good for the practice tests but not for the real exam? (For example, in this exam I finished the whole verbal section in time and received 25, while in my previous attempt I did not finish the section, guessed the last 5-8 and yet got 29...)

Stacey, I need your help! :(

In addition, I would like to know
1. Does the device failure provide a sufficient reason to cancel this score? What should I do in this case?
2. What should I do next?
3. Since the questions in GMAT Prep and the MGMAT tests are already repeating themself, I need some kind of other material / exam to help me improve my time management skills. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you for your help.

[StaceyKoprince]

Contact the test administrators immediately and explain what happened. The fact that the failure of their device cost you time in both sections (not to mention the general stress) should definitely be addressed by them. I don't know how they would address it but, if this had happened to me, I would at least ask for a free re-take of the test.

I think it's doubtful that they will cancel the test score after the fact. They only do that in the rarest of circumstances. If you had declined to continue working on the test in the middle (so that a "cancelled test administration" would have appeared on your record), then you might have had a shot at getting them to remove that from your record, especially if you filed a report at the test center and explicitly stated that the reason you were stopping your test was the technical issues they were causing for you.

Contact them, explain the case, and see what they offer.

You mentioned that you were re-taking the GMATPrep exams. Were you also retaking the MGMAT exams? What did you do when you saw repeated problems? Specifically, did you always get them right, regardless of whether you'd gotten them right before? Did you take normal time to answer or less time than you would have if it had been a completely new question?

If you were answering questions correctly that you should have been getting wrong, or if you were spending less time than you would have under normal circumstances, then your practice test scores were likely inflated. Unfortunately, it's impossible to tell how much.

If you were not doing those things, though, then your official score definitely represents a big drop from your practice scores on the verbal. In that case, we need to figure out why this happened. Part of it, obviously, was the palm scan issue - the stress and the time it cost you at the beginning of the section. There are probably other factors as well, though. Read this article and do the analysis described, then come back here to report your findings:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26 ... went-wrong

It is possible that one of the causes was a timing imbalance. Because you knew that you were often too slow, perhaps you sped up and actually went too far in the other direction, answering questions too quickly and making more careless mistakes than usual. I see this happen a lot in practice. A lot of times, students will first try to speed up on the ones they think are easier, thinking that that's the easiest way to save time, and then they make more careless mistakes on the ones that they really do know how to do - and the score drops. It's possible that you did this, too, except you did it on the real test. (The better thing to do is to identify those ones on which you're spending too much time and cut those off more quickly.)

Anyway, go contact GMAC and Pearson, and then let me know on all of the above other stuff.

[mayaben]

Thank you for your detailed answer!
I think that you are a great person, and I really appreciate all the time and effort you are putting in each one of you answers!

I called the Pierson center. They said that my case was reported by my center. Also I've added a detailed e-mail explaining my claim. They told me that they will get in touch with me soon.

Nevertheless, I think that I was going just too fast on the real exam. For some reason the intuition that I had while solving the practice tests at home just did not work during the real exam. If I thought that I was doing okay during the verbal section, but obtained such a grade - obviously I did not pay enough attention to the questions...

On the real test, I marked an answer immediately after I thought I know the answer, without reading troughly or rethinking about the answer. This happened for two main reasons : I was way too aware on the time and where I should be in the section after X minutes, and constantly worried that I will not get to all questions... ,
In addition, I think that the stress had something to do with it, and I know that thoughts about the palm device were running through my head the whole exam...

Regarding how inflated my preperation tests were: Whenever I see a question that I remember, I intentionally try to take the time to answer this question slowly. However, sometimes I see questions which I do not remember solving (for example some of the GMAT PREP questions are taken from OG12, or retaking a GMAT PREP exam after 6 months break). Since I usually solve repeated questions correct, I can not know how inflated my results were.

Before this exam I took 3 MGAMT exams: The results in the verbal were :
34 (this was before I was trying to speed up as described above in this thread),
38 (just verbal - with 13 minutes left in the end),
39 (full exam- 10 minutes left, 47 in math, 700 overall).
These results were NOT inflated, all the questions there were new to me.

After that, I took one MGMAT last exam, for which I obtained 760 (42 verbal, 51 math). But in this exam I know that the score was inflated since I remembered some of the questions.
I do not know how inflated were the GMAT prep exams, but all of my results were around 750-760.

On the real exam, I was expecting 36-40 in verbal, 50 in math (not below - I am very strong in math), and an overall grade above 700.

So now, what shall I do next?

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, so you were scoring in the mid to high 30s on the MGMAT tests without inflation. Wait. On those tests, did you do the tests all in one sitting? Did you do the essays? Did you limit yourself to two 8-min breaks?

For most people, not doing the essays will result in an inflated score, especially on verbal. For most people taking longer breaks or breaking the test into multiple sittings will also result in an inflated score. So I just want to make sure.

I also think it's a good idea for you to do the analysis in the article that I posted in my last reply.

Definitely the stress of the situation affected you. It's already stressful in general because you know you're taking the real test. Then, being delayed due to the device not accepting that you are who you are makes it even worse.

It also seems like you were already going back and forth on timing issues in practice, sometimess too fast and sometimes too slow. Going too fast on a question would also make it even harder to concentrate and make sure you're doing what you need to do on that question. So it sounds like one of the major things you need to fix is this timing issue: how to spend enough time on each question without spending too much time.

Here's an article that can help you train better for the timing:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/ ... management

Start practicing the above with smaller sets of questions, not entire tests. You can make yourself sets of mixed questions from the various OG books - there are thousands of questions in those, so you should be able to find some new ones or use old ones that you did long enough ago that you have forgotten them.

It also sounds like you may have some issues with making yourself evaluate each answer choice thoroughly and that sort of thing. These articles describe how you should read and study verbal. After you've read one set (say, RC), then go and do some practice with problems of that type to solidify the lessons and practice how to process the questions and how to study. Don't try to read all 6 articles at once. Pick one area to start and really try to solidify your knowledge of how to study and how to do these effectively, then move on to another - maybe a week for each type.

RC:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... mp-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/ ... e-question

SC:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... on-problem
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/03/ ... c-question

CR:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... -reasoning
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/01/ ... r-question