How can I improve my CR and RC

[esalt85]

I have taken the GMAT yesterday, and I am really disappointed, to say the least. That was my 3rd attempt. So here is my "GMAT history":

(1) 2009 October 15: 610 (Q47 V27) AWA 5 - I took my first try with 1 weak of preparation
(2) 2009 December 22: 610 (Q46 V28) AWA 5.5
(3) 2010 November 5: 640 (Q47 V31) AWA n/a

My weak quant result on the 2nd attempt was a misfortune. My supervisor left the room, and in the meantime my pen stopped working. I lost 6 minutes, and was really stressed 2 additional minutes... I really regret that I did not cancel that score.

Anyway, I am very determined to beat the test. I'm NOT giving up on my dreams because of that. I will have my 4th try in 1,5 months. But what I really don't understand is what on earth am I doing wrong? I know I have a really weak verbal score and whatever I do doesn't seem to improve my score. I have followed all the tips written in the Manhattan SC book, I know all the rules and idioms by heart. I have also improved my speed on verbal - I never guess anything, I spend 1,5 minutes on each question (when I started my gmat journey I used to guess 6-7 questions by the end of the test). I also have taken my TOEFL without ANY preparation and scored 110 out of 120 possible.

Quant is also a mystery, I have been trying to improve my score to 49, but that seems almost impossible to attain! I know each and every rule written in the 5 Manhattan Books. Again what's wrong?

When I do simulations quant is 49-50 and verbal is 35-40, but on the real test everything goes wrong.

I feel that the CR and RC are my weakest areas... I end up with 2 answers, and pick one without really having a favorite. SC is ok, I hardly have 2 mistakes per simulation. Please advise, what else should I study? What method should I apply?

I'm 25 and other then the gmat score I have a brilliant profile. GPA 3.95, 3 years in BIG 4 tax advisory / business recovery services. International experience (I was hired to by the PwC office of a EU neighbor country). Summer schools in Europe and US. Part time job as a student. Distance leaning program in higher mathematics and modeling. I was also the chief editor of the faculty news paper. Have 10 years of professional piano training. I used to be the best in my math class... No way am I doing to give up on the TOP 10. Please help!

I quit my job in August, and dedicated the last 2 months to the test, however in a few weeks I will start working again. It will be a new, challenging job and I won't have much time left for gmat. How should I use my available time AND improve my score ( I need 700... all of it)?

PS. I don't have any GMAT tutors / courses over here so that is not an option for me.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're having a tough time with the test. I did notice, though, that your verbal score has improved (4 points from your first test!), so nice job on that! (Even though you're not yet where you want to be, you are making progress.)

Your quant practice scores were not that much higher than your official quant scores, but your verbal scores represented more of a drop. Do the analysis in the below article and come back here to tell us what you discovered:

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

Also, if you have taken an MGMAT CAT, use the below article to analyze your most recent test and come back here to tell us what you discovered. If your most recent test was taken under very non-official conditions, then either use the test before that or take a fresh test under 100% official conditions.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/e ... -part1.cfm

While we wait for the above data, I can get you started with some additional ideas for RC and CR.

RC:
reading:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... mp-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... rc-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... ading-comp

how to study RC (using a sample problem):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm

CR:
general strategy:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... -reasoning

how to study CR (using a sample problem):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/CR-assumption.cfm

Finally, you mention that courses or tutors aren't available wherever you are. Lots of companies (including ours) offer live courses and tutoring online. Possibly there are other reasons you don't want to take a course or do a tutor, but if it's really only your location, know that you can get live help online and the teaching platforms that we use are so close to the real thing that you won't notice that much of a difference!