How to approach English/Verbal for GMAT

[prasoon.saxena]

Hi All,
I have given GMAT in 2009 wihout much preparation and scored 450, which is disaapointing.. But I am still confident that I can get good 700+ score in my second attempt IF I get proper advice from you all.

I consider myself -ve in English/Verbal
In maths I am very bad at Probability..

So my intial question is
1. How I must prepare for English/Verbal which can help me score 700+
2. Which books I must go through considering I am zero at probability.

I will really appreciate everyone for there help and advice in achiving target score.

Thank you
Prasoon

[jnelson0612]

prasoon,
Thank you for your question. I don't want to discourage you, but an improvement from 450 to 700 is an absolutely HUGE improvement, and it's going to take so much more work than any advice we can provide in this forum. A 450 is quite a bit below average whereas a 700 is a very elite score. To have a chance to get this kind of improvement you will have to do a ton of work. My recommendations:

1) Take a prep course. Probably plan to devote 15-20 hours a week to studying.
2) Even after the course, you will probably need to study for quite a while, so plan to allot 15 hours a week to study for several months afterward (at least).
3) You can improve your verbal by reading good quality english publications, such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Economist, etc.
4) There are usually only 1-2 probability problems on the test, so I would not worry about those. You need to focus on much more basic categories such as algebra, number properties, and grammar.

Best wishes in your endeavors!

[nuwalt]

Jamie,

Given Prasoon's case, how many months of self study is required after the prep course is over to attain a score of 700? Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

There are too many variables to estimate for everyone (as a general rule). Minimum of 3 months from the start (regardless of whether you take a prep course). In most cases, longer.

In general, you'll make faster progress if you take a course, but you'll also get more out of a course if you're at a 550 or higher before the course starts (because if you're well below the average for your class, you're going to miss a lot of stuff that the class is discussing).