How to improve verbal score

[rupali.kunmun]

Hi Stacy,

I gave gmat for the 4th time but got a score of 530. I am not able to improve my verbal score despite several attempts.Please suggest me how to improve the verbal score.

I have observed that most of the times i am 10 mins behind the target time.So as per the below strategy i randomly guessed a few questions (not in series) to make up the time.Despite the below strategy i have never scored in 30's in actual gmat. Even though i have done well in gmatpreps.I want to know how many maximum number of questions that i need to guess in order to reach the target score of 40 in verbal section.

Also i need suggestions from you regarding the private tutoring from mgmat.I have already taken few hours oft private tutoring from mgamt but it did not help much in improving my pace in verbal section. Should i take few more hours of private tutoring?


when-to-guess-t11412.html?sid=e3c11459e73db6618c3c710187b47373#unread

Gmat score : 530 (Q45 and V20)

The following are my scores in gmat prep:

Gmatprep 2:640(Q47,V31)

Gmatprep 1:710 (Q 49, V38)

Gmatprep 2:610 (Q42,V31)

Manhattan CAT test :670 (Q 47,V34)


Materials used:

1.All GMAT strategy guides
2.OG 10th and OG 12th
3. GMAT Verbal review
4.Question banks from Manhattan



Regards,
RP

[rupali.kunmun]

Hi,

Any of the manhattan gmat instructors pls help.

Regards,
RP

[StaceyKoprince]

Please remember to read the forum guidelines before posting. Please don't "bump" your own post. We respond to all posts in order, oldest first, and the date of your post is based on the date of the last post in the thread, not the first. If you bump your own post, you will wait longer for a response!

The "strategy" you describe (to guess randomly) is only what to do if you find yourself in a situation where you are behind on time and the clock is ticking - but that is an "I'm just trying to stop myself from completely crashing and burning" strategy, not the actual strategy you want to plan to use.

Here's what you need to do (read both):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

I want to know how many maximum number of questions that i need to guess in order to reach the target score of 40 in verbal section.

And so, given what I said above, the answer to this is "That's not the right question." :)

It typically takes people at least 4-6 weeks to fix significant timing problems, sometimes longer. If you did a session or two of private tutoring, that likely was not enough time to show a measurable improvement. As to whether to do more - tutoring is expensive and I have an obvious conflict of interest in recommending it. :) The question to ask yourself is whether you feel you learned things during the sessions that were valuable enough to be worth the price.

Keep in mind:
- a couple of hours of private tutoring, even with the best tutor in the world, probably won't make a ton of difference
- tutoring is not a magic pill; you still have to do a huge amount of work on your own and be very proactive about making the most of your study time with and without the tutor
- a tutor is something like a therapist: if you don't feel like the tutor can talk to you / teach you in a way that makes immediate sense to you, then don't keep working with that tutor (it doesn't matter if s/he is nice, smart, well trained - sometimes we "click" with people and sometimes we don't. If you don't, then either find someone else or work on your own)

My big question for you: why are your practice test scores so much higher than the real test scores? Timing is obviously part of it, but you're presumably having similar timing problems on practice tests, aren't you?

Read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

And analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s) using this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Finally, look through this, particularly the section on how to study:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

[rupali.kunmun]

Stacy,

You are correct I have timing problems both in practice tests and in actual Gmat.
Before the actual gmat date,for 2 months, I practiced a lot of verbal problems from OG Verbal review, LSAT book and Collection of gmatprep CR and SC questions.I practiced these questions in timed conditions every single day.I use to solve 10 questions from each topic (CR,RC and SC) everyday.But still I am not able overcome the timing issues.This may be one of the reasons for my low verbal score.

Please advise how to overcome the timing issues.


Regards,
RP

[StaceyKoprince]

Read the first two articles I linked in my last post and do what they say. :)

It typically takes a good 4-6 weeks to address major timing issues. Also, it's a lot easier to stay on track when you're doing static sets of questions - the real test is harder precisely because it's adapting to you, so you don't get that many easy (for you) questions.

If you were doing sets of 10 only: it's a lot easier to stay on track for 10 questions than for 41. That doesn't mean you should do a set of 41 questions every day, but you do have to learn how to handle the timing across larger sets. (See the timing article I linked above.)

Next, were you doing "isolated" sets? (eg, 10 CR, then 10 SC, etc.) That's also easier because you're not having to go back and forth between different types of questions. That "switching" in your brain takes a few seconds every time.

Finally, *doing* questions is not actually how you learn to become more accurate or more efficient. Analyzing the questions *after* you've done them is how you learn to get better and faster.

Here's how to analyze a practice problem:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

And here are examples of how to use the above technique on 5 different problems:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/GMATprep-SC.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/CR-assumption.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm