I need urgently helps.

[shimbal80]

Dear all,

I took GMAT 2 times. At first time my score was 480. my problem was in verbal section, my quantitative score was 46 and verbal was 12.

Then I studied all Manhattan verbal books and I took GMAT again but I got 530, my quantitative score was 46 but my verbal was 19. This was in a manner that I got 600 on average in 6 manhattan GMATs and my quantitatives were 46-49 and my verbals were 27-30. but I did not do essay.

I understand the materials in verbal books, and also I answer most of the Official guide verbal book correctly, but on exam time, I can not manage myself, and I can not answer the question right in time limit. I run out of time in verbal. for example, in critical reasoning, my average time per question is 2.40- 3.

Now, I want to take GMAT again. My goal is 680 score. I do not know what to do.

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry the test is giving you such a tough time. One thing we need to understand is why you are performing well on the practice tests in verbal, but not on the real test. You describe a timing problem, but why weren't you having the same kind of problem (or at the same level of severity) on your practice tests?

Also, I think you also posted this on BTG. Was that you? Please let me know; if so, we'll just go ahead and continue our conversation here and I won't also answer you on BTG.

Read this article and do the analysis described: http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26/my-score-dropped-figuring-out-what-went-wrong

Then come back here and post what you found out. That will allow us to figure out what might be going wrong; once we know that, we can figure out what to do about it.

[shimbal80]

I'm sorry the test is giving you such a tough time. One thing we need to understand is why you are performing well on the practice tests in verbal, but not on the real test. You describe a timing problem, but why weren't you having the same kind of problem (or at the same level of severity) on your practice tests?

Also, I think you also posted this on BTG. Was that you? Please let me know; if so, we'll just go ahead and continue our conversation here and I won't also answer you on BTG.

Read this article and do the analysis described: http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26/my-score-dropped-figuring-out-what-went-wrong

Then come back here and post what you found out. That will allow us to figure out what might be going wrong; once we know that, we can figure out what to do about it.

Thank you very much stacey for responding.
Yes, I already sent this post in BTG.
I read the above article and I figure out:
first, I did not do the the practice manhattan exams like real exam. I did not do the essay. and I felt tired in real exam.

Second, I had timing problem in practice test also and when I reviewed CR question and also RC, I understand that some of them I guess. Normally, I can not answer the verbal question quickly. But if I have time, I can answer correctly. I know the rules and materials. I do not know where is my problem.

Third, I think I have stress. Because I know my weakness is in verbal section. So this thought does not allow me to think well. In real exam, the verbal questions were so weird for me. I felt that I have not seen them before.

Forth, I can not read and understand RC quickly.

I run out of my practice questions and now I do not know what to do in order to understand better verbal section and answer quickly.
Could you guide me how to plan and how long you think I should study to reach my goal (680)? how I can fix my timing problem. and how I should start again to study?

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, now we have some data that we can use to figure out what to do.

Your goal is to increase your score by about 150 points. That is a significant goal and it is likely that you will need several months, at least, in order to have a chance to make that kind of improvement. The exact length of time it might take is obviously different for different people.

So we have two big "stages" here. First, you were scoring higher in verbal on your practice tests for certain reasons, and we need to fix those reasons so that you would be able to get that same score on a real test. Second, though, your practice test scores weren't as high as you'd like to score on the real test, so some of the improvement will have to come from improving your current level.

Running out of time at the end of a section causes you to lots of questions wrong in a row. That hurts your score very much, so we need to fix the timing problem.

Normally, I can not answer the verbal question quickly. But if I have time, I can answer correctly.

The first thing to understand is that you will NEVER have time to answer all of the questions on the real test, because however good you get, the test will always give you something harder. Sometimes, you will have to guess. And, if you are going to guess, you want to guess BEFORE you run out of time on the question, not after. So part of your task is to figure out when the test gives you something that you cannot do - and narrow down your answers to make a guess without spending any extra time on that problem.

So, you need a plan. You need to read a series of articles (linked below) to develop that plan.

First, you need to understand better how this test works. Log into your MGMAT student center and look for the free e-book The GMAT Uncovered. (Anyone who signs up for a free test with us or creates an account with us for any other reason will receive a free copy of this e-book in his/her account.) Read this book thoroughly, especially the sessions discussing how the test works.

You should also read this article about time management: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/22/critical-skill-development-time-management

Next, you need to develop a study plan that is targeted to your strengths and weaknesses: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/09/developing-a-study-plan

(Note: you will need to decide whether to study on your own or whether to seek outside help in the form of a class or tutor. There are positives and negatives to both approaches; you'll have to decide what is best for you.)

The study plan article, above, has links to two other articles that you should read after you read the study plan article. I'm not going to link to them here; go read the study plan article first and then click on the links in that article. (One is about how to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and the other is about how to study practice problems.)

Speaking of studying practice problems, you mentioned this:
[url]I run out of my practice questions and now I do not know what to do in order to understand better verbal section and answer quickly.[/url]

You have NOT run out of practice questions, actually! You aren't done with that material yet because you haven't learned what you needed to learn from those problems in order to score a 680. You don't learn from merely doing the practice problems. You learn from studying and analyzing the practice problems. So you still have a LOT you can learn from those problems (and that article I mentioned above will help you learn how to do this).

(I have sometimes studied a single problem for 20 or 30 minutes before I'm done with it! It's typical for me to spend 5 to 10 minutes analyzing any problem, even the ones I get right easily.)

Here are a couple of other articles that might be useful for you:

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

How to read an RC passage: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/23/how-to-read-a-reading-comp-passage

And here are two on stress management; try out the suggestions to see what might work best for you:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/stress-tips.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/strategy-series-stress.cfm

Here's the full archive of articles; once you've done the above, you can browse these to look for more articles that can help you based upon your specific strengths and weaknesses: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/manhattan-gmat

Good luck - after you've developed your study plan, come back here and let us know what you've come up with.

[shimbal80]

Thank you very much Stacey. Your advices and guides help me well.

[StaceyKoprince]

you're welcome!

[shimbal80]

Dear Stacey,
I studied 2 months and got 480, then I studied 2 months again and I got 530.
Unfortunately, I can not register class, I have to study by myself.
Do you think if I study 2-3 hours per day (in 5 days of week) and follow your advice, I will get 650-680 after 2.5 month? I would take real GMAT exam on 15th of August.
I want to retake 6 exams of Manhattan again, and alsoI will register 5 exams of 800score. Do you think the 5 exams are good for me?

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

Unfortunately, there's no way to predict what kind of score improvement someone will achieve, or how long it will take to achieve it.

I will say that, for people I've spoken with in the past who have improved from around a 530 to around a 650-680, some people have been able to accomplish that in 2.5 months of daily study and some people have needed longer. (A few people have needed less time, but that's not very typical.)

That time is going to pass no matter what you do, though, so I'd just recommend getting started right away and not worrying about exactly when you're going to take the test. You can make that decision as you start to improve and see what kind of progress you're making.

If you plan to retake the 6 MGMAT exams, then you do not also need an additional 5 exams from another source. In fact, 6 MGMAT exams may be too many. CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.

I wouldn't recommend taking another CAT until you have thoroughly dissected your last CAT and made all of the improvements you can make based upon those results. That might take you 3 or 4 weeks. Read through those articles that I listed above and you'll get a better idea of what to do.

[shimbal80]

Dear Stacey,

Thank you very much for your responses and advice.

Could you please explain more about "educated guess"?
How should I do master in educated guess when I can not find the correct answer?

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

You can make a random guess or an educated guess. A random guess means that you guess one choice from all 5 answer choices presented. An educated guess simply means that you eliminate at least one wrong answer before you guess (so that you are choosing from 4 or fewer wrong answers, not all 5).

When you don't know how to find the right answer, you can still often find wrong answers using process of elimination. Maybe you estimate on a math question, or try some numbers. Maybe you know one of the grammar rules tested on an SC but not the other. Maybe you see an RC answer with an extreme word in it (these are usually wrong).

When you're studying, ask yourself: what are some WRONG answers in this question and how do I know that they are wrong? What methods can I use to identify wrong answers even when I don't know the right answer?

Note: it's often easier to answer the above questions on problems that you got right. You learn HOW to make educated guesses on problems that you do understand, and then you apply that knowledge to similar but harder problems that you don't understand.

Then, once you've narrowed the answers (to 4 or 3 or 2 choices), you just pick randomly from whatever's still left. That's educated guessing. :)

[shimbal80]

Dear Stacey,

I studied the critical reasoning strategy guide of Manhattan book.
I understand the strategy, but unfortunately, I have problem in time management. For example, I used the time sheet answer. I select 17 strengthen questions in official guide, and then I give myself 36 minute time.
But I could not answer a question in 2 minute and my time was run out and 4 question remained. on average, I answered in 3 min.
Could you help me how I can manage my time in Critical Reasoning?
Do I understand the critical strategy specially in strengthen questions NOT WELL?

Thanks in advance,

[StaceyKoprince]

There are a lot of reasons why you might be slow, so you first need to figure out more precisely WHY you're slow and then that will help you to know what to do to become more efficient.

So, when you spend 3m on average, what are you spending that time doing? How long does it take you, on average, to read and diagram the argument? At what point, on average, do you move to the answers? How much time, on average, does it take you to eliminate the first one or two choices? How much time, on average, does it take you to decide between the final two answer choices?

Now, think about WHY you're spending the various amounts of time that you're spending. Are you struggling to find the conclusion? To understand how the premises fit together with the conclusion? To know what you're supposed to do / analyze on this question? To assess the various answer choices? Are some of these things okay but others are more difficult?

How was your performance on those different questions? How did you do on the ones you answered in 2.5m? What about the ones you answered in 3.5 minutes?

[shimbal80]

There are a lot of reasons why you might be slow, so you first need to figure out more precisely WHY you're slow and then that will help you to know what to do to become more efficient.

So, when you spend 3m on average, what are you spending that time doing? How long does it take you, on average, to read and diagram the argument? At what point, on average, do you move to the answers? How much time, on average, does it take you to eliminate the first one or two choices? How much time, on average, does it take you to decide between the final two answer choices?

Now, think about WHY you're spending the various amounts of time that you're spending. Are you struggling to find the conclusion? To understand how the premises fit together with the conclusion? To know what you're supposed to do / analyze on this question? To assess the various answer choices? Are some of these things okay but others are more difficult?

How was your performance on those different questions? How did you do on the ones you answered in 2.5m? What about the ones you answered in 3.5 minutes?

Dear Stacey,
Thank you very much for your advice.
I analyzed my test. I found that I spent 50 second on average for reading and finding the conclusion and premise. I do not have any problem to identify the conclusion or premise.
I spent around 1.30 min on average on finding the right answer. I am often stuck on 2 tempted answer. I know the strategy , and I quickly eliminate the wrong answer, but I am stuck in 2 answers.

Could you please give me some advice in this regard?
I am worried to guess educated because I am concerned that I choose the wrong answer.

Thanks in advance,
SHIMA

[StaceyKoprince]

You are going to get about 40% of the questions wrong anyway, so if you have narrowed it down to 2, then you're already at 50/50 even if you guess.

Don't worry so much about guessing between the two. If you want to maximize your score, educated guessing is part of the process. It's not just a copout - it's one tool you actually have to use in order to maximize your score.

My rule for myself: when I'm down to 2 answers on verbal, I allow myself to look at each choice ONCE more. Then I pick. I DO NOT allow myself to agonize back and forth. After I look at each answer once more, I'll have an idea of which I prefer. Spending another 45 seconds agonzing back and forth almost never changes that preference.

Now, in terms of learning from those kinds of problems so that you can be more confident in the future, you need to review the following:

- why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible)
--> now I know that this is a bad reason to CHOOSE an answer
- why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
- why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong?
--> now I know that this is a bad reason to ELIMINATE an answer
- why was it actually right?

[shimbal80]

You are going to get about 40% of the questions wrong anyway, so if you have narrowed it down to 2, then you're already at 50/50 even if you guess.

Don't worry so much about guessing between the two. If you want to maximize your score, educated guessing is part of the process. It's not just a copout - it's one tool you actually have to use in order to maximize your score.

My rule for myself: when I'm down to 2 answers on verbal, I allow myself to look at each choice ONCE more. Then I pick. I DO NOT allow myself to agonize back and forth. After I look at each answer once more, I'll have an idea of which I prefer. Spending another 45 seconds agonzing back and forth almost never changes that preference.

Now, in terms of learning from those kinds of problems so that you can be more confident in the future, you need to review the following:

- why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible)
--> now I know that this is a bad reason to CHOOSE an answer
- why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
- why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong?
--> now I know that this is a bad reason to ELIMINATE an answer
- why was it actually right?

Dear Stacey,
Thank you very much for your advice. It realy helps me.

Best Regards