Improvement in my verbal

[sureshreddy003]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you for the inputs. Yes I have thought a lot before joining and felt ok let me clear all my weaknesses by attending coaching classes even in Maths. I felt that attending classes would help me in analyzing and improving my weaknesses too. I am currently working on the same.

Regarding mental fatigue, it may be have been a factor as I already said that I had to work on an issue at office and my leave got cancelled. I had lot of work on last 2 days before the test, but during the exam I felt that I was doing well, maintained time and eliminated choices. But not sure what went wrong or where I made mistakes.

I always believed that it's the d-day which decides your future, whether you score good or not in practice tests and the same happened to me. Presently I am watching Ron's videos on CR to see if there are further approaches for CR questions. I am also concentrating on Maths this time as I should be touching 50 by any means and I am trying to dig all my weaknesses.

I took a practice test of that institute today and scored above 600, which makes me eligible for 680+ range coaching. I should have got a score of 660-670 based on my number of incorrect answers, but they have some other logic which gave me a lower score than should have. As I am aware of how GMAT works, I am not concentrating on their tests much now, but concentrating on learning concepts in the class.

What do you think is the issue with me on real test as I am scoring at 680 level in practice tests? I am sure that in the 2nd attempt, I was not tensed and there were no timing problems. Please advice.

Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

I should have got a score of 660-670 based on my number of incorrect answers,

The test isn't scored based on the # of correct answers - we have discussed that already, haven't we?

It's good that you can move to advanced coaching now.

I am sure that in the 2nd attempt, I was not tensed and there were no timing problems.

I think I have looked at maybe one set of student test results in the past 5 years where the student had almost no timing problems. EVERYbody has at least some timing problems, though sometimes they're on the minor side. So if you're telling me that you have no timing problems... I don't believe you. :) That's a struggle for everybody, though some people have learned how to handle it better than others.

Note: finishing a section on time absolutely does not mean that you had no timing problems on that section. No timing problems would mean: spending at least 45-60 seconds on every problem, not spending more than about 30 seconds above the average expected time on any one problem, not making any careless mistakes that could in any way have been the result of speed / rushing (even a little bit), etc. Every now and then, I have a "perfect" test as far as timing is concerned, but there's always at least a little bit of struggle - and I've been doing this for 17 years now. :)

So I'm going to challenge you to dig into your timing patterns and really make sure that you have minimized any issues there.

Next, I do think there was probably some level of both stress and mental fatigue going on - both because of what happened with work and because you knew it was the real thing now. You know the practice tests are not the real thing - the pressure's not the same. That's where a healthy understanding of the way the test works (http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/) and a strong time management strategy become so important. http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

On these practice tests that you have taken recently, what's your analysis? What's going well and what's problematic, in terms of both accuracy and timing? Their tests give you different data than ours, I'm sure, but you can still try to adapt the analysis in this article for use with these other tests:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

[sureshreddy003]

The test isn't scored based on the # of correct answers - we have discussed that already, haven't we?

Yes I do know about this and yes we discussed about it, but the test which I wrote is based on number of incorrect...7 wrong - 42, 6 wrong-44...which is why I said that the score may not have been correct...:)

you're telling me that you have no timing problems... I don't believe you. :)

Ha a bit of sentence correction mistake from my side, which made you think that I did not have any timing problem....In maths I had a timing problem and in some DS questions I could not get the gist of the question. It was as if I was reading French language and I knew that this is the reason why I got 47, when I had the ability to score 49+. This had to happen as I did not practice maths much last time.

In verbal I did not had severe timing issues(as I had been practicing after my 1st GMAT) and this time I even set up the barriers in verbal section..

57min - 11q ; 39min - 21q ; 21min-31q..

I had maintained this through out the section and I might have been -1 question near the 1st & 2nd barrier, but I don't remember properly. I did not lag about 4-5q where I need to guess, but either I maintained time or lagged by 1q, so in the entire verbal section I guessed about 3q , which I felt on the 1st reading that I did not understand them. During verbal and while answering questions, I felt that I would get a score of at least 30 but never thought I would end up 19. My 1st attempt was better with a score of 23, even though I had severe timing issues :(

Even now and earlier my problematic area was in CR & RC, though inconsistent. Sometimes I scored well in CR/RC and sometimes I screwed both. There was only 1 instance where I screwed my SC during my 2nd phase of preparation and unfortunately that was in GMATPREP2 . Also, in main test I did not see even 1 question on idiom or where I could eliminate answers based on some grammar. Yes I was aware that GMAT is concentrating on meaning and I practiced the same too as suggested by you, but not sure if I screwed up my SC on the test day.Also, I had the habit of getting a loop of incorrect answers continuously at the end and may be I repeated the same on the d-day.

All these are assumptions from my side where I might have gone wrong. So to cover up these, I am concentrating on CR/RC specifically this time and also Maths completely. I have started of with seeing Ron's videos on CR and also I got some lessons of CR from the coaching center. Next I will revise SC concepts and try to concentrate on meaning more this time. In my last test I got '0' SC wrong :), so I am not that bad at SC(there were no idioms on that test and most of them were on meaning). I had timing problems in the test, but this was because I had lost practice from past 1 month.

Irony is that I ended up with the same score on real test which I got on GMATPREP2 in my both attempts :(
This time I will write tests of different companies (MGMAT,Kaplan,GMATPREP and my institute's), of course not many, so that I would have a practice of different resources. Last time I did only MGMAT tests and may be I was used to the language and felt comfortable answering MGMAT tests. So this time I don't want to leave any chances.

I am trying to see a better resource to understand how to attack RC's. I have followed MGMAT RC guide last time, but my RC concepts did not improve. Also, I hope we don't have many Ron's videos on RC as we have for SC/CR. Do you suggest any other resource?

Please advice.

Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

Oh, I see - that particular test was scored based on # correct. Yeah, that's probably not such a representative test, then.

You mentioned the math feeling like it was in a foreign language at times. That can also be a sign of mental fatigue - keep an eye on that.

Also, in main test I did not see even 1 question on idiom or where I could eliminate answers based on some grammar.

So you really felt that you struggled with SC on the real test. There were likely grammar issues going on, but you were also likely seeing many questions in the more convoluted "lots of big things changing / structure changing" format, which is a lot harder than some of the more straightforward "splits" format questions.

See the below article. You've likely already seen some of the individual articles linked within this article before, but it's a good compilation of what's going on with SC lately:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

For RC, I can give you my list of RC articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... c-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... rehension/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... prehension
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/11/ ... il-problem

Those will give you high level ideas of *what* to do and then you can go practice the techniques and processes on other questions and passages.

How are things going with the coaching institute that you have joined?

[sureshreddy003]

Oh, I see - that particular test was scored based on # correct. Yeah, that's probably not such a representative test, then

Yes I knew this when the scores were displayed. I just wrote that test to score above 600, which would allow me to qualify for advanced coaching and now I am qualified :)

Regarding my Coaching, yes everything is going on good as of now. Maths classes are like a refreshing classes for me to just touch base on all the topics and their basics. Also this is a bit helpful as I had forgot approaches in Geometry, Probability and few other topics(I was best in these topics during my college). Now I am feeling better in maths as we have a daily practice problems.

Coming to Verbal, I am done with CR & RC classes and next week would be starting with SC. Yesterday, my verbal instructor told me, seeing my answers during the class, that I was doing very good in CR & RC and he has to see how I am with SC. I told him that in their test I got '0' wrong. He told me that's great then you should have joined advanced coaching directly as you are getting almost 90% correct in these classes. I told him that I wanted to have a strong command on basics and which is why I joined these classes first.

Coming to my personal learning, I am done with Ron's videos on CR and they are very helpful. His approaches helped me to answer many questions correctly in my class. May be from next week I would start taking Manhattan & Kaplan tests(as these are standard tests) to see how I improved or how I am answering the questions within time. I am planning to take a mix of tests of various institutes so that I would be used to different languages.

I hope GMATPREP is giving explanations with timing in their new software and I hope this would be very helpful for me to see why I am actually going wrong on the actual test. Also, wanted to ask if database of Manhattan practice tests is upgraded? I mean concentrating more on meaning in SC or any other changes which happened in GMAT or new questions pool.

Also, wanted to ask you that do Manhattan have any thoughts on setting up their coaching center in India in the near future? May be you already know that there are many students who are fans of manhattan and who follow your books in India. Also, most of the coaching institutes in India ask us to follow your books, verbal especially as you have high standards :)

Thanks for the RC links! I read them earlier, but would read them again now to grasp any new idea from them.


Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

I just wrote that test to score above 600, which would allow me to qualify for advanced coaching and now I am qualified :)

Got it - that makes total sense.

I'm glad to hear that you're making such good progress on verbal!

The GMATPrep 2.0 exams don't offer explanations or timing, so you will still want to time yourself per question for those exams. The practice questions, however, do give both explanations and timing.

We are in the midst of a big project to add new questions to our CAT pool - new questions are going in every day across multiple categories, actually, including SC - and we're definitely putting in a bunch that cover meaning and meaning-related grammar issues.

Finally, we would love to hold classes in India! So far, we haven't found anyone to hire there, but we are always looking. Spread the word - we need people with 99th percentile scores and strong teaching experience!

[sureshreddy003]

Hi Stacey,

How are you! It's been a long time that I have replied as I took a break from preparation as my health went down. I was going good with preparation but had to pause a bit. Now I have started my preparation again from past 1 week. I am done with Ron's videos on CR/RC and I think they are helping me a lot.

I just wanted to see where I am and after a long time I took MGMAT1.

MGMAT1 - 680 (M-48, V-35)

Though this seem to be a good score, I am not happy with this score as I should have scored above 700. I remembered few answers in verbal-5q, but I spent the same time solving them as I do on other questions. In maths, I remembered questions but I forgot their solutions and I had to spend more time on them, just recollecting the correct path.

I had severe timing problems in this test, may be due to lack of practice. Maths, I spent about 3min+ on 10ques and I know this is huge drawback. On analysis I found that I got many wrong in DS(9wrong) and got 7 wrong in PS and most of them were from geometry. I answered 2questions correctly which I remembered, but got about 5ques wrong which I saw earlier but did not remember their solutions.

Coming to Verbal, I felt I was going good with the timing until 20q when I found that I was lagging behind 4minutes. On analysis I found that this timing got a toll on me and I got 8 wrong out of last 11q, uff this is huge drop in my score. Until 30q my %le level was 91 and after 41q it fell down to 77. I got loop of questions wrong from 30-33, but on analysis I found that I could not have got them right even if I had spent time on them as they were very tough. Also 35/36 questions from RC had answers which needed opposite thinking. These were really tough questions.

I got 15 wrong in verbal with 5 wrong in each section.
SC - 5w/10R ; CR - 5W/9R ; RC - 5W/7R

Leaving remembered or known answers aside, I felt that I fared pretty well on other questions, thanks to Ron's explanations, but I feel that I should have scored above 700 as I knew some answers :(

Also, I forgot about IR sections. My god I did not expect this section to be so tough. I did not go through this section and took this directly in the test. I was expecting questions in the form of data interpretation, but it was more than that. I could only solve 2 questions and I feel that it would take at least 5 minutes to solve 1q. How much should I concentrate on this section? Do my earlier AWA score of 6 be considered by schools, if I get a low score on IR?

Coming to my classes, I joined advanced coaching last week(as I was not well and had to take rest for 2 weeks) and it started with verbal SC. The instructor who is teaching is amazing as she explained many rules in SC. Listening to her, I felt that I had not concentrated on many things in English language. I am dedicating this entire week for SC revision and reading some basics as suggested by my instructor.

Also, I feel that taking MGMAT tests would not give me a correct replica of my improvement as I have taken them twice before. I may be seeing the same questions which I have seen earlier. What do you think about this and could you suggest any other tests, which I can take other than MGMAT. How are 800score tests? Can I try them this time? I hope MGMAT site redirects to 800score for additional tests ;)

Please advice.

Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. Don't be so tough on yourself. You stopped studying for a while, so of course you're going to be rusty. You'll get back into it. And you're not THAT rusty - you scored 680! :)

until 20q when I found that I was lagging behind 4minutes

What did you do at that point? If you discover halfway through that you are 4 minutes behind, you have to take action immediately - you're going to have to skip a couple of questions sometime in the next 5 to 8 questions in order to make up that time, while also in general being more alert not to go way over on individual questions as you continue through the section.

Re: IR, are you applying this year? Most Western schools are not using IR this year; they'll only start to use IR next year if they look at the data and realize that IR is valid and telling them something valuable about the candidates. (I qualified schools with the word Western because I'm not sure what Indian or Asian schools are doing. If anybody has heard anything, let us know!)

So if you are applying to Western schools this year, then our advice is to go for a score of 4 (50th percentile) or higher. In other words, you can get many of the questions wrong. Know what your strengths and weaknesses are for the various types, and just guess quickly on your weakest areas. That gives you more time to spend on the ones that are your strengths.

If you are applying next year (or later), things get a bit more complicated. The schools may or may not use IR. They may weight IR lightly or heavily. They may want to see high scores or just medium-or-better scores. I've been telling people to go for a 5-6 on IR if you're applying next year or later - this is really just a guess though.

I haven't tried 800Score tests myself, but a couple of my fellow teachers have and thought they were decent (though we still like our tests better, of course. :)

But, yes, you recognize too many of ours now, so you should try 800Score. Our students actually get a discount on their tests - look in your MGMAT Student Center for details. Then maybe in a month or two you'll be able to try ours again (or maybe you'll be fine with 800Score!).

[sureshreddy003]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the inputs. As u asked,when I saw that I was 4 minutes behind, I just went through and was waiting for a right question to guess and move on. Usually my bad habit is I guess RC questions, SC I never guess blindly but does guess between 2 options if I am out of time. Also CR if I feel I did not get the answer then I guess the answer which seems close to me.

I took another MGMAT and this time luckily I did not feel that I knew the answers for any of the questions. Though I saw few questions which I knew earlier, I did not remember their answers. In verbal I got those known questions wrong

MGMAT 2 - 700(M-50, V 35).
Verbal - SC-6W, RC-6W, CR-7W

Maths I was fine and I did maintain time and guessed few questions when I felt that I am spending too much. I knew that I would get good score in maths as I felt questions were easy, but at the same time I was feeling, ahh I might have answered my previous questions wrong and which is why I am seeing an easy one now. But all the questions were of 700 range and unfortunately I got 3 wrong in last 6questions. That dropped my %le from 99 to 95. All these 3 questions were tough and time consuming, so I guessed them.

In IR, I have improved a bit and scored near to 4 this time as I got about 5 questions correct. But I did not practice IR until now and I am seeing IR questions for the first time only in MGMAT tests.

Coming to verbal, I was going pretty good with the section. At the end of 10th question I was 2min behind, but by 20th question I maintained the time gap by solving some SC questions quickly. By the time I reached 18-20 questions, I felt that I am getting very tough questions and there was pressure on my brain. Even SC questions were of 3 lines and I had to concentrate harder. Then after 30th question, I closed my eyes and thought ah, last time I got many questions wrong in last 10, so let me do them correctly now and I maintained calm as I was within time.

On review I found that, I got questions 18-20 wrong(continous 3) and then from 22-29 wrong(i.e 8 ques wrong). Oh my god, my %le fell from 99% to 63% at 30th question. I was lucky that I got the next 10 correct and my %le improved, if not I would have ended up with a score of below 20. I think this may have been the mistake I committed during my original GMAT. Out of these questions, I could have got 2-3 correct with a bit of thinking, but all the other were very tough to answer.

I think MGMAT was kind enough that my %le level did not fall much, but if I had done the same mistake in GMAT, then I am sure I could have never got 35 with so many mistakes that too continuously.I got my 3rd RC wrong entirely and got 2 questions wrong in 2nd RC(which makes 5q wrong in RC's) from 18-29. May be the questions were tough and even my brain was banged with these questions.This has been a practice for me to get most questions wrong in between or at the end. I should overcome this, but I am not able to do it. How could I rectify this issue of committing mistakes in a line, even when there are tough questions.

Yes, I am going to apply for US schools(only top 25) this year at any cost as already I have been trying this test from past 1 year and I have wasted most of my time. I am hoping that I would get a good score this time. I am going to take GMATPREP1 this weekend and then decide my date depending on the score.

Please advice.

Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

SC I never guess blindly but does guess between 2 options if I am out of time

Note: on all verbal questions, once you're down to 2 answers, you should compare those 2 answers ONCE more, that's it. Then guess and move on. Don't go back and forth multiple times!

I was feeling, ahh I might have answered my previous questions wrong and which is why I am seeing an easy one now

I know it won't be easy, but break the habit of thinking about how you're doing while you're taking the test. First of all, you have no idea whether a question is rated easy or hard or in the middle. Even the people who write the questions don't assign difficulty levels - that's why they have to test the questions on 1,000+ people before assigning difficulty levels.

Further, you might think a question is easy for you or hard for you, but that doesn't tell you how the question will be rated across the entire pool of test takers - and that's how the difficulty level is determined, not by what you find easy and hard. :)

So when you find yourself guessing how easy or hard a question is and thinking about how you're doing - all you're doing is wasting valuable time and valuable brain power.

In the past month or so, every student with whom I've spoken who has already taken the official test has told me that they thought our IR was much tougher than IR on the real test. So that's good news - keep practicing, but you'll probably be fine on the real test.

So you hit a bad stretch in the middle of verbal. You said that you could have gotten 2-3 right "with a bit of thinking" - do you mean that you made careless mistakes or you moved on to quickly or you were getting mentally tired and so didn't think through as carefully as you needed to? Or something else?

For the others, if they were too hard, they were too hard - sometimes we do get a little string of hard questions in our weaker areas. It's unlucky, but there's nothing you can do - you're going to get hard questions wrong because they're hard.

For the ones that you can do, though, you have an opportunity. Because you know that you have this pattern of becoming mentally fatigued as verbal goes on, give yourself a couple of "free passes" during that second half. When you see a super hard question, you can just let it go completely - maybe even close your eyes for 30 seconds, or look up at the ceiling and roll your neck around to give yourself a little bit of a mental break, then pick a random answer and move on.

Also make sure that you have some kind of glucose (real sugar) on the break before verbal. Fresh fruit juice, gatorade, an energy drink - all of those will give you a quick hit of glucose, which helps perk up your brain in the short-term.

[sureshreddy003]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for those tips. I had taken GMAT PREP1, but did not post here until you replied :)

Before I took this test, I was thinking whether to take this or not as I had some family issues. Then I thought ok even during my 2nd GMAT attempt, I had some issues so let me take this and see how those issues take a toll on me. Also, usually I got tensed earlier while taking PREP2, but this time I was tensed for this test. The result was as expected :(

GMATPREP1 - 640 ( M-50 , V-27, IR-4)

When I was doing maths, I was pretty good and was getting good solvable questions. I had some timing issues here and there but I managed them by guessing and solving some easy questions faster. At the end I got may be 2-3 questions for which I knew the answer as I saw them earlier. Unfortunately I got my last 3 questions(35-37) wrong and my score ended at 50, if not I would have scored 51 :)

Coming to verbal, I decided not to have any timing issues and followed my timing stages. I could maintain that, but as you know we will have some timing issues here and there. By the time I reached 30, I was exhausted, but I felt nah let me know do these last 10 questions correctly, so that I could get a good score, if my earlier questions went wrong. At the end when I saw my score, I was disappointed but I knew why did I get such score

SC - 8W, CR - 2W, RC - 8W

Even in MGMAT I got about 18 wrong, but as said MGMAT was nice to me which gave me a score of 35 earlier. Usually I score well in SC in MGMAT tests, but when I come to GMAT, I get most SC wrong and I find this is the reason I get a low score in original GMAT. Not sure if I am not able to understand the language or I fall for tricks. In between I got very tough SC questions for which getting answer was difficult, but on review I found that I could have solved 3 questions, but I made some silly mistakes.

In CR, though I got only 2 wrong, I would not take this, as I got some questions for which I knew the answer. I also got wrong few questions for which I knew the answer. In RC, I am committing a lot of mistakes and this time I got my 1st RC wrong completely. I have decided to spend my entire next week on RC and solve/analyse as many OG questions as possible. I cannot get these many RC questions wrong in main test.

I found my issues during the tests. Outside issues, mental stamina, fatigue all these get a toll on me even if I don't think much about them. Also, as said earlier thinking about previous answers. I know that I have to get over these, but I cannot help as there are issues surrounding me which I cannot stop :(

Coming to my classes, I am going good with them. Unfortunately I solve most of the SC questions correctly in the class and also explain the reason for selecting right answer and not selecting wrong answer as this was the way you made me practice, but I don't know what happens to me in the exam. I am thinking "Am I low in confidence when I go to exam hall" or " Do I think a lot"?

Unfortunately my MGMAT tests expired , so I purchased 800score tests to test myself with new pool. I have to see how they fare. Also, can't we see the questions again in GMATPREP after we close the application and re-open? I could only see %le and timing.

Heard that you are visiting India and planned a class here. That's a great news to Indian folks, but I feel that cost is too high as per Indian standards. I hope you would have come to that figure based on some survey or marker. Also, classes are planned in a different state so I cannot visit you :( . I hope that you have great time here and visit tourist places when you have time :)


Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

Not sure if I am not able to understand the language or I fall for tricks.

And that's what you need to figure out - exactly why you missed anything that you missed. The stamina issues make that tougher, of course, but don't just say "Oh, I was tired, but I knew how to do that." What specific mistake was caused by your tiredness? Why that mistake and not another? Etc.

Also, can't we see the questions again in GMATPREP after we close the application and re-open?

Sadly, no. I don't know why they do this. When I take GMATPrep, I take screen shots of all of the problems right after so that I can go back and review them later.

I hope that we get enough students to run the India class - I really want to come. We know the cost is on the higher end by Indian standards, but we are also trying to make sure that we hold to our teaching standards. The class is limited to 25 students - we won't have 50 or 100 students in the room. The best way to learn for this test is NOT to have someone lecturing to you. The best way is for me (the teacher) to question the students and make them figure out how to think and justify their thinking, and you can't do that effectively with more than about 25 students in the room.

[sureshreddy003]

Hi Stacey,

How are you! It's been a long time since I posted here as I was busy with preparation and other classes. I gave my GMAT today

GMAT 650 - (M - 48 , V - 32)

It is neither a bad score nor an excellent score, but I hope it is a good score to get into top 50 b-schools. I am just satisfied with the score and especially verbal. I never hoped to get a score of 30+ in original GMAT, as earlier my verbal scores were screwed.

May be you forgot my earlier scores, so just a recap.

GMAT1 - 590 ( M-48, V-23)
GMAT2 - 550 (M-47, V-19)

As discussed the 2nd attempt was a nightmare. So this shook my confidence and this time I didn't want to leave any scope for mistakes. My friend suggested an online course, which was made for Indians, so after I took that course my verbal confidence improved a lot. SC & CR became my strong points in verbal.

I felt may be my last scores were low because I made mistakes in SC, so i didn't want to do any mistakes this time. So I understood the meaning and there by eliminated every answer. I am happy with a score of 32, which I hope is a good score.
Maths, I tried for 50 and may be another 2 point increase would have given me a score of 670, but I cannot help much about it now.

Earlier I was thinking of getting into only top 20 b-schools, but as time went on I thought doing in any of top 50 is good. Based on my score, I can apply to schools ranked between 25-50 and may be I can convince them about my maths score. I do not want to re-take GMAT again, as I have already spent 1 year on this and have taken 3 attempts. So I don't think it would be a good idea to take another attempt. What is your view on this?

I can tell schools about this average score as GMAT has some deviation. I saw people who scored 660 with Maths-49 & verbal-31. Unfortunately my score is on the other side. Also, I have an experience of 5 years in software industry and have a good GPA.

I know that for this question you would say that it is better to ask an admission consultant, but as you were the person who helped me in achieving this score, I wanted to take your suggestion. What do you think of chances for me to get into top 25-50 b-schools.

Thank you very much for the support you have given me all these days. Without you, may be my verbal would not have improved to this extent. Though I could not achieve a best score, I achieved at least a good score.

Thank you once again :)


Thanks,
Suresh

[StaceyKoprince]

Wow, that's really great - congratulations! Your verbal score improvement is really impressive. And thanks for coming back here to share.

I don't know that much about admissions, but your scores should be fine for schools in the 25 to 50 range. Also, I don't know where you're looking, but some countries place less emphasis on GMAT scores - for instance, in Canada, the schools care less about GMAT and so there aren't such crazy averages for the incoming students, as there are in the US. (That doesn't mean the quality of the schools is any less - people just don't spend the same kind of time preparing here in Canada because the schools don't care as much. Unless, of course, the student wants to apply to US schools...)

If I were you, I would do some research into the average scores at the types of programs to which you'd like to apply - but it's really only the top 10 that are looking for 700+ kinds of scores (and, even then, there are plenty of people who get in with scores in the 600s).

And, yes, as you predicated, I'm also going to suggest that you talk to some admissions consultants. :)

Congratulations again!