Need A Solid Retake Stratergy

[Manihar.sidharth]

Hi All
Just gave my GMAT last Saturday and ended up with a abysmal 670 (Q 50 and V30).
I cancelled my score , because i had already decided that I will not take anything below 720.
So here I am now perplexed on how to proceed further.
Here are some of things I did for my last attempt :
1) E-GMAT Verbal Course along side Power Score CR bible
2) GMAT Club quant tests
3) 4 Manhattan Tests (scores ranging from 600 - 650),
4) GMAt Prep and GMAt Prep EP1 (630- GMAT PREP 1,680 GMAT PREP 2,680 GMAT PREP EP1,710 GMAT PREP 1 RETAKE ,680 GMAT PREP EP2)
5) Revised around 250 odd GMAT prep SC questions from a file downloaded from GMAT CLUB resources

I also got out my ESR and here is verbal breakdown : CR 19, SC 32, RC 33
I never thought during the test that I was doing so bad in CR , but eventually the almighty has the last say.

I think my Quant is in order and I need to move from V30 to V38 to get to my target score.
My verbal average score in GMAT prep was 35 and I thought I would be able to get the same in GMAT, but yeah I was wrong.

Please help me experts , as I plan to give GMAT in next couple of months.

Thanks for your support in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

First, a 670 is NOT abysmal. It is a very good score. I know you want an even higher score, but I'm still going to say congratulations for reaching 670!

In fact, I would advise you to consider reinstating the score (though that will cost $100). I know that you want a 720+, but you don't know that you will actually achieve that goal. If you keep canceling anything below 720 and then never reach 720...you will not have any GMAT score at all.

Okay, what to do from here. The first thing I'm noticing is that your study resources are mostly practice resources, not study resources. There's a difference between learning what you need to know for the test, and practicing what you learn on sample questions.

So my first piece of advice is for you to stop practicing so much (especially stop taking so many practice tests). Read this (right now):
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... many-cats/

My second piece of advice is for you to step back and actually learn what you need to know. First things first.

I don't know what materials are included in the E-GMAT verbal course. Did they provide you with books or other written materials that laid out how to tackle each of the three question types, including strategies for the different RC and CR types, and grammar rules / meaning issues for SC? How did you feel that the PowerScore CR bible worked for you?

I know that your CR performance was lower on the real test, but that could have been a consequence of rushing on CR and making careless mistakes. What was your average time like for each question type? And how did you feel while taking the test - when did you feel pressured regarding time and how did you handle it?

In order to jump from 30 to the high 30s on verbal, you're going to need to identify resources that will teach you all of the underlying content and strategies. (I'm not naming specific books because I'm obviously biased and like my own company's books best. You'll need to research and find what you think is right for you.)

If you want to get an idea of our books, here are some resources on the three verbal question types:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... rehension/

http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... reasoning/

http://tinyurl.com/scprocess
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ce-part-1/

Tell me what you think about the above and also repeat this out loud right now: I got a 670 and that's a very good score on the GMAT. I'm going to keep studying, because I have a higher goal, but I feel good about how far I have come already.

[Manihar.sidharth]

First, a 670 is NOT abysmal. It is a very good score. I know you want an even higher score, but I'm still going to say congratulations for reaching 670!

In fact, I would advise you to consider reinstating the score (though that will cost $100). I know that you want a 720+, but you don't know that you will actually achieve that goal. If you keep canceling anything below 720 and then never reach 720...you will not have any GMAT score at all.

Okay , I guess I agree that 670 is not that bad, but I do believe in myself to score more than 700, so I am going to pass the idea of reinstating my past score.

Okay, what to do from here. The first thing I'm noticing is that your study resources are mostly practice resources, not study resources. There's a difference between learning what you need to know for the test, and practicing what you learn on sample questions.

You are right Stacey, I think I did made a mistake to learn from practice questions rather than learning what I should know to solve them. I am going to correct this going forward

So my first piece of advice is for you to stop practicing so much (especially stop taking so many practice tests). Read this (right now):
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... many-cats/

Understood, I will take care of this going forward.

My second piece of advice is for you to step back and actually learn what you need to know. First things first.

I don't know what materials are included in the E-GMAT verbal course. Did they provide you with books or other written materials that laid out how to tackle each of the three question types, including strategies for the different RC and CR types, and grammar rules / meaning issues for SC? How did you feel that the PowerScore CR bible worked for you?

Frankly I now realize that I did not had any definite strategy for any of the questions types. So I have decided to go back to Power Score and E-GMAT to get my strategies in order. I know it is a time tacking process , but I guess it is worth it.

I know that your CR performance was lower on the real test, but that could have been a consequence of rushing on CR and making careless mistakes. What was your average time like for each question type? And how did you feel while taking the test - when did you feel pressured regarding time and how did you handle it?

This is exactly what happened.I was crusing till 1st 10 questions, no problems whatsoever.But then suddenly came the 11th question and from thereon it was a downward slide. I still remember there were some difficult SCs that took a lot of time and I guess that impacted my CR performance.

In order to jump from 30 to the high 30s on verbal, you're going to need to identify resources that will teach you all of the underlying content and strategies. (I'm not naming specific books because I'm obviously biased and like my own company's books best. You'll need to research and find what you think is right for you.)

If you want to get an idea of our books, here are some resources on the three verbal question types:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... rehension/

http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... reasoning/

http://tinyurl.com/scprocess
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ce-part-1/

Tell me what you think about the above and also repeat this out loud right now: I got a 670 and that's a very good score on the GMAT. I'm going to keep studying, because I have a higher goal, but I feel good about how far I have come already.

I know MGMAT books are very good, but I would now like to stick to whatever resources I have.
Thanks for your post Stacey. I am sure going to come back and report my progress to you.
Do let me know if you have any more suggestions for me.

Thanks
Sid

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, great - process first (and content, for SC), then you can practice how to apply that process / content to actual questions.

I don't have anything else for you now - just let me know how it goes!