Need advice for my 2nd GMAT preparation

[Grg1516]

Hello

I appeared for GMAT in December 2015 and did not get my target score. I scored merely 450 (Q36, V16). The verbal score saw a big drop from my practice tests as it was consistently 28 whereas Quant score is same. I was mainly facing problem in RC passages in practice tests and my SC score improved a bit. I was scoring 530 in my practice tests and needed a 650 to get into the college I have listed.
Last year I took Princeton classes and referred to OG 15, Manhattan SC, and guides given by Manya Princeton. I am not able to understand this huge drop in my marks and I need a strategy that would help me to increase my verbal score to get 650.
I have heard a lot about Manhattan and been reading the posts on its site. Please let me know what could be done to get that score and in how much time as application deadlines are coming.


Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

Welcome! A 450 to 650 improvement (200 points) is typically a 2 to 5 month process. Obviously, it's different for different people, but that is about the average.

One of the first things to try to figure out is why your verbal score dropped so much on the real test. Take a look at this article to see which things you think might be potential factors in your case:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... t-wrong-2/

Let us know what you think.

Next, you'll need to decide how you want to study in general. You took a class before. Are you interested in taking another class? Do you want to study on your own?

If you want to study on your own, this article talks about setting up a study plan:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... our-score/

If you decide that you want to use our materials or take one of our classes, then I think it would be wise to work through our Foundations of Math (FoM) and Foundations of Verbal (FoV) material to start. There are various ways to do this. For example, if you take a class or do a self-study package, all of the Foundations materials come with the program, so you don't have to buy anything extra. Alternatively, you can choose to get just the books or materials that you want / you think you most need. If you think you want to go down this path, I'd recommend getting in touch with our Student Services team so that you can learn about the different potential options and figure out what you think would work best for you. (800.576.GMAT from the US or Canada, or gmat@manhattanprep.com)

Give yourself about 3 to 6 weeks to work through FoM and FoV (depending on how much time you have to study). Then, you can either take a class or start studying on your own with our main strategy guides (or whatever materials you decide to use).

Also, you'll want to take another CAT after working through FoM and FoV and before starting your "main" studies. When you get to that point, come back here to let us know and we'll advise you on how to analyze the results and use them to help prioritize your studies. (Take one of our CATs - our tests give you really good data to analyze your progress.)

[Grg1516]

Hi Stacey

Thanks so much for your reply. I went through the articles and figured out that stamina really killed my verbal score in the official test as I mostly practiced quantitative and verbal. I only took 2-3 practice tests under real exam conditions.
I am working on my basics and solving official guide at the moment. I have a question to ask you that as stamina is a problem for me, will it beneficial for me to take the GMAT test under pilot program as I got an invitation?
If yes, do you think the score would be considered by the institutes because order selection might inflate the score?




Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

I saw your question in the other thread, too, about the pilot - no, the schools won't know that you participated in the pilot.

I think there's a real chance that this could help for people dealing with stamina issues (most of us!). So if you were invited, yes, I'd definitely take advantage.

I also think there's a real chance (unless something goes really wrong with the pilot) that they'll be rolling this out to everyone later this spring or summer, so the question of someone having an unfair advantage will be moot.

Here's something else to help build stamina. Don't do this all the time, but a couple of times a week:

Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

Then stop. Don't do the above for 4 hours straight. It's actually a lot more mentally fatiguing to study than to take a test. When studying, you're both recalling existing memories and trying to create new memories to use in future. When taking a test, you're only trying to recall existing memories.

So if you try to study for 4 hours straight, you'll be so mentally fatigued for the last couple of hours that you won't make very good memories... and your study time will be very inefficient.

If you don't do the pilot, then whenever you take practice tests, make sure to do the essay and IR sections, too, to practice that full stamina. (If you do plan to do the pilot, then you might want to try 1-2 practice tests where you just do Q and then V - skip over the other two. You can't, unfortunately, do V then Q right now. If they do launch this permanently, then all the test prep companies will adjust their tests accordingly - but that doesn't help for the pilot.)