Need help in improving score from 600 to 700+

[kapilnitt]

Dear Stacey,

First of all welcome to India. Now i'm feeling bad about my job posting, which is far away from Mumbai. I had always wanted a centre of MGMAT in India, now when you are coming to India for classes i'll not be able to attend the same in Mumbai. :-(
I've been following various posts, blogs, videos (by Ron) of the MGMAT forum and that is the reason, i reached to the score of 600 in my first GMAT (Dec 2010) from the 440 in my first practice test. In my last actual GMAT (aug 2012) i prepared well and expected to cross 700, but could not improve my score from 600. The scores details are as given below:

1. Dec 2010 - 600 (49Q,22V) AWA-4 -> After preparing for 2.5 months
2. Aug 2012 - 600 (49Q,23V) AWA-4, IR - 5 -> After preparing for 2 months

English is neither my mother tongue nor my first language in my studies. The same is reflecting in my Verbal scores also. I want to improve my verbal score from 22,23 to 40+ and quant score from 49 to 51. I've planned retaking GMAT on 16 Nov12 i.e. almost 2.5 months left. In 2.5 months improvement of 100 points can be done, but without proper guidance it is not possible.

Study material completed:

1. OG 12th and 13th edition
2. MGMAT SC strategy guide 4th edition
3. MGMAT all the quant strategy guides
4. MGMAT foundation of GMAT verbal
5. Powerscore GMAT CR bible
6. Kaplan GMAT premier for RC
7. All the videos (SC related) from RON
I read Times of India (english) newspaper daily to improve my reading speed and vocabulary.

Here are my test scores:

1. MGMAT - 610 (48Q, 27V) in full exam condition - 16 July 12
2. MGMAT - 650 (51Q, 31V) in full exam condition - 30 July 12
3. MGMAT - 650 (50Q, 31V) in full exam condition - 10 Aug 12
4. GMATPrep - 600(49Q,22V) in full exam condition- 11 Aug 12

I wrote 4 more tests also but not in full exam condition so did not mention the scores for the same. In all the MGMAT verbal tests SC questions were right in the range of 60%-65% and RC and CR were getting right in the range of 40% to 60%. In some test RC was good and CR was bad, then in some CR was good and RC was bad.
While reviewing questions, i realized that in CR i'm making mistake in finding correct answer out of 2 left out options. If i give more than two minutes time to one questions, my probability of making CR questions right increases but in such case i left with less time for the remaining questions.
In RC, I do able to read the passage in 3-4 mins but lack of vocabulary pulls me down to understand the passage completely. If i understand the passage completely, my chances of RC questions getting correct improve. Moreover my reading speed is also required to be increased.
In SC, i've started getting confidence after listening the RON's videos. Now i'm getting trouble in idoms related questions and few very complicated questions only.
In quant i still do not understand, why i'm getting 49 only, as in both the GMAT i was doing questions perfectly. I did not guess, questions were also not very easy and timing was also almost in the range of 2 mins. However in MGMAT i am continuously making 7-8 questions wrong out of 37. I'm getting trouble in inequality questions (algebra) combined with DS and probability questions.

I have to score 700+ this time and i'm ready to do anything for that please guide me, how should i improve the verbal part specially.

Thanks & Ragards,
Kapil

[StaceyKoprince]

Oh, too bad you're not in Mumbai! I hope we get enough students to run the course - I'm not actually moving to Mumbai. I'm coming just to teach the class.

Okay, let's see. If you can get Q up to 51, then you probably can get away with something in the higher 30s for verbal - just so you know.

in CR i'm making mistake in finding correct answer out of 2 left out options.

Okay, so you literally need to study this. Go back to old questions and ask yourself:
1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)
2) why did the right answer seem wrong (or like it might not be right)? 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? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)

You're literally studying HOW they make a wrong answer look tempting and HOW they make a right answer look not-so-good. That will help you to spot such differences on future questions, without spending a bunch of extra time. Do this for all of verbal, not just CR.

For RC vocab and reading speed:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... rehension/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/

Sounds like SC is your big strength on verbal. You can also look here to try to push your SC skills more:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

Here are some CR resources:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... g-problem/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-Problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -problems/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/

re: quant

However in MGMAT i am continuously making 7-8 questions wrong out of 37.

Even if you do score 51, you'll still miss some questions - that's just how the test works. You just have to dig in to figure out where and how and why you make the mistakes that you do make. Note: if you make a careless mistake, make sure to figure out precisely why. For example, if you were rushing because you spent too much time elsewhere, then part of the remedy is to figure out how to cut yourself off elsewhere so that you don't pressure yourself into making careless mistakes on other problems.

[kapilnitt]

Thanks for the direction Stacey, i'll revert back to you with some improvement.
I've started taking active particiapation on all the forums. I'm browsing all the posts one by one and replying wherever required. I'm receiving lot of knowledge in the replies of MGMAT staffs.

[kapilnitt]

Well it's 5th Sept - We celebrates it as Teachers Day in India.
So I wish

"Happy Teachers Day" to all the helping staff of MGMAT especially Stacey, Ron, Tim

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks very much, Kapil. :)
Happy studying!