Regarding RC Speed in the Verbal Section

[aps_asks]

Hi ,

I am able to do 2 RC Passage nicely......I do the 3rd RC passage to an extent.....I don't even touch the 4th RC passge....Due to this my Verbal section suffers and my score Drops....I am good at SC and CR.....

I got a GMAT score of 550 with Quant - 36 and Verbal - 29 ( when i last wrote the Kaplan Test) ...Will Be testing on the Manhattan Shortly......But i don't think my score will improve since my RC is poor...

I was able to do 3 RC Passages nicely when i wrote the first GMAT Practise Test .

Can anybdy suggest any way to improve this area..?

[StaceyKoprince]

Where are you actually spending too much time? Is it on RC? Or is it on CR and SC (and RC) earlier in the section in general, so that you just run out of time by the time you get to later questions? Your accuracy may be fine on SC and CR, but is your timing fine as well?

This article on time management will be useful:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

Also, use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT practice test and let's figure out where you're too slow. Then I can point you to some additional resources that will help you to improve your speed in those specific areas.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

[aps_asks]

I read the article on Time Management and the other link that u gave .......Then , I took a Manhattan GMAT Test.....Was able to score 660 ( Q- 45 , Verbal - 35) ....I am still analyzing the results....In the MGMAT , i Spent around 28 mins on RC Passages when ideally i should have spent around 24 mins..Accuracy also not that good -- Correct nos - 5/12

Thanks for the links..

[StaceyKoprince]

That's good, keep analyzing the results. As I discuss in the article, the test will always give you things that you can't do, or that you take too long to do. Your task is to recognize those and cut them off before spending too much time so that you don't hurt yourself on other questions that you actually can do.

Where did that extra 4 minutes go. Is it mostly on the 1st question in a set - meaning you're spending too much time reading? Or is it spread across different individual questions, so that you're spending too much time on certain questions?

[aps_asks]

I spent around 5 mins each for the first RC Question ( Since it also included reading) in each passage.....For the Fourth RC Passage , i did not have time
The following are the details of the time spent on the first RC Question of each passage :

I spent a lot of time on the 1st RC passage ( around -- 11 mins )
I ran through the last RC Passage

Also a lot more time was spent on the first 16 questions ( around 40 mins)...As 2 Big RC Passages came in the first 16

In the end of the section , i did face a time crunch.
Last 16 questions , i did in around 20 mins

Only for 1 CR Question i took more time ( around 4:10 min )...but did it correctly.

Details are below


CR
Average Time Right Answer 2:19
Average Time Wrong Answer 1:26
Accuracy Percent 57%

SC
Average Time Right Answer 1:07
Average Time Wrong Answer 1:23
Accuracy Percent 67%

RC
Average Time Right Answer 3:11
Average Time Wrong Answer 1:57
Accuracy Percent 42%

[StaceyKoprince]

Only for 1 CR Question i took more time ( around 4:10 min )...but did it correctly.

I would rather have you get it wrong in 2 minutes than get it right in 4 minutes. If it takes you that long, the odds of getting it right go way down, so just because you happened to get it right that time, that doesn't mean a whole lot. Meanwhile, you guaranteed yourself at least one other question wrong as a result - and maybe more.

What happens when you're 2 minutes behind? Most people don't bail on just one question to make that up - instead, they try to save 30 seconds each on 4 questions or something like that... and now you've just given yourself an opportunity to make 4 mistakes because you spend 2m extra on one question!

Okay, so you mentioned spending 11m on the first RC. Was that a long or short passage? 3 or 4 questions?

Longest case, you'd have a long passage with 4 questions (1 general, 3 specific), so that'd be 3m + 1m + 1.5m + 1.5m + 1.5m = 8.5m. So you lost at least 2.5m on this passage, possibly more.

You spent 40 minutes on the first 16 Qs (with 2 RC passages starting in that timeframe). So you lost somewhere around 10m there, maybe more depending upon the exact mix of questions.

Did all of that lost time come from RC? Or were you trending higher on SC and CR too, but then you sped up later on for SC and CR (so that your overall averages still looked okay)?

Here are some additional resources for RC (in addition to the timing article I gave you before):

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... mp-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... rc-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... prehension

Start with the above. When you think you are pretty good with those, then you can move on to:

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

But don't forget all of that timing stuff as well. We're going to try to improve RC, yes, but it's still your weakest area of the three, which means when you have to give up on something, you want to do it on RC. (Ideally, though, you don't want to have to give up on an entire passage because that's too many questions in a row.)

[aps_asks]

Hi ,

Thanks for all of your replies !

I just gave the GMAT.........I got the following score on the GMAT
Score - 620 ( Quant -- 44 , Verbal-- 31)

I am planning to give the GMAT again.....I am aiming for a score of 700+.

Will be reading all the additional links that you gave....as from my score...one can see that i seem to be slightly better in Quant

So in which area should i concentrate my efforts , Quant or Verbal ?

Moreover , what is the minimum score that i should get in both Quant and Verbal to get a overall score of 700 ?

Please let me know your comments.

Thanks and Regards

[aps_asks]

Actually , i came to the forums very late ......By that time , I was already very near to my GMAT date....So was not able to see the links that u gave me later on...But anyway will be starting from the beginning now ...Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

The scoring scales for quant and verbal aren't the same. 44 on quant is the 66th percentile and 31 on verbal is the 58th percentile. So you are a little better on quant, but not that much.

As a result, you should start by splitting your time about equally between the two. Over time, you may discover that it's easier for you to improve in one section vs. the other, and then you may go for a bit of a higher score in that section.

You'd need to hit either in the 80s (percentile-wise) in both sections, or somewhat higher in one and somewhat lower in the other in order to hit a 700 overall.

I would also recommend that you use the article from above to analyze your practice tests on the quant side as well, then come back here to tell us your analysis and we can help with that area too. (Again, remember to give us your full analysis, not just the data itself!)

[aps_asks]

The passage on which i spent 11 mins in my Manhattan Practice GMAT test was a long one with 3 questions.

I did lose 4 mins on the 1st RC Passage.

Except for 1 CR Question ( on which i took 4 mins ) , i was within expected time limits in the CR and the SC sections.

I mainly lost time in RC.

My Analysis on the the entire Test :
===============================================
Strings of 4/3 incorrect

Quantitative -- 1 string ( 16 -- 19 )
Verbal -- 1 string ( 9 -- 11)

===============================================
No of Questions in Way too Slow Category ( Quantitative -- 3 +, CR -- 3+ , SC -- 2+ ,RC ( First Question ) --- 5+ , RC ( Others) -- 2.5 + )

1) Quantitative -- 8 Questions
2) CR -- 1 Question
3) SC-- 2 Questions
4) RC( First Question ) -- 1 Question
5) RC( Others ) -- 1 Questions

===============================================

No of Questions in Way too fast Category ( Half the Time , the Question is supposed to take)

1) Quantitative -- 8 Questions ( Note : Only 1 Incorrect) Note : Last Question ( i.e Question No - 37) was not answered in Quant.
2) CR -- 3 Questions ( Note : All 3 were incorrect)
3) SC-- 6 Questions (Note : Only 1 Wrong )
4) RC( First Question ) -- 1 Question
5) RC( Others ) -- 3 Questions

===============================================

Analysis from the Analysis Summary Report

From the Assessment Summary Report

Problem Solving and Reading Comprehension seems to be an area of concern since Percentages correct is below approximately 50%, especially when coupled with lower average difficulty levels.

Average timing that is 30 seconds (or more) higher or lower than it should be on average

Sentence Correction ( 30 secs too fast)

Reading Comprehension ( too slow )

Big discrepancy (more than 20-30 seconds) in average time for correct vs. incorrect answers of the same type.

Reading Comprehension

Data Sufficiency
==============================================

Individual Area Analysis

In this Analysis all the subareas of Quantitative and Verbal
have been classified into 5 categories as given in the link.

Details of Categories :
Category 1 (50% + correct plus timing within the expected timeframe (otherwise known as strengths)

Category 2 (Less than 50% correct plus timing in the expected timeframe (possible weaknesses in content area, methodology, etc, BUT check the difficulty levels; maybe this category just happened to be really hard on this test!))

Category 3 (Less than 50% correct plus timing way too fast (an average more than 30 seconds faster than it should be); are these really weaknesses or was the student just going too fast (and, naturally, making more careless mistakes)? Why was the student going too fast on these?)

Category 4 (50%+ correct plus timing way too slow (an average more than 30 seconds slower than it should be); these are still weaknesses even though the percentage correct is high! Figure out why the timing is higher and how you can do these more efficiently )

Category 5 Less than 50% correct plus timing way too slow (an average more than 30 seconds slower than it should be); these are the biggest weaknesses, obviously. Get them wrong faster.
Seriously - you’re getting them wrong anyway, so start by just taking less time to get them wrong! That will improve your performance on all those ones on which you’re currently rushing and making careless mistakes!


===============================================
Word Translations

Category 1
Overlapping Sets
Algebraic Translations
Ratios
Category 2
Combinatorics

Category 4
Probability
Statistics
Rates & Work

=============================================

Algebra


Category 1
Quadratic Equations
Basic Equations


Category 4
Inequalities
Variables in Choices (VIC)

Category 5
Exponential Equations
Formulas

=============================================
Geometry

Category 1
Circles and Cylinders
Coordinate Plane

Category 2
Polygons
Triangles and Diagonals


Category 5
Lines and Angles

=============================================
Number Properties

Category 1
Divisibility and Primes
Odds and Evens
Exponents and Roots



Category 5
Positives and Negatives

=============================================

FDP’s

Category 1

Fractions
Digits
Percents
FDP Connections


=============================================
=============================================



Verbal Analysis
=============================================
Critical reasoning


Category 1
Draw a Conclusion
Strengthen Conclusion
Weaken Conclusion

Category 2
Find the Assumption

Category 3
Provide an Example
Mimic the Argument

Category 4
Analyze Arg Structure


=============================================

Sentence Correction

Category 1
Subject Verb Agreement
Modifiers
Verbs
Idioms
Concision
Clarity of Meaning
Comparisons
Quantity Expressions

Category 2

Parallelism


=============================================

Reading Comprehension

Category 1
Main Idea
Passage Structure

Category 5
Inference
Specific Detail

[aps_asks]

I have certain questions. Please find them below :

1) What is the reasonable time frame in which I should give my second attempt on the GMAT test with an expected score of 700??
Note : I scored a 620 in my first attempt in mid july 2011

2) I have already given my two tests using GMAT Test Prep software(from mba.com) .So I am at a disadvantage.
If I further test using the same GMAT Test Prep software, my scores will be inflated. Since I already know answers of some the questions.

Moreover , I have already given 5 tests using Manhattan , only 1 is left.

How to get around this issue?

Do we get accurate scores using the paper pencil tests from mba.com?

3) I got 4.5 in analytical writing during my actual GMAT.Is it adequate or I need to put in some effort in this area ??

4) You gave me some links for the RC Passage. What is generally the time frame in which students sort out the RC Issue?

Please let me know your comments.

[jnelson0612]

Hi aps,
My answers are as follows:
1) That really depends on how quickly you can make progress. I'm assuming that you did a fair amount of prep before the 620. In that case, I'd plan to study at least 2-3 more months before taking the test again if you want a 700. Again, though, this is only an estimate.
2) The paper and pencil tests will not be as accurate since they are not CATs. A more accurate score will be to take the CATs, even if they have some repeats. You will just have to assume that your score may be slightly inflated.
3) That is adequate.
4) Again, that totally depends on the student's reading ability and amount of practice. I would give yourself at least a month or two to see significant progress, assuming you are drilling RC most days.

Good luck!

[wellsronald18]

For the RC passage, you must first go through the questions and then go ahead with RC. Sometimes I don’t even read the whole passage, I start by going through the questions and then start reading passages. Now if I have to find 5 answers, my focus is to find answers than reading the passage. The moment I am done with solving question, I move to next part of the exam.

[StaceyKoprince]

aps_asks

Note that your test analysis post really just lists the data. Then, you need to say what you think the data means - that's the actual analysis. :)

Re: RC, that is often one of the slower areas to improve, particularly if you are struggling with reading speed, vocabulary, idiomatic usage of the English language (especially for non-native speakers), and so on. Most people with a big weakness in RC need a minimum of 6 weeks and potentially longer to show significant improvement (especially if overall reading speed and comprehension are the main issue, as opposed to issues with, for example, falling into traps when answering questions). If you are a non-native speaker, or if you are a native speaker who rarely reads "b-school caliber" material, start doing some reading every day from these sources:

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/ - particularly articles in the "Investigations" tab
http://harvardmagazine.com/
http://sciam.com/