What is a good way of preparing for GMAT verbal a second time?
I am not too worried about Math, but I scored low in Verbal V31.
My range in the verbal section of the GMAT tests was between 34 - 38.
I scored 690 on the GMATPrep just before the exam.
GMAT Forum
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- gmatter2008
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9350
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
If you have taken our course, please contact studentservices@manhattangmat.com to sign up for a free post-exam assessment. You'll have a phone call with one of our instructors to talk, in detail, about what to do for the second exam.
I can give you some high-level ideas, but this could actually be a much more in-depth conversation so, if you have taken the course, please make sure to sign up for the assessment.
It looks like you underperformed on the real test compared to your practice tests, so the first thing to do is to think about everything that happened, good and bad, on the verbal portion of the test. How was your timing - steady or did you run out at any point and have to rush / guess on a bunch of problems? How were your nerves? Did you hit anything that threw you off? What things went well - you knew you could answer them using only the appropriate amount of time? How was your energy, given that verbal is the last section? Etc.
Next, go take a look at your most recent practice test or two (ours or another company's - whatever you took, but not GMATPrep, b/c that doesn't give you any analysis). If you took our tests, run the reports and look at everything - percentages by question type and content area, of course, but also difficulty levels and timing for the different areas. Figure out where you are doing really well (fast and accurate), where you're doing okay but not great (either fast or accurate but not both), and where you're not doing well (neither fast nor accurate).
Concentrate on the middle group (fast or accurate but not both) - this is where you have the most opportunity to improve.
If you're too fast but not accurate enough, first make sure that you really know the fundamentals for those topics. Also, look at those specific problems to try to identify why you're making mistakes there. Keep a log of those mistakes and then figure out what to do to combat them. (eg, if you didn't really know the content well enough, go back and study. If you got sucked into picking a trap answer because you missed something key in the question, figure out how you're going to read and jot down notes about the question to make sure you don't miss key words / details. If you interpreted the information in a paragraph or passage incorrectly, figure out why and what the right way is to interpet it. Etc.) Note that getting better at questions in this category (fast but not accurate enough) will likely mean you will lose some speed, but make up for that with better accuracy.
If you're accurate but not fast enough, you probably already know the fundamental content, but you may not know it "cold" (that is, able to recall it instantly, instead of having to think for a while) and / or you may not know your test-taking techniques well enough (eg, what is the most efficient process for moving through a sentence correction problem?). Review the techniques for each type of problem. Again, look at the specific problems from your tests that fall into this category and keep a log of things you're doing too slowly and how you could do them more quickly. Build up both your technique (so you become more efficient) and a log of shortcuts based upon the problem type or content area. Note that getting better at questions in this category will likely mean you will lose some accuracy, but make up for that with better pacing.
The above analyses will be easier to do if you have taken our tests - I'm not sure if you have done this. I assume practice tests from other companies also give you some good analysis to use; I'm just not sure what that is, so I'm basing my response on what I know our test reports will tell you.
I can give you some high-level ideas, but this could actually be a much more in-depth conversation so, if you have taken the course, please make sure to sign up for the assessment.
It looks like you underperformed on the real test compared to your practice tests, so the first thing to do is to think about everything that happened, good and bad, on the verbal portion of the test. How was your timing - steady or did you run out at any point and have to rush / guess on a bunch of problems? How were your nerves? Did you hit anything that threw you off? What things went well - you knew you could answer them using only the appropriate amount of time? How was your energy, given that verbal is the last section? Etc.
Next, go take a look at your most recent practice test or two (ours or another company's - whatever you took, but not GMATPrep, b/c that doesn't give you any analysis). If you took our tests, run the reports and look at everything - percentages by question type and content area, of course, but also difficulty levels and timing for the different areas. Figure out where you are doing really well (fast and accurate), where you're doing okay but not great (either fast or accurate but not both), and where you're not doing well (neither fast nor accurate).
Concentrate on the middle group (fast or accurate but not both) - this is where you have the most opportunity to improve.
If you're too fast but not accurate enough, first make sure that you really know the fundamentals for those topics. Also, look at those specific problems to try to identify why you're making mistakes there. Keep a log of those mistakes and then figure out what to do to combat them. (eg, if you didn't really know the content well enough, go back and study. If you got sucked into picking a trap answer because you missed something key in the question, figure out how you're going to read and jot down notes about the question to make sure you don't miss key words / details. If you interpreted the information in a paragraph or passage incorrectly, figure out why and what the right way is to interpet it. Etc.) Note that getting better at questions in this category (fast but not accurate enough) will likely mean you will lose some speed, but make up for that with better accuracy.
If you're accurate but not fast enough, you probably already know the fundamental content, but you may not know it "cold" (that is, able to recall it instantly, instead of having to think for a while) and / or you may not know your test-taking techniques well enough (eg, what is the most efficient process for moving through a sentence correction problem?). Review the techniques for each type of problem. Again, look at the specific problems from your tests that fall into this category and keep a log of things you're doing too slowly and how you could do them more quickly. Build up both your technique (so you become more efficient) and a log of shortcuts based upon the problem type or content area. Note that getting better at questions in this category will likely mean you will lose some accuracy, but make up for that with better pacing.
The above analyses will be easier to do if you have taken our tests - I'm not sure if you have done this. I assume practice tests from other companies also give you some good analysis to use; I'm just not sure what that is, so I'm basing my response on what I know our test reports will tell you.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
2 posts Page 1 of 1