I just Beat The GMAT!

I gave my exam yesterday and scored a 630 (Q47, V30). My overall GPrep scores were a bit higher than my actual score (around 49 in Q and 35 in V), although I think it's ironic since I scored a 620 on my first diagnostic GPrep back in may/june. I have been studying for the past few months, but my verbal score simply has not been improving.

I am hoping some of the experts could help me analyse + improve my verbal score.

For SC, which is my weakest area, I have read the mgmat guide twice and made notes as well. I can now pretty much explain the contents of the mgmat guide, which apparently is of no help since I can't do SC questions/perform well. I am told that SC is most logical area/where you can do really well in the verbal section. However, I seem to know the rules but can't perform?!
Also, I have done the OG+OG verbal at least twice and do understand the errors (or at least would like to believe that I do!) and remember the answers somewhat.
What am I doing wrong/should I consider another approach for SC? or do I simply need more practice??
I have not done the 1000 SC Qs as I understand that some answers are wrong.. would a lot of the users recommend that resource even though the answers/source of Qs is dubious?

For CR, again, I've done both OGs at least twice. I intend to read the powerscore CR bible this time around. hopefully that should do the trick?

For RC, I have identified a good method of reading the passage that works for me, but still need to practice.. (done with OGs too)

Most importantly, could you pls recommend good sources of practice (besides OGs) for each section? I already have the mgmat Qbanks.

Thanks!!

ALSO, what do I need to do in order to improve my Q(47 to 49/50)? Any tips?

Hi,
I had been pretty much in your boat (Q49 and V22). Now after lot of efforts, I have started getting comfortable with Verbal (read SC) and strategy to attack verbal. I giving some pointers, hope it helps.

In my view GMAT is about strong basics and practice. For your lower scores in V, could lead to working making basics of grammar stronger. Take a look at site https://www.englishgrammar101.com/Lessons/Default.aspx It's long but has lot of material structured very good in terms of theory and practice to make your basics stronger.

Once you go through this site, MGMT will start making lot sense to you and will be easier to relate to. Last but not least keep practicing and keeping note of areas where your SCs went wrong. Revisit the basics on that area and try again.

Verbal is not easy but its definitely manageable after brushing up your basics and lot of practice.

Good luck!

Cheers
Mandy

Btw, I forgot to mention there are two documents often perceived at MGMT

1) MR-Sentence-Correction-Guide.pdf (available free) - Wrong One
2) Manhattan_SC_2003ed (available to buy as a book) - Right One

Just make sure you are using the second one

- Mandy

mandarnilange wrote:Btw, I forgot to mention there are two documents often perceived at MGMT

1) MR-Sentence-Correction-Guide.pdf (available free) - Wrong One
2) Manhattan_SC_2003ed (available to buy as a book) - Right One

Just make sure you are using the second one

- Mandy

what's the difference between those two MGMAT SC's?
I have a pdf titled Manhattan_SC_2003ed. Is that a right one?

thanks for your post mandy, but I already have the 2007 edition of mgmat sc guide. Also, as I mentioned earlier in my post, I am quite comfortable with the content of the mgmat guide. however, I figure I need more practice.

have you done 1000 sc? would you recommend it?
how do you intend to increase your Q score further (to a 49/50)?

GMATOct08, MR SC guide = Manhattan review SC guide. what you seem to have is the 2003 edition of manhattan gmat sc guide. the OG grid towards the end of the 2003 edition contains solutions which are numbered as in OG 10.

To improve your quant score from very good to excellent, you need to analyze what you're doing wrong, with the few questions that you get wrong. For me, I was making a lot of stupid mistakes (calculations, forgot to divide by 2 for area of triangle, etc), and the best and only way to attack those was to do lots of practice and eventually eliminate stupid errors. In addition, it was taking me a lot of time to formulate and solve difficult word translation problems, and I found the MGMAT word translation book helpful - it provided strategies that saved a lot of time. Number properties was another area I wasn't too comfortable with, I just wasn't used to the way the questions were presented, and wasn't sure how to attack them. I studied the MGMAT number properties book and liked how they systematically review the topic. I would recommend that once you identify your area(s) of weakness in quant, study the corresponding MGMAT book.

Here's a subtle trick that I used for SC, may or may not be helpful to you:

Among the 5 options for the underlined portion, there are ALWAYS different words/phrases that start and end. For example, the choices will not all start with the same word, because in that case, that first word would not have been underlined. For some of the longer sentences, my trick was to first look at the beginning and ending of all my options, this somehow felt easier than reading through everything linearly. I can usually rule out some of the options that started or ended wrong, and at this point I would be left with 2 or 3 options. I then read these 2 or 3 options vertically... it's a little hard to explain, basically there are points in the sentence that would differ among the choices, and I just find these different points for all these choices, and read them together. If I still can't decide, then I go onto the next point. Sometimes this method cannot be applied because the choices are too different, but I found that usually it works for the longer sentences.

Good luck!

Critical Reasoning - buy critical reasoning bible from Power Score.