Reading Comprehension

Stop preparing immediately!! ... just kidding

Which practice tests have you been using? If you used different practice tests from different test prep companies each time, it's possible that the fluctuations are based on variations across the different tests.

It sounds like the Verbal section was your undoing. This is not uncommon. Sometimes a ridiculously long and difficult RC passage can knock you off your game (both in timing and in confidence). This can account for test results that "appear" to suggest that your performance is actually going down (which I'm sure is not the case).

To improve your scores, you need to carefully analyze your practice tests to identify weaknesses that you need to work on. During this analysis, there are 4 main types of weakness to watch out for:
1. specific Quant skills/concepts (e.g., algebra, standard deviation, etc.)
2. specific Verbal skills/concepts (e.g., verb tenses, assumption CR questions, etc.)
3. test-taking skills (time management, endurance, anxiety etc.)
4. silly mistakes

For the first two weaknesses, the fix is pretty straightforward. Learn the concept/skill and find some practice questions to strengthen that weakness. To focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature to isolate one concept. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

If your test-taking skills are holding you back, then you need to work on these. For example, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244.

Finally, if silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes so that, during tests, you can easily spot situations in which you're prone to making errors. I write about this and other strategies in the following article for BTG: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/09/ ... n-the-gmat

On the Reading Comprehension side of things, I should mention that we have a free set of videos that cover all sorts of Reading Comprehension strategies: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension

Cheers,
Brent

Hi Ravi,

You mentioned in another of your posts that you haven't been following a formal study plan nor are you using a GMAT Course.

1) What is your score goal?
2) When do you plan to apply to school?
3) What schools are you planning to apply to?

While your overall scores have been in decline, your Scaled Scores are close enough to prove that you're somewhat consistent. This means that when you take a CAT, your mentality is essentially the same - you approach questions the same way, make the same mistakes, etc. To improve, you'll need to learn (and practice) new tactics so that those new tactics become the norm.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich