GMAT Verbal & Essays

Hi,

I think the GMAC may have changed their verbal section. I have been reading about a lot of recent test-takers having issues with the verbal. Please note that I practiced my exam in "real conditions" - full 4.5 hours, no breaks, etc. etc.


MGMAT 1 29-Oct V36 Q42
MGMAT 2 7-Nov V33 Q45
MGMAT 3 12-Nov V37 Q44
MGMAT 4 20-Nov V38 Q47
MGMAT 5 5-Dec V34 Q43
MGMAT 6 7-Dec V35 Q46


Today I took the GMAT and got: 600 - 44Q 29V. My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw my score. I still can't believe it.

I was expecting around a 44Q(hoping for better) as that's the average of my quant scores - but my verbal was *way* off. I will admit that I had some serious timing issues with the verbal and I had to rush through the last 10 problems. However, I want to say that the sentence corrections were MUCH more difficult than I had been expecting/had seen on the MGMAT tests. I think this may be where I spent a lot more of my time as I was forced to rush at least 3-4 CRs.

Please also note that I studied OG10, OG11, and OG12 and OG12's Verbal Review - and completed all of the associated questions with each numerous times. I have also used many other resources for prep. I guess the only good thing I have going for me is that I haven't yet taken the mba.com "Official" practice tests.

So my question is, what do I do now? I'm taking the exam again Jan 4th or 5th. I just purchased PowerScore's SC Bible and the CR Bible - I will study those and do all the questions associated. Should I just reset the MGMAT and take tests 2x per week leading up to my retake?

Finally, my weakest area on MGMAT was RC - although I felt fine with it on the GMAT.. maybe that's because I was doing poorly. I've tried the MGMAT RC guide and I have yet to show much improvement. Can you recommend any other resources for RC improvement?

Thanks in advance!

Hi luckydude. This is exactly what I experienced. There is a divergence between MGMAT verbal and actual GMAT verbal. The SC on the actual GMAT appeared to be much harder - specifically, many SC questions on the MGMAT CAT have well defined "splits" that you can use POE (Process Of Elimination) on. However, on the actual GMAT, there were far fewer SC questions with splits versus the MGMAT CAT. Also, some MGMAT CR questions involve a little math, but GMAT Prep, GMAT OG, and the actual GMAT never have CR questions that require math.

I am looking for a good verbal CAT that is closer to the actual GMAT questions. I'm disappointed by the MGMAT verbal CAT.