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beaten by gmat

by wanttobeatthegmat111 » Tue Sep 02, 2014 4:11 am
HI guys.
this was my fourth attempt at gmat,
1st-640 (q43,V35)
2nd-610 (q48,V27)
3rd-640 (q50,V27)
4th-640 (q50,V27)

I have given my gmat with one month prep every time.
i cant fathom why my verbal score wont improve.i have tried egmat sc and found it useful but the improvement does not show on my overall score.I have put in decent amount of hard work in all my attempts.i need high gmat score above 700 to offset my low gpa.
what strategy should i use to improve my verbal score since my verbal wont improve even by 1 point. what m i doing wrong.I have already exhausted all gmat preps and official material.
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by [email protected] » Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:41 am
Hi wanttobeatthegmat111,

Your scores on your last 3 GMATs are remarkably consistent, which means that when you're taking the actual GMAT, you keep thinking/reacting the exact same way. You might actually be performing at a higher level during your practice, but something is "off" on Test Day. This could mean that your practice is not realistic or it could mean that a combination of factors are affecting your performance on Test Day.

The first issue is that you studied for just 1 month before taking each of your Official GMATs. While you might be able to do a lot of work in 1 month, it's not that much time - it's certainly not enough time for most Test Takers to immerse themselves in the material AND work on fatigue/endurance/pacing issues.

As a general rule, if you use a particular set of resources and you don't improve, then you have change your approach (meaning that you should invest in some new resources, learn/practice some new tactics and NOT retest until you're ready).

I have some questions about your studies:
1) For this last GMAT attempt, how were you scoring on your practice CATs?
2) When you took your CATs, did you take the ENTIRE CAT or did you skip sections?
3) Was this the first time you took these CATs or had you taken them before?
4) What was different about Test Day (compared to how you took your CATs)? Think hard. The little details matter.
5) Do you have a pacing problem in the Verbal section? Do you have to guess on a bunch of questions just to finish? If so, then how many?
6) How long did it take you to get to the Testing Center?

Since the GMAT is a predictable, standardized exam, you can absolutely train to improve your Verbal performance. Something isn't quite "right" about your studies though, so you should not retest until we've figured out why.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by ceilidh.erickson » Wed Sep 03, 2014 9:21 am
Whenever scores won't budge even after exhaustive studying, it's generally because your test-taking STRATEGIES have not improved. On verbal, this means that you are likely:
- relying on your ear in SC, rather than relying on grammar rules
- falling for trap answers with extreme language in CR and RC
- projecting outside information/assumptions onto the text in CR and RC

The first step is to deeply analyze why you're getting wrong the things you're getting wrong. Where are the patterns in your mistakes? If you're having trouble locating your mistakes, I would recommend private tutoring. Sometimes an expert can see flaws in your process that you cannot see.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
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