I just Beat The GMAT!

I took my GMAT today and scored a total of 660, much below the average score that my target schools accept. Needless to say that I am shell-shocked with the score in Verbal. Of utmost concern is my inability (at the moment) to figure out the mistakes. My strategy while answering verbal questions (SC & CR) was to break the sentence/passage into pieces (Subject, Verb, Pronoun, Modifier, Clauses etc in case of SC and Premises, Assumption & Conclusion in case of CR, paragraphs in case of RC). This seemed to be working fine for me as I averaged 42 in Verbal in my last 6 mocks (4 Kaplan and 2 GmatPrep). Unfortunately, today the strategy didn't work out.

I have lost the confidence, as I can't figure out where I went wrong and thus, am unable to zero down upon the area to work upon. Perhaps a break of a day or two should help me to come over it. Any help/suggestion might work wonders for me. So, please share your experiences. Good luck to all!!

Hey, sad to hear that. It could be one of your bad days. have you gave FULL length mocks (including AWA)? Your approach in verbal was natural or systematic? How did you manage time in th exam? answering these kind of questions might help.

Most importantly, don't lose heart. I am sure that yu are gonna rock next time

All the best,
Prodizy

thanks for encouraging words prodizy.

Hopefully, it turns out to be just a bad day and not a serious issue in my approach. Yes, I did write essays for AWA while I took the mocks. When I started my preparation, I noticed that I was more inclined towards relying upon my ears than on actual grammar. So, I would say the approach was not natural. With time, I was in a bit of bother during the exam. Last 3 mins and last 3 questions still remaining. While, on two of the questions (SC), I marked the answer confidently, I let go one of them (CR question, blindly marked the answer). So, this is it.

Think its time to move on. I am sure this humbling experience will definitely weed out all the over-confidence and I will score good in my next attempt.

Hey, my personal experience in mocks is that, more than grammar solving SC questions logically is
helping me alot. ofcourse, you need to keep in mind the core rules like subject verb agreements, modifiers, pronouns etc
Conciously i am not looking for idioms and don't want to learn the other hundreds of rules

Hi,

Sorry to hear that the score you got is not what you targeted...
I would like to put in my point....
I guess many people will tell you how to improve verbal further but I would like to point out one thing about quant...
Just see the debrief of a person named astvansh just aboe yours... He has the same verbal score as you but a quant of 50... His total score is 710, a score that you would have been happy with...

I have seen one more friend of mine getting 700 with Q = 50 n V = 32..
So, We indians should target a very high quant score(50) so that a mid thirties score in verbal can push us beyond 700...

But it is also the case that going from 47/48 to 50 would be tough...

Honestly, I can't stand not writing a response for a reason you are about to see. But before I go there, I need to ask you this. Did your verbal score in the GMATPrep end up lower than that in the Kaplan tests?

Here is my story ...
When I first took the GMAT, I did use Kaplan private class session to prepare my self. After 33-hour course, I signed up for the test and scored 660. It was not a coincidence but rather an accident. I lost about 3 minutes during the verbal section as the test administrator couldn't key in his passcode to transition from the optional break to the verbal section. Then, I decided to take my second attempt. This time, I did my preparation rather differently, taking online learning and more prep tests from test prep companies. So I took my second test and scored exactly the same 660, BAMMM!!!

For a couple of days, I searched the internet and asked many GMAT experts on why I strongly felt that the verbal questions in real GMAT test come in different styles from those I find in many prep tests from different test prep companies. Even with the easiest among question types in verbal, Sentence Correction, I couldn't easily figure out the correct answers. I was confused until someone told me that I was so familiar with the question styles from test prep companies that I was stunned when I encountered questions of different styles. It makes sense because test prep companies usually design their questions in a way that reflects the strategy and tricks given in the study materials. Real GMAT test may not be restricted to any particular patterns that can be quickly noticeable.

Long story short ... during my preparation for the third (final) attempt, I merely practiced from GMATPrep and OG, as they have the closest questions as anything can be to the real GMAT test questions. I took my third test not so long ago and scored 720.

My point is, if you are going to take another test, do learn strategy and concepts from any sources you find useful, but only practice and get yourself familiar with questions that you will most likely see during real test.

I hope this helps...

@Ronald: Thanks a lot for your note. I think you are spot on with your assessment. I didn't even touch OG in the last 4 months and indeed my Verbal scores in GMATPrep were lower than what I used to score in Kaplan. A difference of good 4-5 points. I'll go back to OG now.

Congratulations for your score of 710. Do you mind sharing your Verbal scores in the first and the last attempt at GMAT. I can draw some confidence from examples of people like you. Thanks and all the best for you applications.

pankajks2010 wrote:@Ronald: Thanks a lot for your note. I think you are spot on with your assessment. I didn't even touch OG in the last 4 months and indeed my Verbal scores in GMATPrep were lower than what I used to score in Kaplan. A difference of good 4-5 points. I'll go back to OG now.

Congratulations for your score of 710. Do you mind sharing your Verbal scores in the first and the last attempt at GMAT. I can draw some confidence from examples of people like you. Thanks and all the best for you applications.

Hi

Its disheartning to hear that...but i feel its not a bad score at all...It can be low for your standards though.....

Good news is you know were you need to work on...your strengths and pot holes as well....You just need to practice few more weeks With the original questions, attempt all full length tests..With AWA.

I am sure this this you will not be dissapointed....

Remember its easy to be dissapointed but you must also respect that because coz thats your own hard work.....

Chaw

pankajks2010 wrote:@Ronald: Thanks a lot for your note. I think you are spot on with your assessment. I didn't even touch OG in the last 4 months and indeed my Verbal scores in GMATPrep were lower than what I used to score in Kaplan. A difference of good 4-5 points. I'll go back to OG now.

Congratulations for your score of 710. Do you mind sharing your Verbal scores in the first and the last attempt at GMAT. I can draw some confidence from examples of people like you. Thanks and all the best for you applications.

Exactly as I thought and as what I experienced before. As far as my score compositions are concerned, here they are :
1. GMAT #1 : 660 (50Q, 29V)
2. GMAT #2 : 660 (49Q, 30V)
3. GMAT #3 : 720 (50Q, 38V)

From what I have done and what you said, I can tell you that at least you can try my strategy.

First, master the concepts and techniques from any valuable sources you may find, but test what you have learned only on OG and GMATPrep questions. Of course, every once in a while, you may take practice tests provided by test prep companies, but don't take them very often that you start getting familiar with question styles that you would hardly see on the real test.

Second, try to test your skills first on OG before taking GMATPrep practice tests. You only have 2 GMATPrep simulation tests, and believe me, the last thing you want is to overuse the GMATPrep tests that you start seeing repeating questions and inflated scores that do not reflect your actual performance. So drill yourself with OG questions, then at some point of time, take GMATPrep tests. I didn't take the GMATPrep practice tests more than 4 times during my preparation for my last attempt.

Finally, when you take GMATPrep practice tests, DO NOT skip the essays. You need to respect the full simulation, so you get familiar with the test anxiety. Also, you don't want to do things that you cannot do during real test, such as taking longer optional breaks.

That's all I can tell you from what I have done, and I didn't invent such strategy. Many experts with whom I consulted provided me with insights that allowed me to formulate that strategy. It worked for me, and I hope that it'll work for you.

If you follow that aforementioned strategy and finally make your next attempt, and if it's not too much to ask, let me know the result.

I just recalled one GMAT expert saying that you need not only to be able to tell why a correct answer is correct, but also to be able to understand why wrong answers are wrong. For instance, when you are faced with an SC question, you might get a hunch on one answer choice as the correct one. Before you make your move and confirm your answer, you need to examine the other four of the answer choices and be able to tell why each of them is incorrect. Similarly, you want to do the same with CR and RC.