Seeking help, really lost to improve my GMAT score.

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I have taken GMAT two times and score 640 (M51, V25) & 650 (M51, V26), AWA: 5.5 and I am a non-native english speaker.

I encountered the similar problems for both tests as below:

1. Time is seriously not enough for real test although I could finish during simulation practices before (without rushing): Only 11 mins left for my last 10 questions. I did use stopwatch for my usual practice and my pace seems quite ok.

2. RC part is my worst of worst, generally I will spend around 2-3 mins reading the passage and I can understand briefly the meaning of the passage but feel like very confused with those questions. Most of my time are actually wasted in RC part during real test.

3. I feel that SC part is quite different from the past practices I have done as well, which normally can take split & resplit strategy easily, and normally I can eliminate a few choices using idioms such as not only..........but also..........., either........or........., but most of the real test SC questions don't come in this style.

4. CR is ok for me except the passage is longer than those of practices.

The key problem for me seems to be the timing problem once much more time is spent in RC, therefore little time will be left for CR and SC, and I have to rush or even skip CR & SC part.


My aim is 700+ so that I could apply top schools, I have studied Manhattan GMAT SC and improved a lot from this book, however I feel I am still not prepared for the real test. once there are no obvious grammar errors or no obvious patterns for splitting & re-splitting.

I have just ordered Manhanttan GMAT RC part and hopefully I could improve based on this book. Previously I mainly depend on OG Official guide 12 and Verbal review, another reason of my failure may because those questions are a bit easier compared with real test.

However I am still quite lost with my future preparation and any advices are appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

Johnny
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by papgust » Fri Dec 18, 2009 3:11 am
Sorry to hear your bad experience with verbal. But, your overall score is still quite competitive. If you are not aiming for Top 10 univ, you could try applying with the current score. Just my thought!

For SC, one has to be patient with his learning. Learning just various types of GMAT errors that are tested, is NOT enough. You have to start from basic grammar if you are really struggling with SC or if you are having trouble with grammar itself. My opinion is you should start from level 1 of grammar. Some recommendations of grammar book are Wren & Martin book, Max Morenberg's Doing Grammar. You could even try out Powerscore's SC bible. Few BTG users have used this book and have gotten benefitted.
Apart from this, visit manhattangmat.com -> Forums -> GmatPrep Verbal. Search for Ron's posts. You can find amazing tips from Ron on how he approaches various SC questions of GMAT prep. Make note of all the tips in flashcards and go through them everyday.
And, do a set of OG SC questions everyday sincerely and analyze each and every answer choices (correct & wrong). While practicing, try to list whatever errors you could find for each and every choice. This helps you to look for errors pretty efficiently and knock those choices off.

For RC, i really don't have any ideas. sorry!

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by awesomeusername » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:44 am
For RC, pick up The Economist. It has helped me. Also, if you're planning on going to business school, it's a great source of current events anyway.
Constant dripping hollows out a stone.
-Lucretius