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Struck on 35 in Verbal

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Struck on 35 in Verbal

by gmat_verbal » Sun May 24, 2009 8:11 pm
Hi Guys/Gurus,
I am completely confused. Please help!
I started my verbal prep few months (around 8+) back with OG10, OG11, Manhattan SC, Kaplan, 1000sc and CR bible. Started reviewing OG12 now.

I am planning to take GMAT sometime in the next few weeks. My math score has improved significantly from 22 to 48+ (yeah engineering background and needed some concept brush up) and verbal from 26 to 35 (yeah non native english speaker ).

Analysis of my performance is as below: On Manhattan CAT exams I am doing very badly on CR and on Kaplan CAT I am doing very badly on SC. When I say bad the difference is astonishing, on Manhattan CAT my SCs have almost 95% accuracy and CR only about 30% BUT on Kaplan CAT my CRs have almost 95% accuracy and SC 30%. RC is almost the same on both. I took GPREP and out of 41 qtns I got 15 wrong, incorrect ones are 7 SCs , 4 CR and 4RC. So I guess the judgement is that my SC needs to be improved ??

I am confused as to the tests that I am taking are representative of the real GMAT ?

My verbal score is struck at 35. It seems to me that have hit a wall and not making any improvement. I am not sure what or how to proceed.

Any suggestions or pointers on what I am doing wrong ? I am targetting for 41 to 44. Is this an impossible target ??? :?
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by VP_Jim » Mon May 25, 2009 10:59 am
First of all, just to offer you some encouragement: a 48Q and 35V comes out to a 680 overall, so if that's really how you do on the actual GMAT, you're in fine shape. As for improving to a 44 in verbal, keep in mind that that is 97th percentile! Even 41 is 91st percentile, so while I admire you shooting for such high scores, be satisfied with what you have already accomplished. An improvement of even a couple more points would be a big step.

As for how to improve: the GMAT Prep test is the most accurate, so I would go under the assumption that SC needs the most work. Fortunately, that's also (usually) the easiest verbal section to improve. You didn't really mention how you've been studying, but the key to doing well on SC is not relying on "what sounds good" but rather learning the main grammatical errors tested on the GMAT really well, and practicing spotting those errors in sentences. Always have a grammatical reason for picking/not picking an answer. The testmakers are very good at writing wrong answers that "sound" good.

Also, if you haven't already done so, I'd recommend adding 30-60 minutes of reading per day into your study regimen. This is a great way to get more comfortable with verbal in general, without it really feeling like you're studying. Aim for well written material - the Wall Street Journal is great.

Hope this helps!
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep
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by 4score20 » Mon May 25, 2009 11:07 am
A good way to improve verbal for a non native speaker could be to do as much reading as possible. Well-written books and articles could help you with the nuances, idioms and typical grammar structures.
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by antest07 » Mon May 25, 2009 7:17 pm
I will hit my target easily if I got a 35 on verbal, sigh...

I am currently reading "A tale of two cities" (And I have already completed another book of Charles Dickens). Although it is a little bit late (My test will be on 25 Jun), I strive hard to improve my English.

I took 5 Kaplan test and four of them scored 30 (The last one scored 26 because of RC social science topic).
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by Pierreha » Tue May 26, 2009 4:55 am
antest07 and others, do you think literary novels are a good source to improve english for non-native speakers? To me it seems the material on the GMAT is mostly academic?
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by antest07 » Tue May 26, 2009 5:24 pm
I am NOT a native English speaker. Standard English comes from literature, so it is good to learn English by reading literature.

Of course you should choose literature that suits you. I advise you to read literature that is not too difficult.

Also you should research on topics that may appear on Reading Comprehension (Business, Science and Social science). You can read articles on Wikipedia.

Hope this helps. :D
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