Hi Biji.
First of all, retakes after a couple of months are still retakes. Even if you don't recall the exact answer to a repeated question, in some way you recall the pattern of the question and the path to the right answer. Meanwhile, even a few repeated questions can significantly reduce the time pressure one experiences when taking the GMAT.
So while retakes can be useful, often the scores that they generate can be significantly inflated and the practice they provide may not be realistic.
So my first suggestion is that you don't count on scores generated by retakes.
Now, for some direction, let's break things down some.
Your quant score is pretty solid. You said that you were stressed out when you took that last test. So your mindset was likely a factor in the drop in your quant score. I say over the next almost two weeks that you have left, continue to go over your less strong areas in quant. By getting stronger in those areas you will increase your confidence, reduce stress and increase your score.
Regarding verbal, it seems likely that that drop to V22 was partly due to mindset. Still, I wonder how it could have dropped so far unless there are flaws in your processes for handling verbal questions.
So possibly the answer in verbal is to focus on process at this point. Likely you know enough about GMAT verbal. If that is the case, now you have to be better at consistently getting right answer to verbal questions.
One way to do that is to carefully work on verbal questions, shooting for a high hit rate, something close to 90 or 100%. When you don't get a question right, consider the following two things, what you needed to see in order to get it right and what about your process led you to the wrong answer rather than the right answer.
By getting better at seeing what you need to see and by refining your processes for arriving at answers, within a week or two you should see more consistent results in verbal. Recently I saw someone in under a week jump from V28 to V42 by doing just those things. He didn't have to learn more about GMAT verbal. He had to become better at applying what he already knew and at seeing what he needs to see and he had to improve his processes for selecting answers.
Overall, learn to stay cool and just work on getting right answers. Mindset can be huge. So keep calm and carry on.
Last edited by
MartyMurray on Tue Aug 18, 2020 8:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
