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Verbal Practice Source

by akhilsuhag » Thu Dec 11, 2014 11:53 am
Hi,

What would the experts recommend as some of the best practice source for the Verbal Part of the GMAT.
Is the OG good enough in this regard and what other sources are worth referring to for practice. I ask because some sources feel very under cooked for say CR/RC and might actually be detrimental than do good.

Please do get back as soon as possible.

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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 11, 2014 3:15 pm
Hi akhilsuhag,

The OG (and the Verbal specific OG) are great sources for practice questions, but they're not designed to teach you all of the little secrets and patterns inherent in GMAT questions (both Verbal and Quant). Are you interested in additional practice questions or are you interested in learning tactics that will help you to improve your accuracy?

Since you've had this account for some time, I have to assume that you've done your fair share of studying. How do you perform during your FULL-length CATs?

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by akhilsuhag » Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:32 am
Hey Rich,

Thanks for getting back. I scored a V41 in my last GMAT prep but I had to guess on the last three questions for timing reasons.
I really want to get my hands on a good CR/RC material for practice because some of the places just have very badly framed questions- that cant be compared to GMATprep. I think official questions seem more logical and hence easier to follow.

What would you recommend?
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by [email protected] » Fri Dec 12, 2014 10:31 am
Hi akhilsuhag,

A V41 is above the 90th percentile, so I'm curious about how you scored on the other sections of that CAT? Also, what is your goal score?

If you've been performing at that Verbal "level" for some time, then I don't think that you need a lot of additional verbal practice. At that level, the GMAT scoring algorithm gets really "sensitive", so the little mistakes make a big difference in score. On this last CAT, when you got a Verbal question wrong, how often was it because the question was just too hard and how often was it because of a little mistake (or because you narrowed it down to 2 choices and 'guessed' wrong)?

It could very well be that you don't *need* more questions, you need to examine what you're missing and just slightly change your approach.

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by akhilsuhag » Fri Dec 12, 2014 11:19 am
Hi Rich. Just posted the CR's I got wrong on the GMATprep. It is a mixture of finding them very hard and stuck on last 2 choices.
How do you gauge the difficulty of these?
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by [email protected] » Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:36 pm
Hi akhilsuhag,

Most of the CRs you posted were fairly standard, but a couple did have some "quirks" to them - the logic/style of each are such that you can count on seeing the same basic ideas/patterns on Test Day. This ultimately means that you now have to train to think with the same logic that the GMAT writers use. You have to get out of the habit of "narrowing it down to 2" and get into the habit of predicting what the correct answer will probably say (or at the very least, talk about in general).

If you can answer the questions from my prior post, then I'll be happy to offer some suggestions.

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by akhilsuhag » Thu Dec 18, 2014 4:47 am
Hi Rich,

I would definitely want to improve my accuracy from my current level. I was really disappointed at getting 5 CR's incorrect as historically I considered myself to be decent at them.

I have so far been scoring in the 38-42 range but hopefully can take it up to 44.

I am currently on a 20 day leave leading up to the exam and can devote an number of possible hours a day- as GMAT is all I am concentrating on. My Quant hovers around 49 (50 on my last exam)- but I will keep practicing and aim for a 50 on Quant.

What can I do to get the Verbal up to about 44/45 in 20 days.
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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 18, 2014 7:58 pm
Hi akhilsuhag,

From your last post, if I understand you correctly, you have scored Q49-50/V38-42 on at last 2 recent CATs. To raise this score level HIGHER, the simple answer is "don't make any silly/little mistakes ever" because that's really all that's left to "fix."

There is still one factor that hasn't come up in these posts: have you made the necessary efforts to make these CATs as realistic as possible? Did you take the ENTIRE CAT? Did you take these CATs at the same time of day as your Official GMAT? Did you take these CATs under Test-like conditions? Did you do ANYTHING that doesn't mechanically "line up" with what will happen on Test Day? Etc.

I ask the above questions because at this scoring level the GMAT becomes really "sensitive" to little mistakes. A handful of little errors in DS or SC (for example) could significantly impact your score. So if you practice under conditions that don't match the Official Test, then on Test Day these errors have a higher likelihood of occurring.

With these last 20 days, there are 3 things that I would suggest:
1) Do everything in your power to make your last few CATs as realistic and Test-like as possible.
2) A full review of all of your Verbal questions, with an emphasis on understanding the patterns/logic of the prompt.
3) Your Verbal practice has to become more about predicting the correct answer in advance and less about "narrowing the answers down to the correct answer."

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by manyaabroadtpr » Mon Dec 29, 2014 8:47 pm
akhilsuhag wrote: I would definitely want to improve my accuracy from my current level. I was really disappointed at getting 5 CR's incorrect as historically I considered myself to be decent at them.

I have so far been scoring in the 38-42 range but hopefully can take it up to 44.

I am currently on a 20 day leave leading up to the exam and can devote an number of possible hours a day- as GMAT is all I am concentrating on. My Quant hovers around 49 (50 on my last exam)- but I will keep practicing and aim for a 50 on Quant.

What can I do to get the Verbal up to about 44/45 in 20 days.
Hi Akhil,

For CR, you need to understand & gauge what question types you are getting wrong most frequently. Then, you can work on & practice the question types you are facing problems with.It is important that you take complete tests so that you get acclimatized to sitting for approx. 4 hrs. Every time you take a test, do review the questions you got wrong. This will help you in analyzing which questions you are getting wrong regularly. Then, work on your weak areas.
Moreover, consistent practice of all topics & not focus on a single topic is very important.If you are targeting a score of 44 in Verbal, it is important that you get to the Verbal section stress free. So, make sure that you don't carry the stress & pressure of the previous sections to the Verbal section. Lastly, it is essential to work on the pacing of the questions & how much time you spend on each question.Do leave enough time to attempt the last few question & don't rush through these.

Hope this helps.Good Luck
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