Beaten by the GMAT

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
This topic has expert replies
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:02 pm
GMAT Score:580

Beaten by the GMAT

by danimmm » Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:41 am
Just got out of my first GMAT ...
Total : 580 - 60%
Q: 50 - 94%
V: 19 - 16%

Learned for the Verbal part only for more than a month. Will try again at mid May. :-\

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 106
Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 6:09 am
Location: Louisville, KY
Thanked: 8 times

Re: Beaten by the GMAT

by marcusking » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:10 am
danimmm wrote:Just got out of my first GMAT ...
Total : 580 - 60%
Q: 50 - 94%
V: 19 - 16%

Learned for the Verbal part only for more than a month. Will try again at mid May. :-\
Wow your quant score is IMPRESSIVE. You obviously know what you need to work on. Do you know what area in verbal you a specifically stuck on? It may help to keep track of which area you are having the most trouble with. If I had any suggestion it would be to concentrate on the Critical reasoning as I find it to be a very analytical, almost quantitative process, I think it would be an easy area for you to excel in. I also believe that sentence correction can be approached the same way, the greatest lesson I've learned (and I'm a native English speaker) is to not pay attention to how the sentences sound but rather to scan them for common errors that the GMAT likes to throw in.

I think the Princeton Review "Cracking the GMAT" book as well as the Manhattan Sentence Correction guide may be able to help in that area.

I'm sure it seems overwhelming but with patience and practice you can pull the verbal score up. I think if you were to get it up to around a 30 or so combined with your quant you should see a big increase in total score.

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 13
Joined: Sat Feb 21, 2009 10:02 pm
GMAT Score:580

by danimmm » Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:06 pm
Do you really believe its possible?
I'm not an English speaker, never read an English book in my life, never saw a movie without subtitles.

Scored 600 on the TOEFL.

I find the RC as impossible for me. At the Quant' part 50 is my everage score. At The GMATPerp my Scores were:
1. Q49 V26 - Total 630
2. Q50 V24 - Total 580

Can I make a 32+ at the verbal ?

User avatar
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 7:30 pm
Thanked: 1 times
GMAT Score:740

by aabsih » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:21 pm
danimmm,

You can definitely improve your verbal score vastly. I agree with marcusking's advice. You can really improve your score by nailing the sentence correction part.

As for the RC, trust me I hated these questions with a passion but they ended up being my favorite part about the verbal. Just tackle it head on. The nice thing about the RC questions is that the answers are always right in front of you. Be enthusiastic about them, and more importantly confident that you can ace them.

I used the strategies in the McGraw Hill's Gmat verbal guide. See what works best for you. The most important thing is to systematically understand what the passage is trying to convey, and what each paragraph adds to the meaning. Do as many practice passages as you possibly can, and have faith in yourself.

Good luck buddy,

A