Nunuboy1994 wrote:So I sat for my third attempt at the GMAT just last week and scored a 34 on the verbal- my highest official score yet; however, my practice exam scores have been a bit higher and the highest I have ever gotten on the verbal section on a brand new CAT (absolutely no repeats) was a V40 on a Kaplan CAT. But I had been consistently scoring in the v32-v38 range on GMAT prep. My GMAT Prep Cat's are all burned up- any advice on how to get my verbal up from v34 to v40+? I understand v34 is not too shabby but I am a native speaker and I have always loved language, particularly writing. Also it was just the feeling when I got a v40 on that lucky Kaplan CAT that makes me so determined to get my verbal score up- intellectually, I felt like I was on cloud nine. What does it take? Does anyone have stories on how they improved from around this range to v40+?

Here's my verbal crash course:

- Read voraciously everyday for 10 days. (Anything challenging will do.) There's research suggesting that the physiology of our brains changes when we read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/ar ... in/282952/

- Consider incorporating some mindfulness meditation. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/

Afterwards, review the official material you've worked through and see if there are patterns to the questions you've missed. Anything unclear, post here. Jot a few notes to yourself about simple adjustments you can make. Remember that for all the strategies/grammar rules we teach, the verbal section is primarily about logic and focus. Practice boiling everything down to its essence. Always ask yourself, before you select an answer in sentence correction, if the sentence, when read literally, is clear and logical. Before you select an answer in Critical Reasoning always take another moment and ask if your answer really does impact the conclusion. Before you select an answer in Reading Comp ask yourself if there's textual support for that answer. Be relentless. Then hit some fresh official tests: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx