How to improve Verbal score?

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How to improve Verbal score?

by Ratna » Thu Jul 22, 2010 10:06 am
Hi all,

i have been preparing for GMAT since 2 and half months and my exam is round the corner in another 15 days. I did OG 12th edition, Kaplan 800.
Howover i was scoring very badly in all the tests. Here are my scores in few tests which i took recently.

GMAT Prep1: 570 (47Q, 22V)
Manhataan CAT : 460 (35Q, 19V)
PrincetonReview Demo test : 420 (33Q, 15V)
GMAT Prep2: 540 (43Q, 22V)

I am targeting a score around 675-700.
Currently i am pretty confident of improving on Quant as i am working on avoiding silly mistakes which i did in all the above tests. My concern is Verbal. i am very very poor in RC. SC i am around 65-70% Accuracy and CR i am around 55-65 % accuracy.

How can i reach my target score within this time? Can someone help me out please? And also how should i go about doing pratice tests now seeing my scores in above tests?
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by Ratna » Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:31 am
Well, my date is approaching and i defenetly need an advice. Its on August 7th..

By seeing my below scores, Will i be able to get atleast near to my target score in this short frame?

Should i look for a postpone? If yes, how long will it take to get on track and get my target 675-700?

Also how often should i take practise tests? I have been perplexed with this question often? Can someone help?

I wanted to apply to schools for next year meaning i want to attend for 2011-2013 programe.
So deadlines will also be an issue, so considering all these if i have to postpone, till what date i can postpone?

It would be great if someone can guide me.

Thanks.

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by InkyBinky » Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:37 am
GMAT Prep supposedly has a 30 point standard deviation. 3 standard deviations on the upside of your GMAT Prep 2 would put you at about 630. Looking at a z-table, that puts your odds of scoring higher than 630 at about 0.13%.

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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Fri Jul 23, 2010 9:22 am
Ratna wrote:Well, my date is approaching and i defenetly need an advice. Its on August 7th..

By seeing my below scores, Will i be able to get atleast near to my target score in this short frame?

Should i look for a postpone? If yes, how long will it take to get on track and get my target 675-700?

Also how often should i take practise tests? I have been perplexed with this question often? Can someone help?

I wanted to apply to schools for next year meaning i want to attend for 2011-2013 programe.
So deadlines will also be an issue, so considering all these if i have to postpone, till what date i can postpone?

It would be great if someone can guide me.

Thanks.
I have to agree with Inky- your chances of getting your target score in the desired time frame are pretty slim. I would suggest that you push you test date. If I were you I would buy the Manhattan SC book and work on RC and CR passages every day for at least a couple hours. You should also look at the RC resources under the resource tab at

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/resources

I think you may have skipped a crucial step in your studying- the theory. It seems that you went straight to the practice problems. While doing practice problems is crucial, you need to learn all of the basics before you try to increase your speed.

Regardless of what you choose to do I wish you luck
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by Ratna » Fri Jul 23, 2010 8:50 pm
Thanks Inky for your input.

If that is the case then the only best option available for me to is to postpone the date. I will do that for sure.

Thanks Dan for your kind suggestion. Now i would rather postpone my date and start with a new strategy to prepare for verbal. As suggested by you, i will get one Manhattan SC book and start preparing from today. Actually i did look into theory before jumping on the practice but doono what i m doing in tests, may be i am not applying them in right manner.
I have to look into this problem.

Now the imp question is how far can i postpone? meaning time frame, because my concern is i should not miss the deadlines for the first round to apply for the schools. Supposedly say i postpone to 1'st week of September will that be sufficient for me to apply in first rounds?

Note: Currently we don't have dates for last week of August.

Can someone help me on this? Please......

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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:25 am
Ratna wrote:Thanks Inky for your input.

If that is the case then the only best option available for me to is to postpone the date. I will do that for sure.

Thanks Dan for your kind suggestion. Now i would rather postpone my date and start with a new strategy to prepare for verbal. As suggested by you, i will get one Manhattan SC book and start preparing from today. Actually i did look into theory before jumping on the practice but doono what i m doing in tests, may be i am not applying them in right manner.
I have to look into this problem.

Now the imp question is how far can i postpone? meaning time frame, because my concern is i should not miss the deadlines for the first round to apply for the schools. Supposedly say i postpone to 1'st week of September will that be sufficient for me to apply in first rounds?

Note: Currently we don't have dates for last week of August.

Can someone help me on this? Please......
It usually takes two weeks for the scores to be sent to the schools so keep that in mind when choosing your date.
If my post helped you- let me know by pushing the thanks button ;)

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by Ratna » Sat Jul 24, 2010 9:45 am
Actually, i haven't thought of any schools as of now so i have no idea on the deadlines for the applications.

Supposedly, i put put my date on 1'st week of September. Will there be sufficient time to apply for the schools (meaning first round or second round)?

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by Victory_GMAT » Sat Jul 24, 2010 1:10 pm
Don't worry if you spend more time on verbal. GMAT preparation of verbal part is like once in a life cleaning when you actually clean your english abilities which is crucial. All of your life ,whether a native speaker or english user as a second language, people speak and use inaccurate or grammatically wrong english and this is the only way to learn otherwise in real life after MBA you are just fired from your dream job and nobody will tell you then that your language abilities are below the standard of organization where you are working. Treat this opportunity as great time to learn how to write write impressive, gramatically accurate and precise language. I loved so much this GMAT verbal improvement that in addition to GMAT verbal prepartion, I am also planning to do GRE as GRE will prove to be an option of GMAT's score and also, perhaps most importantly, a rich vocabulary which is not possible through any other way especially in this busy life. It is a kind of repetition of High School where you only have to learn proper grammar, diction, concision, idioms and style.