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meeramurthy
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:20 pm
I took my GMAT for the first time last Thursday and scored a 610 (Q48, V26). I got a 700 (Q48,V40) on my GMAT Prep 2 practice test 2 days before the real exam. My verbal score drop is absolutely puzzling.
Quant:
My quant score was a 44 when I first started preparing for my GMAT with pacing being the big issue. I improved to a 46-48 towards the end of my preparation once I tackled my pacing.
I felt the real exam was very similar to the GMAT Prep exams and pacing was no longer a major issue. I felt pretty confident that my performance was about the same as my practice exams.
Verbal:
I started with a 36 when on my first practice exam, where I was getting about 10 SCs wrong and 1 RC and 1 CR wrong. I used MGMAT SC and OG-12 to prepare for verbal. I was improving consistently through the practice exams as I learnt more grammar rules. I forced myself to rely more on the grammar rules to eliminate versus "this sounds better" approach. I managed to get under 6 wrong in my GMAT Prep 2 exam 2 days before the real deal. I never managed to get my timing to under a 1.5 minutes per question.
RC and CR, I was consistently getting 0-1 wrong on my practice exams. I practiced some difficult OG problems but overall I did not spend much time on RC and CR. On hindsight, may be this was my biggest mistake.
On the real exam, I thought the verbal section was considerably more difficult than the GMAT Prep exams. The SC were comparable and I was able to eliminate most choices based on grammar. I thought CR was very difficult. I had 8 assumption questions, 1 inference question and 1 type of argument question. This was definitely very different than what I had seen on the GMAT Prep which typically has only 2-3 assumption questions. Most of the CR questions, I was able to get it down to 2 choices and was not 100% confident on either of the choices. I felt RC passages were similar. The questions were much more inferential than direct passage related questions.
Overall, I felt the RC/CR questions were difficult and nothing like my practice exams.
I would like to retake my GMAT as soon as possible before I loose any momentum. I was hoping I could get some guidance on verbal strategies.
Should I continue practicing from OG? What are some other valuable practice materials for RC, CR and SC? I have the BTG questions but I only used it for DS. Is it useful for verbal? I am concerned that the OG RC and CR questions aren't as difficult as the real thing.
Does Powerscore CR have practice problems or is it just strategy?
What practice exams are good for verbal? I have access to MGMAT exams but I have already taken all the 6 exams.
Thanks for all your help!
Quant:
My quant score was a 44 when I first started preparing for my GMAT with pacing being the big issue. I improved to a 46-48 towards the end of my preparation once I tackled my pacing.
I felt the real exam was very similar to the GMAT Prep exams and pacing was no longer a major issue. I felt pretty confident that my performance was about the same as my practice exams.
Verbal:
I started with a 36 when on my first practice exam, where I was getting about 10 SCs wrong and 1 RC and 1 CR wrong. I used MGMAT SC and OG-12 to prepare for verbal. I was improving consistently through the practice exams as I learnt more grammar rules. I forced myself to rely more on the grammar rules to eliminate versus "this sounds better" approach. I managed to get under 6 wrong in my GMAT Prep 2 exam 2 days before the real deal. I never managed to get my timing to under a 1.5 minutes per question.
RC and CR, I was consistently getting 0-1 wrong on my practice exams. I practiced some difficult OG problems but overall I did not spend much time on RC and CR. On hindsight, may be this was my biggest mistake.
On the real exam, I thought the verbal section was considerably more difficult than the GMAT Prep exams. The SC were comparable and I was able to eliminate most choices based on grammar. I thought CR was very difficult. I had 8 assumption questions, 1 inference question and 1 type of argument question. This was definitely very different than what I had seen on the GMAT Prep which typically has only 2-3 assumption questions. Most of the CR questions, I was able to get it down to 2 choices and was not 100% confident on either of the choices. I felt RC passages were similar. The questions were much more inferential than direct passage related questions.
Overall, I felt the RC/CR questions were difficult and nothing like my practice exams.
I would like to retake my GMAT as soon as possible before I loose any momentum. I was hoping I could get some guidance on verbal strategies.
Should I continue practicing from OG? What are some other valuable practice materials for RC, CR and SC? I have the BTG questions but I only used it for DS. Is it useful for verbal? I am concerned that the OG RC and CR questions aren't as difficult as the real thing.
Does Powerscore CR have practice problems or is it just strategy?
What practice exams are good for verbal? I have access to MGMAT exams but I have already taken all the 6 exams.
Thanks for all your help!
