need help to improve verbal score

BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

This topic has expert replies

Post new topic Post Reply

Previous Topic Next Topic

saurabh s: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:39 am

need help to improve verbal score

by saurabh s » Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:01 am

Hi,

I am from India and have appeared for GMAT this decemeber. I was able to score fine in Maths but by verbal score was depressingly low. I have referenced Manhattan GMAT's verbal books for my prep. I read a lot but what i figured out during my prep is that my gist about the topic and actual meaning of the given passage are quite different. Because of this i face difficulty in all three sections.
I have planned to improve my reading strategy first while focusing on timing and sentence structuring.

Any help on how to improve verbal section would be really helpful.
I have planned to appear for GMAT within next 4 months again.

Thanks
-Saurabh

Quote

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:01 am

GMAT/MBA Expert

brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pm; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; Followed by:93 members; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Tue Jan 15, 2013 8:31 pm

saurabh s wrote:I am from India and have appeared for GMAT this decemeber. I was able to score fine in Maths but by verbal score was depressingly low. I have referenced Manhattan GMAT's verbal books for my prep. I read a lot but what i figured out during my prep is that my gist about the topic and actual meaning of the given passage are quite different. Because of this i face difficulty in all three sections. I have planned to improve my reading strategy first while focusing on timing and sentence structuring.

Saurabh: Good questions, and glad that you still have some time in front of you to prepare. Here's what I'd offer. First, I'd definitely read through the following posts on how to best lay out a study plan, especially given that you still have a few months in front of you.

Link 1 - https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/

Link 2 - https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-2/

Beyond that, how are you on the 'note taking' front when you are working through RC/CR? Practice different ways to 'summarize' what it is that you've just read.

Lastly (and please follow up here) -- are your problems more focused on CR/RC or equally on both.

Thanks.

-Brian

_________________
Brian Lange
Instructor, Manhattan GMAT
Expert Contributor to Beat The GMAT

Merci, Danke, Grazie, Gracias -- Whichever way you say it, if you found my post helpful, please click on the 'thank' icon in the top right corner of this post.

And I encourage you to click on 'follow' to track all my posts -- all the cool kids are doing it!

Quote

saurabh s: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:39 am

by saurabh s » Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:08 am

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the reply. In CR i mostly lag in capturing the idea as i read through 4-5 lines.When i follow Diag approach, mostly i get them right.But this diag approach is time cosuming, so i have to practice on reducing time while not missing the key info.

In RC, as you mention about note taking strategy, i end up taking good number of lines to summarize the information in a given passage. I have planned to reduce no of lines and get the basic idea in shorter lines. Please can you recommned something to practice on this on GMAT lines.
I have surfed and figured out there is good amount of stuff available , but i am not sure what should be best to start with.
As of now i have planned to read The Economist articles and summarize them in a limited time.
Your advise would be really helpful. I think once i get a good grip on RC , other sections in verbal would be easy to analyze and practice.

Thanks
-Saurabh

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pm; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; Followed by:93 members; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Wed Jan 16, 2013 8:58 pm

saurabh s wrote:Hi Brian,
Thanks for the reply. In CR i mostly lag in capturing the idea as i read through 4-5 lines.When i follow Diag approach, mostly i get them right.But this diag approach is time cosuming, so i have to practice on reducing time while not missing the key info.

Yes -- this is right. You might find my response obvious, but this is about practice/practice/practice. If you can find 15 seconds/CR question, that's an extra 3 minutes per verbal section -- HUGE!!

saurabh s wrote:In RC, as you mention about note taking strategy, i end up taking good number of lines to summarize the information in a given passage. I have planned to reduce no of lines and get the basic idea in shorter lines. Please can you recommned something to practice on this on GMAT lines. I have surfed and figured out there is good amount of stuff available , but i am not sure what should be best to start with. As of now i have planned to read The Economist articles and summarize them in a limited time. Your advise would be really helpful. I think once i get a good grip on RC , other sections in verbal would be easy to analyze and practice.

Take a look at Stacey's article here -- https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... rehension/ -- and try out some of the tips there. After that's had some time to sink in, take a look here -- https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/ -- which raises the ante a bit and might help with some time management.

Let me know if this makes sense.

-Brian

Quote

vomhorizon: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 194; Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:05 pm; Location: India; Thanked: 26 times; Followed by:8 members; GMAT Score:730

by vomhorizon » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:07 am

hanks for the reply. In CR i mostly lag in capturing the idea as i read through 4-5 lines.When i follow Diag approach, mostly i get them right.But this diag approach is time cosuming, so i have to practice on reducing time while not missing the key info.

In RC, as you mention about note taking strategy, i end up taking good number of lines to summarize the information in a given passage.

This is something that i was also doing. The mistake that i was making was that i was writing down everything that i found important. Proper diagramming should be done only after the first reading the first paragraph, there was a point when i was doing it after every sentence and that wasted a looot of time...Try to open up a magazine, book, novel, newspaper and try to diagram every para with 1-2 lines .. thats all the practice you need..The diagramming should provide a skeleton or framework of the passage and should be devoid of the nitty gritty details, for those type of questions (those that require the details ) you should refer back to the passage...

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful." - Eric Thomas

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pm; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; Followed by:93 members; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:08 pm

vomhorizon wrote:Proper diagramming should be done only after the first reading the first paragraph, there was a point when i was doing it after every sentence and that wasted a looot of time...Try to open up a magazine, book, novel, newspaper and try to diagram every para with 1-2 lines .. thats all the practice you need..The diagramming should provide a skeleton or framework of the passage and should be devoid of the nitty gritty details, for those type of questions (those that require the details ) you should refer back to the passage...

Vom uses some really good words there -- skeleton, framework, etc. It's not about 'rewriting' the paragraphs.. it's about writing enough so that you have a good sense of what you just read. We know that our brain processes information in three ways -- we hear things, we see things, we write things. Writing things down leads to our best memory recall/comprehension. Hence, the reco around note-taking.

Take a look at Stacey's article -- I think it'll give you some better tips/suggestions on how to maximize your performance on reading comprehension.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/

Best,

-Brian

Quote

vomhorizon: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 194; Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:05 pm; Location: India; Thanked: 26 times; Followed by:8 members; GMAT Score:730

by vomhorizon » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:33 pm

we hear things, we see things, we write things. Writing things down leads to our best memory recall/comprehension. Hence, the reco around note-taking.

This is the most important point here.. A vast majority of the time i do not even go through the diagramming or the notes i have taken after reading the entire passage. The mind can play plenty of tricks on you, and at the back end of a brutal Essay/IR/Quant section it can zone you out completely even though you are reading the para inside your head (subconscious reading)...Making a little summary makes sure you know and comprehend what you have read and therefore alerts your mind for it knows that it is not "reading" just "for the sake" of "reading" but for comprehension.

One more thing about practicing Official RC material, make sure it is after atleast an hour of serious quant and/or a mixture of quant and Verbal as you would need to answer tough RC questions when your mind is extremely fatigued...

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful." - Eric Thomas

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pm; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; Followed by:93 members; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:03 pm

vomhorizon wrote:
we hear things, we see things, we write things. Writing things down leads to our best memory recall/comprehension. Hence, the reco around note-taking.
One more thing about practicing Official RC material, make sure it is after atleast an hour of serious quant and/or a mixture of quant and Verbal as you would need to answer tough RC questions when your mind is extremely fatigued...

Vom raises a nice point here -- as you progress in your test-prep you want to do increasingly more and more to ensure that you are trying to replicate (as much as is feasible) experiences that are like that you'll encounter on test day. You'll be sitting in the 'chair' for at least two hours and 15 minutes before you see your first RC question -- how do you ensure that you are in the right mindset when you get there... and then, how do you try to replicate that in your prep/study?

-Brian

Quote

vomhorizon: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 194; Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 6:05 pm; Location: India; Thanked: 26 times; Followed by:8 members; GMAT Score:730

by vomhorizon » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:15 pm

You'll be sitting in the 'chair' for at least two hours and 15 minutes before you see your first RC question

I just wish that the GMAC would flip the two sections so that we could attempt the Verbal first and quant second. My mind does far better while doing Math sums as opposed to logic or RC when fatigued..[/quote]

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful." - Eric Thomas

Quote

GMAT/MBA Expert

brianlange77: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 417; Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 8:49 pm; Location: Chapel Hill, NC; Thanked: 132 times; Followed by:93 members; GMAT Score:750

by brianlange77 » Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:58 pm

vomhorizon wrote:
You'll be sitting in the 'chair' for at least two hours and 15 minutes before you see your first RC question
I just wish that the GMAC would flip the two sections so that we could attempt the Verbal first and quant second. My mind does far better while doing Math sums as opposed to logic or RC when fatigued..

[/quote]

We all wish for lots of things -- keep the focus on what you can control and allow yourself to let the other 'problems' just wash away. You'll do great!

Quote

saurabh s: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 2:39 am

by saurabh s » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:53 pm

@Brian: These articles are good to outline the starting prep. Specially the one which focus on reading material near to GMAT Prep and summarizing them. This will not only helps in familirizing different topics but would also help in increasing comprehension capability. I have started with these

@Vom : Your point to flip the sections is really "A WISH" because doing maths is always a fun even you do it before verbal section or after it

. And yes it really makes sense ,once i get a decent grip on speed and understanding on RC , to practice RC in a typically test secene i.e. after having done an hour of quant or quant & verbal mix.

Thanks guys for really good pointers , i was really worried on how to start with verbal after my first attempt