I just Beat The GMAT!

So i was going thru your post regarding your test experience.
I took my GMAT, just yesterday (10th Nov) and I must say that I am more than disappointed.
I think you and I were probably in the same boat starting out.
Verbal for me was never a problem. I started out with a scaled score of 34 on the GMAT Preps, and ended with a score as high as 44. The 44 might not be a true indication of my ability since i saw quite a few repeats on the test. But that is a different story all together.
Coming back to the actual test, the SC's were ok. What got me was the RC's and the CR's.
As far as the CR's are concerned, I have never seen anything like it. The answer choices seemed too close to even be eliminated. There was no way i could have eliminated more than 2 choices. I think i ended up guessing on most of my CR's.
I took my test in Ahmedabad, and what else got me was that the marker and the board they gave me were just horrible. I've always been used to diagramming my CR's and outlining my RC's. I get there to the test centre, I start my test, and i think I asked for a new marker atleast 5 times during the quant section and atleast twice in the verbal section. By the middle of the verbal section i was so fed up with the whole thing that i just read the questions and marked what i thought was the right answer. This definitely affected my score.
Unfortunately, somehow I think something has definitely changed in the GMAT. The questions are so NOT indicative of GMAT Prep, especially the CR's and the RC's.
I plan on giving my test again, now going mentally prepared about the testing conditions at the test center.

I understand your concern...even I am planning a second attempt...but after 2 months of preparation !! Trying some new tips and tricks for my second attempt.

rippersid wrote:So i was going thru your post regarding your test experience.
I took my GMAT, just yesterday (10th Nov) and I must say that I am more than disappointed.
I think you and I were probably in the same boat starting out.
Verbal for me was never a problem. I started out with a scaled score of 34 on the GMAT Preps, and ended with a score as high as 44. The 44 might not be a true indication of my ability since i saw quite a few repeats on the test. But that is a different story all together.
Coming back to the actual test, the SC's were ok. What got me was the RC's and the CR's.
As far as the CR's are concerned, I have never seen anything like it. The answer choices seemed too close to even be eliminated. There was no way i could have eliminated more than 2 choices. I think i ended up guessing on most of my CR's.
I took my test in Ahmedabad, and what else got me was that the marker and the board they gave me were just horrible. I've always been used to diagramming my CR's and outlining my RC's. I get there to the test centre, I start my test, and i think I asked for a new marker atleast 5 times during the quant section and atleast twice in the verbal section. By the middle of the verbal section i was so fed up with the whole thing that i just read the questions and marked what i thought was the right answer. This definitely affected my score.
Unfortunately, somehow I think something has definitely changed in the GMAT. The questions are so NOT indicative of GMAT Prep, especially the CR's and the RC's.
I plan on giving my test again, now going mentally prepared about the testing conditions at the test center.

avinashgup wrote:Today was the D-day and it couldn't have been worse that this. I broke all my past records in VA and screwed it up big time. I just scored 21 in VA and that plummeted my scores. In all my practise tests, I was scoring 30-39 in VA. QA had been constant around 49-50.
Don't know what went wrong today. Most of the questions seemed easy. 3 RC's were science related topics with direct answers. SC and CR too were manageable.
Can anyone help me out with a strategy that would help me workout on the VA section. Could it be that i messed the initial questions that gave me a real low score.

Any help or suggestion would be highly appreciated.

Thanks.
Avinash[/img]

Avinash,

Are you using the MGMAT strategy guide for SC? I was able to improve my verbal drastically using it. Don't rely too much on CR and RC from the MGMAT tests. The logic in some of them is questionable. Make sure you can get 100% correct on CR or RC questions on GMAT Prep and Power Prep, every question has a clear answer, repeat these tests until you are getting every single question right. For every question you guess or you got wrong, read through explanations only about every answer choice and why it is wrong.

Go through the OG. I did every SC and CR question from OG and from the verbal guide. For each question make sure you read both the correct answer choice as well as every wrong answer choice and why it is wrong, even for the questions you get right.

Additionally, the new MGMAT guide is much better than the older edition, and for $17 on Amazon is quite a bargain if you can get a hold of it.

-Praneeth