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HELP! High Quant - Very low Verbal

Critical Reasoning, Reading Comprehension
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HELP! High Quant - Very low Verbal

by ThomasG91 » Thu Apr 16, 2015 12:32 am
Hi everyone,

I took the GMAT yesterday and scored 530 (Q48/V16). I am a non-native and as you can see I am struggling with the Verbal section. My target score is 600+ , so I have to keep my Quant score and move my Verbal score to the high 20's. I definitely have to focus on Verbal.
Regarding my past studies:
I studied around 9 weeks - fulltime - 30h/week and I used only the Manhattan Books. I went through all of them (9 books) and did all the problem sets. The last 14 days before the exam, I did some real tests (GMAT Prep & Manhattan). My scores were between 520 and 600.

I am posting this, in order to get advices in terms of providing me with a 5 week-strategy (I will take the GMAT again on the 20th of May).
How can I boost my verbal score? Can you recommend any additional books or how should I proceed. I have the feeling that Sentence Correction is pretty okay, but CR/RC is really hard for me - especially under time pressure. It is hard for me to understand the arguments/text passages in the very short time frame during the GMAT.

I would really appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance!
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by [email protected] » Thu Apr 16, 2015 9:52 am
Hi ThomasG91,

Most Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) studying for the GMAT, so it might be that you just haven't put in enough time/effort yet. With the 9 weeks that you spent studying, it's not clear how much of THAT time was spent on Verbal practice, so again - you just might need to put in more time into that section of the GMAT.

No book can properly simulate the 'mechanics' that you'll have to use to deal with the Verbal section on Test Day, so instead of looking for more books to work with, you might consider investing in some new online/computer-based resources for this next round of studies.

Is there a reason why you scheduled your GMAT for May 20th; do you have the flexibility to push back that Test Date if needed?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by Rich@EconomistGMAT » Mon Apr 27, 2015 12:57 pm
Hi ThomasG91,

I have to agree with Rich C here. Most test takers dedicate a considerable amount of time to their GMAT prep. For non-native speakers, I often suggest supplementing book materials with additional outside reading. Challenge yourself to attack your favorite opinion pieces from the perspective of a test taker. You'll also be able to see on a regular basis how professional writers follow the rules of grammar and form arguments.

Additionally, feel free to shop around a bit for online resources. Many offer free trials to give you the opportunity to determine which one will work best for you. To help you get started with some online resources, here's a link to sign up for a 7-day trial of Economist GMAT Tutor: https://bit.ly/1bPAHuW

Best,
Rich
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