GMAT Strategy

I took the GMAT today and scored 490. I'm really upset with my score and I'm not sure how to improve it. I did PR and OG 11. I have been studying for two months now but my score is still terrible..I was horrible at the verbal section..Half way through it I had such a hard time focusing...Any advice on materials/strategy would be truly appreciated.

Look forward to hearing from you guys.

Thanks.

if your problem is with concentration, be sure you're on a good sleep schedule (not just one night of good sleep, but regularly go to bed at the same time, and make sure you have at least 7 hrs). This is most important.

After that, consider what time you took the GMAT... are you a morning person or better in the afternoon? You want to time your exam for your optimal part of the day. Everyone's got a body clock, LISTEN to it!

Also, eat a normal meal before hand. Should be big enough to last a few hours without hunger setting in, and balanced- protein and carbs.

I like to boost my concentration with a bigger-than-normal cup of coffee before the exam, but have heard that makes some a bit jittery.

If you do all those things, and are still having trouble concentrating, maybe see a doctor. There are drugs out there for people with attention deficits, and they work. Of course, only a doctor will know if they are right for you.

Thanks.....I should have scheduled my exam around noon and not at 8 am...Definitely a good tip for next time....
In terms of material/strategy, what would you recommend to use? I'm thinking of buying the MGMAT books after reading the reviews on this forum...I really need to work on my verbal overall....CR and RC are definitely very challenging for me....In Quant, I'm having trouble with probablities, permu, combi..

Before I get into it, I must admit that the verbal comes a lot easier for me. I think it is because I read every day. I used the MGMAT books and took the classroom course. Actually having a teacher for the verbal helped, especially in sentence correction and Critical Reasoning. You mentioned Reading Comp as well, and that is definitely a concentration issue.

I recommend, if you have some time between now and your exam, read articles as if it were a GMAT passage, and do it every day. I read the WSJ- whole articles, and the opinion page, and then summarize them in my mind for practice... I literally say to myself "okay what is the author's main point? What piece of info would refute this? what assumptions are they making?"

For the Quant, I 100% recommend the MGMAT books, most notably for word translations and all combinatorics (I had a tough time on those as well, and the books help).

Reading articles would really help. I will start to do that....I can see how it would really help on all sections of the verbal...In terms of practice material, what would you suggest for Quant and Verbal?