GMAT Strategy

I took my GMAT last week and scored a miserable 590 (Q47 and V25). My verbal scores in practice tests were in the range of 34 and 35 and never seem to cross the 35 mark. On the day of exam, i had a good beginning with the Verbal section but lost steam midway, this could be attributed to disturbance from people around/lack of energy.
My goal is to score over a hundred more points and hence need your advice on how i could reach the same. I plan to retake my GMAT in a month or so, and willing to put atleast 3-4 hours of preparation per day.

Do the OG,including reading the explanations. Solve verbal questions from reputed sources.

The good news is that you have lots of room to improve on verbal.

First, what are your weaknesses? What are your strengths? Remember that the entire verbal section adapts as a whole so you do get some nice multiplier effects. If you can improve your weakest areas you will get harder questions in your stronger areas and so you can move up in score.

My suggestions for you:

Look at your approaches. What are the techniques you are using? What are the methodologies? If I were to say to you "Critical Reasoning" are you able to say to me something like this:

"first I read the question stem to see if this is a question that has a conclusion in the stimulus. Second, I read the stimulus with a primary goal of identifying the conclusion. Third I identify the main evidence (I call it the Most Important Premise). Fourth, I" ......and so on.

You should have these techniques for each part of the verbal. This will especially help as you get tired and perhaps the test center is a little noisy.

You should have the first 30 seconds of each question really be automatic so that you can save your brain power for the points in each question when you really need it. Your techniques should have some redundancies in them so that you can over come any lapses in concentration. In other words you should have techniques on the verbal side that are not "best case scenario" as in - "I can get this right in the best case" instead you should have built in checkpoints where you gather yourself so that you can get questions right even with the television on. This is possible because you have a system that keeps you on track.

Does that make sense?

If you want, you can name your weakest area and I will describe what I mean by a system with checkpoints to prevent you from losing the whole question with a little slip in concentration.

David

Hey David,
Thanks for the detailed reply, feel grateful. I have been pretty accurate in CR, this based on previous practice tests, getting on an avg 3 to 4 questions wrong - Same with RC , and SC has been my Strong and also my weakest area. Please find below my approach to each Question type :

CR : First I read the Stimulus, to get a general idea of what the question is about. Then the question and stop and process the answer in my mind and then look for the answer. Ofcourse, this method changes for different question types.

RC :
Type 1 : Long passage : Here i read the whole of first paragraph, to get a general idea about the passage and then read the first lines of each subsequent paragraphs, and mark important words (nouns), dates etc. After this, i read my abbreviated notes and think about the general idea of the passage. This helps me in answering General Questions such as Main idea, tone etc... For specific questions/inference i revisit the the passage with the aid of key words from my note. Using this strategy, i still have trouble with inference questions.
Type 2 : Short Passage : I treat this as a long CR passage and read each sentence noting down the purpose of the author (giving examples, making a point, refuting etc). Basically i am interacting with the author, "why are you writing this?" Using this strategy i get lost in words, sometimes rereading to get a hold of the flow etc, and then mess up with the answers , virtually after all this my mind goes "BONK! What did i just read?"

SC :
Type 1 : Whole Sentence : I simply dont read the question and jump into the choices, compare each choice to see which concept is being tested. Having said that, i get paralyzed when i see words such as "being, having been, to be etc..." I guess i give too much heed to my ear.
Type 2 : Half Sentence : This is a monster for me, often i get stuck between two answer choices and often end up choosing the wrong answer choices, I also tried this experiment, "Wait Kashyap, you are making a mistake, chose the other" . The result? More mistakes
I also get BONKED when i see parallelism and comparison questions. I tried to practice few questions before the exam, but to no gain. I just tremble, when i spot them.
But when i redo these questions, untimed i seem to do well. Hence during the later half of my practice sessions i tried a practice test (untimed) and ended up scoring Q46 and V44 , a score of 740 (a dream). Then my conclusion - untimed i do well, it is all in the head! Hence started hiding the timer, but still was stuck at a max score of 35.
Type 3 : Single/ few words : Relatively easy , accuracy rate of 90% or more, just see the context of usage and spot the correct answer.

I received my official Score card today. AWA was doing good at 5.5. Math is at Q47, i saw few monsters during the exam, but just let them go. During the actual test, Verbal , during the second half, i was simply not myself, i was glossing over the passage/questions, wanted to get up and shout at the people making noise (laughing loud), tried to show my displeasure by throwing the marker (ofcourse making noise) , was shattered, i knew that i was being visited by easy questions, i knew something must have been wrong. Held my nerve/emotions for the last few questions and had to see the inevitable.

Also i make a tally of the number of CR/RC/SC questions : During my other Practice tests, there were on avg. 13-14 questions of CR and SC each, and a normal 4 passages. On the actual test - there were 4 passages, few CRs and a stream of (arrows) of SC!!! i suppose there were 18 to 20 of them
I stopped tallying the no of questions during the later half. Tried to write something for CR on the notepad and the marker din co-operate and hence the throwgate.

hey leokashyap,

I am in the same boat you are...i am yet to take my GMAT, but yes my mocks are varying a lot.. .sometimes as hight as 650 and sometimes 570.... this really makes me worred and less confident.

I tried one approach for RC , it really helps to make one pager ( max 2/3 ) page notes of learnings from daily practice of SC.
This helped me in avoiding the repetitive mistakes i used to do, because what happens is that we learn the concept well and later when time to apply the concept comes , we tend to fail because we cant recall the same concept under stressful and time bound conditions.

revising this one pager everyday increased my recall of concept and i stopped doing silly mistakes under stressfull conditions, if you want to see the one pager i have just pm me yr mail id and i will share the same with you.

@ david ,

Thanks very much for replying with such interest, this is really gonna be helpful for a lot of students... i think this is the worst phase of exam prep and brings max frusteration, because u have given sometime for prep and now the ROI is declining in proportion to the time invested. I also require a direction ( especially verbal ) because my verbal also varies a lot ( specially CR and RC )

I am weak in a few areas of quant - probability , geometry and combinations... am working on it but can u tell me whether there hve been incidenses where one can get 3/4 questions from single area of quant (e.g 3/4 questions from probability )

thanks very much

cheers

leokashyap -

Great answer...

Let me address reading comprehension first. I have to say that I have a different approach compared to those that you have mentioned. I have heard people use the approach of reading the first paragraph only and the first sentence of each of the next paragraphs before. And also the idea of looking to the details. I have to say that for me this is "flying at the wrong altitude."

What you want to do is fly at an altitude that allows you to focus on the passage as a whole and come back for details as necessary.

Let me put together a posting on reading comp strategy that I will post later today.

I have a few comments about sentence correction as well...let me get those to you as well.

David

thanks very much for your reply David, i would appreciate if u can address one of the points while u address SC

What to look for first or how to start the prob when entire portion of the sentence is underlined, i know its subjective, but still which approach helps the most to save time , my approach is

1) look for the subject first
2) compare the extremes of AC

thanks very much again for your perspective.

For, RC i tried this concept

reading first passage fully.
then first sentence of the remaining passages
but it actually helps me in answering the main idea , questions... and then i still struggle for the details oriented questions.

Top scorers can also contribute in this discussion..... thanks
cheers

leokashyup -

Here is what I promised you on reading comprehension:

I guess that everyone does have a different strategy for addressing reading comprehension. But, no matter what strategy you use, the most important thing is that you find a way to get engaged in reading the passage at the correct level of detail. I can see problems in the way that the strategies you mention might be implemented. For example, the suggestion to read only the first and last paragraph, or any suggestion to skim the passage would be counter-productive because you need to know several things when you have finished reading the passage: the main idea of the passage, the tone of the passage, and what is in each paragraph so that you can return to find specific answers. There is no reason to treat the short and long passages differently.

It is also unproductive to read the passage 2 or 3 times and then not return to the passage at all. About 75% of reading comp questions can best be addressed by returning to the passage and rereading the correct portion. Reading the passage over and over would not be a substitute for this and would take way too long. Better to stop at the end of each paragraph and write down just a few words (6-12) that capture the main idea of the paragraph - this will help you return to get correct answers.

Writing down the main idea for each paragraph does not take too long. Also, you should be actively reading, anticipating what the author is going to say next and noting when the author makes her opinion known. Be thinking in terms of the scope of the passage and the tone as well. Don't be afraid to take some time to read the passage and to understand it. There are only 3-4 passages, while there are 14 questions and 70 answer choices. It is in the answer choices that you can save time. Understand each passage, not at the level of writing down dates and names - this actually obscures the main point of the passage - but rather at the level of the main idea of each paragraph. And take the time to look into each question before you answer it. If it is a question that is specific enough to send you back to a specific paragraph take the time to go there.

Hi David, thanks for the excellent tips.
My biggest challenge with RC is if the passage is on a subject that I am not used to reading otherwise. As an example, passages based on law, the language is too difficult to understand and I get lost! From all the practice questions I have done so far, such passages I get all questions wrong. I tried reading it twice but did not help.
Any tips/ recommendations?

Thanks

If you want a good source of RC passages to practice David's method you should take a look at the Aristotle RC99. This guide has 99 passages with explanations. The passages are arranged by order of difficulty and the explanations include a one line summary of the main point of each paragraph.

I tried around 10 of the high difficulty questions before taking the GMAT. These passages are much harder than the passages I got on the actual test. This makes them good for practice. Since the explanations include a summary of the paragraphs, this guide is useful if you need practice succinctly identifying the main point of each paragraph.

The Aristotle RC99 was available on Scribd. The last time I checked it was "removed at publisher's request". That said, I probably should not post it here. PM me if you need information on where to get a copy.

PGMAT -

Luckily there are not too many passages about law on the GMAT. On the LSAT there are many such passages and the future lawyers taking that test complain about the language that is used! So I have to agree with you that these are tough but these are not too common. Of course it does not have to be a legal passage to be difficult!

When you face a passage that has language that you find unfamiliar, try not to focus on the difficult language. Focus on the context of the passage and this will help you to read these at the right level. For example, if there are terms that you do not understand, use shortened versions, or nicknames or even single letters. We have a passage in the Veritas Reading Comp book that talks about Archaeopteryx compared to certain types of dinosaurs. You could just use an "A" to stand for Archaeopteryx and not get to caught up in exactly which properties are associated with it. Just understand the general plot. For example, "some types of dinosaurs developed feathers but these feathers were not used for flight."

So that is what I would say about passages with difficult language. Focus on what you do understand rather than what you do not. Focus on the context and what it is that moves the plot along. (Of course with many passages this is not a very exciting plot). Think about how you could describe a movie without knowing any of the names of the characters: "this guy falls in love with this girl and they start to go out and then he finds out that she is really a secret agent..."

So that is what I would say - do not let the language confuse you - focus on what you do understand.

As to reading the passage twice - this should never happen. If you focus on stopping at the end of each paragraph and making sure that you understand what is in that paragraph then you will never have to re-read more than one paragraph. Do not push on into the passage if you do not understand a paragraph. If you continue to read when you do not understand what you have just read, then you are guaranteed to arrive at the end of the passage without a strong idea of what you just read.