GMAT Strategy

Hi All,

I just took the GMAT today and I scored 600 (Q42,V31).

A little background on my journey so far.

This was my third attempt at the GMAT. The first attempt was in October 2012 and the second attempt was in November 2012. Both times I scored 480. After the second attempt I felt that I needed to reassess my study plan and start from scratch because clearly my strategy was not working. I took some time off.

The gap between my test last November and my test today was much longer than I intended. This was due to a personal event that, quite frankly, has changed my life. I set a date for the GMAT and dove back into studying for the test. The textbooks I used were the MGMAT guide books.

My CAT results are as follows:

1) MGMAT 560 (Q36,V31)
2) MGMAT 640 (Q43,V34)
3) GMAT Prep 1 650 (Q44,V35)

Reviewing my answers I felt that verbal was/is definitely a weakness (DUH!!!), my last CAT I saw that I was doing really well until halfway through the verbal section in which I got 6 questions incorrect in a row and I had to guess a few questions at the end as I ran out of time. So I really worked on CR,SC and RC up to the actual GMAT... reviewing questions and working on strategies. I must point out here that I really struggle with reading passages in RC and the arguments in CR. I find I get lost in the details.

During the test, AWA and IR went completely fine. Quant section I had to rush the last 6 questions.. I did not stick to my timing strategy. One reason is in the midst of answering questions I couldn't remember my timing strategy and second reason is I felt I could answer all the questions that came up on the screen. I guess I spent too much time trying to answer all questions.

Verbal section went badly from the start. My break was longer than I realized and I lost two minutes. For some reason every question that came up, I just could not apply any of the strategies that I had been working on. CR, I couldn't identify the conclusions and I couldn't eliminate out of scope answers. SC, I could not spot any of the errors, SV, parallelism.. nothing. RC, had major difficulty in understanding what the question was asking of me. On top of all this I ran out of time so I had to guess the last 5 questions.

As soon as I finished I knew the test did not go well. Frankly, I was surprised that I didn't score lower, even though I thought I had done better on the quant section.

I am in need of some advice as to what I must do to prepare for my retake. The questions I have are below.

Are there additional resources that can aid me in understanding the verbal section better (LSAT questions)?

Timing strategies?? I find that I take too long on some CR questions (2mins+) and I perhaps I read the RC passages too quickly without taking the important bits in.

Finally, my issues during the verbal section of the exam. Was that a classic example of test anxiety??

I plan to retake the GMAT in October. I take heart in the fact that my score improved from a 480 to a 600 but I need to get 700+ to be able to apply to my target schools. I have no intention of giving up and will strive to achieve my target score.

Thanks in advance!!

Robo