I just Beat The GMAT!

please help me with the verbal section. you seem to be a verbal section GOD !!!

Gave the GMAT today. It was my first attempt at GMAT. I prepared for two-three weeks, but studied only for verbal. My preparation comprised of SC,CR,RC questions from the GMAT OG12 and GMAT Verbal Review 2nd edition. Moreover, I read the Manhattan GMAT sentence correction (4th edition) once. I had only given the GMAT prep tests, and scored a 690 V32 Q49 and a 700 V34Q48 on them.

official GMAT score today
Score: 700 V32 Q51

Very disappointed with my score.
Although, the AWA section went well and I finished the quantitative section with more than 30 minutes in hand, the Verbal section was a big disaster. Verbal score proved to be a dealbraker for me. I attempted all the questions in the verbal section without any guessing. I had a target of 760 or above in mind. I guess, my preparations were not according to my targets.

The Verbal section is a big concern for me now. Even though, I had studied the Official guide, verbal review and the Manhattan SCguide, still I found myself helpless in the examination hall. I was not able to apply the techniques I had learnt (maybe because, I was not timing myself while preparation and just trying to understand how the solution was being arrived at). The problem, is that even after learning some techniques during preparation, I was like totally clueless in the exam hall, as if, I hadn't prepared at all. Rather than solving questions methodically, I was just trying to solve them by how they sound (Does the option sound right or wrong.)

In most of the verbal questions (around 70-75%), I was stuck with two options at the end, and was finding it very very difficult to eliminate any one of them. Even while preparing I took around 3-5 minutes (SC), 2-3 minutes(RC) and 5-8 minutes (CR) per question while trying to solve them methodically.
I have decided that I will give the exam again in three-four months time. Now, I think, I need to learn how to solve Verbal section questions technically or methodically within 90 seconds.
Please guide me about how can I learn this and what all resources can be useful to build a methodical/ technical approach towards verbal section questions.

I think the original poster's strength is that he has a very strong humanities background, which means years and years of mastering English. I think the difference is his background, so he might have not done as much verbal preparation as the non-native English speakers have to go through (i'm in that boat, as well, haha!)

must say that his boat looks way better than ours

Hi Joel

amazing score ... congrats ...i guess 44 in maths is awesome ... dat shows u hv basic understanding of maths ... and since u hv awesome 51 in verbal...nthng else matters ... all the best !!!
please do share your approach

bedazzled

I'm afraid UlyBeatsGMAT is correct, I didn't do any Verbal studying at all. The only time I even practiced Verbal was during CATs.

My background is as a journalist and a university librarian, so I have simply spent my whole life reading and writing. Not really very useful advice for someone prepping and trying to increase their Verbal score, I'm afraid.