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Timing issues

by gianacakos » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:33 pm
First off, I have the GMAT scheduled for 20 Feb. of this year. My primary concern is the timing of the verbal section on my practice CAT's. I have found that, through four CAT's, I am completing the section with a minimum of fifteen minutes to spare. I left thirty minutes on the board in my most recent attempt (yesterday). Due to my high concern for the quant. section I have not studied verbal at all, and do intend to until the end of this week (or in the vicinity of the end of this week). My lowest score on the verbal section has been a 40, so that is what leads me to ask if I ought to make an adjustment or just stay the current course? Any advice would be appreciated.
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:43 pm
If you are happy with your verbal score (89th%tile is strong) then stay the course. If it's not broken don't fix it. Maybe take some time to analyze which question types you are struggling with the most and spend extra time on those on the exam. Otherwise, keep up the good work.
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by FutureWorks » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:11 am
Hi gianacakos,

We would advise you to stay positive and try different ways you to practise for your GMAT. You
might need to change your practise style and try this combination to provide you flexibility and
different styles to practise so it doesn't get monotonous.

It could be combination of-

1-Books- Books like- The Official Guide for GMAT Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal
Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review etc could be used.

2-Online Study Guide: Websites like Knewton, Grockit etc provide you with practise questions
online.

3-Smart phone applications- Kaplan, Veritas etc offer applications to prepare for GMAT on your
smart phones

Do let us know if this helped
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by jmnelson419 » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:30 pm
gianacakos wrote:First off, I have the GMAT scheduled for 20 Feb. of this year. My primary concern is the timing of the verbal section on my practice CAT's. I have found that, through four CAT's, I am completing the section with a minimum of fifteen minutes to spare. I left thirty minutes on the board in my most recent attempt (yesterday). Due to my high concern for the quant. section I have not studied verbal at all, and do intend to until the end of this week (or in the vicinity of the end of this week). My lowest score on the verbal section has been a 40, so that is what leads me to ask if I ought to make an adjustment or just stay the current course? Any advice would be appreciated.
Are you a fast reader normally? I have similar issues with Verbal, but it's only frustrating because I have the OPPOSITE problem with Quant :) However, I'm a quick reader and I know that about myself, so it's not surprising. I say, if you're happy with your score, don't sweat it!
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by gianacakos » Wed Jan 25, 2012 6:50 pm
I am not an especially fast reader, I just believe it "clicks" with me in one try with the entire verbal section. I am torn between the philosophy of taking my time and being more meticulous increasing my scores and the philosophy that taking the extra time might cause me to convince myself another answer is right. I think I will stay the course from the most part, but occasionally test taking my time to see the effect. Also, I have the opposite problem with QUANT as well. The clock is saying 5...4...3...2...1...and I am panicking to close out problem 37. My quant and verbal (based on my most recent GMATprep test) are at 44-42 respectively and I am NOT happy with that quant score...
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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:35 pm
89th percentile is good, but you could still get to a 51!

I would be nervous for you on test day frankly. I have had students who finish with that amount of time left and that may not hold up on test day.

I finish the verbal with 15 minutes left or so, but I rarely miss a question, so I know that I am going at the right pace. I do not mention this to brag in any way...I still miss enough questions on the Quant section to stay humble, I only mention it because you are missing quite a few questions to get a 40. I would say somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 - 10?

What I am going to say next you may not like as well as some of the other advice. If you are finishing the verbal with that much time you are not putting in the work that you could. There, I have said it. With a little more work you can get those questions right.

Here is what you might want to do with that extra time:

If it is Reading Comp where you miss questions on: take some extra time while reading to ensure a high level of comprehension. Then take some extra time on Detail questions to go back to the passage and find the correct answer.

If it is Sentence Correction where you miss questions: take some extra time with the various answer choices and make sure that you are making decision based on grammar and logic and that you have a reason to eliminate each answer choice as you eliminate it. Look for PARALLELISM as this is the favorite trick of GMAT when you are down to two choices.

If it is Critical Reasoning where you miss questions: take some extra time identifying the conclusion and the most imporant premise and developing a few words that you take with you to the answer choices. The words are not a prediction of the correct answer as some say - I think a prediction can be wrong. Instead you say a few words that indicate what you are looking for in an answer choice.

89th percentile is fine, but I think that you can do better if you really put in the effort during the test!
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by gianacakos » Thu Jan 26, 2012 8:11 pm
I could not be happier with your honest and frank opinion. You hit the nail on the head, I am not preparing to the level I could be, especially in the verbal section. I missed 7 questions on my last practice (it resulted in a 42). You are right, I should be missing zero and obviously that should be the goal. Thank you for your honesty...Now if only hard work were the thing holding back my Quant score.
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