Verbal Score / Pacing / Strategy

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Verbal Score / Pacing / Strategy

by LUIZ_THOMAZ » Wed Nov 08, 2017 1:01 am
Hi community guys,

I've been struggling with Verbal section on GMAT. I'm able to score Q47 quite often (which is enough for my targets) but on Verbal I've been fluctuating a lot (from 25 to 35). If I Scored Q47 &V35 I'd be more than happy and indeed I got this once. The main problem is that I can't manage Verbal pacing accordingly and almost all times I have to guess or answer questions in last than 45 seconds from question 33 on. As I'm not native English speaker, it takes time for me to read properly. Typically I have to guess two sections of Reading Comprehension. I've attached my last perfomance on GMATPrep. I got 26 Verbal questions right apparently with 600+ difficult level, based on the question style and what was been tested. I've also attached Verbal summary performance.

Do you have any suggestions, such as don't leave too many questions to guess at end, or don't get too many questions wrong in a row ? Anything is welcomed.

Thanks in advance


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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:45 pm
I can only imagine how hard it must be to take a test like this in any language other than my native language, so I feel for you.

Unfortunately, there's no way to fix your timing by just forcing yourself to read faster! That's not realistic. Nor can you just go through at a comfortable pace, then rush to catch up at the end. Your verbal score was hurt by getting a large chunk wrong towards the end.

My recommendation: skip dense / difficult questions early on. If you get a really long or difficult RC passage early in the test, don't struggle through it. Take your best guess quickly on those questions by analyzing the language: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -a-lawyer/

Or maybe CR Describe the Role questions take you a long time. Skip them! Free up more time earlier in the test so that you're not getting a string of wrong answer all together at the end. And concentrate on the question types that are most getable for you.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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by Nunuboy1994 » Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:15 pm
I had the problem too, for quite a few months. What it probably is that there are either a few minor gaps in your fundamentals that are causing you to miss easy questions early on and or you may just be choking on an easy question or two very early on which is causing those fluctuations. It seriously takes a lot to learn to relax a bit on the first ten questions and apply proper techniques such as process of elimination and identifying the argument's conclusion.