HELP!!! Very POOR VERBAL score.

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HELP!!! Very POOR VERBAL score.

by Linda_94 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:23 am
Dear all,

I am a 24-year-old non-native English speaker. For the university I wish to apply for I need a GMAT score of ~650 by the end of April 2019.
I have been preparing for the GMAT about 6 weeks (2.5 weeks off from work). Being a full time worker in a consulting firm, I didn't get much time to study during the week. On the weekends, I used to study about 2 - 3 hours on Saturdays and 6 hours on Sundays. The materials that I used:
"¢ OG 17
"¢ Magoosh online subscription (videos + question bank)
"¢ Manhattan GMAT books series

I had my first GMAT attempt 2 weeks ago, on December 10, and it was a disaster, especially the verbal section. I scored Q45 in quant and a very poor V26 in verbal (overall 580). :(
After finishing the quantitative part I felt quiet exhausted and I had huge problems to concentrate in the verbal section. I didn't really read the texts and rushed through the questions.
I have to admit that I only took two prep tests before the real exam since I needed the weeks off from work to cover the different math topics of the quant section. Especially in the last few days, I concentrated entirely on math and tried to solve as much questions as possible. Probably a bad idea...

For math the Magoosh videos were really useful, but for the verbal part they didn't help me much. I guess my biggest weakness lies within reading and critical reasoning. I always need too much time to read the passage and when it comes to the questions I have the impression I don't really understand what I've read. I went through all the "general tips" that are posted in different forums (look for structure words / main idea, pretend to be interested, etc.) but I still have big problems.

Now I have about 4 months left (weekends from January-March, full-time April) until the final application deadline and I don't really know where to start and what to do.
Do you have some advice for me? And did you have good experience with a tutors or online courses focusing on verbal?

Many thanks in advance. :)

Best,
Linda

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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 27, 2018 9:24 am
Hi Linda,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so you shouldn't feel too down about this performance if you studied for just 6 weeks (and primarily just on the weekends). Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
2) Are you currently using any additional study materials besides the ones you listed in this post?

Goals:
3) What is your goal score?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
5) What are the exact application deadlines you are considering?

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by Linda_94 » Sat Jan 05, 2019 8:25 am
Hi Rich,
thanks for your response. :)

So to answer your questions:
1) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
>> 1st CAT at the very beginning of my studies: 530 (Quant 36, Verbal 27)
>> 2nd CAT after approx. 3 weeks: 570 (Quant 42, Verbal 27)
At the time of the real exam I knew that I was not well-prepared and only saw it as a rehearsal. However, I wished to score better...

2) Are you currently using any additional study materials besides the ones you listed in this post?
>> No currently I only use the materials listed above. I am thinking about taking an online course, primarily to improve in the verbal section. However, I have no idea which course to take since there are multiple offers online (The Economist GMAT, e-gmat.com , etc). Do you have any recommendations concerning books or courses?

3) What is your goal score?
My target score is 650-670. But I am not sure whether it is doable.

4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
I'd like to apply for a couple of universities / business schools in Europe. Among them are: University of Mannheim (GMAT min. 600), University of Rotterdam (GMAT min. 600), University of Cologne (GMAT min. 600), EBS (GMAT min. 650), WHU (GMAT min. 650).

5) What are the exact application deadlines you are considering?
The deadline for most of the universities above is the end of May 2019.
Unfortunately, I have to work till the end of March and can only study at the weekends. Afterwards I have just 1.5 - 2 months of full-time study.

I know that I have to study much more for the GMAT but currently I have no idea how to start. Any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance. :)

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by [email protected] » Mon Jan 07, 2019 10:13 pm
Hi Linda,

Training to score at a high level on the GMAT often requires more than just 'weekend study', so if you can put in a little study time during the week (even if it's just an hour a day), then that would likely help you a great deal. As it stands, with a 580, you're actually closer to a 650+ than you probably realize, but you're going to have to make some fundamental changes to how you 'see' (and respond to) BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

1) For the next few months, how many hours do you think you will be able to consistently study each week?

You might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report for your Official Exam. While the ESR doesn't provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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