I just took the GMAT - Q 42 V Not so great Please Help!

[ggsol]

So, I studied mad hours to do well on the math portion because being a history major I knew that was my weakness. I started out with scores under 30 in the math portion and I managed to score a 42 on the real GMAT.

To my surprise I completely bombed the verbal - I got a 25.

Thus my totals were

Q 42
V 25
Total 560

The sad thing is I got a 640 and a 660 on the last 2 GmatPrep CATs that I took.

I think it might have been my nerves, but I also know I probably was not half as prepared for the verbal as I was for the math portion.

What do you suggest? I take the GMAT again in one month.

[ladistar]

Unless you're absolutely positive that your verbal was just a one-time statistical anomaly that deviated way from your normal mean, you should probably be focusing on that section moreso than anything else.

42 Q is passable, but a 25 V needs a lot of work if you're consistently scoring in that range. You're a history major, so I'm sure that you were counting on Verbal to be your crutch. Make that your top priority for the time being till you start hitting 35+ then move onto Quant.

[TedCornell]

Congratulations on raising your quant by so much!! I agree with ladistar. You should definitely shore up your verbal.

Being a history major may have prepared you for reading comp or even critical reasoning, but probably not for GMAT sentence correction.

For my verbal prep I used ManhattanGMAT Sentence Correction guide, The Official Guide, and gmatfix verbal flashcards.

1) If you don't already have it, consider getting the ManhattanGMAT SC guide and go through its lessons.

2) Get the gmatfix verbal flashcards (you can evaluate some for free at www.gmatfix.com/flashcards_verbal.shtml); these cards are broken down into SC subtopics, with each topic giving you loads of examples and pinpointed lessons on how the topic is tested on the GMAT

3) Once you can go through the flashcards for a particular topic without error, use the Manhattan guide to find the specific questions in the OG that test the topic you're studying. Practice those questions and study the explanations carefully.

For Critical Reasoning, I've heard good things about PowerScore's Critical Reasoning Bible, but I have not used it myself. https://www.amazon.com/PowerScore-GMAT-C ... 0972129634

You can see my full debrief at www.tinyurl.com/gmatpost where I point out what worked from what didn't work for me. Hopefully some of those strategies will help you.

Best of luck

[ggsol]

Hi, thanks for replying!

I do think it was a bit of an anomoly- first overconfidence and then lack of it - doesn't make sense right?

Well, I came back from my break very confident about my math score, I knew I was getting harder questions and that i was in 40+ range of questions.

That overconfidence made me feel that I had gotten through what I thought was the toughest part for me: Math.

I started out with my Verbal ok, but I took way too long on some questions. When I had only 30 minutes left, I was only on question 20 or so. At that point I was still not panicking because I had already practiced with that type of timing and still managed to pull 35-42 in V. And then the RC passage from hell shows up - long and difficult. I did not understand a thing. I probably guessed on all the questions and by the time I got through it, I only had 9 minutes to complete about 10/11 questions. I was unable to concentrate for the rest of the exam and I just filled in answers on 34 through 41.

So, bottom line I was overconfident and nervous. This, added the fact that I did not do a single drill of CT and RC questions (the only practice was on those of the practice CATs) made the perfect storm.

I do want to mention I went over the MGmat SC guide. Although it helped a little I know when it came to the test, the practice on this SC guide was not sufficient.

Ted, thanks for the suggestions, I think I may purchase the CT Bible.

Ladistar - I definitely plan on spending most of the time on V because in the end, it was my lack of practice in that area that caused my nervousness, slowness etc. I do still plan on reviewing math briefly every week just in case.

My target score is just to be above a 600, but if I know at this point, I can reach that 640 and 660 that I've been getting on GMATprep CATs...

Half the battle is finding the right materials.., are there any other books for SC, CT and RC you recommend?