730 (Q 49, V 41). 2nd Attempt in 36 days. Prev. Score = 580

[thinker_s]

Firstly congrats on ur performance.

Can u suggest some methods to improve speed in verbal section. In verbal tests, i always reach the end of test with abt 4-6 questions left and have to randomly mark them in last minute. if they r SC's, then i can still try to attempt.
Did u follow any particular timing strategy when u attempted the verbak section cuz from ur post i felt u scored a less in first attempt cuz of lack of time mgmt.

[perrin]

SALSAAA,

Congrats on the solid score. Now you can go to any B-School you want.

I am in a similar situation you were in about a month ago. I scored lower than you in the Quant (39), but I also got a 24 in Verbal when I took the GMAT last week. I am extremely disappointed with my verbal score but I do think it was a case of poor time management. I am a native speaker and went to a private school and a good college so I need a much better score in verbal. A 24 is just unacceptable.

As for verbal strategy, did you increase your verbal from a 24 to 41 in 36 days or did it take more time than that? As for the timing strategy you just discussed for each section, did you do that exercise every day? Do the paper tests from GMAC have explanations? Did you use any other material besides the OG guides for sentence correction? For some reason the Manhattan GMAT SC book hasn't helped me that much so I'm thinking about getting the PowerScore SC Bible.

Also, I realize my quant isn't going to get much better than an 39 but do you have any other strategies that helped you raise your quant from a 46 to 49?

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.

[beatthegmat]

Phenomenal improvement! Congrats on your score and thanks very much for these fine posts!

[perrin]

Thanks for the reply SALSAAA...really good stuff.

I appreciate the advice.

[Danielle]

Thanks for the shout out! We're always happy to help over in the sentence correction forum!

[nadontheway]

Hi SALSAAA

Where can I found the posts of:


Danielle (SC - BEATTHEGMAT) - Great Explanations
LegoLife(SC - TESTMAGIC) - Great Explanations
fØrti+(CR- TESTMAGIC) - Great Posts

Thanks

Hey guys,

Here i am to give you my version of the story. A lot of you might be wondering what happened the last time around ? The answer is plain and simple - Poor Time Management. So when i got the 580, i wasn't too disturbed because i knew exactly where i went wrong.

The following list should help you all -

1.) TIME MANAGEMENT - Make this your top priority. The less time you spend on average = more time to spend on tougher problems. How to practice time management ? The best tool available is the Manhattan GMAT Official Guide Stopwatch. It even gives you the results in Excel format.

2.) PREFER OFFICIAL MATERIAL TO ANY OTHER MATERIAL - Do not touch any other material until you have exhausted all Official GMAC resources. Especially for VERBAL. I wouldn't be against using the SETS or any other material for the QUANT section. But its a definite NO NO for Verbal. The simple reasoning being that a lot of Verbal questions on these docs have the wrong answers, its easier to find good explanations for math problems but very hard to find decent explanations for Verbal stuff. I also reccomend buying some paper tests. The Verbal section in them were very helpful to me.

3.) QUALITY OVER QUANTITY - Its more important to do 10 questions a day and get 7 different concepts out of it rather than doing 100 and getting only 5 different concepts out of it. How to find different concepts ? Read the answers in the OG very carefully. They hide little gems.

4.) START ANSWERING QUESTIONS ON FORUMS - As soon as you have completed all your study material. Its time to put it to test. Start answering questions posted by different people on this forum or other forums like testmagic.

5.) FOLLOW THREADS BY GOOD POSTERS - A good way to get good questions (or explanations ) posted by different people is to search for their older posts. Three people i can vouch for are :

Danielle (SC - BEATTHEGMAT) - Great Explanations
LegoLife(SC - TESTMAGIC) - Great Explanations
fØrti+(CR- TESTMAGIC) - Great Posts

6.) VERBAL - The best way to improve SC is Manhattan GMAT's SC guide and the OG. Doing tough RC's from LSAT, helped me improve my CR. Since i was able to concentrate for longer periods of time. I truly believe RC's are freebies, if you can concentrate for just 3 min (the time it takes to read a long paragraph), there is no way you can get those questions wrong.

7.) MATH - Do the Official Guide and its Quant supplement. Do the Manhattan Gmat Exams ( they are pretty tough). Answering questions in forums helps tremendously with your quant.

Thats all mates....whatever you wanna ask..just shoot.

[thinker_s]

Thanks dude... i think you have given some good suggestions for improving speed. i scored 45 in Qa and 27 in verbal and for me the low score was a result of poor speed. i will be using the speed improvement methods you suggested.. thanks again!!

[beatthegmat]

Thanks dude... i think you have given some good suggestions for improving speed. i scored 45 in Qa and 27 in verbal and for me the low score was a result of poor speed. i will be using the speed improvement methods you suggested.. thanks again!!

Check out the reading comprehension resources available here: https://del.icio.us/beatthegmat/

[thinker_s]

Thanks Eric!!