IMPROVEMENT REQUIRED IN VERBAL

[CHANDER1969]

Hi Guys,

I appeared for the GMAT on the 25 April and got a 670 (Q47, V35) score. To my horror my verbal score was really bad and as a result my overall score went down. Please suggest some methods/books anything to improve my verbal score.

Thanks,
Nilesh

[jaymw]

Hi Nilesh,

could you give us some more background info about your previous scores, strengths, weaknesses and so on? There is no one-fits-all approach to your very generic query. Without first clarifying what caused your "low" verbal score, there is no way to give you a specific strategy.

Apart from that, what did you want to achieve? 670 is probably good enough for most schools!

[CHANDER1969]

Hi Jaymv,

Thanks for your prompt reply. While I agree that 670 should be enough to get me into some of the good B Schools, 710 was the barrier I was aiming to break.
As far as my strengths and weaknesses are concerned, well during the GMAT while I could answer almost all the quant questions I would be found wanting when the higher level (700+) questions would appear.This applies across the board for SC,CR and RC. I have followed all the popular advices of referring to Powerscore CR Bible for CR, Manhattan SC 4th Edition for SC etc. I have not taken any coaching but have resorted to self study. Can u suggest any alternate approach to verbal preparation?

[jaymw]

Hi Jaymv,

Thanks for your prompt reply. While I agree that 670 should be enough to get me into some of the good B Schools, 710 was the barrier I was aiming to break.
As far as my strengths and weaknesses are concerned, well during the GMAT while I could answer almost all the quant questions I would be found wanting when the higher level (700+) questions would appear.This applies across the board for SC,CR and RC. I have followed all the popular advices of referring to Powerscore CR Bible for CR, Manhattan SC 4th Edition for SC etc. I have not taken any coaching but have resorted to self study. Can u suggest any alternate approach to verbal preparation?

I noticed that you did not mention the OG 12 in your list of prep materials. Did you work through it, and, if yes, how did you work through it? Although praised by many, the OG might still be one of the most underestimated prep resources because questions are from actual, retired GMAT exams. Although some of the explanations in the book seem too short or follow difficult approaches when easy ones are available, this book alone can serve as material for 2-3 months prep if you do a thorough review (with error log) of the problems in it.

If you did all of that already, I personally recommend Knewton's online course. It is very comprehensive and outstanding in verbal. Just let me know if you have any more questions!

Jan