Need help to formulate a strategy to Beat the GMAT

[nayamat]

Hi,

I am new to BTG community, though I did practice a few questions given on the website. I read through some posts here, and found the vast pool of ideas and information sharing really helpful. Thus, I decided to seek help from this great resource.

Here it goes.
I gave GMAT for the first time last year, scoring 690 (Q48, V35). I wasn't satisfied with my score, as I wanted something in 700's. I knew I could do it as I was scoring good on my prep tests and I was unwell during the verbal section of the final test. Thus, I was convinced that in the next attempt I will definitely clear the 700 mark.
Unfortunately, after a year, when I decided to give the test again, my confidence level was low, even though I was scoring above 700 in most of my prep tests. I gave the test 2 weeks back - going against my instincts but according to my prep test scores and advice of friends. I did terribly bad and got 630 (Q48, V32 (not sure about sectional scores)).
Looking at my scores (final and prep tests), I think I need to work more on my verbal section, but I dont know where to start. There is no visible consistency in what I do wrong. At times it is CR which needs work, and other times it is SC.
The practice questions in OG and Verbal OG seem familiar and I remember what I did wrong last time, so it doesnt seem like a good resource to practice for now.

Please help me make a good plan to start over again and overcome my weakness (which is not quite obvious to me yet).

I need to take the test again in a month's time to submit my applications on time. I am working in finance, and have recently joined a new company. I am unable to study as much as I'd like to due to the switch in company. But... I am ready to invest time when I have a plan!

Thanks!

[tpr-becky]

It is most important to develop a consistent strategy in each of the sections and then evaluate your performace relative to your strategy.

In Sentence Correction Identify the most common errors and figure out how you will know those are being tested in a particular question. Then write down what work is requried to know the correct answer (in Subject verb you identify the error by the nouns or verbs changing from singular to plural in the answer choices - to find the correct form you go look at either the subject or the main verb of the sentence and determine whether that is singular or plural and then match.) Once you have done this for all of the main errors develop a way to approach just one error at a time - do not try to edit the sentence, just look at which pieces work and which do not. Trying to do the whole sentence at once is often the cause of problems on SC>


In CR - you need to identify the question type first, then read the passage looking for specific items based on question type, predict and answer and eliminate any answers that dont' match finally you need to analyze any answers you have left to determine what the key elements are.

In reading comp you need to develop a consistent way of reading the passage and you NEED to predict the answer BEFORE you look at answer choices - all of the answer choices are there to confuse, not help you.

if you are low on study time you may be well advised to pay a tutor who understands these concepts and can help you instead of spending time blazing a trail yourself.

Best of Luck.