How to improve verbal (and cross the 600 barrier?)

[melguy]

Hello All

I am here to seek some advice on my verbal (I am a non-native eng speaker). I will try to be as short as possible but please ask any info.

When i first sat my GMAT (without any preparation) my official score was 380 Q 22 V 20

Then I studied Quant and CR and RC (no SC) my next official attempt was 510 Q 35 V 25

With another two months of thorough preparation (but this time i gave minimum time to CR and RC. Studied SC big time and now i am good at SC) my official score was 550 Q 39 V 27.

In all the scores my verbal score was 20 without any preparation. I dont know what am i doing wrong! This time i gave very little time to CR and RC and focused on SC as I thought SC was hurting my score. It only increased 2 points compared to last time even after i studied MGMAT SC twice and understood it!

I really need some tips on Verbal (CR and RC) as I need to cross the 600 barrier and it seems it wont be possible unless I can improve my verbal score. I have CR Powerscore guide. Is it the best book to be reading? Also, what should i do for RC?

I gave some MGMAT CATs too

27 Aug 2011 - MGMAT CAT
Q 41 V 31 Total 590

17 Sep 2011 - MGMAT CAT
Q 35 V 33 Total 570

18 Sep 2011 - MGMAT CAT
Q 36 V 35 Total 600
(I am guessing the verbal scores were inflated because of old questions?)

20 Oct 2011 - GMAT Prep
Q 35 V 25 Total 510

31 Oct 2011 - Official score
Q 39 V 27 Total 550

Thanks in advance!

[Brian@VeritasPrep]

Hey Mel,

Congratulations on some great score improvements! That's a ton of progress and a great testament to the work you've done thus far.

My take on further improvement - my guess is that you've spent a lot of time on the "what" (knowledge: facts, rules, formulas, etc.) and can still improve quite a bit on the "how" (strategy, cues that let you know when to use each rule, etc.).

You mentioned that you "studied MGMAT SC twice", and that's one indicator to me that you're still on the "what" level. That's a great study resource, but reading it twice is akin to reading a book on skiing twice. It gives you some great information about skiing, but in order to become a better skier you have to...ski! And then think about what you're doing while you do it - it's one thing to know about modifiers and verb tenses, but another to get a feel for "decision points" (there are three different forms of the same verb in the answer choices - I need to check it for singular/plural accuracy and for a logical verb tense for the timing of the sentence) and strategy.

I'd do a lot more self-analysis on problems - what error did you miss, why did you select the answer that you chose, why did you know to make a decision at that point, etc. Think more this time through about how to do the problems and not just what they're about.

[melguy]

Hello Brian

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

Please allow me to clarify

SC - I have improved in my SC ten times and I give 100% credit to your assistance in the past and especially "use it or loose it" tip. It changed the whole game of SC in a good way! I am a lot confident in SC that I will do well if i keep my eyes and ears open and dont do silly mistakes.

CR - This time i mostly used no strategy as such. I have started studying power score now. I would appreciate if you could please add any strategy if not already included for SC or anything else i should be reading.

RC - This time was approach was mostly to understand the structure of the passage (not the minute details (dates / names). i dint get too busy with details and only the structure and main ideas of the passage. That strategy dint gain much marks but it dint loose much too so i guess it was a good starting point. Is there any books / source you could plz recommend for RC.

Thanks a lot again!