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Should I worry about Verbal Section???

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Should I worry about Verbal Section???

by dubc1982 » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:10 pm
I'm sure this has been asked many times, but should I put much effort into Verbal? I'm having a tough time with Quant, so I've been focusing all my energy there. I'm taking the GMAT the first weekend in August, so I feel I don't have as much time as I would like. I more or less have scored 75% correct on all Verbal practice sections. I think most of my mistakes were just stupid ones that could have been avoided. I also finished very fast (having 20 minutes left), so I think if I slow down, I can do even better. I don't see what I could learn in the next month in verbal that I don't know already. I plan doing some practice questions from OG 11 to stay fresh, but don't think I have the time to do much else.

I'm scoring maybe 38% in the Quant practice I've done. I think if I can raise this a little over the next month it will benefit my overall score more than trying to strengthen my verbal a little bit (which with the level I'm at, may be slight). Even though I'm strugglin' with Quant. I do feel like some improvement has taken place. I have a decent idea of my weaknesses and have been trying to focus on them. I just think there are certain things that I would either need professional tutoring or more time to do well in.

Please, any advice would be appreciated. Any ideas on how to maximize the value of my time and boost my score. I scored a 550 on my first Kaplan Online Practice test and scored 71% correct overall on my Kaplan diagnostic. I plan on taking 2 mba.com practice tests, but that's all I think I'll have time for as I work a lot. I also need to do a little essay practice, as I have not touched it yet. I'm a decent writer and I'm familiar with the format, so I'll only do a little, but still...
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by mayonnai5e » Mon Jun 23, 2008 12:21 pm
Your quant at 38% is rather low and leaves plenty of room for improvement. You are probably correct to focus on this area as there should be many areas in quant where you can get a quick boost if you put in the time and effort. A 38% suggests a weakness in certain fundamentals, which can be overcome.

However, as verbal weighs more heavily into your overall score than does quant, it may still be beneficial to try to squeeze out a few more points in that area (assuming you have enough time). You said yourself that many of those points are lost to careless errors so that may be something you can work on: trying to avoid repeating careless errors. Slowing down should help that. You may also want to write out some note cards pointing out the careless mistakes you make that way you can skim over them in your spare time, remind yourself how you're making stupid mistakes, and still spend most of your time on quant.

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by VP_Jim » Wed Jun 25, 2008 9:18 pm
Don't neglect verbal completely. I've had a few students do this, only to see their math scores go up but verbal scores go down. I'd spend about 25% of my time studying verbal, if I were you - it can't hurt to review the common grammatical errors or to learn some strategies for approaching critical reasoning. But yes, you're probably right to focus on math.
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Re: Should I worry about Verbal Section???

by lunarpower » Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:25 am
dubc1982 wrote:I'm sure this has been asked many times, but should I put much effort into Verbal? I'm having a tough time with Quant, so I've been focusing all my energy there. I'm taking the GMAT the first weekend in August, so I feel I don't have as much time as I would like. I more or less have scored 75% correct on all Verbal practice sections. I think most of my mistakes were just stupid ones that could have been avoided. I also finished very fast (having 20 minutes left), so I think if I slow down, I can do even better. I don't see what I could learn in the next month in verbal that I don't know already. I plan doing some practice questions from OG 11 to stay fresh, but don't think I have the time to do much else.

I'm scoring maybe 38% in the Quant practice I've done. I think if I can raise this a little over the next month it will benefit my overall score more than trying to strengthen my verbal a little bit (which with the level I'm at, may be slight). Even though I'm strugglin' with Quant. I do feel like some improvement has taken place. I have a decent idea of my weaknesses and have been trying to focus on them. I just think there are certain things that I would either need professional tutoring or more time to do well in.

Please, any advice would be appreciated. Any ideas on how to maximize the value of my time and boost my score. I scored a 550 on my first Kaplan Online Practice test and scored 71% correct overall on my Kaplan diagnostic. I plan on taking 2 mba.com practice tests, but that's all I think I'll have time for as I work a lot. I also need to do a little essay practice, as I have not touched it yet. I'm a decent writer and I'm familiar with the format, so I'll only do a little, but still...
as the posters above me have already said, you should not abjure verbal practice altogether. while you may be able to soothe the verbal section with minimal effort, it can be a jealous mistress if you neglect it completely.
especially if you're finishing the verbal sections that fast, you should be able to rip through the o.g. verbal practice questions rather quickly; by so doing, you can (1) gather a baseline of practice experience so that nothing catches you by surprise on the real exam, and (2) isolate any errors or misunderstandings you DO have in verbal (there will be at least some of these) so that you can improve your verbal score somewhat.
you may even find the verbal practice a bit enjoyable, since the quant is currently so harrowing; it's nice to exercise your comparative advantage for once!
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