Why Answering More Questions Won’t Necessarily Improve Your GMAT Verbal Score
Here is a popular but ineffective Verbal preparation strategy: a student answers a couple dozen Official Guide Verbal questions with a timer going, gets many questions wrong, and then reads the solutions to figure out what went wrong. Some students repeat this process for hundreds of questions and yet see little or no improvement in their GMAT Verbal scores.
This kind of surface-level practice often leads to frustration. On paper, it looks like you’re putting in the work. But in reality, answering question after question without a focused strategy doesn’t build the skills you need to succeed on GMAT Verbal.
One common reason this strategy falls short is that many test-takers, especially native English speakers, underestimate the difficulty of the Verbal section. They assume that comfort with the English language or academic reading will be enough. However, the Verbal section of the GMAT is designed to test reasoning within language. It requires sharp critical thinking, argument evaluation, and reading comprehension skills, all under time pressure. This is why scoring well takes more than just familiarity. It takes deliberate skill-building.
Unless your baseline Verbal score is already close to your target, doing timed sets and skimming explanations after each session will likely not move the needle much. Reading an explanation about how a question should have been solved is not the same as internalizing a method or approach that you can apply reliably. Often, when students move on to the next set, the concept they just reviewed doesn’t carry over. The next few questions may require a completely different skill, and the learning opportunity gets lost.
Think of it this way: hitting dozens of golf balls at a driving range without knowing how to grip the club or align your stance might feel productive, but it’s not going to improve your swing. You could be reinforcing bad habits without realizing it.
This is particularly important in the Verbal section, which tests Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning, and Verbal-based Data Insights. If you're consistently missing assumption questions in Critical Reasoning or struggling to understand complex arguments in Reading Comprehension, the fix isn't just more questions. It’s taking the time to learn and practice targeted strategies for handling those specific question types.
Effective Verbal prep starts with mastering core skills: breaking down argument structures, identifying premises and conclusions, recognizing scope shifts, and understanding author tone and intent. Once you’ve built a strong foundation, practice questions become much more valuable because you’re using them to apply techniques you’ve already learned, not trying to guess your way to improvement.
If you find yourself stuck at a plateau in Verbal, step back and evaluate your approach. Are you trying to improve through repetition alone? Or are you actively diagnosing and addressing your weaknesses? The difference can be significant.
Reach out to me with any questions about your GMAT prep. Happy studying!
Warmest regards,
Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep
