570: 45q, 24 v.... How to improve on verbal???

[rusatoka]

Hello everyone! :wink:

Guys let me share with you my experience on GMAT... I got 570: 45 q, 24 v... :? I'm puzzled right now on how to improve my verbal score...

A little bit about myself: 24 yo, Bachelor and MS in Chemistry, non-native speaker, 4.0 GPA, 2 years work experience as a Chemist. Thought that I should do better in math, Im not very happy with 45 in quant either, but my biggest concern is verbal.

When I was doing practice tests online, MGMAT CATs, last 4-5 times I was getting scores from 610 to 660, with math being around 42-46 and verbal 32-35.

On the actual GMAT essays were all right, didn't have any problems there, at least I think so, haven't received my score yet. Math section was pretty consistent, there were some really hard questions but overall I was quite happy with my performance on Math. No surprises there.... When it was Verbal section' turn, to tell you the truth, I was pretty tired, sometimes I was reading CR or SC question several times, not understanding a thing... You know I was hearing the rumors that GMAC is making Verbal part harder and I experienced that on my own skin. The language itself was harder than I expected it to be. It was high-level English, even some of the words were unknown to me to the point when I couldn't even understand overall meaning!! I'm very frustrated right now, I'm not sure how should work on improving my performance in Verbal. I'm also very upset that I won't be able to apply to business schools in the first round, I will try to do in the 2nd round at least and thinking to take GMAT once again in mid-late December. Im not going to give up, I know that I can improve my score and beat GMAT and I will study HARD and do my best to get score in high 600-700! But I need a great study plan.... what I'm thinking is to focus mainly on Verbal and refresh Math by writing online tests from MGMAT website every other week... Having a full-time job, I'm only able to study in the evenings, 2 hours every day and several hours on both weekend days. First of all, I need to work on my vocabulary, for that I will be reading articles from magazines/newspapers like Wall Street Journal, Time, Fortune, etc and I will learn every single word/phrase I don't know. Also, I will be practicing on question banks of CR, RC and SC in timed conditions and work on every question, to understand why this answer is right and all the others are wrong. I understand that it is very important to do quality work not quantity, to master 10 questions vs. solving 100 without coming back to them. And most probably every other weekend I will be doing practice test.

Guys, please share your thougths/suggestions/criticisms with me! I really need your advice! Thank you in advance and good luck with preparation and real GMAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Peace,

Kate

[gmatclinic]

Dear Kate,

I think you need to check out the following link to better your verbal score:
http://student-job-entrepreneur-clinic. ... ation.html

[rusatoka]

Dear gmatclinic,

thank you so much for reply and advice. I will definitely check out this product. ;)))

All the best,

Kate