Desperate help needed on VERBAL section

[wilson.guozq]

Hi Stacey/Ron,

This is my first time posting on the forum. I really need some good suggestions on how to improve my Verbal section score on the GMAT, as I have run out of ideas as to how to improve my verbal score.

I have been preparing the GMAT since late December 2014, and I have taken the GMAT tests 3 times. My Quant section hasn't varied much , usually staying at the 49-50 range. But no matter how much I have studied, my Verbal section has been stuck in 30-31 range.

At the early stage of my preparation, I have done all the OG 13 questions and went through the Manhattan GMAT books. But since February 2015, I have focused mainly on the GMATPREP question banks. GMAT CLUB has collections of all the individual sections of Verbal, and I have almost completed 80% of the questions on there. I timed myself when I was doing the questions 10 at a time, and my correct rates are 90%, 80%, 90% on SC, CR and RC respectively. I am getting quite confident on these sections. And on the latest GMATPREP practice tests, I have gotten 710 (Q49, V37) and 760 (Q50, V44) two weeks ago, although the score might be slightly inflated as I have seen a few questions already from the question bank. I didn't find myself running into the timing issue.

I just finished my 3rd attempt of the GMAT test yesterday, and I have scored 650 (Q49, V30), and this doesn't make any sense to me, as my Verbal score hasn't changed at all since my last test (Q50, V31). My next test date is May 21, 2015, and I really need some urgent help on how I can improve Verbal to somewhere close to 40-44.

What I have experienced from this very recent test was that I felt the real questions were a lot harder than the retired GMATPREP questions. And as always, I ran out of time on Verbal (I had to guess the last 5 questions). I had hard time on CR to quickly figure out the answer choices but still not very confident, and I felt I was quite confident on RC and SC (but I could be wrong). This has not been the case when I am practicing CR (I usually have 80% correct rate).

I know Stacey mentioned several times in other posts that you will need to go from Essay to Verbal when doing practice tests to reflect the rest test experience. And I always skip essay but I will do from IR to Verbal, so I essentially only miss 30 mins of mental fatigues. I am not sure if this is the solution to my problems.

I really need some help on Verbal from you guys. I could do more practice tests, but I really don't want to see myself in the same situation one month from now.

Many thanks in advance.


Kind regards
Wilson

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, I'm sorry it's taken us so long to get back to you - we're very behind.

First, I have to recommend postponing your next test date. It's only 3 weeks away, you've taken the test 3 times already, and you're not sure why what you've been doing hasn't been working.

First we need to figure out why what you've been doing hasn't been working and what you need to do instead. Then you need to do it. And to lift your score from V30 (58th percentile) to V40 (91st percentile) is a HUGE jump - I've never seen that happen in just a few weeks.

So you mentioned that you've been doing lots of questions. How have you actually been studying from these questions? Have you been doing what's described in this article:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

You also mention timing issues. Read this first - has this been your mindset / approach to the GMAT?
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

And have you taken our practice CATs? If so, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Make sure to read the above two articles first and think about how what you've been doing (or haven't been doing) may impact your analysis.

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

[wilson.guozq]

Thanks very much Stacey,

I wished I had seen your reply much earlier, as I stopped checking the websites for your reply after a few days that I didn't hear from you.

So the story was that I went to sit for the test as scheduled on May 21, and the result was daunting, 650 (Q50, V28). As much as this is very disappointing, I decided to stop taking the GMAT for now, and will make a decision on whether to use my best score (670, Q50, V31) to date to apply for INSEAD Jan 2016 intake.

The thing I have really struggled to understand is that I have been doing quite well during my preparation, as mentioned before, but failed to deliver on the real test. I didn't put too much effort preparing Math, but still managed to secure a 50 score. But no matter how much I prepared on Verbal, the improvement is so minimal. Just prior to the test this time, I did 2 practice exams on GMATPREP, and I got 710 and 720. And the scores really boosted my confidence, and this made the real results even more disappointing.

In studying for Verbal, I used exclusively the OG+GMATPREP collections on all 3 parts, and did about 600 questions all together. I timed myself for a 10-question set and checked the results. I didn't do many CATs this time, only 2 right before the exam. If I decide to redo the exam, I guess what I could do differently is to review the error log many times instead of doing many new questions. And my original idea to post on here was really to pick some of your or Ron's brain on how I could do differently, as apparently what I have been doing didn't change my score on Verbal at all.

Still many thanks for your reply Stacey, let me know what you think if I should retake (maybe in December 2015) or how I can study differently if I do retake.

kind regards
Wilson

[StaceyKoprince]

At this time of year (summer and fall), it typically takes about 5 to 7 business days to get a reply on the forums, unfortunately. This is the busiest time of year. If you ever have an urgent question that requires a more immediate reply, please contact our Student Services team at gmat@manhattanprep.com. (Just a caution for everyone reading this: if you start emailing in non-urgent questions, you'll eventually just get sent back to the forums anyway

In terms of whether to re-take, if I were you, I'd talk to some admissions consultants. I don't know whether your high score couple with your other details (work experience, GPA, etc) put you in good standing for INSEAD or not...just not my area of expertise. Get a sense from the consultants whether it would be a good idea for you, and then we can talk about how to study (if you do decide to take it again).

In terms of how to study if you do re-take, go back to my first email and do the analysis described there. We really do need to know more about how you've been studying and what did and didn't work in order to advise you, so you'll need to dig into the data and look at the stuff tht I posted last time.

Good luck with everything!