How to increase verbal score from V25?

[mtanutama]

How can I increase my verbal scores that keep hanging at 25? The most recent GMAC Practice Test, I had V25 with 11 incorrect answers: 3 from SC, 5 from CR, and 3 from RC. Incorrect answers of 21 from the same source still keep my score hung up at 25. Then, out of the 11 incorrect answers, I looked at the breakdown to see how many incorrect answers per 10 questions: 5 for the 1st 10-Q and 2 each on the remaining 3 of 10-Q. But, I read that it is myth to focus on getting the earlier questions correct. Now, I am left to think that I may not be getting correct answerst to most of the 600 level difficulty questions, which made up mostly the 11 incorrect answers. Right?

I am really lost looking at my constant scores as well as what I should be doing to improve the verbal section. I need suggestions in ways I can push up my score.

Thank you.

[StaceyKoprince]

For each of those questions that you missed, why did you miss it?

If we know why, then we know what the weaknesses are and we can figure out what to do to get better.

Were any careless mistakes - things that you did know but you got distracteded or you were tired and didn't read carefully enough?

For each one, why did you think that the right answer was wrong, and why did you think that the wrong answer was the best one? You convinced yourself somehow - how? Now you know that was a trap and you can avoid that kind of thinking in future.

Were some guesses? Were you just not sure? Now that you can read the explanation, do you get it or is the question still confusing? If the former, what do you think made it hard for you to figure it out for yourself? If the latter, look up some other explanations and see whether another one helps you. (For some, though, you'll just have to say, "oh well, that one was too hard" and let it go. :)

How's your timing? And mental stamina? Problems in those areas can cause stagnant scores.

Use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. 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!)

[mtanutama]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you very much for your reply. I am sorry for the late reply as I just got back from a long vacation with my family. I had taken my first official GMAT test before the vacation and my score was unexpectedly lower. Shocked in silence.

So, I read your reply before the vacation and I think what happens when it comes to verbal was that
- I had a short concentration span. My mind tends to drift apart and I tend to lose track on what I have been reading due to topic unfamiliarity (or boring) and language structure.

I tried very hard during practice questions, timed practice test, and the official test day to focus, and more to explain why I missed the verbal questions was what you mentioned about:
- timing: I tried to keep my timing per question within 2-3 minutes and I managed to finish the sections on time. However, in doing so, I might be "rushed" to select an answer and move on.
- mental stamina? did you mean mental exhaustion? I felt that I was eager to get down to the last question, finish the test...
- to start understanding why the right answer appeared to be wrong, the wrong answer appeared to be right, and how I convinced myself to all that? I like this point. I never asked myself of this. Challenging. Intriguing, because I may not know why.

I intend to retake GMAT in early September, so that gives me about 2.5 months time to study. I think I definitely need to focus more on the verbal section. What would you suggest on resources (book, other, study strategy) preparing for GMAT for the time frame? For my first GMAT test, I used to study with OG 13, OG supplemental guide (blue and green), Kaplan's GMAT 800 (untouched), VeritasPrep book set, and occasionally watching MGMAT's Thursdays with Ron (should I start this on a new forum?).

As I go along with studying GMAT for my retake, I will note your suggestions and relay on this thread. Thank you for reading and giving me your professional feedback.

[StaceyKoprince]

The first thing I notice is that most of your prep materials are practice problems - practice is good, but I'm going to draw a distinction between practice materials and study materials. Study materials teach you how to get better. Practice materials let you practice what you're learning from your study materials.

I'm not familiar with Veritas' book set, so I'm not sure what that includes - maybe those do include everything you need to know about how to take the test. If not (or if you feel that you've gotten everything out of them that you can), then you'll need to identify some new resources that teach you how to take the test. That's going to come from test prep companies - and, obviously, I have a (biased) opinion about the best books for that. :) So I won't specifically recommend our books, but you might want to do some research to see what other students have liked, or go into a bookstore and flip through some books yourself, and decide from there.

For concentration issues, you can do a few things:
- read a little bit every day. Read on the topics that you find most boring during the test. Science? Econ / business topics? Social science? Whatever it is, start reading for 10-15 minutes every day in "advanced" newspapers or magazines. (Scientific American, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, etc.)

- when you sit down to study, plan out a 2-hour study session. Actually, plan enough work for about 2.5 to 3 hours in case you finish faster than you think. Then, GO for 1 hour, no stopping, no checking email, no breaking for food, etc. Take a 15-minute break and then GO again for a 2nd hour, no stopping.

*Note: don't keep going after the 2nd hour. Take a substantial break. It's more mentally draining to be learning new stuff / making new memories. 2 hours of doing that is like 3.5 hours of taking a test.

- when you do take practice tests, take them under 100% official conditions, including essay, IR, length of breaks, everything.

- when you're reading something that you find boring, think of a friend who DOES like that topic or would find that argument or detail or tidbit interesting. Pretend you're going to tell him/her about it when you're done, so you have to remember the general gist. That'll make you more interested.


Next, read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Factor this into everything you do when studying and doing problems (and taking tests). If your goal is really to make the best decision in each circumstance (and sometimes the best decision is to get something wrong without blowing a bunch of time!), that will alleviate a lot of the timing issues, and therefore the pressures, that are feeding into your mental fatigue.

[mtanutama]

Hi Stacey,

Today is my first day back studying GMAT and continuing this for about 2 months before my next official take. As I refreshed on verbal section, I recalled the post I Googled when I walked out disappointed on the official GMAT test day 2 months ago. Because I was cracking my head to find out why the scoring system had me on V25 most of the time, I came back to this post for this part of the post might be the reason:

"I definitely had some trouble with reading comprehension on my practice tests, missing about 1 or 2 questions per passage"”far too many to score well on the verbal section.

After doing this, I went from 1 or 2 errors per passage to 1 or 2 RC errors in the entire verbal section."

This guy got from a V30 to V48. So, is this true that you can only afford to get 1-2 RC errors in the entire verbal section? Is this why I am hung at V25, because I may be getting 1 error per RC...

[StaceyKoprince]

No, this is not the case. You can get 1-2 RCs wrong for 3 or even all 4 passages, as long as you're getting enough right elsewhere. RC is not weighted any more heavily than the other question types.

In general, you need to answer roughly 60% of the questions correctly (at all but the highest and lowest scoring levels). You also need to make sure you're not running out of time towards the end, because then your performance will plummet (and you won't have any more questions with which to pull your score back up).

Now, V48 is the 99th percentile, so yes, it's true that you can't miss 1-2 RCs per passage and still hit 99th percentile. But you can still do quite well on verbal even if RC is your weakest area of the three. :)