Verbal score.

[dr.sngarg]

Hi. I am taking my Gmat this Saturday. I have managed to score average of 47 on quant but my verbal score ranges from 27 to 36. I usually get wrong on SC and CR. Although when I do verbal questions from question banks, I do very well. There is no timing issue. I feel the problem is exhaustion. I struggle to read and understand simple sentences while doing exam. I want to do my best and I know I can do it. Please give tips to reduce my exhaustion and stress.

[StaceyKoprince]

I would be happy to give you some tips. First I have to warn you that you shouldn't expect much to change in just a few days. If you are really concerned that this is pulling your score down significantly, then you are likely going to need some more time to study before you take the test.

The mental energy that you use is cumulative, so you're always going to be the most tired during the last section (the verbal). One way to have more mental energy during that section is to use less earlier in the test.

That means learning how to streamline your performance on the essay and IR sections, especially, since you care less about those scores.

Use this template to help make it easier for you to write your essay:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... no-thanks/

How much have you studied for IR? You don't want to spend as much time as you do on quant and verbal, obviously, but you do need to make sure that you spend enough time to do two things:
(1) know which questions to skip (guess immediately and move on)
(2) know the techniques to help you do the questions that you do decide to answer

Now, for quant. A LOT of people - most, actually - spend too much mental energy on quant. You know those questions on which you spend 3+ minutes? Even if you get them right, they're not worth it - because you just spent SO MUCH mental energy that you hurt yourself for the rest of the test. Do that 3 or 4 times in the quant section and you're going to crash on verbal.

So spending extra time is not just about having to balance the time within the same section. It's also about making sure you have enough steam to get to the end of the test.

If you go look at your last test, I guarantee you that you'll find at least 2 or 3 questions on which you spent too much mental energy. You'll remember them because they STILL annoy you, even now. :) Was that the best use of your limited mental energy? Clearly not, since you then can't make it through verbal.

All of what I'm discussing above is going to take time to implement - I've never seen anyone just flip a switch and get it right immediately. So that's why I suggested you might need more than 4 days to make this happen. If you CAN learn to spend your time and mental energy more wisely, though, making better decisions as you move through the test, then you'll likely start to see a payoff on verbal.

Let me know what you decide to do. If you keep your test date this Saturday, then go for the lowest hanging fruit: guess on the hardest IR questions immediately without even getting into them. Do this on quant, to some extent, too. Ideally, though, give yourself a bit more time to learn how to manage your time and mental energy more wisely.

These can help, longer term:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/

[dr.sngarg]

Hi
Thanks for your reply. You were right.
I wrote my gmat today. scored 600. Q48 V24. :(
I will take it again. Please tell me what all I need to do to crack verbal? I can start from scratch. How long before I should plan my next attempt? I want to apply to colleges whose deadlines are May 1st.

[dr.sngarg]

My assessment summary for verbal section.(6 Cats)

% Right, Avg Right answers, Avg wrong
SC 52%, 660, 690
CR 49%, 620, 680
RC 53%, 640, 670

Average time wrong answers is 2 mins except in RC where it is 3 mins for 700-800 level.

Slowest and worst : drawing a conclusion, passage structure,
Fastest :assumption (% right 38%)
Best : strengthen (70%), tone

SC less than 50%right : connecting punctuation, comparisons, parallelism, concision and verbs.

I get series of wrong questions from 5th to 15th (avg 7 of them) and sometimes spend too much time(5mins) on them as well.
I did all exams in simulated test conditions and now I find Quant easy to the extend that I was worried about my quant score during the actual exam but scored 48.

Please guide.

[StaceyKoprince]

Three things:

(1) Did you read the two articles I linked at the end of my last post? If not, start there.

(2) You do have time management problems. Start doing what this article says:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

(3) Use this article to tell me your Buckets from your last 2 MGMAT CATs:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... ts-part-1/

Figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do based on that analysis. 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! Don't worry - we'll tell you if we disagree with your analysis!)