Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40

by **pretzK785** Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:37 pm

Hello Stacey,

I recently took my GMAT and scored a record low on Verbal and a decent Quant on par with my mock tests scores. 530 - Q 47 and V 17.

On an average my verbals scores on the mock tests were ranging between V 23 - 28, but what I experienced on my test day was a record low score of Verbal. I got a ESR for my recent test and below is the result.

Overall TEST Feedback:

Overall Verbal Feedback:

Overall Quant Feedback:

Apologies for the extremely long post.
I have improved greatly from Q30's to Q47 in a month and I am eagerly looking for help to improve from low verbal scores to reach my target mark of 730+ score because I am working towards a score that will get me a scholarship. My school deadlines begin 2017 February - March. Below were the resources I used for the preparation:
Official Guide 2016 and 2013
MGMAT study guides
MGMAT CATs
GMATPREP resources and CATs
eGMAT for Verbal (Sentence Correction)

by **StaceyKoprince** Sat Oct 08, 2016 6:35 pm

I'm sorry that you had a disappointing test experience. You did a great job on quant; we just have to figure out what went wrong on verbal.

For both Q and V, I notice that your average time spent was a lot lower towards the end of each section. In other words, you were spending more time earlier in each section and then you were rushing as you got later in each section.

How much have you learned about how the scoring on the test works? You can think of the GMAT as a "where you end is what you get" test: if you start out strong but your score drops by the end of the section, where you end is what you get.

On quant, your rushing didn't hurt you as much in the 4th quarter, but it might have a bit in the 3rd quarter. (And note that all that extra time you spent in the 1st quarter didn't pay off with an extra-high percentage correct...) The good news: you've probably got an opportunity to lift your quant score a bit more just by fixing your timing.

On verbal, you had a similar pattern but even more pronounced: a slow start at the beginning and a drop off in performance at the end (you were going really fast—averaging only 1m per question in that last quarter!). The detailed data also shows that the performance problem was in CR and RC; your SC performance was quite good, at the top end of your practice test range.

How did the CR and RC questions feel to you during the test? Did they feel harder or different than they had on practice tests? (Note: rushing towards the end of the test would affect you more on these two question types, since they generally take longer to do than SC.)

How did you feel about your timing overall? Were you aware that you were rushing that much towards the end? Were you actually running out of time and were you "artificially" rushing (that is, rushing more than you needed to based on the timer)? That is sometimes a consequence of mental fatigue.

How was your mental energy? Mental fatigue often results in people feeling that they're having trouble concentrating: they read something and then realize that they have no idea what they just read, they have trouble making decisions (often agonizing back and forth over answers) or, alternatively, they find themselves making snap decisions—they feel like they don't care anymore and just want the test to be over. Did you feel any of these symptoms?

If we can start to figure out what might have pulled your performance down, we can figure out the necessary steps to lift you back up.

by **pretzK785** Sun Oct 09, 2016 2:31 am

For both Q and V, I notice that your average time spent was a lot lower towards the end of each section. In other words, you were spending more time earlier in each section and then you were rushing as you got later in each section. -

I think the major problem I faced through out the entire test was the timing. I realize that now from your detailed analysis. And, timing is just a dangerous thing because all along my preparation and CATs I was in a notion that timing was my best friend but I am wrong! I read one of your posts how many of your students get tricked into thinking that Timing is a strength when it is actually not. How does this happen? How does timing affect majorly? Do I have to just know EVERYTHING and ACCURATELY and BE QUICK in order to get good at accuracy and also get timing right? I would like to really understand. I did read your post - The second level of GMAT blog. In fact I keep reading multiple times

How much have you learned about how the scoring on the test works? You can think of the GMAT as a "where you end is what you get" test: if you start out strong but your score drops by the end of the section, where you end is what you get

. - What I understood about the scoring is that the first 20 set of questions are really important and yes, where I end is what I get - but may I know how to maintain that scoring especially when I am taking too much time for certain questions. I am unable to gauge what questions to leave and what not to because on the Quant - It seemed like I knew all the problems I was doing on Quant and there was some sort of urge to work on every problem because of the confidence that I can crack it! Well, most of the times I did crack but few times I failed hence the time wasted. The reason could be misinterpretation that I knew the problem or I was almost getting it right but because of the time ticking I told my self chuck it and move on.

On quant, your rushing didn't hurt you as much in the 4th quarter, but it might have a bit in the 3rd quarter. (And note that all that extra time you spent in the 1st quarter didn't pay off with an extra-high percentage correct...) The good news: you've probably got an opportunity to lift your quant score a bit more just by fixing your timing.

- I am good with the basics for Quant and before the exam I extensively practiced the GMATPREP questions and MGMAT CAT questions. GMATPREP questions seemed fairly simple hence was able to score marginally higher on the actual test. I think if I make the timing better in Quant, I can reach a 50 atleast. Could you please tell me how can I make the timing good for Quant? On the actual test day - I was quite contended with the time spent on Quant at the end of the test I was receiving fairly simple problems however some where in between I came across a Probability and smiled to myself saying I was doing better - Just a confidence booster. However, if you notice percentage correct is the highest in 4th quarter and least in 1st quarter. Easy questions at the end could be the reason but how can I improve the percentage correct on the first set of Quant test?

On verbal, you had a similar pattern but even more pronounced: a slow start at the beginning and a drop off in performance at the end (you were going really fast—averaging only 1m per question in that last quarter!). The detailed data also shows that the performance problem was in CR and RC; your SC performance was quite good, at the top end of your practice test range.

- Verbal was doomed. I practiced extensively in Sentence Correction before the test, however I am not satisfied with a 50th percentile in SC - I should be doing much better. I think I cheated myself during the preparation of CR and RC - I have not prepared enough because it was too tough. I do NOT have the habit of reading that may have led the interest down for CR and RC. Surprisingly with the urge of learning more about CR, only during the last week of the test I was understanding the core concept of CR such as reading the paragraph as a whole and then jotting down a skeleton of the para. Previously I used to read one sentence and then write a short note and then 2nd and so on. This was time taking and a failed approach. Could you please advise on how to make CR and RC better for a non-native speaker like me. I spent a bomb on buying an entire e-Gmat course for Verbal but not satisfied. I have a PowerScore notes and a MGMAT CR book as well, please advise a plan to study for CR And RC.

How did the CR and RC questions feel to you during the test? Did they feel harder or different than they had on practice tests? (Note: rushing towards the end of the test would affect you more on these two question types, since they generally take longer to do than SC.) -

Guess what, I saw a CR question whose argument was EXACTLY the same on the test ofcourse the options were different and the question stem was the same. I was surprised to see that and had mixed feelings for about a min and a half (WASTED again!). I was thinking to myself that time - only if I had practiced more, I would have answered this. Damn! The RC passages were awesome - I am a tech person and there were two passages related to Internet - I felt good reading the passages. However that didn't help as I scored low.

How did you feel about your timing overall? Were you aware that you were rushing that much towards the end? Were you actually running out of time and were you "artificially" rushing (that is, rushing more than you needed to based on the timer)? That is sometimes a consequence of mental fatigue.
How was your mental energy? Mental fatigue often results in people feeling that they're having trouble concentrating: they read something and then realize that they have no idea what they just read, they have trouble making decisions (often agonizing back and forth over answers) or, alternatively, they find themselves making snap decisions—they feel like they don't care anymore and just want the test to be over. Did you feel any of these symptoms?

- Exactly what you said in the last sentence happened to me. EXACTLY THE SAME! I started making snap decisions - started picking up answers at random without giving a second thought - for a moment - it felt like the test be over, please! I feel terrible now as I even took a month's sabbatical to just prepare for the test. Now, I do not have that luxury. Please advise, how can I fix the feeling of rushing through questions.

If we can start to figure out what might have pulled your performance down, we can figure out the necessary steps to lift you back up.

- I am targeting a score between 730 - 750 as I need a scholarship. The way I pulled up my score from mere 30's of Quant to 47 on final test boosts my confidence that I can definitely do it. My weakness is Verbal due to my reading habits as well. Timing now proves definitely to be an issue. I also need to understand what is the best way to approach CR and RC questions, followed by strengthening SC and then improvising timing of Quant (by understanding alternate methods of solving problems in quicker approaches). This is the high level plan and Stacey, could you help me go in the right direction?
If this helps you understand my preparation better - I spent around 4-6 focused hours on an average every day for 8 weeks to prepare GMAT but it was not enough and was going too slow hence, I took a month's sabbatical to study full time. During this time I spent 60% time in Quant - 20% in SC and 10% in CR and 10% in RC.
Below was my progress over time in the CATs and tests I took:
GMAT Club Test 1 18/06/2016 Q42
GMAT Club Test 2 28/06/2016 Q32
GMATPREP - 1 03/07/2016 460 q34 V20
GMAT Club Test 4 19/07/2016 Q37
GMAT Club Test 5 27/07/2016 Q40
MGMAT - 1 31/07/2016 550 Q39 V28
MGMAT - 2 19/08/2016 570 Q41 V28
GMAT Club Test 6 25/08/2016 Q44
GMATPREP - 1 (Reset) 30/08/2016 490 Q36 V21
GMAT Club Test 7 07/09/16 Q24
MGMAT - 3 11/09/16 590 Q43 V29
GMAT Club Test 8 13/09/16 Q44

Thank you.

by **StaceyKoprince** Sun Oct 16, 2016 3:34 pm

From what you've written, your overall mindset or approach to this test is still that this is a school test and your primary goal is to get almost everything right. That is not the case. The GMAT is designed to give you things that are too hard to do at all or that will take too long to do. Yes, they are doing this on purpose! That's because this is NOT a school test and they do NOT want to see whether you are so smart that you can answer absolutely anything that they throw at you.

Rather, they want to see whether you can make informed decisions about which opportunities to pursue and which opportunities NOT to pursue. That is, they want to see whether you are actually a good business person. You can't invest in every opportunity that comes along, nor do you want to! You want to be able to pick out the most promising ones and discard the bad ones.

Do I have to just know EVERYTHING and ACCURATELY and BE QUICK in order to get good at accuracy and also get timing right?

No. Well, at least, not in the way that you are thinking of it.

In school, good accuracy meant 90%+. "Good accuracy" does not mean 90%+ on the GMAT. Good accuracy on the GMAT is 60%. Maybe 70% or so for exceptional scores—but 60% for most scores, including excellent scores in the low 700s.

Read these:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

Those articles discuss what a business mindset means and why you need to use that (and not a school mindset) on the GMAT.

What I understood about the scoring is that the first 20 set of questions are really important

The first 20 questions are not any more important than any other questions anywhere on the test. All of the questions are worth essentially the same amount (not literally exactly—but there is not a big difference among all of the questions, and it is not the case that earlier questions are universally more important than later ones). It is important to have a relatively steady performance across the entire section and, to do that, you must learn how to identify the bad-ROI opportunities so that you can let them go faster.

You might want to take a look at this, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziyp_Xon-UE

As you are learning, this test is a challenge. It is very difficult to score 700+ (only 10% of all test takers reach that level). Most people can't cram for this test, as what you are really learning is how to think your way through this type of exam. That takes time to develop, so I would not follow the path you followed before (taking a sabbatical to study full time). Instead, give yourself a significant block of time (at least 4 months, since you want to increase by ~200 points) and think about how you need to change your overall approach to the exam.

For instance, you might decide to take a course or to do some kind of on-demand study program that will give you a comprehensive syllabus and strategies for all parts of the exam. I know that you weren't happy with the program you did before; I would look at whatever free resources are available from any programs to help you make the best decision you can before you purchase anything else. There's also tutoring, though that's quite expensive—I'd explore a course or self-study program first (unless money is not a concern...though that's rare!). If you do any kind of live course, try to see the teacher in action (teaching) before you commit, so that you can see whether the teaching style works for you.

Alternatively, you might decide to continue down the self-study route but with more focus on CR and RC. It's promising that you put most of your verbal effort into SC and SC was the best of the three verbal types for you. I know you want more, but it's good to know that your work there did pay off. If you feel that you could have similar results on CR and RC if you put in that same kind of time and effort, then give yourself a chance to do so. You mentioned that you were just starting to feel like you were gaining traction on CR in the last week before the real test—and you mentioned some materials you have for CR. You could keep working with those to push your understanding further. (What about RC? What material do you have for that question type?)

I'm actually glad, by the way, that you can't take more time off—studying full-time for this test is a sure path to burning yourself out. Take a step back and make this test just one thing—an important thing, but one thing—in your life. Think of it as a semester-long, college-level course. Slow and steady.

And, as you noticed, reading is key. Start getting into the habit of doing some reading every single day from now on. Pick topics that aren't the ones you'd naturally like / normally choose to read (but are the kinds of topic that could show up on the GMAT). Try these sources:

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/
http://harvardmagazine.com/
http://sciam.com/

You don't have to read for hours a day, but make a point of reading for 15 minutes once or twice a day, most days of the week.

The mental fatigue part will get better as you get the right mindset for this test. Part of the problem is that you're trying to do everything—when you don't really want to do everything. That's going to tire you out mentally and affect your performance later in the test.

Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40

Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40

Re: Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40

Re: Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40

Re: Verbal went horrible wrong with V17. How to improve to a V40