Many test takers have the false impression that studying with a focus on math will raise their GMAT score fastest.
Sure, if you have a known weakness in math youll need to revisit your math skills and logic. And yes, the GMAT math is significantly more time-consuming than the SAT math (more emphasis on logic and structuring the problem rather than on pure calculation).
But at the end of the day, doing well on the VERBAL section is more important to your total score than if you did equally well on the MATH section–this is ESPECIALLY true in the 700+ range. If you are targeting this score range, you MUST refine your verbal section.
So now you see a discrepancy between the two sections!
If you score 99th percentile in Verbal (49V), and your Quant score is
39M = 57th percentile = Total (730, 96th percentile)
41M = 63th percentile = Total (730, 96th percentile)
43M = 70th percentile = Total (740, 97th percentile)
Notice it does not matter how many extra points this test taker can get on quant. In the end, her score is around the same score of 730 whether her math score is 39 or 43. Doing well in Verbal pays off!
Now is the opposite true? What if a student scores extremely well in Quant but average in Verbal?
If you score 99th percentile in Math (51V), and your Verbal score is
30V = 57th percentile = Total (670, 85th percentile)
32V = 65th percentile = Total (690, 88th percentile)
34V = 70th percentile = Total (710, 92nd percentile)
Notice doing ridiculously well in quant does not guarantee you a good score. In fact, an average score in the 57th percentile for verbal and a perfect quant score only give you a (670, 85th percentile). Doing well in Quant is good, but not as good as doing well in Verbal!
Let me repeat:
Doing well in Quant is good, but not as good as doing well in Verbal!
This is almost ridiculous! A high quant score and average verbal score yields a LOWER score than a high verbal score and an average quant score!
Indeed, the GMAT is biased towards success on the verbal section!!
Why would the GMAT creators do this??
My best guess is one of supply and demand (ah yes, how relevant to an exam for business school). The influx of non-native English speakers from international countries who are strong in quant but weak in verbal and just the plain fact there are more people that are great at quant (where there is always a correct answer) than the numer of people who are familiar with the idiomatic intricacies of the English language and inductive reasoning.
But whatever the TRUE reason is, it does NOT matter. What does matter is what this bias in the GMAT means to you. If your verbal abilities are not strong, then you MUST polish them.
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“OK, I believe you. I need to improve my verbal score. But will studying necessarily improve my score?”
Yes and no. Depends on how you study. There are people who spend 6 months studying and do not see any improvements on their score. And then there are those (including me but also many others, Im sure) who scored in the 70th percentile and then studied for just 2 weeks and scored in the 98th percentile on the real thing.
You need to target your studying. There are 3 sections to the verbal: 1) Sentence Correction 2) Critical Reasoning 3) Reading Comprehension
By far, the easiest way to raise your score quickly is to ACE the Sentence Correction part of the exam. Its easier than you think. While the GMAT test makers have unlimited imagination in creating questions for critical reasoning and reading comprehension, they can only test you on sentence correction in so many ways. If you master all possible TYPES of questions on the sentence correction AND VARIATIONS on those concepts, then you can go into the test with CONFIDENCE that you will ace the entire sentence correction part of the exam.
I strongly believe that ANYBODY can master the sentence correction section. You see, the GMAT exam is beatable. You just have to know how to do it without wasting your whole life on the test.
Are you looking to MASTER the sentence correction in AS LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE?
Zeke Lee is a GMAT tutor who created the GMAT Pill Study Method. This method has helped many students do well on the GMAT exam. You can watch a FREE 4-step Video Lesson of the study method and learn how to DOMINATE the GMAT without studying away the rest of your life.
