GMAT Strategy

Hi,

I took the GMAT on 11/12 and got 710 (Q48, V40). I prepped for 6 weeks, however, I did take the GMAT once before back in 2013 and scored a 680 (Q49, V35)--so, I did have some familiarity with the exam.

Anyway, I spoke to an admissions consulting company that suggested I try once more to raise my score another 10 or 20 points before applying (if I could manage it). This was suggested b/c my college gpa is rather low (2.66) and I'm trying for "brand name" b-schools

I'm trying to apply in this upcoming round (early Jan deadline)--is it possible to raise my score by 10, 20 pts with a few weeks prep (I haven't looked at the material since my exam)? if so, what is the best way to approach this?

Thanks in advance!

Hi srk228.

You could go 20 points higher by getting just a few more right answers next time you take the test. So clearly, getting those 20 more points is doable within the next few weeks.

Here are some things that you could do to increase your score.

You could get some more right answers to quant questions by doing some topic by topic work on the types of quant questions that you are least good at answering. To do this, you would go over your past practice tests, or even use your memory, to figure out which types of quant questions you like to see the least, take you the most time to answer or tend to be the ones that you don't get right. Over a few weeks you could easily work on questions in five to ten such categories and go from not being comfortable with them to being a total rocking expert in answering them.

Of course there are many other ways to find questions of each type. The point is work on each type enough to make a significant difference in your skill level, as discussed in this post.

How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score

Of course, you could also work on increasing your verbal section score.

Scoring high on GMAT verbal takes seeing key things and using logic to get the right answers. So to score higher in verbal you have to see more clearly and use logic better.

Also, there may be some sentence construction rules and conventions that you could understand a little better.

One way to increase your verbal score is to find some official questions and go through them very slowly and carefully, seeking to get close to a 100% hit rate. In doing this you would spend as much time as necessary not just to get the right answers but also to clearly define why each wrong answer is wrong and each right answer is right. What you would be doing in working that way is developing the vision and logical skills necessary for getting right more of them than you have been. After working that way consistently for a few weeks, you should be able to get at least a few more right next time you take the test.

Also, by becoming clearer about a few key sentence correction topics, such as parallelism and correct use of modifiers, you could increase your sentence correction accuracy. Just to be clear though, vision and use of logic are key for getting SC questions right too.

One source of official verbal questions is the Question Pack available at mba.com.

Another lever that you could pull to drive your score higher is improving your overall test taking skills. To that end, you could take more practice tests, playing the test a little like a video game to see how high you can score given your current question answering skills. Things like timing and accuracy can make big differences in your score. So getting better at handling the test itself can help you to score higher. After taking a test, you can analyze the results to see what worked and what didn't, determine what else you might work on to score higher next time and figure out what, if any, types of silly errors you made, as silly, or "careless", errors can be a significant factor affecting one's score. After doing that analysis you would seek to address each aspect of what you found. Over the next few weeks you could take maybe two to four more practice tests.

If you go hard at this project for a few weeks, likely you will score 20 to 30, and conceivably 40 to 90, points higher the next time you take the test.

srk228 wrote:Hi,

I took the GMAT on 11/12 and got 710 (Q48, V40). I prepped for 6 weeks, however, I did take the GMAT once before back in 2013 and scored a 680 (Q49, V35)--so, I did have some familiarity with the exam.

Anyway, I spoke to an admissions consulting company that suggested I try once more to raise my score another 10 or 20 points before applying (if I could manage it). This was suggested b/c my college gpa is rather low (2.66) and I'm trying for "brand name" b-schools

I'm trying to apply in this upcoming round (early Jan deadline)--is it possible to raise my score by 10, 20 pts with a few weeks prep (I haven't looked at the material since my exam)? if so, what is the best way to approach this?

Thanks in advance!

In addition to Marty's excellent advice, you can consider getting an Enhanced Score Report from GMAC. It'll break down how well you performed in each section, and if it turns out that you're at an elite level for Sentence Correction but are lagging in Critical Reasoning (or vice versa) that can help you tailor your studying a bit. https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... eport.aspx

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your reply. I won't lie, I was a bit disheartened by the recommendation to take the test again. But, I would do it if necessary.

1) I'm applying for the upcoming second round (so, first week of Jan)
2) Wharton, Sloan, Tuck, CBS, HBS (& possibly Haas)

HBS is a super reach, but I figure that I have to be in it to win it. Don't get me wrong, I realize that ALL of these are very competitive schools.

Wharton, Sloan, Tuck, & Haas: I've selected these based on things I've read: good for career changers, programs, demographics

Also, I don't know if this worth mentioning, but I'm 33, so I'm "old."

Additionally, I just passed the level 2 CFA this past summer and am signed up for level 3 -- I'm mentioning this b/c one of the main considerations for doing this was to mitigate my poor college gpa--I wanted to demonstrate maturity & discipline