GMAT Strategy

Shirish Nayak wrote:Hello Everyone,

I am from india and planning to start my MBA classes in next year. However my GMAT scores are between 350-400 and the exam is scheduled on September 14. I am planning to score around 700+ and apply for very good business colleges.
I was planning to apply for round 1 but since my current scores are not even close to my target scores do you think i should just forget about round 1 and reschedule my exam around November 18 and apply for round 2?

Do you think it'll be late to apply for round 2 if i reschedule my exam during November? Will I miss anything if i write my exams during November?

I need some experts advise please

Thanks,
Shirish

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:

Shirish Nayak wrote:Hello Everyone,

I am from india and planning to start my MBA classes in next year. However my GMAT scores are between 350-400 and the exam is scheduled on September 14. I am planning to score around 700+ and apply for very good business colleges.
I was planning to apply for round 1 but since my current scores are not even close to my target scores do you think i should just forget about round 1 and reschedule my exam around November 18 and apply for round 2?

Do you think it'll be late to apply for round 2 if i reschedule my exam during November? Will I miss anything if i write my exams during November?

I need some experts advise please

Thanks,
Shirish

Generally speaking, it's hard to give advice without having more details, but given the gap between your practice tests and your goal score, it seems clear that you should broaden your time horizon. (Remember that if you take the test before you're ready, you can always cancel your score, but there's no reason to subject yourself to any more pain than is absolutely necessary.)

[email protected] wrote:Hi Shirish Nayak,

Raising a 400 to a 700+ will take some serious work - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Without knowing much about how you've been studying, there's no way to know exactly how long that would take you, but it's likely to be at least another 3 months (or more) of consistent, guided study.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[email protected] wrote:Hi Shirish Nayak,

You've named some highly competitive Schools, so a strong GMAT Score will be a 'must.' Beyond that one 'piece' of the application, you will also need a strong OVERALL profile AND you'll need to properly 'market yourself' to each School that you apply to. This is meant to say that applying to those Schools will require a lot of overall work.

One of the 'keys' to scoring at a high level on the GMAT is that you have to commit to a consistent study routine. Studying "when you can" is likely not going to get you to your score goal - so you'll have to build the proper study time into your weekly schedule.

Since you already have the OG2015, you don't necessarily need the OG2017 or OG2018. With your score goal though, you would likely find it really beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led). Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

1) When was the last time you took FULL-LENGTH CAT?

Answer: August
2) When will you be starting this next phase of your studies?

Answer: September 1st full on.
3) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

Answer: 4-5 hours weekdays 6-8 weekends if that's enough

Awaiting your response

Regards,
Shirish Nayak
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Shirish Nayak wrote:

DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:

Shirish Nayak wrote:Hello Everyone,

I am from india and planning to start my MBA classes in next year. However my GMAT scores are between 350-400 and the exam is scheduled on September 14. I am planning to score around 700+ and apply for very good business colleges.
I was planning to apply for round 1 but since my current scores are not even close to my target scores do you think i should just forget about round 1 and reschedule my exam around November 18 and apply for round 2?

Do you think it'll be late to apply for round 2 if i reschedule my exam during November? Will I miss anything if i write my exams during November?

I need some experts advise please

Thanks,
Shirish

Generally speaking, it's hard to give advice without having more details, but given the gap between your practice tests and your goal score, it seems clear that you should broaden your time horizon. (Remember that if you take the test before you're ready, you can always cancel your score, but there's no reason to subject yourself to any more pain than is absolutely necessary.)

Thank you very much. I decided to reschedule my exam on 16th November. Considering that I have around two and half months. Can you please advise me a study plan so that I can start my studies effectively?

Regards,
Shirish Nayak