GMAT Strategy

Hello,

I have been studying like crazy for the GMAT. I started back in 2013, with work and life happening, I have taken a few breaks in between. I recently resigned to focus full-time on my studying so I could put in the effort required to do well on the GMAT exam.

I have studied for a solid three months. I took the "Beat the GMAT - 60 day" course to go through all the material again. Prior to these three months, I bought the 2013 GMAT review, along with all the quant and verb Manhattan books, and have gone through the quantitative books three times, verbal twice - self study. After that, I took the Kaplan GMAT online course (chose just based on some feedback) - found it helpful at the beginning of my studies to gain basic tricks and tactics, but tests are not very accurate in my opinion - Manhattan and the GMAT Prep exams much more accurate.

I have also written the GMAT three times. I took several practice exams prior and scored in the Veritas tests high 600's, Manhattan low 500's, so I thought I would do well on my exams - not the case at all (490 and 510).

Currently my verbal is in the 70-80th percentile. My quantitative is stagnant at 32-40th percentile. I have been ensuring I have been studying 3:1, math to verbal, as I know quant is my weakness. I have been exercising regularly (but not over doing it that I am exhausted), eating well, sleeping OK, and I don't know what to do to bring my quantitative up higher. I have taken three of the GMAT prep exams the last three months and have increased to a 580, but that score needs to be higher.

So...my question is where do I go from here? I have exhausted the Manhattan books - although I am not an expert in all subjects, I have done well answering most of the questions in the books, and in the GMAT review book. I continue to tackle questions that are not 100% clear or that I am not yet as solid in as I need to be. I don't know if I need to just take another series of exams ( Manhattan) to see if it's just test anxiety? I am really diving into the math and not just "going through the motions" I keep at the questions until I am clear, but I can't become an expert on EVERY single one, furthermore, I won't remember every single one. I keep going through questions in hope that stuff that wasn't sticking will filter in, but my score is just not improving quickly enough. Not sure how to continue to study the math section and I want to write end of May.

Any solid suggestions to offer on next steps based on my situation?

Thanks
B

1. Essays were always 4-5.5. IR I am usually at a 3, never higher. verbal on actual GMAT exam was 30, 35, 51 percentile. quant, 9, 12, 19 - embarrassing:( I know I get anxiety on test day, but I have not scored that poorly on any practice exams.

2. I never have had issues with timing - I always seem to be good with that and I don't really stress too much about that on the actual exams.

3. Not scheduled yet, but I wanted to wait until I was scoring in the high 600's before scheduling. Since I have time to schedule a test any time of the day throughout the week, I haven't booked anything until I have solid practice exam scores.

4. score - I would really like a 680, but with the way this is going I would take a 600.

Hi bethrussell,

I have to agree that it sounds like your growth has plateaued with the books you've been using to this point. I'm curious to know more about your grasp of the concepts/formulas/all of the above you'll need for the exam. Are you currently feeling comfortable with the material? My assumption is that's the case, but I'm curious to know if there are still some concepts you're still struggling with.

That being said, here's a link to try Economist GMAT Tutor free for 7-days: https://bit.ly/1bPAHuW. It comes packed with adaptive technology similar to the GMAT and will adjust your study plan based on your Quant needs.

Best of luck,
Rich

Looking for some additional feedback from the experts on here:)

Since my last score of a 580, I focused on studying my quant concepts again as that was my area of weakness. I compartmentalized and redid all of the books ( Manhattan) and the sections in which I still showed some weaknesses. I did all of the practice questions in the OG as well. I wrote a GMAT Manhattan practice and scored a 620 - great - progress is being made! I then took another exam the following week and scored a 570, followed the next week with a 580, and now I took a Kaplan GMAT and scored a 520. I should not have written today as I wasn't feeling that great, but I wanted to do one hoping to see improvement.


I don't feel like I'm struggling on the formulas/concepts, I think I may need more practice taking the exam, but I'm not sure? I have studied the books inside and out and redone the questions numerous times, but I don't know if I need to just take a series of exams to get more comfortable - Rich, not sure if that was what you were saying in your reply above? Additionally, my verbal score is dropping! I think I am second guessing my answers...I know I am, and it's deflating. Looking for some guidance to tackle this next step...I need to take the exam within the next month and I need to get scoring in the 600's. I am at my end with studying.

First, if you feel as though you're burning out - and it sounds that way - I'd suggest ramping down a bit on the studying. A good deal of our learning occurs when we're not actually studying (the technical term for this is 'consolidation.') It seems paradoxical, but sometimes when we study less, we actually retain more. (And I'll spare you the mindfulness meditation lecture, but this is something to consider when you hit a plateau.)

Here are my questions for you: what do you find when you review your practice tests? Do you see careless mistakes? Is time management a problem? Do you find that you're doing lengthy algebra or arithmetic when you could have used a simple strategy like back-solving? Do you find that questions seem difficult when you're on the clock, but afterwards don't seem nearly as hard? Once you review a practice test, do you make a list of takeaways that you can apply to future tests?

Thanks for your feedback Dave,

When I don't study, I get anxiety because I feel as though am literally wasting valuable time and I think " why are you not studying when clearly you have work to do to improve." I know a breather is good, but I do study pretty much everyday ( 2-5 hours depending). And yes, I do mindful meditation - not only for study prep but I feel my anxiety goes away with it - good suggestion though for anyone.

I know I make probably 3-4 careless mistakes on each exam, which I think is just b/c I misread or something silly, so I have tried to breathe between questions and slow myself down. Time management has never really been an issue for me, I am strong in that department. Yes to the rest of your questions. I sometimes go "Ahh, why didn't I do that method - now it seems so clear" I do panic on some questions when I know I am taking longer than 2-2:30 minutes and as a result I end up not focusing as well as I could or moving on. I always make a list of take-away's so that I can track my mistakes and see where I am still weak.

Advice?

Thanks,
Bethany

Bethany,

It sounds like you're doing the right things. One recommendation: I'll often have my students take a day when they don't do any new problems, but rather, quickly click through their old practice tests. Instead of actually solving the problems, they'll simply consider how they'd approach each question. "This one, I could back-solve; this one I could pick a number; here I'd use my R * T = D table; etc." The goal is to hone your pattern recognition skills without experiencing the grind of a conventional prep day. (But I'd still take the occasional day off. There's a lot of research about the detrimental effects of over-studying. I wrote a blog post touching on this here: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2015/05 ... mat-score/)

It's also often the case that progress isn't steady. It would be nice to see a progression of 580, 610, 650, 690, 720... but I've seen plenty of cases of test-takers who were stuck in a certain range, and when the breakthrough happened, it was dramatic. Stay with it, focus on process rather than your scores (easier said than done, I know) and I'm confident you'll eventually see that breakthrough.

Last, I'd suggest making your next practice test an official one from mba.com. Keep us posted!

Hi Beth,


I am not sure whether you have taken the exam again but here's my opinion anyway. So, the thing with Quant is that most of the questions in the real GMAT are derivatives of the Quant questions in the OG. What I would suggest is that instead of using different resources you can simply redo the OG and the official Quant guide. Also, I would seriously suggest you to buy the Prep Pack which has a good number of quant questions hitting the very areas the GMAt tests. These are some very good question and solving them in the GMAT prep software will help you further in getting the hang of the real-time situation.

Hope that helps!

I read DavidG@Veritas Prep's "Stop Studying" article and it really hit me that, overstudying may actually be my problem!

Not only that, but since I resigned from work to study for the GMAT, I've been constantly studying and literally socialize maybe 5% of my day at most (and usually with the same person/people).

Hello,

I took the advice given above and wrote two more exams. I wrote one more Manhattan and scored a 610, then about a week later I took the mba.com one. I was feeling anxious and I was irritable so I know that I wasn't in the best frame of mind, and I ended up getting a 510. My last mba.com one I got a 580.

I'm trying not to get down, but I feel like I am going to go crazy. I signed up for the free week trial of magoosh, I signed up for the target test prep for five days, and while both were great and I got a lot out of them, I have ended up scoring lower than before. What am I doing wrong?

I am leaving in about 10 days and I thought for sure I would write before I left for three weeks, and I don't see how I can do that now. I need some expert GMAT guidance, I'm lost.

I took the advice given above and wrote two more exams. I wrote one more Manhattan and scored a 610, then about a week later I took the mba.com one. I was feeling anxious and I was irritable so I know that I wasn't in the best frame of mind, and I ended up getting a 510. My last mba.com one I got a 580.

When you reviewed these last two tests, what did you find? Did it feel as though you were making the same kinds of mistakes you'd been making on earlier tests? Or did it feel as though you were making more careless mistakes than usual or that your timing was less consistent?

One suggestion: try posting some questions you struggled with here along with a quick summary of your thought process. This way we can better gauge where you might be going astray and what strategic adjustments you can make to get you back on track.

Thanks Dave,

I felt scattered and anxious, and I knew some of the questions and when I reviewed them, I thought," how could I have got that one wrong!!" but my biggest downfall is I get caught up in the wording of the questions and spend too much time trying to rephrase and I mess up...and that adds to my anxiety. I am planning on taking another exam tomorrow ( gmat.com) in hopes of seeing what I get.

I feel like part of my problem was anxiety, but I thought I did much better in the quant section than previous and I was more concerned about my verbal which I ended up doing better in.

Maybe I just practice writing an exam everyday over the next five days and see how I do?

Here is one question that I could have done the long way and found out, but I ended up taking too long and guessed.

"Which of the following is equal to the value of 2^5 +2^5 + 3^5 + 3^5 + 3^5"

I thought I just added the exponents by one ie. 2^6 + 3^7, but 3^6 is correct.