BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Breaking through the 700 barrier?

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:08 pm

Breaking through the 700 barrier?

by croot7 » Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:55 pm
Hi,

I recently took the GMAT in early April and scored a 680 (47Q/37V/7 IR/ 5.5 AWA)...pretty much inline with previous practice tests up until the official test. Before the test I completed the Manhattan GMAT program and used time between the end of the program and the test to hone skills specifically in Quant...but wasn't able to bust through the 680 level and still haven't been able to even after the test on more practice CAT exams...

Any suggestions moving forward? I took some time off, but scheduled the next one, and its coming up in just under a month...would love to hear what has worked for others/if they changed their studying habits between tests/any specific tricks to push through the 700 barrier...

Pretty frustrating...and hopefully I'm not plateauing...Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

CR
Top
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 16207
Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC
Thanked: 5254 times
Followed by:1268 members
GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:03 pm
I belief that the key to improvement involves a careful analysis of each practice test you take.

You're in a position that's similar to this person's case: https://www.beatthegmat.com/what-to-do-t ... 75901.html

Here's what I wrote in that post:

680 suggests that you have a strong grasp of the material. From here's it's a matter of identifying and strengthening weaknesses.

To this end, I suggest that you take several full-length practice tests. This will help you build your test-taking skills (endurance, time management, etc), and it will help you identify any remaining area(s) of weakness.

While analyzing your practice tests, there are four main types of weakness to watch out for:
1. specific Quant skills/concepts (e.g., algebra, standard deviation, etc.)
2. specific Verbal skills/concepts (e.g., verb tenses, assumption CR questions, etc.)
3. test-taking skills (time management, endurance, anxiety etc.)
4. silly mistakes

For the first two weaknesses, the fix is pretty straightforward. Learn the concept/skill and find some practice questions to strengthen that weakness. To focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature to isolate one concept. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

If your test-taking skills are holding you back, then you need to work on these. For example, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244.

Finally, if silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes so that, during tests, you can easily spot situations in which you're prone to making errors. I write about this and other strategies in the following article for BTG: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/09/ ... n-the-gmat

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
Image
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:08 pm

by croot7 » Sat May 03, 2014 10:19 am
Thanks for the suggestions. Hopefully the pointers will start manifesting themselves in my practices tests soon! Appreciate the quick response
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sat May 03, 2014 1:35 pm
Hi croot7,

A 680/Q47 is a strong combo that puts you in position to apply to any US Business School, so I'm curious what Business Schools you're planning to apply to? This might sound odd, but if the rest of your application is solid, then you might not need to retest.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 5
Joined: Sat May 03, 2014 11:38 pm
Location: Bangalore
Thanked: 2 times

by GenEdMBA » Tue May 06, 2014 4:33 am
croot7 wrote:Hi,

I recently took the GMAT in early April and scored a 680 (47Q/37V/7 IR/ 5.5 AWA)...pretty much inline with previous practice tests up until the official test. Before the test I completed the Manhattan GMAT program and used time between the end of the program and the test to hone skills specifically in Quant...but wasn't able to bust through the 680 level and still haven't been able to even after the test on more practice CAT exams...

Any suggestions moving forward? I took some time off, but scheduled the next one, and its coming up in just under a month...would love to hear what has worked for others/if they changed their studying habits between tests/any specific tricks to push through the 700 barrier...

Pretty frustrating...and hopefully I'm not plateauing...Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

CR
Hi,

I hope you must have tried to analyse where is the gap..Is it with few particular topics or all, speed,accuracy, more errors towards the end..let us discuss more with your self analysis on these error parameters..or even some pattern that you might have observed apart from these.
Top
User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 334
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2013 4:40 am
Location: India
Thanked: 51 times
Followed by:12 members
GMAT Score:770

by GeneralEducation » Tue May 06, 2014 4:37 am
croot7 wrote:Hi,

I recently took the GMAT in early April and scored a 680 (47Q/37V/7 IR/ 5.5 AWA)...pretty much inline with previous practice tests up until the official test. Before the test I completed the Manhattan GMAT program and used time between the end of the program and the test to hone skills specifically in Quant...but wasn't able to bust through the 680 level and still haven't been able to even after the test on more practice CAT exams...

Any suggestions moving forward? I took some time off, but scheduled the next one, and its coming up in just under a month...would love to hear what has worked for others/if they changed their studying habits between tests/any specific tricks to push through the 700 barrier...

Pretty frustrating...and hopefully I'm not plateauing...Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

CR
Hi,

I hope you must have tried to analyse where is the gap..Is it with few particular topics or all, speed,accuracy, more errors towards the end..let us discuss more with your self analysis on these error parameters..or even some pattern that you might have observed apart from these.

Regards,
Manish
www.general-ed.com
Try Mini GMAT Diagnostic test visit https://gmat.general-ed.info/
Top
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 11, 2014 4:08 pm

by croot7 » Mon May 12, 2014 2:01 pm
Just to follow up, I seem to really start to hit a wall about half way through the Verbal section. I could definitely feel my concentration start to fade toward the end of the first GMAT.

All of my practice tests indicated that number properties and word problems are my weak points in quant, so I have spent time really crunching those. I have also found in most of my most recent tests, silly mistakes (or misreading the question) have set me back a couple of problems. In verbal, it isn't really one thing, it is somewhat everything. I really think stamina is the hardest part for me when it comes to verbal, because when I do problem sets during the week (where I am doing 35-40 of just verbal problems) I am completing them with plenty of time to spare and with higher accuracy, but come to practice test day, I tend to struggle.

In regards to other posts suggesting not retaking...my undergraduate GPA isn't as stellar as I'd have liked it to be, albeit from a good school. I am hopeful that posting a 700+ score, will help offset the somewhat weaker GPA.

On a lighter note: I posted my first 700 on a practice test this past weekend, so I'm looking to power through the last 10ish days of studying to see if I can hit my target score on May 24th.

Any other suggestions regarding stamina, or how to keep studying would be appreciated.

Thanks again for all the feedback posted here, all very helpful.
Top
Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:35 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by dhlee922 » Wed May 21, 2014 6:48 am
This may be basic but get a better grasp of when to guess on problems and move on quickly. That's the thing that helped me the most. Make sure you get easy problems right especially on quant.
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1