GMAT Strategy

Hello,

I just took the GMAT for the 2nd time but didn't do as well as I wanted to. Below are my scores. It seems like I am missing something critical while studying because I am putting in the time but the results aren't translating in a higher score. I was studying for at least 2 hours every night and at least 6 hours on weekends. I had a little over 4 weeks between the 1st and 2nd GMAT exams.

Scores:
Kaplan - 470
GMAT Practice - 470 (7 unanswered)
GMAT Practice - 430 (3 unanswered)

GMAT 1st try - 530 - 37Q 25V

MGMAT1 - 480 - 27Q 30V
MGMAT2 - 590 - 42Q 31V
MGMAT3 - 530 - 32Q 31V
MGMAT4 - 590 - 39Q 32V
MGMAT5 - 600 - 36Q 36V (4 unanswered in Q)
MGMAT6 - 570 - 35Q 33V

GMAT 2nd try - 600 - 41Q 32V

I definitely want to retake before the integrated reasoning starts and also because all of this material is still fresh in my mind so it makes sense to take it as soon as possible. I'm thinking about scheduling the exam sometime during the last week of May. That will give me about 5 weeks to study.

I went through all the OG problems. Some of those sections like SC and PS, I went through more than once. I did all the MGMAT practice exams and the question banks. If you have any tips, strategy, etc. then please share.

Thanks!

Try using a tutor..

It seems like your GMAT score was right on par with your practice socres. It actually matched your high practice score. I am not sure what your target goal is but if you are looking to improve significantly you may want to study until you are getting consistent scores in your practice exams as what you want to score. I was in the same range of 590 to 600 and I read the Foundations of Math and Foundations of Verbal by MGMAT. This helped me learn and practice the basic formulas and foundations of GMAT problems. From there read the 8 strategy guides by by MGMAT.

Or try a tutor which will help you recognize your weaknesses and areas that need improvement.

pmiklius wrote:It seems like your GMAT score was right on par with your practice socres. It actually matched your high practice score. I am not sure what your target goal is but if you are looking to improve significantly you may want to study until you are getting consistent scores in your practice exams as what you want to score. I was in the same range of 590 to 600 and I read the Foundations of Math and Foundations of Verbal by MGMAT. This helped me learn and practice the basic formulas and foundations of GMAT problems. From there read the 8 strategy guides by by MGMAT.

Or try a tutor which will help you recognize your weaknesses and areas that need improvement.

I didn't touch the GMAT until ALL of my practice scores were in the range of what I wanted on the real thing.

If you're scoring X on practices, and you take the actual GMAT hoping that you will score X+Y because you might get lucky or something...

Well, that's not a gamble I was willing to take, and I don't advise that for anyone.

Thanks guys. I will continue studying and taking the practice exams.

Completely agree with Sunman, taking GMAT is not gambling. If you have scored less in practice test then you should not expect miracle to happen in real exam which would help you to crack GMAT.