GMAT Strategy

Need your help/advice here. I have my gmat scheduled in a month. Been preparing for about 2 months now. I gave couple of mgmat cats and one gmatprep, averaged at 650. My target score is 700. Is there a way I can achieve this in next one month?

What I have done so far, prepared using mgmat guides, CR bible and OG guides, kaplan advanced problems, flashcards.
I have gone through some success stories on gmatclub as to how I can improve but its not given me any direction.

I have busy work schedule, can study 2 hours a day during weekdays and 6 hours each on weekend.

Some of the issues that I see so far are word problems, RC. Time management on tests is another issue. I always do my last 10 questions in 8 minutes or so.

I am unable to understand what areas I should study /practice in the next month as to reach the target score. I am definitely going to work on RC but other than that where else should I focus? How should I go about it?

Appreciate any tips.

50 Points in a month is very achievable IMO. How are you missing questions? What I mean by that is are you missing questions because you don't know the general theories behind each or are you running short and finishing very badly when doing exams?

At this point, I think you should just start doing a lot of practice tests in the right environment (no breaks, no cell phone, no distractions). PM me if you need help. Also, I think the small stuff like using a template for your AWA so you don't spend too much energy at the beginning of the test can really help you score 30-50 points higher.

Hey PGMAT,

You know what - looking at what you've written I think it's pretty clear that you should make pacing a big focus. If you're already scoring in the 650 range and you're typically spending <1 minute on each of the last 10 questions (keep in mind that's about 1/4 of the test), that's a pretty big red flag for me as to what's holding your score back.

I'd suggest this - do some drills to specifically emphasize getting started quickly:

1) For quant (and particularly word problems, which you mentioned), give yourself 30 seconds per question to get something written down, then move onto the next question. After a set of 10-15 of these, go back and finish the questions. By doing this, you should emphasize that you have to have something to show for the first 30 seconds you're looking at a problem - you're training yourself to get to work quicker - and you'll also start to recognize the mistakes that you tend to make in setting up a problem when you rush.

2) For verbal, take a set of CR or SC questions and, similarly to the above, take 20-30 seconds to jot down a major theme of the problem (e.g. "Verb Tense" or "Weaken question (and highlight the conclusion)". This, too, will force you to take the beginning 30 seconds of each problem to organize your thoughts and have some proactive framework for approaching it. I think that often people will waste time by reading the question before they ever "think about" it. If you can combine the two, you'll have much quicker results.


Honestly, given what you wrote, I think that if you can simply give yourself enough time in the last quarter of each section to do as well as you've done on the first 3/4, you should be right where you want to be around 700.