Any advice on how to improve my GMAT Score - 620 (Q-48, V-28

Expert replies

takeiteasy9: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2008 6:16 pm

by takeiteasy9 » Tue May 05, 2009 3:41 pm

Brief background: I come from engineering background and my day time work is very hectic.

Preparation: I studied for past 6-8 weeks, 1 hr on M-W-F and 8-10 hrs during the weekends. I did questions from OG-11,OG - Verbal, kaplan -800. I spent the last 2 weeks studying SC rule from MGMAT for the first time since I struggle with it a lot.

I took 5 tests (did the essay writing during all of them) and my score were

Kaplan1 - 550
Kaplan2 - 570
Kaplan3 - 590
GmatPrep1 - 670
GmatPrep2 - 650

Actual Score - 620 (Q-48, V-28)

I realized that both during the practice test and the actual GMAT, I had to guess 3-4 quantitative questions and around 5-6 verbal question because I didn't manage my time efficiently also I am not very strong in Verbal.

My rough pace for Quant and Verbal is

Quant:
Q-15 - 40 mins left
Q-25 - 15-17 mins left
Q-35 - 3-4 mins left

Verbal:
Q-10 - 50 mins left
Q-20 - 35 mins left
Q-30 - 15 mins left
Q-40 - 2 mins left

I was hoping that I would score in high 600's and maybe touch 700 but given my pratice test scores, I should have expected a 30 points swing on either side.

Goal: I want to re-take this exam and put in whatever it needs to score in 700's and I believe I can do it.

Advise: I would appreciate any advise you might have for me in terms of books I should read for verbal(In addition to what I have read) - SC, RC, CR since that is my weakness. Also any particular strategy I should follow.

Thanks

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Tue May 05, 2009 3:41 pm

kszunzun: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 11; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:53 pm

Re: Any advice on how to improve my GMAT Score - 620 (Q-48,

by kszunzun » Tue May 05, 2009 9:54 pm

takeiteasy9 wrote:Brief background: I come from engineering background and my day time work is very hectic.

Preparation: I studied for past 6-8 weeks, 1 hr on M-W-F and 8-10 hrs during the weekends. I did questions from OG-11,OG - Verbal, kaplan -800. I spent the last 2 weeks studying SC rule from MGMAT for the first time since I struggle with it a lot.

I took 5 tests (did the essay writing during all of them) and my score were

Kaplan1 - 550
Kaplan2 - 570
Kaplan3 - 590
GmatPrep1 - 670
GmatPrep2 - 650

Actual Score - 620 (Q-48, V-28)

I realized that both during the practice test and the actual GMAT, I had to guess 3-4 quantitative questions and around 5-6 verbal question because I didn't manage my time efficiently also I am not very strong in Verbal.

My rough pace for Quant and Verbal is

Quant:
Q-15 - 40 mins left
Q-25 - 15-17 mins left
Q-35 - 3-4 mins left

Verbal:
Q-10 - 50 mins left
Q-20 - 35 mins left
Q-30 - 15 mins left
Q-40 - 2 mins left

I was hoping that I would score in high 600's and maybe touch 700 but given my pratice test scores, I should have expected a 30 points swing on either side.

Goal: I want to re-take this exam and put in whatever it needs to score in 700's and I believe I can do it.

Advise: I would appreciate any advise you might have for me in terms of books I should read for verbal(In addition to what I have read) - SC, RC, CR since that is my weakness. Also any particular strategy I should follow.

Thanks

kszunzun: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 11; Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:53 pm

Re: Any advice on how to improve my GMAT Score - 620 (Q-48,

by kszunzun » Tue May 05, 2009 9:57 pm

It's good you started with MGMAt. If it was a bit harder for you to digest it, I would suggest you to revise it once again or if possible ask some one to query you based on that book.Then do the questions in OG (11, verbal, 12 as many as u can) and Manhattan SC questions
For CR read Powerscore's CR Bible and manhattan CR and RC Guide

This should help you with RC also.
All the best!

cheers,
Shipra.

canada_sms: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 84; Joined: Tue Nov 04, 2008 3:53 pmFollowed by: 9 members; Location: Boston, MA; Thanked: 50 times; GMAT Score:760

by canada_sms » Wed May 06, 2009 3:53 pm

Based on your timing strategy I would say that you're buying into the Kaplan myth that the earlier questions are much more important than the later questions. Many of the experts around here will agree that while the earlier questions count a little bit more, *ALL* questions are important and you have to give yourself a chance on the back end of a section.

In my experience, it's more damaging to get back-to-back questions incorrect and if you don't give yourself enough time near the end of a section, you'll end up getting 2-3 questions wrong in a row causing your score to drop.

My suggestion would be to try something like:

Quant:
Q-14 - 50 mins left
Q-26 - 25 mins left
Q-37 - 3 mins left

Verbal:
Q-14 - 50 mins left
Q-28 - 25 mins left
Q-41 - 2 mins left

Of course you have to be flexible with verbal because of RC passages.

MBA Candidate 2012
MIT Sloan School of Management

GMAT/MBA Expert

beatthegmat: Site Admin; Posts: 6778; Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 amFollowed by: 994 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 1249 times

by beatthegmat » Wed May 06, 2009 7:25 pm

Moving to Strategy forum. Great thread!

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deckJackson: Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts; Posts: 10; Joined: Thu May 21, 2009 11:33 am

by deckJackson » Thu Jun 11, 2009 4:22 pm

To improve CR questions, work some Logical Reasoning problems from the LSAT. These problems tend to be more difficult and often provide better practice. To improve RC, read well written newspapers and periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal.

D.J.

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