GMAT Strategy

Hey guys,

I just took my first practice exam and now I am struggeling with interpreting my scores.

Quant Score 41 (57th percentile)
Verbal: 36 (79th percentile)
Total Score: 640

Although my Quant Score is "higher", the percentile is not that good - so I am thinking about what to practice more deeply. My appointment for the test is in 3 weeks, my aim is to score something around 650-700

Any recommendations?
According to your experience - how realistic is the test exam's score compared to the real test results?

Cheers
Thomas

Which practice exam did you take? This matters. I will assume that it is the official GMATPrep exam. If so, that exam is fairly accurate to what your GMAT score would have been on that day. Of course studying, taking additional practice tests, etc. Will increase your score so that even in three weeks you may be able to earn a higher score.

You are correct to look at the percentiles. As you can see you rate much higher in verbal compared to other test takers than you do in Quant.

If this is indeed your first ever practice test you may get a higher score on your next practice test just based on familiarity. So I would try to take another in a week or so. Did you analyze the test that you took? Did you learn from your mistakes?

Here is something I wrote up about mistakes on practice tests and practice problems. https://www.beatthegmat.com/in-the-dumps ... 52293.html

If you can say which test you took and which areas you were weaker on then we can give more advice!

David

Take ample time in examining your test (right and wrong answers both). Some people draft an error log to keep track of their progress from practice test to practice test...I never personally did this but I did make a record of the topics I had to practice more of which helped...give a gap between practice tests to first improve upon your weak areas and only then take the next test...

Good Luck!

If so, that exam is fairly accurate to what your GMAT score would have been on that day. Of course studying, taking additional practice tests, etc. Will increase your score so that even in three weeks you may be able to earn a higher score.

I cannot agree more.. In a little over 3 weeks of concentrated study that involved reviewing my weaker areas, targeted practice and an in depth reflection on the "way I was studying" and making the "right" changes towards practice and study i was able to find a 70-90 point improvement over my previous GMAT PREP scores.. Once you have the first CAT out of the way, you can really take your prep to another level and you will find that you will get double the gain from half the work , as compared to previous efforts as now you would be able to tactically re configure your study and prep.