Retaking the GMAT

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Retaking the GMAT

by cazubuine » Wed Oct 30, 2013 2:38 pm
Hello all,

I just took the GMAT today and unfortunately scored a 570 (Q34, V35, IR6). The experience of actually taking the test was a good and I am excited to prepare for round 2. As you can see from my score, my area of weakness is Quant. I was wondering a few things:

*Does anyone know of any study plans that are specifically focused on quant?
*Where is a good place to find GMAT type problems in volume so I can really focus on my weak areas?

My goal is to score between a 650 and 700 by early December. Thanks for any advice!

CJ

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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:54 pm
A resources for lots (hundreds) of really good GMAT questions is the Veritas Prep Question Bank.

It happens to be free!

Here is the link. https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/
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by [email protected] » Wed Oct 30, 2013 11:12 pm
Hi cazubuine,

While having enough practice material is important, having the correct tactics/strategies/approach is MORE important. If you do 'volumes' of questions, as you've described, then your score may or may not improve. Part of fixing any weaknesses will require you to examine HOW you're approaching questions and FIX that problem/inconsistency.

To that end, can you list out what resources you've used already?

Also, how long have you been studying? And what were your scores on your practice CATs?

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:05 am
I agree with Rich; you'll likely need more than practice questions to reach your target score.

I suggest a systematic (even methodical) approach, in which you take the time to master each topic/concept (e.g., percents, ratios, assumption questions in critical reasoning, comparison questions in sentence correction, etc).

So, for each topic/concept, you should:
1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
2) Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it
Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

To help you focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature. 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.

You should also use an Error Log (aka Improvement Chart) while completing questions from the Official Guide (OG). You can find a free downloadable Improvement Chart here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log. This will help you identify and strengthen your weak areas.

I also suggest that you spend a lot of time reviewing the responses from the Experts on this site, since they often model the steps you should be taking when answering question.

Finally, in addition to learning the core concepts and GMAT-specific strategies, be sure to work on your endurance and test-taking skills (e.g., time management) by taking several practice tests. If you're interested, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Cheers,
Brent
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by cazubuine » Mon Nov 04, 2013 4:38 pm
Hi Rich,

Thank you for your response. The answers to your questions are below:

*Materials used: Manhattan GMAT study guides and OG
*I have been studying since May but took off about a month when I had surgery
*Manhattan CATs: 570 (Q40, V29), 520 (Q34, V27), 580 (Q38, V31), 560, (Q34, V33), 590 (Q40, V32)
*GMAT Prep CATs: 560 (Q31, V37), 620 (Q37, V38)

CJ