Beaten by the GMAT- Scored just 530 !! Need some help!

This topic has expert replies
Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2010 9:34 am
Hi Guys,

I gave my GMAT yesterday and scored just 530. I was in a total state of shock after seeing my score. Though, I knew that I was not going to score high given the scores I was getting in my mocks but such a low score was never expected.

I need some serious advice for my second attempt. Following is my analysis till now and would like some guidance from experienced people out here.

My serious prep started 1 month back and I booked a slot without knowing where I stand i.e never gave a mock exam. I gave my first mock on 13th Nov and scored just 570. Though disappointed I thought I will improve in the due course of time but the progress was not impressive.

My Mock exams-
GMATPrep 1 - 570 (Q43; V28)
4 GMAT exams - 610 (Q47;V28) , 630 (Q45;V32), 580 (Q43; V28), 630 (Q45;V32)
GMATPrep 2 - 590 (Q45; V27)

Books referred till date-
MGMAT Guides
Powerscore bible
QG 12

What I feel is that after giving the first mock exam I was not able to improve much on my weak areas. Most of the time I devoted to go throught the concepts. Given that I have not touched the maths for the past 8 years or so took some time to refresh.

1) In Quants my weak area are inequalities, tough prime number questions. In DS also my success rate is not very good.
2) For SC i took e-gmat course which was quite good and helped me to retain the rules which I had learned in MGMAT SC but I didn't practiced much. I an not having very good success rate with SC. I know this can be improved by more thorough analysis of QG.
3) Though I have gone through Powerscore CR but somehow I am not having much success in CR. I think its mostly due to the fact that I take lot of time to comprehend the argument and thus due to time lag I am not able to have a good success rate.
4) For RC I didn't prepare much apart from going through some passages in QG. Need to focus more on RC and I think it can be handled by more practice and reading.

Apart from this I am very disappointed with the kind of silly mistakes I do in Quants. Eg. I read ratio 3/2 in the question and end up solving with 3/4.
I think I need some guidance in terms of tricks and tips for Quants. Pls let me know whether knewton online course would be suitable for this?


Has anyone who has gone through the course suggest me if the knewton course would help in term of helping me to speed up in quants by providing some tips? Also whether this course would be a bet for my verbal which needs a lot of improvement?

I plan to give GMAT again after 2 months or so and the Knewton is offering the course for more than 50% discount and would cost around 300$.

The deal is ending on 15th December. Please guys let me know if it's worth spending time with knewton online course to improve my score or should I continue with more focussed self study?
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 358
Joined: Fri Jun 25, 2010 9:47 am
Location: Mumbai
Thanked: 34 times
Followed by:4 members
GMAT Score:740

by karanrulz4ever » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:47 am
Considering your GMAT prep scores, the score isn't out of imagination. Generally the accuracy of GMAT prep is around +/- 40. So your score is around the same range.

Knewton course is good.Go for it if you need a course. Good luck!

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 320
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 7:09 am
Thanked: 116 times
Followed by:52 members
GMAT Score:760

by rishi raj » Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:55 am
Although you have not given the break up of your GMAT score but as I can see, your average Quant score on the Mock test was around 45 which is not a bad score at all .With a little more push,I don't think you'll have much difficulty taking that score higher by another 3-4 points. Your average Verbal score seem to hover around 30,so focus on Verbal . Make sure that you develop yourself on all the three different areas -SC,CR and RC well because weakness in even one area may pull you down. If you're getting the Knewton course for $300 ,that's not a bad deal.However, you may want to see their session plans and see how long is the course and what else do you get apart from the online classes.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2010 10:49 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by lukester » Sun Dec 19, 2010 4:55 am
Don't give up.

I been thru the 530 stage on my first test as well. I thought I was prepared, but I was not.

There are a couple of factors that I nailed down, and they are mainly:

1) I thought I gave myself too much stress back then and simply couldn't concentrate on the actual test. Fell sick because of stress too.

2) When I was doing my mock before my first test, I noticed I tend to pause quite often and this skewed my mock result. (not realizing the full potential of prep.) I was more focused on solving problems back then, but I come to realize that GMAT is more than that, there is a fair amount of tactics when taking GMAT test. The good thing about doing more prep is that you will get a good grasp of the overall timing. Doing more preps will just get u there.

3) review your wrong questions in your prep and other practices. You will notice what you are weak at and perhaps focus more in your study.

I hope that helps.