GMAT Retake Strategy?

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greenious: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:16 am; Thanked: 2 times

by greenious » Sat Apr 12, 2014 10:32 pm

Hi all,

I took my first official GMAT last weekend and my score was 640 (Q48, V29). My target was to break at least 700, if not more. In practice tests my quant was consistent at Q48, in verbal it ranged about V30-35. Test anxiety played a factor during the test and I personally acknowledged that I won't be able to rule that out completely. I thought I would screw up quant more than verbal since I knew my pace during quant was slower than usual at the beginning. I was expecting to get at least >30 in verbal and was disappointed when I saw my verbal score. I felt the difficulty level was similar to what I'd had in practice tests. I'm guessing that I screwed up in RC and got a few questions wrong in a row. I was disheartened and am still rebounding from the bad experience, but I'm determine to retake GMAT and improve my score. I'm hoping to get some feedback and suggestions from the experts or people who have gone through the same experience here about retake study plans and strategies. Here is my background:

Goal: improve from 640 to >700

Situation:
-Non-native, background in engineering
-Self-studied for about 3 months using Veritas Prep full set and OG13, in average studied 12 hours/week
-GMAT areas from weakest to strongest: RC -> SC -> CR -> DS ->PS

My questions are:
1. How long should I study before taking my next attempt? I'm going to apply for 2015 intake, so practically speaking I have months to prepare. But ideally I don't want to spend that whole time studying for GMAT!

2. What are the realistic Q & V raw score combinations given my situation to reach 700? I'm thinking to try improving my quant from Q48 to Q49-50 and improving my verbal from Q29 to at least Q37. Thoughts?
3. Should I study an area I'm stronger or weaker at first?
4. I'm planning to prioritize improving my Verbal, but at the same time I don't want to just "forget" Quant. Any recommendations on study structure to balance both areas?
5. Any other tips?

Any feedback would be appreciated! Thank you!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sat Apr 12, 2014 10:32 pm

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sun Apr 13, 2014 12:02 am

Hi greenious.

A 640 is a solid performance (it's right around the 80th percentile), so you shouldn't feel too bad about that. To that end, you may or may not need to retest. With a 640,Q48 you're in decent position to apply to many B-Schools.

What Business Schools are you planning to apply to?

In answer to your questions:
1) If you plan to retest, you could very easily be ready in a month's time.
2) There are a variety of ways to put together a 700+ score. Improving your Quant from Q48 to Q49 or Q50 is a marginal "bump up", your missing points are going to be found in the Verbal section.
3) You need far more reps (and improvement) in the Verbal section. Start with the Verbal and plan to spend the bulk of your next round of studying in this category.
4) While most of your study time will need to be in the Verbal section, you'll still want to do some Quant "maintenance" to keep your skills sharp. Plan on an approximate 80/20 split between Verbal and Quant.
5) Every GMAT company has had clients with successful results. If a particular product does not work for you, then you might need to use a different product.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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greenious: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 6; Joined: Tue Feb 11, 2014 11:16 am; Thanked: 2 times

by greenious » Tue Apr 15, 2014 10:17 am

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your response. I acknowledge that 640 is not a bad score, but I would like to make myself more competitive as I plan to apply to the Top 20 schools. I don't have a final list of schools I plan to apply to, but currently it includes UT Austin-McCombs (I was an undergraduate there), Berkeley-Haas, Chicago-Booth, and UNC-Kenan Flagler.

Regarding your response:
2) I heard that improving your score in the higher range (40-50) is harder than when it's in lower range (20-40), is this true?
3) I meant to ask in terms of Verbal areas exclusively. In terms of "comfort" (if that makes sense), SC is on the top of my list then followed by CR and RC. In terms of accuracy, it's CR -> SC -> RC. I guess I can't decide which area to study first.

Thanks!

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GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Apr 15, 2014 1:58 pm

HI greenious,

You have a much greater opportunity to pick up points in the Verbal section than in the Quant section, so you should start with Verbal; with a V29, there's a pretty good chance that you're missing some potential points in all 3 categories (SC, CR and RC). In terms of which category to start with, I would suggest whichever one you're usually worst at, since that would be the one that has the greatest pool of missed points (and since all 3 Verbal categories represent lots of questions, they're all valuable).

So, if it's going to be RC to start, you have to define WHY you're not good at it. Maybe your "perspective" on RC is incorrect, maybe you learned a tactic for RC that didn't work well with your mindset, etc. RC is as predictable and beatable as any other major category on the GMAT, so you might benefit by enrolling in a GMAT Course and learning specific tactics from an expert. Regardless of how you end up proceeding, RC requires note-taking, an understanding of the handful of question types (and how to handle them) and the ability to recognize the common wrong answers (so that you can avoid them).

As far as increasing a Q48 score, I've always been of the mind that anyone who can score that high in the Quant could probably score a Q49 (or even a Q50). At that level though, the difference is in one's precision - you have NO ROOM for silly mistakes. In your situation though, the time and effort that it would take to weed out those minor, silly mistakes would be better spent picking up LOTS of points in the Verbal section.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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