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Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic (GMAT Focus Edition)
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Need advice and help now!

by Apiet1895 » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:06 am
Hi everyone, so I took the GMAT last week and scored a 360, absolutely no where near I wanted to be. I need a 450+ to apply to my graduate school program. I am retaking the exam in the beginning of August and need a lot of help studying for math and verbal. I need specifically a study plan on what exactly to do and what I should do to increase my score. Any website/practice question explanation websites that are recommended? My score was a 19 quant and 20 verbal. Anything will help, I only have so much time and need to really do well.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:16 am
Apiet1895 wrote:Hi everyone, so I took the GMAT last week and scored a 360, absolutely no where near I wanted to be. I need a 450+ to apply to my graduate school program. I am retaking the exam in the beginning of August and need a lot of help studying for math and verbal. I need specifically a study plan on what exactly to do and what I should do to increase my score. Any website/practice question explanation websites that are recommended? My score was a 19 quant and 20 verbal. Anything will help, I only have so much time and need to really do well.
You'll want to start with a good program for building a solid conceptual foundation. Feel free to check out our app, which has pre-recorded versions of all of our lessons: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/

And here's our question bank for additional practice: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Jul 08, 2016 9:35 am
Apiet1895 wrote:Hi everyone, so I took the GMAT last week and scored a 360, absolutely no where near I wanted to be. I need a 450+ to apply to my graduate school program. I am retaking the exam in the beginning of August and need a lot of help studying for math and verbal. I need specifically a study plan on what exactly to do and what I should do to increase my score. Any website/practice question explanation websites that are recommended? My score was a 19 quant and 20 verbal. Anything will help, I only have so much time and need to really do well.
You might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide). Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

We have a similar Guide here (https://www.gmatprepnow.com/learning-guide/overview), except you can go at your own pace.

Cheers,
Brent
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by [email protected] » Fri Jul 08, 2016 12:11 pm
Hi apiet1895,

As odd as this might sound, with a 360 you're not that far away from a 450+; you'll clearly have to improve on your fundamentals though to pick up those missing points. I'd like to know a bit more about how you studied for this first attempt;

1) When you took the GMAT, did you have to rush through any questions to finish any of the sections? Did you leave any questions unanswered in any of the sections?
2) How long have you studied?
3) What materials have you used?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by Apiet1895 » Fri Jul 08, 2016 12:37 pm
I finished every single question and didn't have an issue with timing! Have more trouble with the context of the questions and how to go about it! I studied for about a month and now I have another month until my next exam! Everything for my application is done they just need a higher GMAT SCORE for me to get into the graduate program. I've been using Kaplan book and a lot of YouTube tutorials to help me but nothing is generally telling me when you see this in the question, this is the way to answer it and that's why I'm frustrated. Thank you for giving me a little bit of confidence I needed that! Hopefully it works out!!!
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Fri Jul 08, 2016 1:25 pm
On the math side, I'd just do some fundamental math review: if you're scoring Q19, it wouldn't hurt to hop on Khan Academy and spend a week or two refreshing things like decimals, basic algebra, ratios, and other core concepts. A lot of GMAT material will assume you're already at least somewhat familiar with these, but if it's been a *while* since you've studied them, I'd go straight to a basic math refresher, then move to the GMAT material when you're a little more confident.
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by OptimusPrep » Sun Jul 17, 2016 8:39 pm
Apiet1895 wrote:Hi everyone, so I took the GMAT last week and scored a 360, absolutely no where near I wanted to be. I need a 450+ to apply to my graduate school program. I am retaking the exam in the beginning of August and need a lot of help studying for math and verbal. I need specifically a study plan on what exactly to do and what I should do to increase my score. Any website/practice question explanation websites that are recommended? My score was a 19 quant and 20 verbal. Anything will help, I only have so much time and need to really do well.
You need to build the concepts/fundamentals before you jump in solving the problems. You can do so by choosing one of the following ways:

1. In person classes/private tutoring
2. Online classes
3. Self paced online preparatory course
4. Book heavy approach

Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose one. Because GMAT tests you on some concepts and fundamentals that you can learn from a course. Most of the preparatory companies including ours offer a free trial of our course. You can take the trial and see if the course suits your needs.

In addition to the preparatory material, buy the Official Guides(both the Official Guide and the Verbal Review), Question Pack 1 and the 4 official mock CATs. They should be an indispensable part of your preparation.

You need close to 3 months to prepare well for the GMAT.

1. Understand the concepts and fundamentals before jumping into problem solving
2. Solve full length CATs including AWA and IR. You can get two free GMAT Prep mock CATs and can purchase two more from mba.com
3. Make sure you solve the official questions from the Official Guide

Also, try to drill down in each topic and identify your pain areas.

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.
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by [email protected] » Mon Jul 18, 2016 5:21 pm
Hi apiet1895,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so the fact that you studied for just 1 month could have significantly limited your performance. With your score goal, you can afford to get lots of questions wrong, but you have to minimize the number of little mistakes that you make throughout the Test. Right now, it's not clear if your primary issue is more about content knowledge or about how you're physically working through the questions.

1) When is your next Test Date?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Thu May 11, 2017 7:57 pm
Hey apiet - how did it go? Were you able to find resources that helped?
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