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How to improve Gmat test score?

by saxena.tushar » Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:02 pm
Hi,

My test date is 29th October,2015 and I have been studying for almost 1 month now.

I attempted two practice test by now. Here are my scores:
GMAT prep 1 - 650 (4/10/2015)
Q:43
V:36
MGMAT practice test - 660 (18/10/2015)
Q: 44
V:36

I have studied MGMAT math & verbal guides. After careful evaluation, I have realized that my major mistakes happen in quants due to miscalculation. I know I can work upon that and improve my score.
However for verbal, I am a bit stuck. I am at a point where I don't understand what should I do to improve? Should I practice more questions or should I redo MGMAT guides?

I am writing to BTG community as I have seen many people getting great advice.

I want to improve my score to a 700+. Please let me know how/what can I do to get the 40 points boost in 10 days. Also let me know if you guys think I should postpone my exam and take some more time to study. The only reason I don't really want to postpone is because I want to apply in R2 which is just a month away plus I am getting saturated in my GMAT prep.

Please let me know how can I get a 700+ in prep. I have 5 hours everyday which I can dedicate to my prep.

Looking forward to your replies.

Thanks in advance,
Tushar
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by [email protected] » Sun Oct 18, 2015 4:45 pm
Hi saxena.tushar,

Have you taken either of these two CATs before? I ask because in a prior post (from last year), you listed a series of CATs that you had used, and retaking a CAT that you've already taken almost always leads to unrealistic, 'inflated' scores. If these scores are not accurate, then we don't know what you should actually be focused on right now. By extension, we also don't know how ready you are to face the Official GMAT. Given that your Official GMAT is in 10 days, you might need to consider pushing back your Test Date.

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by saxena.tushar » Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:34 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi saxena.tushar,

Have you taken either of these two CATs before? I ask because in a prior post (from last year), you listed a series of CATs that you had used, and retaking a CAT that you've already taken almost always leads to unrealistic, 'inflated' scores. If these scores are not accurate, then we don't know what you should actually be focused on right now. By extension, we also don't know how ready you are to face the Official GMAT. Given that your Official GMAT is in 10 days, you might need to consider pushing back your Test Date.

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

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I did give these tests last year but this time I didn't see any repeat questions. Last year I was performing in the 590 range but this year I saw many questions from the 700-800 range. Plus I can see that I have been performing better in verbal as now I am able to quickly get down to the best two options, and about 90% of the time the right answer is one of the two.

Plus while doing my regular question set(45 Verbal questions, 40 Math questions), I get around 10 wrong in both of them.
Would it help if I give another test today which I didn't attempt last year and share my score with you?

Regards,
Tushar
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by [email protected] » Mon Oct 19, 2015 9:16 am
Hi saxena.tushar,

To start, you should NOT take another CAT today. The process of working through a FULL CAT requires a great deal of effort and energy, and you'll need time to review your work and study before taking another one. If you took another CAT so soon, my guess is that you would end up scoring just about the same as you did on these last 2 CATs.

Your self-analysis has already pointed out one of the your 'issues' - little mistakes in the Quant section - so THAT is what you should be working on. Taking lots of CAT will NOT fix that problem though. You have to 'drill', using practice questions, quizzes, redoing old questions, etc. so that you no longer make those mistakes. The CAT will help to prove whether you've made the necessary adjustments or not.

I still think that you would benefit from some extra study time. You can take your GMAT as planned though, and if you're not happy with the Overall Score, then you can take it again 16 days later.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by saxena.tushar » Mon Oct 19, 2015 4:09 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi saxena.tushar,

To start, you should NOT take another CAT today. The process of working through a FULL CAT requires a great deal of effort and energy, and you'll need time to review your work and study before taking another one. If you took another CAT so soon, my guess is that you would end up scoring just about the same as you did on these last 2 CATs.

Your self-analysis has already pointed out one of the your 'issues' - little mistakes in the Quant section - so THAT is what you should be working on. Taking lots of CAT will NOT fix that problem though. You have to 'drill', using practice questions, quizzes, redoing old questions, etc. so that you no longer make those mistakes. The CAT will help to prove whether you've made the necessary adjustments or not.

I still think that you would benefit from some extra study time. You can take your GMAT as planned though, and if you're not happy with the Overall Score, then you can take it again 16 days later.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Dear Rich.C,

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

I have pushed my test date to 18th November as all round two deadlines of colleges I prefer are in January (Duke, Darden, Anderson, McDonough, Kenan-Flagler).

So now I have another 4 weeks to study for my exam and boost my score. I would really appreciate if you could let me know a solid study plan for these four weeks. I can dedicate around 120-150 hours in these 4 weeks, approximately 5 hr/day.

Here are the issues I am facing:

Quants - After doing MGMAT guides, OG 13 and 2nd Edition Review guide, I am aware of the concepts. The problem is that I miscalculate a lot as I try to rush in order to save time for harder questions. These small miscalculations either increase my time as I try to fix them or lead to a wrong answer. Also, while analyzing my MGMAT practice test, I have realized I always get stuck at a 700 level question thus mostly guessing and getting the question wrong.
Could you please let me know how can I avoid these small mistakes plus how can I get better at 700 level question. Please advice any particular guide that you think will help me.

Verbal - For verbal, I did MGMAT guides, OG 13 and 2nd Edition Review guide. While doing practice sets as well as during tests, I get around 10-15 questions wrong. The maximum difficulty I am facing is SC. I don't face much difficulty in CR. I face difficulty in RC when there is 700 level passage as I can guess by the difficulty of the passage.
Could you please let me know how can I improve SC. Any specific guide that can help me do better.

I have consumed OG13, both review guides, OG12, OG11 last 100 questions. So I am pretty much out of resources to study from. Please let me know any particular guide that I should use to study.
Also, what should be the test structure? When should I attempt practice tests and how many considering I have 4 weeks with me. Do you think another 4 weeks will get me my desired score 700+.

Sorry for the long post. Waiting for your reply.

Thanks in advance,
Tushar
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Mon Oct 19, 2015 5:01 pm
saxena.tushar wrote:
[email protected] wrote:Hi saxena.tushar,

To start, you should NOT take another CAT today. The process of working through a FULL CAT requires a great deal of effort and energy, and you'll need time to review your work and study before taking another one. If you took another CAT so soon, my guess is that you would end up scoring just about the same as you did on these last 2 CATs.

Your self-analysis has already pointed out one of the your 'issues' - little mistakes in the Quant section - so THAT is what you should be working on. Taking lots of CAT will NOT fix that problem though. You have to 'drill', using practice questions, quizzes, redoing old questions, etc. so that you no longer make those mistakes. The CAT will help to prove whether you've made the necessary adjustments or not.

I still think that you would benefit from some extra study time. You can take your GMAT as planned though, and if you're not happy with the Overall Score, then you can take it again 16 days later.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Dear Rich.C,

Thank you for your valuable feedback.

I have pushed my test date to 18th November as all round two deadlines of colleges I prefer are in January (Duke, Darden, Anderson, McDonough, Kenan-Flagler).

So now I have another 4 weeks to study for my exam and boost my score. I would really appreciate if you could let me know a solid study plan for these four weeks. I can dedicate around 120-150 hours in these 4 weeks, approximately 5 hr/day.

Here are the issues I am facing:

Quants - After doing MGMAT guides, OG 13 and 2nd Edition Review guide, I am aware of the concepts. The problem is that I miscalculate a lot as I try to rush in order to save time for harder questions. These small miscalculations either increase my time as I try to fix them or lead to a wrong answer. Also, while analyzing my MGMAT practice test, I have realized I always get stuck at a 700 level question thus mostly guessing and getting the question wrong.
Could you please let me know how can I avoid these small mistakes plus how can I get better at 700 level question. Please advice any particular guide that you think will help me.

Verbal - For verbal, I did MGMAT guides, OG 13 and 2nd Edition Review guide. While doing practice sets as well as during tests, I get around 10-15 questions wrong. The maximum difficulty I am facing is SC. I don't face much difficulty in CR. I face difficulty in RC when there is 700 level passage as I can guess by the difficulty of the passage.
Could you please let me know how can I improve SC. Any specific guide that can help me do better.

I have consumed OG13, both review guides, OG12, OG11 last 100 questions. So I am pretty much out of resources to study from. Please let me know any particular guide that I should use to study.
Also, what should be the test structure? When should I attempt practice tests and how many considering I have 4 weeks with me. Do you think another 4 weeks will get me my desired score 700+.

Sorry for the long post. Waiting for your reply.

Thanks in advance,
Tushar
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by [email protected] » Mon Oct 19, 2015 7:15 pm
Hi saxena.tushar,

Before you make any big adjustments to your studies, it's important for you to get a CAT score from a 'new' CAT. I suggest that you put in some study time over the next 3-4 days (working on the note-taking and careless mistakes that you've mentioned), then take a FULL-LENGTH CAT this weekend (but it MUST be a CAT that you haven't used before and you MUST take the ENTIRE CAT, including the Essay and IR sections). Once you have THAT score, we'll have a much clearer idea of what you should be working on until Test Day.

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