Long time lurker, but first time poster here with a high stakes mission. My GMAT is next Saturday and I need a week long strategy to improve my score in a final burst.
I have already applied and interviewed with my school of choice, because they let me go through the process without a score. I have been in contact with their admissions staff and they seem postured to accept me (they really like my work experience). The missing piece of my application is my GMAT score. Based on my understanding of their standards, I have to improve my score with a range of 50-70 points and hit between a 650-680 in order to "seal the deal".
GMAT Prep 1: 550 (September 2012, first time taking practice exam, a rude awakening)
GMAT Prep 1: 540 ( November 22nd I was devastated that my score worsened after I watched all of the Grockit video courses and practiced the strategies, but this is apparently normal...followed up by doing a crapload of Grockit, GMAT Prep question pack 1 and reading explanations of incorrect answers)
GMAT Prep 2: 610 (11-26-2012, I released a grand sigh of relief that I made progress, but still not good enough)
I am a native English speaker and have an engineering background ...however surprisingly I am getting reamed hard on the Quant! The timing is absolutely murdering me in quant. I'm pretty sure I could effectively and accurately solve all of the problems with careful analysis of the material, however, in my latest practice exam, I found myself not being able to understand what the question was asking quickly enough and guessing a lot after my attempts to structure and solve the calcs did not produce anything fruitful, resulting in 20 incorrect out of 37....OH EM GEE. The the accurate disecting of the problem within the ~2 min window that really screws with me.
In Verbal, I fare much better although I know to focus on CR assumption questions and the last nuanced bits of SC for my final push of prep.
Rescheduling is not an option. If you were in my position, what would you do to squeeze out that last bit of score gain? That is...in addition to improving timing, learning additional core information and deep introspective praying for the hopes of only getting experimental questions wrong
At this point quant is definitley holding my score back a lot, although I am confident in my ability to get proficient in a final grand burst of effort. I improved the first 60 points in a week, and now the challenge is to improve the next 60!
Thoughts on strategy?
How to improve 50-70 points in a week and a half?
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Hi there
I smiled as soon as I read that you have an engineering background because it's usually the engineers who have the hardest time with GMAT math! You'd think that after all your math training in school that you'd ace the quant section, but engineers often approach GMAT math with the wrong attitude. You're not in engineering school here. The problems are NOT going to be practical and straightforward. The GMAT is not trying to test your computational skills as much as it's trying to test your ability to assess a problem and reason through the solution (as a businessman would!). The fact that you're struggling to decipher the questions indicates to me that you have an expectation that the questions will be presented plainly, as they usually are on engineering exams. Your main task over the next week and a half will be to sit down with the harder problems (the last 1/3 of each Official Guide quant section, for example) and teach yourself to "read" them. This is the skill that allows the best test takers to soar above the 650 mark (the general cutoff between computation-based and logic-based questions). The Official Guide itself will tell you the topics of the questions (in the answer section). If you weren't able to figure it out, look at the solution but then GO BACK and ask yourself what you could've seen in the question that would've tipped you off as to the underlying concept being tested. If you're able to improve this skill, you should see your quant score improve significantly. Be creative with your math and keep in mind that GMAT quant is just an excuse to test your ability to simplify problems -- it's not really about your math skills. Don't be academic -- free yourself from the constraints of your engineering background.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Steven
I smiled as soon as I read that you have an engineering background because it's usually the engineers who have the hardest time with GMAT math! You'd think that after all your math training in school that you'd ace the quant section, but engineers often approach GMAT math with the wrong attitude. You're not in engineering school here. The problems are NOT going to be practical and straightforward. The GMAT is not trying to test your computational skills as much as it's trying to test your ability to assess a problem and reason through the solution (as a businessman would!). The fact that you're struggling to decipher the questions indicates to me that you have an expectation that the questions will be presented plainly, as they usually are on engineering exams. Your main task over the next week and a half will be to sit down with the harder problems (the last 1/3 of each Official Guide quant section, for example) and teach yourself to "read" them. This is the skill that allows the best test takers to soar above the 650 mark (the general cutoff between computation-based and logic-based questions). The Official Guide itself will tell you the topics of the questions (in the answer section). If you weren't able to figure it out, look at the solution but then GO BACK and ask yourself what you could've seen in the question that would've tipped you off as to the underlying concept being tested. If you're able to improve this skill, you should see your quant score improve significantly. Be creative with your math and keep in mind that GMAT quant is just an excuse to test your ability to simplify problems -- it's not really about your math skills. Don't be academic -- free yourself from the constraints of your engineering background.
Hope this helps.
Best,
Steven
Thanks for the comments. If anything, I would say engineers begin studying with a definite advantage because they already have a more than comfortable understanding of the language of mathematics. But yes I agree, its not about really being a math whiz, but more about simplifying problems into concepts. A layer of abstract thought process needs to be applied on core knowledge, which is the challenge right now.
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I have an engineering degree.
My verbal percentile was higher than my quant.
Anything is possible with regard to score improvement. Make sure you work as many official GMAT problems as possible. I worked all of the official guide problems and supplemental guide problems + extra books that helped to attack my weak areas. This is critical.
My verbal percentile was higher than my quant.
Anything is possible with regard to score improvement. Make sure you work as many official GMAT problems as possible. I worked all of the official guide problems and supplemental guide problems + extra books that helped to attack my weak areas. This is critical.
Well that was a disaster, instead of 50-70 points higher...I scored 90 points lower than my highest practice test...resulting in an official 520! My performance is all over the place.
As I spent 3 months with grockit, OG, learning strategies, rules, and deluding myself into thinking that I improved with practice tests, I'm a little bit frustrated over not just failing to achieve even close to my target range, but also not making any improvement whatsoever since my original baseline practice test, with my score getting OFICIALLY worse by a devestating amount.
Part of me wants to throw in the towel, I know I can be a confident business person with robust managerial skills. I've already been doing it at my job. Why does this test prove? I don't want to be a defective lab rat who is unable to learn the maze that the GMAT overlords have constructed out of mirrors....I want to shatter that maze.
Back to the drawing board...after a long break, I am burned out for now.
As I spent 3 months with grockit, OG, learning strategies, rules, and deluding myself into thinking that I improved with practice tests, I'm a little bit frustrated over not just failing to achieve even close to my target range, but also not making any improvement whatsoever since my original baseline practice test, with my score getting OFICIALLY worse by a devestating amount.
Part of me wants to throw in the towel, I know I can be a confident business person with robust managerial skills. I've already been doing it at my job. Why does this test prove? I don't want to be a defective lab rat who is unable to learn the maze that the GMAT overlords have constructed out of mirrors....I want to shatter that maze.
Back to the drawing board...after a long break, I am burned out for now.
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I am sorry to hear it...
You are right in what you say!!! The GMAT is not everything despite what it may seem on this discussion some times. The GMAT is one of those ridiculous steps like getting a passport. Getting a passport is not traveling to see the world, it is just a hurdle that you have to get over in order to see the world. The GMAT is such a hurdle.
Here is an article that I wrote thinking of what the GMAT actually means. It is called "You are not your GMAT score." https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/07/ ... n-the-gmat
At the bottom of my article is a link to an earlier article by Eric Bahn of Beat the GMAT. You should read that one, too.
These things can help to put things into a healthy perspective.
Once you have that perspective check out these articles that might be a little fun -- they concern lifestyle and your GMAT score. They actually have serious messages, but it is funny to think of changing your lifestyle for the GMAT.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... asking-now
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/05/ ... e-the-gmat
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/03/ ... n-the-gmat
Once you have taken a break -- good idea by the way!! Let us know - let me know - when you are back at it and we can address the things that are holding you back. It could be that a few things are making a big difference to your score. Just one more article - this is a very recent one - it is the way that I can often best explain to people why their scores were 100 points or so lower than expected.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... n-the-gmat
And I have to just put one last article up here. It is my most "liked" article so far...Why Federer would beat Nadal on the GMAT" https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... n-the-gmat
Take your time and come back when you are ready...
David
You are right in what you say!!! The GMAT is not everything despite what it may seem on this discussion some times. The GMAT is one of those ridiculous steps like getting a passport. Getting a passport is not traveling to see the world, it is just a hurdle that you have to get over in order to see the world. The GMAT is such a hurdle.
Here is an article that I wrote thinking of what the GMAT actually means. It is called "You are not your GMAT score." https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/07/ ... n-the-gmat
At the bottom of my article is a link to an earlier article by Eric Bahn of Beat the GMAT. You should read that one, too.
These things can help to put things into a healthy perspective.
Once you have that perspective check out these articles that might be a little fun -- they concern lifestyle and your GMAT score. They actually have serious messages, but it is funny to think of changing your lifestyle for the GMAT.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... asking-now
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/05/ ... e-the-gmat
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/03/ ... n-the-gmat
Once you have taken a break -- good idea by the way!! Let us know - let me know - when you are back at it and we can address the things that are holding you back. It could be that a few things are making a big difference to your score. Just one more article - this is a very recent one - it is the way that I can often best explain to people why their scores were 100 points or so lower than expected.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... n-the-gmat
And I have to just put one last article up here. It is my most "liked" article so far...Why Federer would beat Nadal on the GMAT" https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... n-the-gmat
Take your time and come back when you are ready...
David
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I know you're frustrated right now -- I would be as well -- but if b-school is your goal, you should hang in there and retake the exam after the sting of this setback has worn off. I'd still encourage you to re-evaluate the way you approach questions. If you have an engineering degree, there's no doubt that you have the math skills necessary to ace the quant section. But the fact that you're struggling probably means that you're not reasoning your way through the problems effectively. It's not a question of memorizing a bunch of rules. Rather, it's a question of figuring out what the GMAT wants from you in each question. That's an entirely different skill. The exam is actually trying to make it difficult for you to identify the core concepts the harder problems. These aren't really math problems as much as they are reasoning problems. If you decide to keep going with the GMAT, my advice (and I've been teaching GMAT for 13 years) is to focus more on developing a keener sense of GMAT logic. I've had many students in your position and I've helped many of them get the scores they were looking for. I'm not saying it's easy -- there's no magic -- but it's certainly possible to pull yourself up to the level you're striving toward.