GMAT Strategy

I took the gmat all the way back in november 2007 and got a 700. My quant was below 80% (somewhere in the 70's). I'm planning on applying either round 1 or round 2 next year and am planning on retaking it in the summer. I have to study for my cfa level I exam in June, so it will be very tough to take it beforehand.

I've already gone through the manahttan gmat books and am currently doing knewton online, but it hasn't been too helpful. What prep courses or books do you guys recommend for someone like me? I heard good things about veritas prep, but it seems like it's geared more for gmat beginners rather than someone trying to get in the 750 range.

I think you will find that private tutoring with an expert in the field would be a better option for someone trying to get from a 700 to a 750 - at that level it is no knowledge that is holding you back but rather techniques and testing psychology - you need help figuring out what is holding you back and attacking that specific area instead of doing a broad range approach.

Hi ksc1940,

The score in your last GMAT was not bad at all. Why haven't you applied at that time? BTW you are also juggling between your GMAT and CFA, so we will suggest you to concentrate on either of the two or assign your priorities. Regarding your books related query we will suggest you to go through solved queries and try to practice answering unsolved queries in your tests as you running out of time. If you want to score better than your last GMAT exam then you can easily do the same by unilaterally concentrating on GMAT.

If you have any further query then feel free to ask us.

FutureWorks wrote:Hi ksc1940,

The score in your last GMAT was not bad at all. Why haven't you applied at that time? BTW you are also juggling between your GMAT and CFA, so we will suggest you to concentrate on either of the two or assign your priorities. Regarding your books related query we will suggest you to go through solved queries and try to practice answering unsolved queries in your tests as you running out of time. If you want to score better than your last GMAT exam then you can easily do the same by unilaterally concentrating on GMAT.

If you have any further query then feel free to ask us.

I actually applied twice before to top b-schools and was denied both times. I don't want to go through this again, but given my desire to transition into investment management I really don't have a choice. You're correct that a 700 is not a bad score per se, but since I'm an Asian-American male in finance, I'm held to a much higher standard, and at schools like wharton/booth/sloan/columbia, a 700 just doesn't cut it. I BADLY need a 740-750, and my main weakness is quant.

I'm taking the cfa level I in june and was planning on restudying the gmat right after that. I know veritas prep offers an online course for more advanced test takers, so that's something I'm considering.

Hi ksc,

You are correct! If you are aiming for big fishes like Wharton, Booth, Solan and Columbia then a score of 700 is not sufficient but the gap isn't much between 700 and 750.

Veritas online preparation will be absolutely fine in your case. Keep practicing some tough questions from Kaplan (skip the advice if you are already doing this) as it will help you in boosting your confidence. You are in a stage where you don't need much advice or practice instead it is more of a psychological or mental strategy that you need to develop which will give you the belief to obtain this score.

Btw, you have chosen two paths i.e. CFA and MBA? Can you share some more info on that?

Wishing you all the best in upcoming exams �

FutureWorks wrote:Hi ksc,

You are correct! If you are aiming for big fishes like Wharton, Booth, Solan and Columbia then a score of 700 is not sufficient but the gap isn't much between 700 and 750.

Veritas online preparation will be absolutely fine in your case. Keep practicing some tough questions from Kaplan (skip the advice if you are already doing this) as it will help you in boosting your confidence. You are in a stage where you don't need much advice or practice instead it is more of a psychological or mental strategy that you need to develop which will give you the belief to obtain this score.

Btw, you have chosen two paths i.e. CFA and MBA? Can you share some more info on that?

Wishing you all the best in upcoming exams �

Yes, I'm nervous though because everyone says that going from 700 to 750 is VERY hard. I'm not a good standardized test taker, so I'm not quite sure how feasible it is, but I'm gonna certainly try my best. I recently talked to a rep from veritas prep, and he told me that their regular classroom course would probably be insufficient since that's geared for beginners. He suggested their online advanced course, which is what you're referring to, I believe.

Regarding the CFA, I've been wanting to take it for some time since the knowledge you acquire is critical for a career in investment management or equity research. Furthermore, passing it looks good on a b-school application and it will help me with IM recruiting if I go to b-school. The MBA though is critical for allowing me to make the transition due to on-campus recruiting at top schools. Having the CFA alone will still make it hard to get into IM if you're not already in the field.

Are there any GMAT books you recommend for me? I've already done manhattan gmat, so i'm trying to figure out what else is there for someone in my situation.

Thanks.

ksc1940 wrote:I took the gmat all the way back in november 2007 and got a 700. My quant was below 80% (somewhere in the 70's). I'm planning on applying either round 1 or round 2 next year and am planning on retaking it in the summer. I have to study for my cfa level I exam in June, so it will be very tough to take it beforehand.

I've already gone through the manahttan gmat books and am currently doing knewton online, but it hasn't been too helpful. What prep courses or books do you guys recommend for someone like me? I heard good things about veritas prep, but it seems like it's geared more for gmat beginners rather than someone trying to get in the 750 range.

Hey friend,

Quant was my critical vulnerability as well. I started studying about 8 months ago just using books. I found that I was batting around .750-.800 on the PS questions, and around .500-.600 on DS (which seem to be unequivocally more difficult)

I took my first practice CAT about 2 months ago, with the CD that came with Petersons' GMAT book. I was scoring in the 610 range and sometimes less than 60th percentile on quant.

I aggressively reviewed the quant problems I did wrong, and moved on to the MGMAT CATs. I noticed an encouraging sign, as my scores started hovering in the 640-680 range.

Again: wash, rinse, repeat.

Aggressively diagnose the problems you get wrong, read the explanations, and do the problem again until you know how to do it right.

Over the past 2 months, I've progressed from habitually seeing demoralizing 39-43 quant scores (50th to 64th percentile) to rarely scoring below a 47 (76th %ile) on any CAT I take, whether it is MGMAT, GMAT Prep, or 800score. I've even seen a 50 two or three times, including GMATPrep1.

MGMAT's quant section is so challenging, that I'm fairly certain that if you master it, you'll be well equipped on game day (can't speak from experience, but MGMAT quant seems much more difficult than GMATPrep1 and 2)

Max out that question bank.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

My tactic for approaching the GMAT is the equivalent of running the HB Iso every single down for 3-4 yards at a time until you reach the end zone. It's not pretty, but I am confident that it will work.

ksc1940 wrote:I took the gmat all the way back in november 2007 and got a 700. My quant was below 80% (somewhere in the 70's). I'm planning on applying either round 1 or round 2 next year and am planning on retaking it in the summer. I have to study for my cfa level I exam in June, so it will be very tough to take it beforehand.

I've already gone through the manahttan gmat books and am currently doing knewton online, but it hasn't been too helpful. What prep courses or books do you guys recommend for someone like me? I heard good things about veritas prep, but it seems like it's geared more for gmat beginners rather than someone trying to get in the 750 range.

As someone who actually went up from 700 to 750 (50M/35V/6AWA to 51M/41V/6AWA) let me see what I can suggest:
1. Go through all of the Manhattan GMAT exams. When you're done with each exam, go through the math portion carefully. Read each question, figure out how you're solving it, and then look at the solution. Especially for the the questions you got wrong, but in general for all questions, make sure to understand the method used. This logic is extremely important when doing the harder math questions. And the best part? The more questions you go through, the more you'll see these strategies/methods repeat.
2. Though some reviews recommend against it, I'd grab the Kaplan GMAT 800 Advanced Prep. Since you already have a 700, I assume you do well enough on the easy and medium questions. Therefore, this should give you exposure to harder question types. From my experiences in general, Kaplan is better geared towards those who are already scoring well, while other companies such as Veritas and Princeton Review are more helpful with raising lower scores.
3. Go through any specific topics you see that you have trouble with and practice it till you understand the nuances. Then just do as many tests as you have time for.

That's really all I can recommend as far as Math goes. Best of luck !

Try the gmatclub math tests to get better on quant. They contain only 700+ level questions, so it's really good training if you want to take you math abilities to an elite level.