GMAT Strategy

Hi Experts,

I have my Gmat on 18th of september and it has been a long battle for me. I started with 530 in my first GMAT and currently I am scoring 700-710 on each mock test. Can you please help me and advice me on what should I do for the next 20 days. First not to lose the sight of 710 and second how can I improve further so that I can score 740. Is it all luck and circumstance which can lead to 740 from 710 or there is more to it. I have taken lot of time improving my weak areas. On a given day I could solve most difficult question and sometimes I get easy ones wrong too.

I have attached my last 2 results on veritas prep full mock tests including essay and IR. I also scored 700 on gmatprep 2nd test last week and 720 on MGMAT test. Now I don't know what else could I do for the next 20 days to improve and sustain current level.

Please advice.

Thanks
Rakesh

[email protected] wrote:Hi Rakesh,

As odd as it may seem, there isn't much of a difference (in performance) between a 710 and a 740; for the highest scores though, you have to be great in both the Quant and Verbal sections. It ultimately comes down to silly mistakes and little details. Take a look at your last few CATs and analyze every question that you got wrong. How many came down to silly mistakes? How many came down to a lack of understanding the math/verbal rules? How many came down to the difficulty level of the question? Some of those errors can be fixed, others can't. Fix the things that you can fix and your score will go up.

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

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your quick response. I want to ask you that all I am doing currently is practise and analysis. I have done with official material twice and other company books too. I am doing GMATPREP question pack 1 now. I am half way through that question pack. So If I keep doing what I am doing for the next 20days I should be able to get the 740? Well I analysed every single topic on verbal and quant individually and if you give me even 800 level question I will solve them but its just that the time pressure makes me do some guess work. I was just analysing today's test and I found out that in verbal 4 questions I would have got correct if I had more time and in QUANT I knew the way to solve most of them and I solved 5 of them later with correct answer but under timed condition I got stressed and to Keep up with the time I guessed and moved on.

Timing is all about practise and practise or there is more to it.

Thanking You

Regards
Rakesh

Hey Rakesh,

Thanks for the email to join in here - a couple thoughts for you:

1) Similar to what Rich said, your score is going to depend more now on execution than on knowledge...you can't get that consistent 700-720 practice test level with major content gaps, so you're good enough to score 740+, but it's a matter of executing.

2) I just went through your most recent Veritas test and noticed a couple execution things you could work on:

-On both sections, you started rushing with about 7 questions left and finished just about exactly on time, and on both sections your scaled score dropped by about a point from that point where you got rushed.

-On the quant, you spent more than 3 minutes on 9 questions, and you missed 5 of them (including the one you spent 6 minutes on). Add in another question that took you 2:51 (and that you missed), and on questions that took you longer than 2:50, you were only 40% accurate. Now, you know better than I do what you were thinking on those...did you eventually give up? Were you just lost for most of it? Either way, you should probably determine how to best allocate time and if you do need to give up on a question, do it sooner so that you have that time for later questions.

-It also looked like most of those longer questions were Word Problems, so I'd recommend doing some drills on Word Problems to force yourself to get started sooner. I recommend one I call "Quick First Step" - get a set of 10 word problems and a timer, and spend 30 seconds on each, then move on to the next. Once you're done with that set, go back and finish them. The goal is to force yourself to recognize problem setups and get something on paper to show for it quickly on each question...a lot of times people will read the question twice before they even start working, whereas they could at least be assigning variables and writing down equations or relationships to get to work. Plus, when you realize on these that you set up certain types of equations or relationships wrong, you now know that that's when you have to slow down.

3) It sounds like you know that timed pressure and test circumstances tend to force you into confusion and errors. So:

-Take another couple practice tests to keep getting comfortable
-Do some timed drills (just put a timer on and try to do 5 questions in 10minutes or even 9 to crank up the pressure))
-Keep doing more problems in the Question Pack. The more different problems you've seen, the more you'll be able to quickly recognize certain setups.

The good news - you've made huge strides from 530 to the 700s, and you still have almost three weeks to go. Continue that trajectory and you can definitely get there!

Brian@VeritasPrep wrote:Hey Rakesh,

Thanks for the email to join in here - a couple thoughts for you:

1) Similar to what Rich said, your score is going to depend more now on execution than on knowledge...you can't get that consistent 700-720 practice test level with major content gaps, so you're good enough to score 740+, but it's a matter of executing.

2) I just went through your most recent Veritas test and noticed a couple execution things you could work on:

-On both sections, you started rushing with about 7 questions left and finished just about exactly on time, and on both sections your scaled score dropped by about a point from that point where you got rushed.

-On the quant, you spent more than 3 minutes on 9 questions, and you missed 5 of them (including the one you spent 6 minutes on). Add in another question that took you 2:51 (and that you missed), and on questions that took you longer than 2:50, you were only 40% accurate. Now, you know better than I do what you were thinking on those...did you eventually give up? Were you just lost for most of it? Either way, you should probably determine how to best allocate time and if you do need to give up on a question, do it sooner so that you have that time for later questions.

-It also looked like most of those longer questions were Word Problems, so I'd recommend doing some drills on Word Problems to force yourself to get started sooner. I recommend one I call "Quick First Step" - get a set of 10 word problems and a timer, and spend 30 seconds on each, then move on to the next. Once you're done with that set, go back and finish them. The goal is to force yourself to recognize problem setups and get something on paper to show for it quickly on each question...a lot of times people will read the question twice before they even start working, whereas they could at least be assigning variables and writing down equations or relationships to get to work. Plus, when you realize on these that you set up certain types of equations or relationships wrong, you now know that that's when you have to slow down.

3) It sounds like you know that timed pressure and test circumstances tend to force you into confusion and errors. So:

-Take another couple practice tests to keep getting comfortable
-Do some timed drills (just put a timer on and try to do 5 questions in 10minutes or even 9 to crank up the pressure))
-Keep doing more problems in the Question Pack. The more different problems you've seen, the more you'll be able to quickly recognize certain setups.

The good news - you've made huge strides from 530 to the 700s, and you still have almost three weeks to go. Continue that trajectory and you can definitely get there!

Thank you for the quick reply Brian. I appreciate your help. It has been almost about a month since I have done proper QUANT drills. I was consistently getting Q49 so I thought I should concentrate on Verbal because my first verbal score was V21 and now V40. I will balance both the sections now. Plus I have to still go through the Veritas prep advanced word problem book yet. I will finish that in couple of days under timed condition and then practise a lot. The analysis you have given will make a lot of difference. When I spend 5 minutes on a question, I get panic and I quit then. Even after the test I solved those wrong questions most of them and got right answer without looking at explanation. I guess you are right I need to do more timed training now.

Thanks once again.

Rakesh