No improvement in scores

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utopian_wanderer: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:30 pm; GMAT Score:650

by utopian_wanderer » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:41 am

I have been preparing for the GMAT for the past 1.5 months but I dont see much of an improvement in my scores. I spend around an hour on weekdays and 2-3 hours during the weekends for preparation. Before I started my preparation I took the actual GMAT test and scored 650 which I thought was reasonably good. However, In the last 1.5 months I have taken 4 Manhattan GMAT tests but I have not scored more than 670 in any one of them (In 2 I got 660 and in 2 I got 670). The percentile scores hover around 45 in Q and 35 in V.

On analysis I could find out that I could do a few more questions in quants correctly but due to the time constraint I end up picking the wrong answers. In verbal I dont seem to get enough time to complete all the 41 questions so in the end I have to resort to guesswork to complete all the questions.

I am a little frustrated with my preparation as I just cant seem to improve my scores. Can someone please give me some advice as I just have 3 more weeks for the exams. Realistically speaking how much of an improvement in scores can I expect given that I had an initial score of 650. (I [b]desperately [/b]want to cross 700).

Please let me know if there are any other details I can share with you so that I could get more suggestions on how to improve the score.

Many thanks

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:41 am

VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:17 pm

The big question is: HOW do you study? The best way to study for the GMAT is to do only a handful of problems at a time, taking LOTS of time to analyze those problems. You should of course check the right answer - but beyond that, you should see WHY that is the right answer, and beyond that, WHY the wrong answers are wrong. You should also find some sort of rule or takeaway from every problem you do, so that you can apply that lesson to future problems.

Many GMAT aspirants do loads of practice problems but don't do the analysis. It takes a long time, a lot of thought, and a lot of frustrating work - but it needs to be done. If it were easy to top 700, everyone would do it. As it is, 700 is 93rd percentile.

As for whether you can improve that much, no one can say. Certainly, it's possible. But, it's also possible that you won't! 650 to 700 is a big jump, percentile-wise, so it's tough. At least you'll know you did your best, this time around.

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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