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How to improve my GMAT score from 640 to 750

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How to improve my GMAT score from 640 to 750

by get750 » Sat Jan 30, 2010 9:44 pm
Hi Guys,

I wrote the GMAT yesterday and got devastating score of 640.I am very disappointed but at the same time determined to it better next time.
My target score is 750.
My weak point is verbal and data sufficiency part in Quants

Actual GMAT score

Score: 640 Q=46 V=32

Prep test results

GMAT Prep1 26th Jan 2010 710 Q=49 V=38
GMAT Prep1 26th Jan 2010 640 Q=45 V=32
MGMAT1A 19th Jan 2010 710 Q=48 V=38
MGMAT5 16th Jan 2010 680 Q=47 V=36
MGMAT4 13th Jan 2010 630 Q=44 V=32
MGMAT3 21st Dec 2009 560 Q=38 V=29
MGMAT1 10th Dec 2009 580 Q=42 V=28

**I have skipped AWA section while practicing

Resources Used

OG12
Manhattan SC guide
Powerscore CR guide
Kaplan Verbal Workbook
Kaplan Premier

Verbal Problem

I have real pain in verbal.Mainly in RC and SC.CR I am good but get confused when encounter some tough problem.
Generally I have timing issue in the overall verbal section,so need to rush in the later part of the section and hence make series of mistake towards the end.
In RC, I have real problem in answering global and inference questions.
I WOULD REALLY NEED YOUR HELP ON THIS!!!!

Quants Problem

I am quite good in quants but data sufficiency is something I need to concentrate upon and if you can suggest some practice material for tough DS then that will be great.

Psychological Issue

I realized that during the xam yesterday the nerves got me and during the verbal I was basically blanked out.Took many guesses and the score speaks about that.
Guys, I HAVE to get to a range of 740-750 and verbal is the section which I have to make most of the progress.I would really appreciate if you can guide me to my goal.

One last question, is giving GMAT more than once regarded bad by the business schools ?

Thanks
get750
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by money9111 » Sat Jan 30, 2010 11:57 pm
RC you can try the MGMAT RC guide... in terms of DS...this is everyones weakness in quant... we may be able to offer better advice if you can tell us which topics in quant give you the trouble...
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by get750 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:37 am
Thanks money9111 for ur reply.

On DS there is no topic as such which I find harder but when the problems becomes lengthier or more complex with number systems I find them difficult to answer in time.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this ?
Hey do you know of some resources which have tougher DS problems in it for practice ( GMAT standard) ?
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by money9111 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:58 am
i would say get the MGMAT quant books... the tougher questions you are referring too are basically just simple questions worded differently... the MGMAT books break down the process for you.

in terms of just a set of harder DS questions I'm not too sure... I personally haven't gotten that far yet... Have you looked into the OG quant review book?

https://www.manhattangmat.com/storeitems ... 69&catid=7
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by sars72 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:54 am
get750 wrote:Thanks money9111 for ur reply.

On DS there is no topic as such which I find harder but when the problems becomes lengthier or more complex with number systems I find them difficult to answer in time.

Any suggestions on how to overcome this ?
Hey do you know of some resources which have tougher DS problems in it for practice ( GMAT standard) ?
Try Jeff Sackman's DS Challenge set, which contains 100 tough DS questions and is available for $24.95
https://www.gmatproblems.com/#indiv
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by money9111 » Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:06 pm
i actually think I might get that to use after my class is completed... thanks Sars
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:26 pm
I am in the same boat. What I think will help is just learning the basics again. Go through a grammar book, not even a gmat specific book, but a grammar book. I really think this will help us. I think the max we can expect to score by only going through prep company materials is between a 670-720. To score higher, we need a deeper level of understanding than we may get if we only use the prep company materials. Good luck, and let me know how your prep progresses.
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Feb 08, 2010 12:08 pm
Received a PM asking me to reply.

Your official quant score was mid-high in your practice test range. Your official verbal score was at the lower end of your practice test range. I note that you took two tests on 26 Jan and your score dropped 70 points on the test you listed second. Was that actually the second test you took that day? And then I note that you took the official test three days later.

Part of your problem might literally have been mental fatigue. If your second 26 Jan test was the "dropped" test, then that would have indicated significant mental fatigue right there, and that fatigue can easily last a few days.

You also mentioned that you skipped the essays while practicing. That would have caused even more fatigue on the official test because you wouldn't have been used to writing the essays for the first hour. It's also possible that your practice test scores were artificially inflated because you had the advantage of NOT writing the essays on those tests.

So you really need to take a test under full official conditions - do the essays fully, take only two 8-min breaks, do not eat or drink during the test, etc. That will give us an idea of what your true scoring range is right now - is it really upper 600s / low 700s, as evidenced by a few of your practice tests? Or is it really mid 600s, as evidenced by your official test and some of your other practice tests?

You may want to take a look at this article while specifically thinking about / reviewing your two GMAT Prep exams:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26 ... went-wrong

The key thing to figure out: were the higher scores artificially inflated or were the lower scores artificially deflated? That's critical to know because that tells us your starting point - and your task is very different if you have to raise your score from a lower starting point vs. if you have to figure out how to maintain a higher score that is fluctuating / inconsistent.

On verbal, you mention a timing issue. If you are going to score 700+, you MUST fix this problem. Remember that, no matter how good you get, you will still have to guess on something like 5 to 7 questions in each section.  You don't want to be forced into making those guesses in a row at the end of the section, so choose the 5-7 hardest questions AS YOU SEE THEM throughout the section.  Remind yourself that you CANNOT get to the point where you can answer everything given to you in 2 min - that's just not how the test works.  You have to let those go.

Also ask yourself:

- if you spent too much time, why? specifically, which part of the problem and what caused you to spend the extra time? did that extra time help? did that extra time hurt on a later problem? (if you spent more than 30sec over, the answer is yes, even if you got this problem right) how did that extra time hurt? specifically, where did you then not have enough time?

- if you spent too little time, why? were you rushing b/c you were behind? why were you behind; on which ones did you spend too much time? or did you think the problem was easy and you didn't need that much time? how often did you make mistakes on those "easy" problems on which you felt you didn't need full time? (On problems like that, you should make almost no mistakes - 95%+ accuracy. So if it's anything lower than that, you're hurting yourself by choosing to go fast when you think a problem is really easy.)

You can also use this article to help you analyze practice tests to understand your timing issues in more detail:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

You mention a few books that you're using. I don't know what material is covered in some of those books - do you have anything that is specifically aimed at RC? If not, you're going to need to identify specific prep material that will help you get better at RC. (I like our book, obviously, but I'm biased. :))

On quant, are you sure that the general category "tough DS" is where you need to concentrate? You scored 46 on the test, which is the 76th percentile. That leads me to believe that there are some areas (on which you still need some work) that don't yet fall into the "really tough" category ("really tough" = 90+ percentile). I'd try doing the analysis described in the "Evaluating Your Practice Tests" article, above, first - it's not a good use of your time to focus on the hardest stuff if there's still some other stuff that's holding you back. On an adaptive test, you won't even be offered the hardest stuff if you don't "earn" it by doing really well on everything else.

Here are some articles that might help with stress management - that's an important area as well.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/stress-tips.cfm
https://www.manhattangmat.com/strategy-series-stress.cfm

Finally, no, business schools don't think it's bad to take the GMAT more than once. Most schools won't care if you take it up to 3 times. (Some schools care after that; some don't.)
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by get750 » Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:15 am
Thanks Stacey.
It was very very helpful.
Let me sit and think what went wrong then I will share with you my next action plan.
Appreciate all your help
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by bhumika.k.shah » Sat Feb 13, 2010 6:27 am
Thanks a lot stacey. :)

atleast for my case , i get sooo worried that i land up randomly selecting answers . or go blank for like 5 - 10 mins . :(

Even after knowing everything , i feel i know nothing . and thats making me get soooo nervous that i dont know which books to study from or what next should i do. :(

I keep searching articles on stress management and nervous breakdown. Hope these articles prove beneficial

Thanks a ton
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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:19 am
Also, just remind yourself that you are going to get stuff wrong, and you're also going to have to guess. (Most people have to guess on 4 to 7 questions in each section.) So be prepared to go blank sometimes; you're not always going to know what to do. That's okay - that can be one of your guesses!
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by get750 » Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:07 am
Hi,

I have my GMAT scheduled for 4th October and I am in the exercise of practicing. As per the last the suggestions for the experts from the last time this time I am giving the exams in the official condition.
The problem that I am facing right now is that the score in the practice tests are in the similar range (which is not acceptable)

Following are the details:

8/28/2010: 620 ( Q45 / V31)
9/2/2010 : 610 ( Q40 / V34)
9/8/2010 : 610 ( Q44 / V31)

My target score is 700+ and as you see that there is something wrong with my scores.

I am really worried about this. Can someone please help me in understanding where are my weak points? So that I can work on them in the remaining days. And also do you recommend to postpone my dates ( personally i don't want to take that route)

Please advise.
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by uwhusky » Wed Sep 08, 2010 11:57 am
I highly recommend you to hire a tutor who will help you to identify your weaknesses, and I do recommend you to reschedule if your target goal is still 750+.
Yep.
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by get750 » Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:30 pm
Thanks uwhusky.

Actually I am looking for 680 - 710 range.
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by Stuart@KaplanGMAT » Fri Sep 10, 2010 3:51 pm
What are you doing between tests? What are you doing differently from one test to the next?

If you want to see big change, you need to make big changes.
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