GMAT Strategy

Hi,

Long-time lurker but first-time poster in this awesome forum. I would really appreciate the wisdom of group, especially the experienced moderators, on whether the variation between my GMATPrep and official quant scores is typical (see table below).

I recently sat the GMAT and was comfortable with my overall score but discouraged by the drop in my quant score from 50 in GMATPrep practice exams to 48. I'm uncertain as to whether this is because of nerves on the day, careless errors, or additional difficulty compared to GMATPrep. I definitely mismanaged my time because I'd been finishing GMATPrep quant sections with 10-20mins spare and so triple checked everything on the actual exam and low-and-behold I had to rush to finish.

I feel I've exhausted the OG / GMATPrep Question Pack & Exams (both sets) and have also done all the MGMAT cats. I want to keep doing questions before I resit the exam. What are the best resources? GMATClub quant quizzes?

thanks in advance,

Dan

Source Date Quant Verbal Total
Prep Pack 1 Aug-01 50 (90%) 42 (96%) 750 (98%)
Prep Pack 2 Aug-02 49 (83%) 40 (90%) 730 (96%)
Prep Pack 3 Aug-07 50 (90%) 41 (93%) 740 (97%)
Prep Pack 4 Aug-09 50 (90%) 46 (99%) 770 (99%)
Official Aug-11 48 (73%) 41 (96%) 730 (96%)

Hi Dan,

Got your PM. Your experience is typical. Many of my students experience a drop on the actual exam, and absolutely nerves and time management play a HUGE role. Finishing early is NOT a good idea. Managing your time well means USING the time you are given. If you're more than 3-4 questions ahead of your benchmark (see attached for one version of benchmarks), you're not making full use. If you're a Math rockstar (and it sounds like you are), make sure you're slowing down as you copy the givens onto your scratch pad. Are you spending enough seconds in thoughtful, thorough consideration BEFORE you begin your approach? Could a question be attempted in more than one way?

Per your question, when you say exhausted the OG, do you mean the OG15 or OG16? If you did the OG15, it might be worth getting the OG16 for you to tackle the 25% new questions there. Have you worked through the MGMAT Quant books? You may want to look at the Advanced Quant book.

Finally, do you have a comprehensive Error Log for all your GMATPrep CATs and all your MGMAT CATs? It would be nice to go back and aggregate that data so you can see precisely what types of concepts you missed the most often (and why), and hone in on those concepts FIRST. For you, because you've covered the basics, I cannot emphasize enough how precision and extreme self-examination will be your ticket to the fastest improvement.

If you have additional questions, you can reach me at gmatrockstar[at]gmail.com. Good luck!

Best,
Vivian

The GMAT Club quizzes are ok, and have many tough quant questions, many of which, however, do not really match what you will see on the actual test. Still, yes, you can get great practice in quant and decent practice in verbal by using those quizzes.

For more quant questions, thousands of them, go to the GMAT section of https://bellcurves.com/ and set up a practice account. Then go to the quant question bank and do questions by category until you are expert in each category. The questions there are cool and tricky, even if the explanations sometimes could be better, and doing those questions will drill you bigtime.

You can also find many good quant and verbal questions in the Veritas Question Bank. The quant questions there are pretty cool, original, and tricky, and for fairly solid verbal questions that's one of the better sources I have seen.

For more practice tests, use the Veritas tests, which have great questions and which tend to generate scores that pretty well match those generated by the actual GMAT.

Thank you Marty, Vivian and Rich, really appreciate the guidance.

I'm trying hard not to be disappointed but I would have been happy if my score was more balanced and reflected my preparation in quant. I'll be applying to schools like Booth and Wharton where the quant score is especially important.

Given my lateral thinking isn't as fast and I sometimes struggle to answer the complex/interrelated/unfamiliar questions quickly, which of the material is best for this?

Sounds like GMATClub question bank may be stretching too far from the official question style/type. I'll have a look at the Veritas questions. I've skimmed through the MGMAT Advanced Quant and was comfortable but could happily sit down and do the questions (...I do love maths problems!).

Thanks Vivian, I have been working on my disciplines of picking up all the givens in the question stem and kept a question bank for revision where I was making consistent errors. I'll continue to examine/revise this material. I do plan on using all the time again in the next exam but perhaps capturing some efficiency upfront so that I can spend more time on the trickier/interrelated questions.....which can sometimes take my lateral brain longer.

....If GMATPrep is generally predictive, excluding nerves as a factor, then I should take confidence from my practice exams that my preparation has been ok and so I should just keep looking to improve accuracy and time management.....I suppose it's hard to know but I'm determined to get a higher quant score

cheers,

Dan

Ultimately, it's your call, Dan. If you take the test again, and it sounds as though you're planning to, there's good reason to believe that this time around, your score will be more in line with your practice tests, even if you don't alter much about your approach. The bigger question you need to ask yourself is about the opportunity cost of the additional time spent studying vs the incremental benefit of an improved score. If you're dead-set on, say, getting a scholarship, then maybe the tradeoff is worth it. But if you're just worried about the odds of acceptance to a top program, schools are mostly concerned that 1) that you can handle the rigor of their curriculum and 2) that you don't drag down their average GMAT score. You're already set with both criteria. So my question to you is: is it possible that there are other things you could be doing with your time to enhance your candidacy? (Research/volunteering/charity work/etc?) The well-rounded 730 will get in ahead of the one-dimensional 770 every time. Food for thought.

(Of course, it's possible that the rest of your application is already in great shape, in which case, why not shoot for the stars?)

Dan,

Don't discount the value of the BellCurves question bank. I repeatedly see people get results from using it - like a quant video game. Having said that, many of the Veritas Question Bank questions I have seen seem like just what you need to practice.

Also, going forward, really use your practice tests as forums for working on getting the highest score possible. Things that go into scoring high on full length tests, things such as intensity and timing, probably can best be developed by taking full length tests. Intensity alone can make a huge difference.

Thank you all for great advice.

I think I'm going to go back to basics and then keep my preparation fresh with some new material. I have to lift my quant score, for my own sake at least.

I feel I have a well rounded profile so fingers crossed this will add to the case.


cheers,

Dan

Hi dkcab1,

With a 730 on the GMAT, I doubt you'll need to retest. However, if you're feeling any uncertainty, feel free to reach out to admissions officers at the schools you're interested in. They'll likely confirm that you're in good shape with the GMAT score you have, but even if they suggest retesting, at least you'll have a better idea of what their baseline scores are for admission.

Best,
Rich

Thanks all for your advice. I sat the exam again and got a 740 (50Q / 40V), frustrated I bombed the verbal this time and just missed out on my target score of 750 but I'm above the median and have a more reasonable quant score so I'm going to draw a line in the sand. Pens down!

Great forum and a terrific resource for test takers, thanks to the superusers, such as those who posted above.

Nice job dkcab1.

And as for what Rich said, while I can see how one could feel that V40 is bombing verbal, I find what he said about your attitude and your unconscious possibly the best thing I have seen him say in any of the many many messages of his that I have read.

Thanks guys, appreciate the encouragement. My choice of words were poor. I put in a lot of hard work, set myself what felt like a challenging but realistic goal, and was a little disappointed in how my test day performances compared to my practice exams. I didn't mean to imply that the score was something one should be unhappy about, just that I underperformed (bombed is a bit dramatic) compared to how I expected to.

Fingers crossed I can sneak in to one of my top schools. I'm so eager to take my career in a new direction and do something with greater meaning.

Now I just need to finalize my applications and hope for the best.

Thanks guys, now I can focus on my essays (this forum has been a great help so far)