540 on GMATPrep 1st Attempt (Without any prior studying)

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Dears,

Yesterday I scored 540/44% (Q46/71%, V19/17%, IR 7/81%) on my first attempt at the GMATPrep Exam 1.

I wanted to see where I stand before I do any kind of study/plan for the GMAT, specially that my work schedule is hectic (6 days/week, 10-12 hours/day). The Quantitative questions seemed pretty easy for me except when I lost a bit of my focus (mainly due to time) in the last 5 questions. Regarding the verbal part, I got the first 4 questions and the last 4 questions incorrect (Total 20 incorrect questions out of 41).

I had a bit of information about the GMAT exam, but never studied for it. I was just planning to take the GMAT because I want to go to a top-tier business school in 2/2.5 years from now.

As experts, what do you think would be the best approach to get 700+ on the GMAT. Do I have to study for the verbal part only? Or I should do some work on the quantitative part as well?

Your help would be highly appreciated.

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Farid

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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 15, 2016 4:10 pm
Hi Faird,

A 540 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years). Raising this score to a 700+ will take some serious work, but you've given yourself plenty of time to study, which is good. You'll have to improve in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections though, so you cannot just focus on the Verbal section as you continue your studies. You will likely need at least 3 months of consistent, guided study to hit your goals.

1) What type of study routine are you thinking about? How many hours do you plan to spend studying each week?

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Rich
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by frahme » Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:15 am
.1
Last edited by frahme on Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by frahme » Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:16 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi Faird,

A 540 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years). Raising this score to a 700+ will take some serious work, but you've given yourself plenty of time to study, which is good. You'll have to improve in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections though, so you cannot just focus on the Verbal section as you continue your studies. You will likely need at least 3 months of consistent, guided study to hit your goals.

1) What type of study routine are you thinking about? How many hours do you plan to spend studying each week?

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

Thank you for your reply. Well studying for 3 months would not be a problem for me as I still have a good time before applying to business school. Regarding the study routine, I don't think I can study for more than 10 hours per week.

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Farid

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by [email protected] » Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:39 am
Hi Farid,

Given your work schedule, and the limited number of hours that you could study each week, you will likely need a Study Plan and resources that are 'flexible' around your schedule.

1) What study materials do you currently have?

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by frahme » Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:15 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi Farid,

Given your work schedule, and the limited number of hours that you could study each week, you will likely need a Study Plan and resources that are 'flexible' around your schedule.

1) What study materials do you currently have?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
I still don't have any study material, just got the GMATPrep software. What study material you advise me to get? My friend will give me the Kaplan, is it good or I should buy the official guide?

Farid

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by [email protected] » Sun Oct 16, 2016 6:35 pm
Hi Farid,

You can certainly begin your studies by working through some books, and having one of the recent main Official Guides would be a good idea. Considering your score goal, you would likely benefit a great deal from investing in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led). In that way, you could learn all of the content, Tactics, patterns and little 'secrets' to the GMAT without hoping to 'discover' them all by working through lots of practice questions. Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know (and you can feel free to contact me directly).

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