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Looking to increase my GMAT score to 650-700 level

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Looking to increase my GMAT score to 650-700 level

by sukhman » Sat Jul 30, 2016 4:55 am
My GMAT journey began in 2007 after graduating from Engineering College I was looking at masters programs abroad , found difficult to memorize word-lists so thought GMAT could be easier but No idea how to prepare.
1st attempt July 2007 Official-500 ( Quant 35 , Verbal 25) Preparation Official Guides 1 month or something
2nd attempt Oct 2007 Official- 460 (Quant 31 , Verbal-23 ) Preparation -1 month or something
Left my GMAT dream,moved onto College Diploma course abroad in 2008 and came back to native country after 3 years.Studied in 2011 again on and off for months but cancelled my GMAT few days before due to personal reasons.
Fast forward to 2013 I decided to study again this time put stress on Maths part studying for months.
3rd attempt Nov 2013 Official-520(Quant-39,Verbal-23) , IR -2 disheartened but thought better to prepare for verbal , Bought Egmat Subscription started preparing for Verbal making notes etc for verbal.
A week before my Official GMAT scored 620 in GMATprep (Quant-44 , Verbal -32) got some short-lived confidence.
4th Attempt - March 2014 Official-530( Quant-32 , Verbal-28)IR-2 , Booked another Test for August 2014 but could not prepare religiously and cancelled few days before test. Dinged twice from Universities in 2013-2014.
2016 bought E-gmat subscription again started preparing verbal and quant simultaneously this time. After preparing for months and giving tests from GMATPrep, Exam Pack1 and Exam Pack2 where 640 ( Quant- 46, Verbal-32, IR-6) was highest score. Had applied to a University in April 2016 but delayed giving exam until June End
5th Attempt June 2016-610( Quant-43 , Verbal-32 ,IR-5) , Dinged from University again as average score- 650.

Now I am appearing for GMAT again in 2 months , In fact I have booked a GMAT test date in Sept 2016. This is going to be my last GMAT chance, will apply to few universities within my GMAT range next session.
Preparation Material Used in 2016-GMATPrep questions for Verbal, Egmat for Verbal and Quant, GMATClub Tests for Quant,Jamboree weekly Maths Webinars, Perfect Scores YouTube Videos Did not get time to cover Official guides for verbal , did Official Guide for Maths part
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by [email protected] » Sat Jul 30, 2016 10:34 am
Hi Sukhman,

While it's understandable that you would want to retake the GMAT, you've assumed that the only reason why you got 'dinged' by the Schools that you applied to was your GMAT score. Business Schools look for strong OVERALL applicants, so you have to consider that there might have been other areas of your application that were not necessarily great (or were not effectively presented to the Admissions Committees).

That all having been said, you've made some nice progress over the years of study. Your scores 'hint' at certain issues that you can improve on though, so if you're looking to score at a much higher level this time, then you'll have to make some fundamental changes to how you deal with the GMAT (and that will require that you learn/practice some new Tactics).

1) What is your exact Test Date?
2) When are you say that you're planning to apply to Business School "next session", do you mean Round 1 this year?

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Rich
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by sukhman » Sat Jul 30, 2016 12:08 pm
1.Took 8th Sept but I am willing to move it 3 weeks further
2 Yes

Both times I applied, program average score was higher than mine first time it was 610-620 then next time 670-680. Resources still left - Official Guides 10,11,13 VROG, QOG both editions , Egmat scholaranium Questions,GMAT Question Pack , few GMATprep questions
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by [email protected] » Sat Jul 30, 2016 6:00 pm
Hi Sukhman,

If you know how to calculate an average, then you should be comfortable with the idea that a Business School's average GMAT score will almost certainly never be equal to the School's minimum acceptable GMAT score. That having been said, your last GMAT score does point to some areas that you should work on to raise your score. The Q43 means that you were really good at most of the 'math' questions that you saw in the Quant section, but you made some little mistakes and you missed out on lots of 'strategy-based' points. The V32 means that you likely lost some significant points on at least 1 (but probably 2) of the 3 major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR).

The key to earning a significantly higher score (700+) is to focus on learning/practicing the proper Quant and Verbal Tactics. If a 650+ is acceptable, then you could find all of the missing points in either the Quant or the Verbal sections (or picking up a little bit in both sections). If you want to focus on just one section, then your current Test Date would give you plenty of time to hone your skills in that one section - to get in the necessary practice in BOTH sections though, you will likely need more time than you've allotted (so pushing back your Test Date those 3 weeks could be really helpful).

Unfortunately, a book-heavy study plan is not what you need right now, and it almost certainly won't get you to a 700+. As such, you might want to consider investing in some new, non-book resources.

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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Mon Aug 01, 2016 3:39 pm
Because September 8th is rapidly approaching, you may consider pushing out your test to give yourself as much time as you can to study. Also, since you have been prepping for the GMAT for 8 years, and have yet to break a 650, you should strongly consider adjusting your study routine. Although your latest test score of a 610 is composed of a higher quant score than verbal, you will need to increase your score in both sections to get a score of a 700.

Remember, what makes the GMAT such a challenging exam is that there are relatively few questions asked in a given exam, yet those questions come from a huge topic pool. Thus, the best way to get a great GMAT score is to have a thorough understanding of all the topics that may be tested on the exam. To develop such mastery, you want to strive for linear and targeted learning and follow that with focused practice. In other words, you want to master one topic before you move to the next. Have you been able to study in this way?

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should learn everything possible about that topic, e.g., LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. After that, be sure that you practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties. The results of that practice will help you to determine how well you have truly mastered that topic.

For verbal you would want to follow a similar study routine; focus on learning one section at a time: reading comprehension, sentence correction, or critical reasoning. For example, when learning about critical reasoning, you want to be able to learn about all aspects of critical reasoning: e.g. strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. Follow up your learning with focused critical reasoning practice, so you can determine your specific weaknesses within that topic. You should follow a similar routine for sentence correction and reading comprehension.

Once you feel you have mastered these topics, but not before, I recommend taking practice exams to track your progress. If you are scoring between a 650 and 700 on those practice exams, it's a good sign that you are ready for the real thing! If you are unable to hit those marks, you should consider pushing back the date of your GMAT.

If you need to study with new resources, check out the various success stories and verified reviews on Beat The GMAT. Lastly, here is an article that provides some actionable steps that you can follow to help achieve a 700+ on your GMAT.

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]

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