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Retaking the GMAT (2nd time), How to improve?

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Retaking the GMAT (2nd time), How to improve?

by IonutZ » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:03 am
Hello everyone,

I just took the GMAT (1st time) and I scored 640 (46Q, 33V, 6 IR). I would like to take the exam again and focus on improving my verbal score while at least maintaining my quant level. The goal is to score at least 700.

The plan would be to take it again in 1 month. Right now I am not sure how to continue with the preparation. Until now I have self studied and used the MGMAT Guides and I do not know if i should review them or if i should try different materials. Moreover, I used plenty of GMAT Mock tests and materials (6 MGMAT CATs, 4 GMAT Prep tests, OG Guide and Review books) and I am not sure if redoing the exercises will help my case.

I would really appreciate your advice on this one as it would help me to get back on track with the preparation.

Best,
Ionut
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:51 am
Hi, lonut.

Redoing the exercises in the Official Guide can certainly help, so long as you're doing them with a level of heightened focus and attention. Don't let a question go once you have the correct answer. Spend time dissecting why the wrong answer choices are wrong. That means pinpointing every misplaced modifier in Sentence Correction, labeling every answer choice that's outside of the scope in Critical Reasoning, etc. Anything that's unclear, post here. Then, if you haven't already done so, grab the new question bank from mba.com to get some fresh practice: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx

Last, I'm a big proponent of mindfulness meditation, particularly for those who have taken the test once and have worked through a healthy amount of material. Here's a good article about some of the research regarding the impact of meditation on standardized tests: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/
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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 01, 2015 12:39 pm
Hi IonutZ,

First off, a 640 is a solid score (it's just shy of the 80th percentile), so this score might be enough to get you into Business School. I'd like to know a bit more about your practice and your timeline:

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What were your scores on your practice CATs?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) Have you thought about what Schools you want to apply to?

Your studies appear to have been "book heavy" so far, and Test Takers who use that type of approach often get stuck at a particular scoring level. As such, you might need to invest in some new computer-based resources to take your score to the next level.

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by BestGMATEliza » Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:20 pm
There are two essential steps to breaking the 700 barrier is to build your mental endurance and practicing with the most difficult questions. To build your mental endurance you need to practice with full length practice tests (including IR and AWA). I recommend at least 5 or until you can get through an entire test without being mentally exhausted during it. You also need to practice with 700+ questions as they will come up more often the better you get. Kaplan 800 and MGMAT Advanced quant are good books for both strategies and practice.
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by IonutZ » Sat Mar 07, 2015 10:41 am
Hi David,

Thank you for your reply! I'll start to use an error log so that I can improve and keep my focus on the areas where I have to improve.

About meditation, not sure about it yet but I'll let you know how it goes.

Best,
Ionut
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by IonutZ » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:35 am
Hi Rich,

Thank you for coming back with a reply. Please see below the answers to your questions:

1) I had done OG,Review questions for around 6 months, June-November, (holidays, work in between). How: 1-2h before and after work. I was not focused on the content but more on doing as many questions as possible hoping to get used to it and then take the exam. Having realized that there is no improvement, I started in November to focus more on studying in the areas tested by the GMAT. So I went systematically through the MGMAT Guides (without IR&AWA). From December through February I practiced on average around 5h per day (considering days when I was not doing GMA), 5 days per week.

In December I started with the Verbal and then kept on doing practice questions from OG, Review. The approach was (study, practice, revise, repeat). I continued with the MGMAT Quant Books while doing OG/Reviews/GMAT Prep Pack. By this time I had already taken two GMAT Prep Exams and I was not satisfied, that is why I continued with the MGMAT. After going through the theoretical part I was focusing more on really understanding what I was doing wrong content wise. During Jan and Feb I took 6 Mock tests (MGMAT and GMAT Prep) which confused me a bit as the results were different. I decided on the exam date (26th of February), so I decided that during the last 2 weeks to focus on taking Mock tests and on my strengths so that I improve my timing. At the end, I did not feel exhausted after Mock tests and I was not running behind the time.

During all this time, when I was taking a break from Quant and Verbal, I was doing IR or writing some essays.

Result: I did better than expected at IR and Quant, worse at Verbal, as expected AWA (5).

2. My cat scores:
Gmat Prep 1, Jun-7: 610, IR 8
Gmat Prep 2, Sep-13: 590, IR 4 (i had a 2 week holiday before, did some questions and then the test)
MGMAT CAT#1, Nov-20: 580, IR 3
MGMAT CAT#2, Dec-1: 570, IR 3 (i was losing it)
MGMAT CAT#3, Jan-15: 590, IR 3
MGMAT CAT#4, Feb-2: 580, (No IR)
MGMAT CAT#5, Feb-14: 590 IR 4
GMAT Prep 3, Feb-17: 690 IR 7 (confused and happy)
GMAT Prep 4, Feb-19: 700 IR 4 (even more confused and happy), I researched and saw that generally there is a discrepancy between the two types and I expected the next one.
MGAMT CAT#6, Feb-23: 620 IR 2

3) Autumn 2016
4) Partly, have a long list in mind, their GMAT average is above my score of 640 but with a score of at least 700 I think I am on the safe side from the GMAT perspective

Also I have 1 month left to focus on this before I get back to working full time so I would like to use the time as good as possible.

I ordered the Enhanced Report for my Exam and I saw that my Weaknesses were Sentence Correction and DS. The Strengths:CR and Somewhere in the middle: PS, RC

Regarding computer adaptive testing, I have been doing the GMAT Packs and tests.

I hope I did not throw to much information at you and I look forward to your feedback on this.

Best
Ionut
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by IonutZ » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:42 am
Hi Eliza,

Thank you for your advice! Regarding endurance, I think I was in the right state during the last 2 mock tests and the actual test, although at the exam after AWA, IR and Quant I felt quite confident and this made me treat the Verbal part more lightly. This is just my conclusion after going through the experience again in my mind.

Regarding the second part, harder questions, is KAPLAN 800 recommended only for Quant or also for Verbal? If not, do you recommend another material for improving and practicing Verbal (especially SC)?

Best,
Ionut
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by MartyMurray » Sat Mar 07, 2015 1:12 pm
Regarding this,
I felt quite confident and this made me treat the Verbal part more lightly.
That could be a key part what you need to consider to increase your score.

Often people don't realize just how lightly they are treating verbal, and how much of a difference that can make.

Those GMAT verbal questions are just tricky enough to rock you if you aren't really paying attention. There are CR answers that are so tempting, RC answers that really sound like something the passage said, and SC answers that almost sound just fine, and none of them are going to get you any points.

You might think that you need to study more, learn more strategies, etc. etc., and that might help, but really if you want to rock GMAT verbal the biggest things you need, the things you CANNOT SUCCEED WITHOUT, are attention to detail and intense determination to get the right answers.

Here's a great video discussion of SC from Veritas, that goes along with what I'm saying here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2uz7DmQpbA

I bet at this point you could score 40 on verbal without learning anything more other than how to better approach the questions. GMAT verbal is so much about logic and analysis of structure.

Beyond that, to do better on verbal, look for weak areas, such as concepts or question types that kind of make you queasy when you see them, you can figure out which they are, and focus on those areas. Also, there are some key key verbal concepts, such as parallelism, placement of modifiers and subject verb agreement, that you need to be pretty much completely clear about.

For good verbal practice, one thing you could try is the Veritas question bank.

To maintain and improve your quant skills, you could use the Veritas question bank and the quant section of the BellCurves question bank, which has so many categories and so many questions that is like an endless GMAT quant video game arcade buffet.
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