Score dropped after a month of studying?

[Adamww1]

Hi,

I recently started on my quest to beating the GMAT and it has not been kind to me thus far. I went out and purchased the Kaplan GMAT premier edition 2014 and followed their strategies to a T but my score dropped from a 530(32 Q/ 29 V) on the diagnostic to a 490 (33 Q/ 21 V) on the second test. I worked through the entire book and reviewed their basic online workshops and was very stunned that my test score dropped. Does anyone have any advice on to do develop a better studying plan? I put it roughly 2 hours of studying a day and try to fit it around my work schedule, which is usually from 3:45 PM-12:15 AM.

I know that math, geometry in particular, is not my strong suit so I tried to focus most of my studying around that. Verbal/RC is usually my strong suit so I was very shocked that went down.

I plan to take the real GMAT on Nov. 1 and get my business school applications out shortly thereafter. I am interested in Washington D.C. area schools for my part-time MBA (Georgetown is my dream) and I know these scores won't get me in the door. The rest of my profile isn't the strongest(about to turn 23, only 4 years work experience managing in the retail sector) so I need to Beat the GMAT.

Any and all advice is welcome.

Thanks,
Adam

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Hi Adam,

A decent chunk of GMATers will experience short-term drops in their CAT scores because they're relatively new to the process and are attempting to use tactics that they haven't mastered yet.

I recommend that you do a full review of this most recent CAT (and the last one too, while you're at it) and try to diagnose the questions that you got wrong and WHY you got them wrong. How many silly mistakes did you make? On the Verbal, how many times did you "narrow it down to 2 and then guess"?

As an aside, Geometry is a relatively minor subject in the Quant, compared to Algebra, DS, Number Properties, Arithmetic, etc., so it might be that you haven't practiced the "big" categories enough to help you get that first bump-up in score. You still have plenty of time to study, so keep working.

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

[Adamww1]

Rich,

Thanks for your reply. I reviewed the initial CAT only briefly as I figured I needed to study everything. I plan on being much more thorough with my review of CAT 2 and then figure out a plan. With so many different books, courses, etc. it is very hard to narrow down which one is the best. I stumbled across this site after my CAT 2 tonight and look forward to reading others stories and advice.

.

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Hey Adam,

Don't put too much stock into one test result. You may have just had a bad day.
You might try taking another practice test soon so that you can put this latest one behind you.

Cheers,
Brent