Scored bad -> need help with a new plan

[Bobo2014]

Hi all,

First of all thank you very much for reading my post. That you take that time already means a lot to me.

I am a German student and have taken the GMAT yesterday. I studied for the test for about 3 weeks last year and for the past six weeks. I studied on about five days a week and 4-6 hours a day (effective hours). My plan was to score a 650 since I have a conditional offer for a MSc at LSE requiring that score. I planned to take the GMAT again in about 2-3 months to get a score above 700 for an application to a MBA in 2017/2018. I only scored a 610 so I need to improve fast. To get the 650 is the main priority.

As study material I used the following:

- All Manhatten Gmat Guides
- OG 13th Edition (I did all questions using MGMAT Archer and repeated all questions that I had wrong)
- OG Quant 2nd Edition (all questions once with review of the wrong questions)
- Magoosh (used it in the beginning but stopped early, after about half of the questions)

I also did 8 CATs (so only one MGMAT CAT is left for further preparation):

- GMAC 490 15.11
- MGMAT 630 44 32 2.3.
- MGMAT 610 41 33 13.3
- MGMAT 610 38 35 19.3
- MGMAT 650 42 37 21.3
- GMAC 640 47 31 23.3
- MGMAT 650 41 37 25.3
- GMAT 610 47 27 27.3

As you can imagine I am really disappoint of my score, especially in verbal. I somewhat consider the MGMAT CATS useless now since they neither showed me my weakness, nor an appropriate approximation (I scored in the 80th-84th percentile in the verbal part of the MGMAT CATs; in the real test I scored in the 45th percentile!). I should add that I was not nervous before the exam. I rested for almost two days (did only some math review), slept well, ate well (test was at 2pm and I did the last three CATs at the same time und perfect exam conditions). I also wrote an essay doing the last two CATs (stamina) and I did not feel tired during the exam (verbal part). Actually I was quite awake. I was sometimes afraid about the time though. In quant I messed up during mid time and had to catch up (looked at the time quite often). The verbal timing was quite well (I was a bit behind towards the end but caught up).
The texts I received in the GMAT seemed very easy ( now I know why..). My suspicion is that I totally messed up SC but of course I don t know.. For quant I got almost exclusively DS questions in the beginning (15 questions?) which was a bit weird. I think I did really well early on but got some really hard questions where I had to guess later.

My weak areas are:

quant: number properties, number sequences and hard questions in all other areas
verbal: CR (by far my best) < RC < SC

I should say that I found the MGMAT verbal guides (RC and CR) somewhat useless. The SC guide is probably really good but I only skimmed it once. I always though (MGMAT CATs..) that my quant was the weak link because I scored in the 8Xth percentile in verbal in the CATs. I also never really took notes answering RC and CR. I think it takes too much time. I prefer focusing on reading thoroughly. Some RC texts i got during the original GMAT CATs were really hard and I had big problems to thoroughly understand them in the required time. I always found CR to be easy (also didn't take any notes and I didn't read the question before the text because I found that it doesn't really matter).

Now I need a plan to improve as much as possible. What should I do? I would want to dedicate about 2 hours a day for the next 2-3 weeks (I want to prepare for interviews for an internship) and another 4-6 hours a day for about another 4-6 weeks.
I hope I will be able to get a score above 700 in that time span (650 or higher is an absolute MUST)

Should I take a course? Would some private lessons help? Can you give me advice for a study plan?

I really appreciate your help. A of 650 or above means everything to me at the moment. I plan to go to a top 5 US university for an MBA later on so if I can get a high score now I would not have to study again in 2 or 3 years (or would the Master in London help me to improve my english skills so that I could achieve an even higher score in 2 years?)

[[email protected]]

Hi Bobo2014,

Almost all of your practice CAT scores are in range of your Official GMAT, although some of the "swings" in the Quant and Verbal sections point to some inconsistencies in your work. Based on what you described regarding your studies, it's actually pretty easy to define WHY: you're not taking enough notes. That is likely causing most of your problems.

Here are some other points worth noting about your studies that could have hurt your performance on Test Day:
1) Counting your Official GMAT, you took 5 CATs in 9 days. That is TOO MANY and you likely were a bit burned out from the process. By taking those CATs so frequently, you didn't have enough time to do the proper review and further practice before taking another CAT. This is why your scores were so close.

2) It doesn't sound like you were taking the ENTIRE CAT every time, so you likely were unprepared for the "endurance" aspect of the GMAT.

3) Percentiles can be deceptive, from an information standpoint. Percentiles on a practice CAT are based on people who took that CAT; percentiles on the GMAT are based on ALL Official Test Takers. The two groups, by definition, are different, and the standards by which those practice CATs are taken are different, so the percentiles will likely be different and not necessarily accurate.

If you can't force yourself to take more (and correct) notes, then you're probably going to need a GMAT Course that will force you to do so. As an investment of time, effort and resources, you really don't want to take the GMAT 2 times to accomplish your 2 goals - maximizing your performance on this next try is the best plan.

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

[Bobo2014]

Hi Rich,

thank you very much for your opinion and advice.
Taking more notes makes a lot of sense and I portably should have invested more time in developing that skill. As said I actually did take notes in the beginning and stopped because I thought it takes too much times and does t help me to answer questions.

The second aspect is propably really that I have devoted practically no time to study SC. I hope I can improve a lot in that area.

For the CATs. I really did it to improve my timing, see new questions and to build confidence and stamina. But although I felt really good on test day I can see that it might have been too much. And I could have definitely spend that time wiser studying SC or digging for a better way to answer RC.

Now an important question. Would you suggest me to take a course or what I repeat all the basics once more in such a course? I will definitely work on the math basics again but doing them in all depth in a course might be a bit too much? I don t know since I have never taken such a course..

I think a Tutor could probably help to improve my verbal? Where and how do I find such a tutor? I thought of talking 2 lessons. Then doing guided self study for several weeks and take a lesson a week again (practice - review - guided advice). Does that sound good to you or should i just search for a normal 8 week study plan that focuses on verbal and stick to that?

Best regards and thank you very much. I appreciate your work a lot

[[email protected]]

Hi Bobo2014,

Since you claim to have not studied SCs very much, THAT could be all that you really need to improve on to increase your score. Your Quant is already strong, so a bit of light review to keep those skills sharp is probably all that is needed.

I'd suggest that you self-study SCs/grammar for a couple of weeks, then take a practice CAT. A tutor may or may not be necessary (in the same way that a Course may or may not be necessary). You could retake the GMAT in a month and potentially score 650+ if you learn the necessary SC rules and patterns.

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