I (would love to say) just beat it - planning the next try

[Jumuller]

Hi everyone,

I've taken the Test last week and needed some time over the weekend to recharge. Now as that's done I'm about to make plans on how to proceed.

My score is 650, which generally would be ok to me. The AWA went pretty good (though I haven't recieved the score yet), the IR section wasn't very good, but that wouldn't really bother me. However I unfortunately missed a good quant score.

My score is (39/40) which is in the 46th and 90th percentile. Of course I was nervous on test day and haven't slept well the night before, but that wasn't really the problem. Also I didn't get stuck too long with a particular question as I quickly just skipped it then. I guess I just wasn't prepared enough as I had to skip a few questions (more than in any practice test before though) and wasn't completly sure about too many others.

When I started studying, my Math skills were really beneath contempt, so I needed to refresh everything from the very beginning. In my last pratice test I scored 47 on quant, from 35 in my first test (in which I took many breaks and didn't really follow the rules).
For my preparation I used the Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides and the 60 days study guide from here (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide), which I found really valuable.

I'm thinking about retaking the test within the next two month. I don't really have hard deadline, but I've spend the last 2 month studying and I've established kind of a routine, which I'd like to continue.

If you guys have any valuable advice on how to improve the Quant score, I'd be happy to hear it. Then I can hopefully complete this post in about 2 month with a success story.

[Jim@StratusPrep]

Practice, Practice, Practice. I will say it is not always about doing new problems, but rather learning about the mistakes you make and how the problem is supposed to be done. Look at different problems of the same type and see what is different about the way they are solved. What is different about them? How does the GMAT change the question? What different types of work need to get done?

Hope that helps...

[[email protected]]

Hi Jumuller,

First off, a 650 is a really good score (about the 80th percentile), so you'd get a good "look" at any US Business School that you applied to. With a Q39, you might run into some problems when applying to a Top-10 school, but then again you might not (if the rest of your application is strong).

You mention scoring Q47 on a prior CAT, so that experience is worth looking into. What was it about THAT CAT that was different from Test Day? Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including Essay and IR)? Did you take it in a realistic, Test-like fashion? What time of day and day of the week did you take it on? These details matter a great deal because if you're trying to duplicate your past successes on Test Day, then you need to make sure that both situations are as similar as possible.

To raise your Quant score and keep it at a consistently high level, you'll need to focus on Quant Tactics and doing consistent, organized work. Silly mistakes could very easily have been the cause of your score drop on Test Day, but I think that it was likely a combination of things. You could absolutely retake the GMAT in the next 1-2 months and score 700+, but you might need to invest in some new GMAT materials.

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

[Jumuller]

Practicing is what I thought would help.

Rich.C, do you have any suggestions on new material? I've already ordered the GMAT Quant Review for more questions.

Until now it helped me a lot that I had a structured plan with the 60 day study guide that I could stick to. Some study plan on "improving math" would be great.

[[email protected]]

Hi Jumuller,

I've sent you a private message with some suggestions.

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

[sultana199]

650 is a good score in a short time. If you want to retake it to improve your score then it would be very good. Take time and make good preperations so that you can make a wonderful score in the next beating.