600-740, Mission Impossible?

[Black5tar]

Hi friends, I just did my GMAT last week and scored a 600 (Q47, V27, AWA3, IR6)

I honestly gave it my best effort, doing all the prep the best I could (OGs, Testprep software, Simulated exam conditions, slept well before exam). I was feeling confident on test day, and even during the test itself I thought I was doing pretty well.
Then came the shock 600 at the end.

I am beginning to think perhaps I am not cut out for GMAT. My intention for taking the GMAT was to pursue a Phd in Business from one of the top research universities in the US. As I understand from speaking with faculty, even though most school do not require a minimum GMAT, a 740 should generally be the bare minimum an international candidate like myself should possess.

Would improving my score at the next test to 740 be mission impossible? Should I consider taking the GRE instead?
Really appreciate any feedback you can give!

[[email protected]]

Hi Black5tar,

PhD Programs tend to be highly competitive, since the number of available 'spots' is low and the applicants tend to be highly qualified overall. As such, a high GMAT score is almost always required (even if it's not explicitly stated).

From your post, it's not clear how you studied, so I have some questions about that and your overall timeline:

1) How long did you study?
2) What materials did you use during your studies?
3) How were you scoring on your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

4) What application deadline(s) are you facing?

The GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Some adjustments to your study plan will clearly have to be made though and you will likely have to invest in some new study materials and learn/practice some new Tactics.

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

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

Hi Black5tar,

How many practice tests did you take before test day? I typically suggest that students achieve their target score on at least 2 practices tests before they take the official test.

Also keep in mind that the GMAT is a test of your math and verbal skills AND it's a test of your test-taking skills (endurance, time management, anxiety control, etc). So, 750-level math/verbal skills combined with 600-level test-taking skills will likely result in a score that's closer to 600 than to 750.

My advice: start taking regular practice tests. This will help you build your test-taking skills, and it will help you identify any remaining area(s) of weakness.

While CAREFULLY analyzing your practice tests, there are four main types of weakness to watch out for:
1. specific Quant skills/concepts (e.g., algebra, standard deviation, etc.)
2. specific Verbal skills/concepts (e.g., verb tenses, assumption CR questions, etc.)
3. test-taking skills (time management, endurance, anxiety etc.)
4. silly mistakes

For the first two weaknesses, the fix is pretty straightforward. Learn the concept/skill and find some practice questions to strengthen that weakness. To focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature to isolate one concept. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

If your test-taking skills are holding you back, then you need to work on these. For example, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244.

Finally, if silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes so that, during tests, you can easily spot situations in which you're prone to making errors. I write about this and other strategies in the following article: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/avo ... teaks-gmat

Cheers,
Brent

[Bara]

I agree with my colleagues:

• Take more diagnostic tests.
  
  Identify what patterns, if any, are in your sub-optimal performance.
  
  Set up a schedule to learn the material you need to master, keeping in mind studying smarter not harder.
  
  Take a diagnostic GRE to see how you score on 'that' test.

And really ask yourself...and be honest...as to why you're not scoring to your capability: 600 to 740 is totally do able, but why haven't you gotten there yet. Then find the support to get you there.

Best,

Bara Sapir

[Black5tar]

Hi Black5tar,

PhD Programs tend to be highly competitive, since the number of available 'spots' is low and the applicants tend to be highly qualified overall. As such, a high GMAT score is almost always required (even if it's not explicitly stated).

From your post, it's not clear how you studied, so I have some questions about that and your overall timeline:

1) How long did you study?
2) What materials did you use during your studies?
3) How were you scoring on your practice CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

4) What application deadline(s) are you facing?

The GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. Some adjustments to your study plan will clearly have to be made though and you will likely have to invest in some new study materials and learn/practice some new Tactics.

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

Thanks Rich, you are active on multiple forums, I have replied you on the other thread!

[Black5tar]

Hi Black5tar,

How many practice tests did you take before test day? I typically suggest that students achieve their target score on at least 2 practices tests before they take the official test.

Also keep in mind that the GMAT is a test of your math and verbal skills AND it's a test of your test-taking skills (endurance, time management, anxiety control, etc). So, 750-level math/verbal skills combined with 600-level test-taking skills will likely result in a score that's closer to 600 than to 750.

My advice: start taking regular practice tests. This will help you build your test-taking skills, and it will help you identify any remaining area(s) of weakness.

While CAREFULLY analyzing your practice tests, there are four main types of weakness to watch out for:
1. specific Quant skills/concepts (e.g., algebra, standard deviation, etc.)
2. specific Verbal skills/concepts (e.g., verb tenses, assumption CR questions, etc.)
3. test-taking skills (time management, endurance, anxiety etc.)
4. silly mistakes

For the first two weaknesses, the fix is pretty straightforward. Learn the concept/skill and find some practice questions to strengthen that weakness. To focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature to isolate one concept. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

If your test-taking skills are holding you back, then you need to work on these. For example, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244.

Finally, if silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes so that, during tests, you can easily spot situations in which you're prone to making errors. I write about this and other strategies in the following article: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/avo ... teaks-gmat

Cheers,
Brent

Thank you for the great resources Brent! You are absolutely right, GMAT is a test of test-taking skills as well, which perhaps I did not place significant emphasis on developing before my first attempt. We definitely keep this in mind as I push on!

[Black5tar]

I agree with my colleagues:

• Take more diagnostic tests.
  
  Identify what patterns, if any, are in your sub-optimal performance.
  
  Set up a schedule to learn the material you need to master, keeping in mind studying smarter not harder.
  
  Take a diagnostic GRE to see how you score on 'that' test.

And really ask yourself...and be honest...as to why you're not scoring to your capability: 600 to 740 is totally do able, but why haven't you gotten there yet. Then find the support to get you there.

Best,

Bara Sapir

Great idea Bara! Let me spend an evening off the studying and just give GRE a try and see what turns up!

[[email protected]]

Hi Black5star,

While many Schools do accept either the GRE or the GMAT as part of the application process, NOT all Programs do. While taking a Full GRE MST (Multi-Stage Test) to see how you would score is probably a good idea, you need to make sure that the PhD Programs that you're interested in actually accept the GRE. If you shifted your focus to that Exam, then you might end up inadvertently 'locking yourself out' of certain Programs that don't accept that score.

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

[Black5tar]

Hi Black5star,

While many Schools do accept either the GRE or the GMAT as part of the application process, NOT all Programs do. While taking a Full GRE MST (Multi-Stage Test) to see how you would score is probably a good idea, you need to make sure that the PhD Programs that you're interested in actually accept the GRE. If you shifted your focus to that Exam, then you might end up inadvertently 'locking yourself out' of certain Programs that don't accept that score.

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

Yes you are right Rich, a lot of programs do seem to favor the GMAT still. Though some of the schools I am looking at list GRE as a viable alternative on their websites. But some faculty have told me that GMAT is still preferred. I wonder how pervasive is this notion that GMAT is a better indicator of potential!

[MartyMurray]

Hi Black5tar.

There is no such thing as being "not cut out" for the GMAT and the truth is that your quant score is pretty high, while the fact that you can score relatively high on quant indicates that you have many of the skills necessary for scoring high on verbal too.

What's going on, therefore, is that you have yet to get the GMAT and how to prepare for it. As someone who does coaching, naturally I see this type of thing going on all the time. I even see people take full courses and somehow come out of them still not clear about how to handle the GMAT. I guess part of what goes on is that people have conceptions of the test and of testing in general and somehow get blocked from succeeding by their conceptions. Often people score high on quant, because even if they don't really get how to handle the GMAT they have been exposed to lots of math, but they find the verbal section really challenging.

For your purposes, scoring higher on quant is probably a matter of doing what Brent and others have talked about, taking practice tests, both to get more practice in taking the test and to generate data that you can use to determine how to prepare going forward. The formula is pretty simple. If you score 47 on a practice test and, basically, would have scored 51 had you been better at handling certain types of questions, then by learning all about those types of questions and practicing those types you will get yourself to the point where you can expect to score 50 to 51 on quant.

Brent mentioned sources of categorized quant questions. Here is another, one you can access by going to the GMAT area and setting up a practice account. https://bellcurves.com

Regarding verbal, it appears that there is something about GMAT verbal that you just don't get. GMAT verbal is not all that difficult in a way, but people find it challenging for a variety of reasons, many of which are within the people themselves. For instance, I have seen someone miss CR questions because he would add to the prompts and answer choices words and ideas that just were not there. So figuring out the answers was not that difficult until he made it difficult. Other people blow off noticing key details or do other things that sabotage their processes for getting to right answers. Getting a high GMAT verbal score is not rocket science. It's more about just having tight processes for making decisions. If you have flawed processes that don't always filter out the wrong answers, you will end up choosing wrong answers some of the time. If you have tight, effective processes, you get right answers.

So to score higher on verbal, you need to notice what you are doing and to adjust and refine your processes so that you consistently get right answers.

No big deal.

In fact I recently saw a non native English speaker do just that, driving her verbal score from the 30's to 47.

Guess how many practice tests she used as part of her process though. Over twenty. She played the GMAT like a video game, seeing how she scored, analyzing what she needed to do in order to score higher and playing the game another time, until she demolished the actual test.

So that's the formula, or at least the outline of the formula, and you can be sure that by following it you too can attain or exceed your score goal.

[GMATinsight]

Hi friends, I just did my GMAT last week and scored a 600 (Q47, V27, AWA3, IR6)

I honestly gave it my best effort, doing all the prep the best I could (OGs, Testprep software, Simulated exam conditions, slept well before exam). I was feeling confident on test day, and even during the test itself I thought I was doing pretty well.
Then came the shock 600 at the end.

I am beginning to think perhaps I am not cut out for GMAT. My intention for taking the GMAT was to pursue a Phd in Business from one of the top research universities in the US. As I understand from speaking with faculty, even though most school do not require a minimum GMAT, a 740 should generally be the bare minimum an international candidate like myself should possess.

Would improving my score at the next test to 740 be mission impossible? Should I consider taking the GRE instead?
Really appreciate any feedback you can give!

It has happened before!!!

Read the testimonial of one of our students Swanand Deodhar posted on GMAT CLUB only

https://gmatclub.com/forum/620-to-760-ge ... 61230.html

You can see the same testimonial in testimonial section of our website as well.

You need major push in Verbal and a little finishing touch in Quant to make it look like Q-50 and V-41 to make it possible,