Hi Tapas Gupta,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) When was the last time you took a FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections)?

Goals:
3) What is your goal score?
4) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi Tapas Gupta,

Raising scores in the mid-500s to a 700+ will take some serious effort - and you will need to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Unfortunately, all of that work will likely take at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study - so you might want to push back your Test Date. Since you're not planning to apply to Business School until next year though, you appear to have plenty of time to continue studying and improving.

Right now, you do NOT need to be focused on "700 level" questions - you need to be honing your skills and learning/practicing proper Tactics (that you can use on ALL 'levels' of questions). From what you have described, your studies appear to have been 'book heavy', so you might want to consider investing in some new, non-book study materials.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Hi Tapas Gupta,

After taking each CAT, it's important to put in the proper 'review time', so that you define WHY you got questions wrong. Depending on the reasons behind those missed questions, we can better plan out what you need to work on going forward.

After reviewing each section of this recent CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

The more specific you can be with the answers to these questions, the better. Thankfully, the GMAT is a predictable, standardized Test, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

Hi Tapas Gupta,

We can certainly discuss additional study materials for you, but it would help to have answers to my prior questions first. There's a big difference between 'fixing' little errors in your work and having to learn material that you don't know yet. You can also feel free to contact me directly (via email or PM) if you'd like to discuss any of this privately.

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

Hi Dukemm,

From a content-standpoint, it's important to note that many of the math subjects that you might have learned in High School are NOT on the GMAT (Calculus, Trigonometry and Algebra 2 are NOT a part of the Exam). Algebra, Geometry and broad Arithmetic are though, and while the Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test', you will end up doing lots of little calculations as you work through that section (and through the IR section) - so knowing how to do all of that math 'by hand' will help you to score higher.

For free general math practice and help, I recommend that you set up an account at Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org). The site is completely free and makes the learning a bit more fun and 'game-like' (as opposed to the dry academic approach taken by most books). While the site is vast, you should limit your studies to basic Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry. If you wanted to spend a little time re-building those skills before you start your GMAT studies, then that would be fine.

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