620 to 730 in 4 weeks

I took the GMAT back in mid August and received a 620 (81% V/46% Q). I was very frustrated and discouraged by this result. As I ramped up for a retake, I read some posts on GMATClub that told success stories of score turnarounds. These posts were helpful to me and are the inspiration for this post. I hope that this post is helpful to someone else's efforts as well. I also hope that this post does not come across as bragging; the intent is to be helpful for others.

Some background on me: I went to one of the top public universities in the country and majored in liberal arts. I had a very average GPA. All that to say, I am neither a dummy nor a rocket scientist. (I feel like giving background on these posts is helpful... obviously not trying to brag.)

I began studying for the test in May 2012. I averaged 13-14 hrs per week of studying and took an in-person Manhattan course (with which I was not pleased/impressed). I had not performed as well as I had hoped on my practice tests during the Manhattan course (ranged from 600-700ish) and took the test in August. Like I mentioned above, the result was very disappointing. I decided that I wanted to take the test again as soon as possible (given the requisite, month-long, delay); I signed up for a retake in mid-September.

Leading up to the retake, I focused on a couple Kaplan review books that focused on math foundations. I found these to be fairly helpful. However, the focus of the four weeks of studying between the first and second tests was predominately concentrated on working problems from the two most recent GMAT Official Guide books. I hammered problems (both verbal and quant, but mostly quant). I worked problems over and over again. I averaged closer to 17 hours per week of studying for these weeks. Over this period, I felt an increased amount of comfort with problems and began to perform better during my timed exercises and my practice tests. In a typical three hour study period I would do a selection of problems such as 5 SC, 5 RC, 5 CR, 20 DS and 20 PS. I would keep track of my time for each sets and I would record each missed problem in a spreadsheet and review my errors after each set to make sure that I understood the problem that was missed. I found these sessions to be very helpful for me.

I think that these study habits were very successful for me and lead, in part, to my turn-around in my score. I also think that familiarity with the testing center really helped reduce my anxiety. I was pretty stressed the morning of my first test. The day of my second test, while still anxious, I was much more relaxed. I wasted much less emotional energy the day of the second test. I would encourage people to relax the day/morning of the test. Don't let yourself get stressed out. I think my stress level had a large impact on my score. My second test was much better as I got a 730 (96% V, 78% Q). I think the combination of my study habits for the month leading up to the retake as well as my decreased level of anxiety the morning of the test lead to my turnaround.

I hope you find this post helpful. If you do, please let me know. Also, if anyone has a question, I will try to respond.

Now on to applications...

Thanks and best of luck to everyone out there.