1 month away from 3rd gmat, need a 580

Question

Hey guys, I’m about to take my 3rd gmat in exactly a month. I have taken it twice and scored 510 both times (with little to no prep). I’ve had a lot going on with school and life and haven’t been able to prepare at all for the previous exams. I need a 580 to get into the program I’m looking at.

Any advice/tips/study plans to get my score up around 580?? I’m willing to pay for tutors or any study programs or books that are less than $400. Thanks in advance.

Side note: I’m an engineering major with a high gpa. My trouble area is Quant specifically data sufficiency

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi birddog149,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so since you admit to not having properly prepared for either of your prior 2 attempts, the fact that your 2 Official Scores were the same is not too surprising. The GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. The key word there is "train" though - you have to put in the time and effort to learn the skills to score higher. With about 4 weeks of study, you might be able to raise a 510 to a 580, but since we have no prior basis for comparison, we have no way to know how quickly you might learn the skills needed to earn that higher Score.

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) What study materials have you used so far?
2) Have you taken any practice CATs/mocks during the last couple of months? How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for your 2 Official GMATs?

Goals:
4) What is the application deadline for the School that you're interested in? How do you know that you "need" a 580? Will that guarantee you that you'll get in? What if you Scored 570 - would you still apply?

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

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi birddog149, Welcome to GMATCLUB! For Quant especially for DS, you should consider MGMAT guides. They are really good and cover the entire syllabus really well. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practice tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision. https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... h-focused/ Hope this helps. All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi birddog149,

I’m glad you reached out, and I'm happy to help. So since you have not really put in much study and seem to be struggling with GMAT quant, in order to improve your GMAT quant skills, you need follow a structured and linear study plan, one in which you individually learn each GMAT quant topic and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. I realize you feel as though DS is really your main issue with quant; however, you likely are struggling with DS questions because you have numerous quant knowledge gaps that must be addressed. Once you improve your quant skills, I think you’ll also improve in answering DS questions.

For example, if you are given a DS question testing you on “units digits,” such as  example 1 here , and you are not skilled in working with units digits and do not know that the base of 7 has a units digit of 1 when raised to an exponent that is a multiple of 4, then how can you expect to correctly answer that particular DS question, right? Thus, to improve, you would have to spend time reviewing not Data Sufficiency concepts but concepts related to units digits patterns.

With all this said, here is some more advice you can follow in order to improve your GMAT quant skills.

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .
 
You also may find it helpful to read this article about  How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

Good luck!

birddog149 · Answer

Thank you for the responses..My scaled scores were as follows: Attempt 1 Q=32, V=27 total 510.
Attempt 2 Q=31, V=27 total 510

I have taken 2 CAT tests through the gmat and have scored 490 and 510 respectively.

I have a Kaplan GMAT Prep Book that I have used some but not that much.

What materials and tests do you recommend me getting my hands on? How do I setup a study plan for the next Month? My test is May 29th.

Thank you in advance.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi birddog149,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your 2 CAT score results - along with your 2 Official Scores - show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 500 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. By extension, if you continue to approach GMAT questions "your way", you will likely continue to Score right around 500.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?
2) What is the application deadline for the Program that you're interested in?

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

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi birddog149,

For Quant I would suggest you go thru Manhattan Quant guides and couple them with GMAT club tests, which will solidify your concepts and help you reach 48+

All the best for your exam!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi birddog149,

To reiterate, I’d follow a study plan similar to what I suggested in my previous response. Regarding courses, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the top GMAT quant courses.

Feel free to reach out with further questions. Good luck!

birddog149 · Answer

Thank you for the responses.

Next week I will have about 16 hours of study time. The two weeks following I will have all day everyday to study leading all the way up to my test on May 27th.

The application deadline is May 31 but I am going to self report my score (they said that is fine).

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi birddog149,

With about 3.5 weeks of study time, there is no way for you to 'master' all of the subjects - the good news is that you don't have to to hit your Goal Score. As such, there are a few 'big point' categories that you can focus on and likely pick up all of the points that you are after. That having been said, you'll have to be really 'efficient' with the study time that you have. Based on your various Scores, you appear to have gotten 'stuck' right around the '500 level' - and if you continue to study in the same ways as before, then you will likely earn the same general Score on May 27th.

Based on everything that you’ve described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. You won't have time to complete that entire Study Plan - but we can put together a plan to have you work through a specific sub-set of the Modules. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an Account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

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

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