Hi all, desperately seeking some advice as my exam is in 10 days (Oct 28th).
This will be my first retake (2nd take).

Some background information:
Am aiming for a 720-730
- Took GMAT first time on 23 Sep, scored 690 (V40, Q44)
Thoughts on this: I did verbal first, and was under the impression that I was doing very poorly because it felt much harder than what I was used to in my mocks so I felt very discouraged when I entered the quant section. However, when the score came out, I was surprised to have scored much better on verbal than on quant.

- Post exam: After the test, I purchased the ESR and began focusing on practice questions based on my weaknesses outlined in the report. For 1-2 weeks, I've worked through random medium/hard OG quant sets, GMAT forum topics/questions for my weak quant areas, and 700-800 CR question practices since CR was my weakest area in verbal. I spend roughly 5-7 hours studying everyday since I am not working at the moment.

- Practice tests: Starting last week, I began taking mocks again. I purchased the 4 official GMAT mocks + the 6 Veritas Prep practice mocks. So far, my mock scores are as follows:

Oct 10 Veritas Prep: 650 (V34, Q45)
Oct 11 GMAT Official: 720 (V38, Q50)
Oct 13 Veritas Prep: 640 (V37, Q41)
Oct 15 Veritas Prep: 660 (V37, Q44)
Oct 17: GMAT Official: 700 (V35, Q49)

I understand that consecutive mocks may not be a strong strategy, but I'm mainly using the VP mocks for time management strategies/practice. I'm basing my progress mostly on the official mocks' scores since I understand they are the most accurate ones, but if that's the case, I will need to start spending more time on verbal vs. quant.

At this point, I'm a bit frustrated since I have focused a great deal of time on quant given my first exam experience, but it appears that my verbal has been even more inconsistent and requires more attention? I have 2 more official mocks and my remaining VP mocks to do, but I also note that there is a significant difference in difficulty level between VP and the official mocks in the quant section. As I only have ten days left, I'm at a loss for how I should be moving forward or if I should delay my exam (which would not be the ideal situation), since I am not confident that I can achieve my target score based on my current mocks.

Would really appreciate any help on this.

Thank you.

Hi,

According to your post, it is look like you are not confident in your practice and need extra time to practice. I would suggest it is better to cancel your exam and prepare extra hard on verbal. Since your quant is already good, you need to practice more on your weakness in verbal section. When you are confident in your studies, then book your exam. Exam dates are available very easily, so you need not to worry.

Thanks,
Prateek

Hi emilyfan,

To start, a CAT/mock is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to learn the necessary Tactics and put in the proper practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. In addition, the process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day.

By taking 5 CATs over the last 8 days, it's likely that you are starting to 'burn out' a bit (and that's impacting your performance in different ways from CAT-to-CAT). With a 690, you're closer to a 720+ than you probably realize - but you'll have to make some fundamental changes to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Exam before you can consistently score at that higher level. I understand that you really want to take the GMAT in 10 days (and there's no harm in doing so), but if you're going to keep studying and retesting until you hit 720+, then you could potentially save some time, money and frustration by pushing back this Test Date.

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:

1) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) BEFORE your 1st attempt, on what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

If you took your first GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Hi Rich,

Really appreciate the response. Was very helpful. To answer your questions:

1) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
I have officially been studying since June. As I said, I roughly study around 5-7 hours/day, so around 50 hours a week.

2) What study materials have you used so far?
I knew I was weak in quant so I started off my studies with TargetTestPrep for the quant portion. I finished the TTP course early Aug, and worked through the Kaplan Verbal workbook for strategy and approach. I did all OG practice problems for verbal and used the Veritas Prep/Manhattan Prep question banks for supplementary CR/SC practice. At the end of August, I then purchased the 15 mock tests from Expert Global, and spent the rest of the month prior to my exam date taking and reviewing those. This was a main study method for me. I would take a mock every other day and spend the next day reviewing/practicing my errors from each mock with additional OG/GMAT Club problems for my weaker subjects. This is similar to what I am doing now - but as you said, it seems that this may not be the best approach as it leads to burn out and may not be a productive way in improving my approach.

3) BEFORE your 1st attempt, on what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

The overall average of my Expert Global scores were high 600s.

For the official mocks (not Expert Global), my scores were as follows:
- Aug 4: Official Mock 1 620 (V33, Q42)
- Aug 23: Official Mock 2 620 (V33, Q42)
- Sep 17: Official Mock 1 RETAKE 750 (V44, Q49) - given that there were some repeated questions, I was aware that this score was definitely inflated.
- Sep 20: Official Mock 2 RETAKE 710 (V38, Q48)

4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
I am planning to apply to Yale, NYU, Columbia, and UCLA if possible, but will not be applying for another 2 years. That said, I will need to move abroad for work soon, so I ideally would like to finish my studies for this prior to that. As such, I would love to be able to reach my target score this retake without delaying, since my timeline is quite tight, but if it is really not realistic, then I will have no choice but to delay the exam.

Given the above, would you recommend that I take weekly mocks and focus on practice sets for my weaker areas during the rest of the days? How do students usually gauge and how many mocks do you think I should be taking prior to my re-take? Should I be delaying another 3-4 weeks to finish 3 more mocks as checkpoints? I did purchase the ESR, so it would be great if you could help take a look at it. Do let me know.

Thank you!

Hi emilyfan,

While you are getting pretty close to your score goal, I don't think it could hurt to push back your test by a few weeks to continue to work on your quant and verbal skills. Regarding your plan forward, I see that you were using TTP. I have a few additional thoughts regarding how you could leverage the course, so I'm doing to reach out to directly and we can chat in further detail.
_________________