570 without studying and 1 month until test. 720 possible?

Hi Nadir,

You're planning to apply to some really competitive Schools, so a high GMAT score is a must. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam that you CAN train for. Unfortunately, when it comes to these types of standardized tests, 'cramming' rarely leads to great results. There are effective ways to study over longer periods (again, in your case - 3 months) - and the suggestions that I would offer are based on that type of timeframe. I think that it's safe to say that you see the value in earning a degree from a Top Business School, so now you have to put in the necessary time and effort to assemble all of the necessary 'pieces' to your applications.

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

I'm not going to say that it cannot be done. I went from scoring 590s on practice exams to a 640 to a 690 with a months effort altogether. I was lucky that I had all the free time in the world and a quiet place to study. You can do it, but be prepared to a) be seriously challenged and b) consider the possibility of writing the exam twice.

Here's how I would go about it:

Concentrate on Quant first, sounds like you have lots of room for improvement there. You already have a baseline so go ahead an buy Manhattan's GMAT set then start doing every book piece by piece. GMAT requires you to understand your concepts very well - it's not about how much you know but how well you know it and that's where Manhattan really helped me out. Going through bit by bit and ACTUALLY recognizing what I had learned over the past 24 years of my life was very important (I didn't realize that every number is basically formed by a few building blocks - prime numbers, until I started studying for this exam. Call it a damming review of my education or an oversight on my part, it's still a substantial difference in thinking). After you're done going through these books, you should have a decent base to attempt another round of practice. Here, you should get the GMAT Official Quant Guide, there are tons of relevant questions in there. Start going through them one by one. There are 200 I think. Do the first 100 without a timer and then go back and see where you messed up. Now make an error log (this website has a few examples) and start writing down the reason. Did you not understand the question, or was it a silly mistake? Also write the topic down. Now have a look and see what stands out. For me, it was overwhelmingly arithmetic mistakes and not reading the question properly. Eliminating these simple mistakes alone was probably worth 20-30 points.

Now, go through the next 100 questions AND TIME YOURSELF. Get into the habit of moving on from questions that you cannot solve - it'll hurt you in the end if you get stuck. Repeat the error logging process above. Now, get some practice CATs (included with Manhattan, some on this website and Kaplan has nice ones too) and solve those. I find the Manhattan ones to be harder than the actual tests so get used to being disappointed. Now review these questions again and see where you made the mistakes. Are there any topics that you STILL do not understand? Go back, review those and try another CAT. This process alone should take you 2 weeks.

Now for the Verbal section. I was fortunate here that I did not have to study too much. I read a lot of books and enjoy writing essays so much of it came together nicely for me. Unfortunately, here, you just have to start getting used to the nuances of the English language and reading more and more is very useful. But since you're pressed for time, that's not an option. Instead, you can rely on the Manhattan set (only 3 books for Verbal) and get a few basic concepts down. I would attack Sentence Correction first since the rules are straightforward to memorize and understand (concentrating on the subject when trying to decide between single vs. plural, using whether vs. if and so on). I would also recommend Aristotle's SC Grail, it's to the point and gives you plenty of pointers. Getting these down will also help you save time for comprehension reading, which is what I would look at next. Here, focusing properly and understanding the passage in one go is extremely useful as you can just go back to the question asked and instantly know which area to look at. Being able to understand the context is extremely important too. Practice makes perfect. Then comes Critical Reasoning, which I think is the hardest part of Verbal. You really have to tune your brain to think in a logical and objective manner and that takes some doing. Follow the examples you get in the books and try to use all the examples you can find. You will eventually catch on. This should ideally take you a week.

So that's 3 weeks gone. Now concentrate on getting as many practice CATs as possible and do them (do one a day) and then keep going back and reviewing your mistakes. Spare a day to review IR and AWA (a polished essay is always great when applying for an elite school). Save the two official tests on GMATPrep for last as they'll give you the most accurate estimate regarding your score (I scored a 710 the night before). Take plenty of breaks when you're studying, don't get distracted and don't overstress yourself. Can't solve anything? Fine, take a 20 minute break and get a snack. Play a game, or watch some TV, whatever it takes to relax your brain.

If you do this regularly, I'm quite sure you'll be able to boost your score by a substantial amount. It's honestly all about the effort and training your brain to think quickly. Put your head down and go for it.

590 to 720 in a month might be a rush. Your verbal seems fine for starters and a little more work will probably push it beyond 40. For quant there is a lot of work to be done. Since you had a lot of time left for the section, why not take a test again and see how you fare in quant if you spend more time per question. That would probably give a more realistic estimate of your current level.

Thanks for the replies. I took the GMATClub free Quant test yesterday and got a 41. The Manhattan set of 10 books is coming from Amazon today and I'll be using the quant ones extensively. Hopefully that and some solid studying can get me up to a good score. If I don't reach 720 by then, I'll take it in August and set my goal even higher.

Hi there,

I know someone personally that manage to increase his score by 130 in 30-40 days.

Your choice for MGMAT quant is really good in my opinion, it really covers up most of the concepts GMAT going to test, the best part of MGMAT 5 quant guides for me is their 25 free online question bank, if you understand the concepts from their quant questions, which tend to be more difficult that real GMAT, you will get 46-47+ quant easily.

While to improve further than 47-48 in quant, you will most likely need to understand the concepts on 700+ level question in GMATclub here. For verbal, I personally think e-gmat is really good, even if you just try their free trial it will help you understand some of the concepts for SC.

Your goal might be very difficult to achieve, but its not totally impossible I think. I believe each people has different framework from their previous education, if you have strong framework, it is not that impossible to achieve 700+ from 590 in around a month.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G935F using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Hi \(@Nadir\)

It is possible to get 720 in a month from 570
Get Manhattan GMAT Strategy guides for learning GMAT concept but you probably cant read them all in one month

Manhattan guides are best
Thursday with Ron SC videos are best
Magoosh solutions to OG 13 are best and freely available at Youtube

you should study 3 hours a day of 2 session (1.5 hour of each session)
never sit 2 hours or more in one sit otherwise your efficiency may decreases
within a month you should only focus on your weak segments of the test and practice 600-700 level question
take timed quizzes to patch up with the pace, make an error log review your quizzes find out your mistakes and reasons behind them
Take 6-7 CATs, review your wrong answers, review your pacing analysis

Good Luck
Cheers

Manhattan books are well known. You will also get 6 Manhattan CATs for your practice. Good luck!!!

The Manhattan books have been great so far. I've already finished the number properties book and am working through geometry. I'll post an update when I take my MGMAT CAT on Monday.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Okay so I just took the MGMAT CAT and it was quite interesting. I got a 570 again (lol), but the subscores changed quite a bit. Q38 and V30 this time. I have not studied verbal at all so it's time to start. We'll see what I can do by next week after going through what I missed today. Disappointing.

Im going to be completely blunt with you. im not trying to sound like an ass, and im also not trying to sell you anything, ie tutoring. whether you take what i say to heart or not, it will have no effect on my life.

a 570 to a 720 in one month is almost statistically impossible. GMAC tracks and publishes score improvements. Although studying can help one improve for the test, the test makers design the test in such a way that studying cannot increase ones score dramatically, in your case, more than 100 points.

another thought comes to my mind. why even make such a post? what do you want people to tell you? i suspect people make such post for encouragement? to hear from others that it is possible? my father told me never take advice from someone that isnt going to suffer any consequences, my advice included. but for all those that claim you can make it, i doubt any will bet on it.

Hi Nadir

Three months should be good enough to achieve your target score. It’s a good thing you have taken a practice test. You can now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal 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 a 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 practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html

Hope this helps. All the best.