580 on Official Test - how can I improve?

Hi papunius,

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 recent CAT score results (along with your Official GMAT) show that you essentially performed the same each time (600 +/- a few points). Raising a 580 to a 700+ will likely take at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. 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) What study materials have you used over the last 2 months?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
4) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Hi Rich,

thanks for reaching out.

1) Past Studies Actually with consistent effort I was studying only for the last 6 or so weeks. About a year ago I went through the NOVA's gmat math bible, although, from this standpoint, problems were relevant the explanations were very superficial and hardly helping in tackling the problems given afterwards (especially for somebody who back then had just scored around 17 in Quant). Summer 2016 on my own I read Nova's verbal part too. Last September I signed up for Magoosh and due to work could not really go on with consistent schedule. During past year went through around a hundred OG problems. In the second half of July I took some time off from work and delved into Quant part of Magoosh lessons (and around 600 quant problems). I did little to no studies in Verbal; I did some preparation for Verbal too but it could only sum up to 10% of all preparation (I'm not a native speaker, in fact its even the third language I learned).

2) I was thinking to apply to B-schools in first round this fall, bearing into mind my situation I think its optimal to be ready to file the applications in the beginning of this November.

3) I am considering schools that rank 5-15 on poets and quants ranking

4) I think I will be able to find a time for focused learning effort of around 17 hours per week (evenings and weekends).

Thanks again

Hi papunius,

You could potentially hit your score goal and have your applications ready in November, but you'll have to be really 'efficient' with everything that will need to be worked on. Based on everything that you’ve described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in well under 2 months, so the time commitment wouldn't be that bad. Keep in mind that your goal should NOT be to 'rush' through that Study Plan - you need to learn/practice new Tactics so that you can use those Tactics to score higher - and that training can take some time. 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

Hi

You have done 2 Mocks on the same day, this is something which i can say is not a good thing to practice, 2 mocks means 8 hours a day, this is unnecessary labor. Best Practice is that you have at least a week gap for Mocks exam

Now you know where is your current standing in GMAT Concentrate on your weak areas, practice your learned section with timed practice, You can also take quizzes to meet the pace of GMAT. Take full lenght CATs, know your estimated score, Analyze the result with Correct/incorrect questions, pacing analysis trace your mistakes and learn from them, make an error log to know your mistakes in the previously attempted questions

Best CATs

1. Official GMAC
2. Manhattan GMAT
3. GMAT Club Quant CATs
4. Veritas CATs


Good Luck

Hi SajjadAhmad, thanks for the tips. I noticed last mock date was written mistakenly, thanks for pointing that out.

Hi papunius,

4 months is a good enough time to prepare for GMAT. It's a good thing you have given GMATPREP once. You can now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for 4 months, 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 easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas.

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 practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

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

Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan

https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs.

Hope this helps. All the best.