630 on first GMAT attempt. Need Retake Advice

Hi leeproffitt123,

Students often under estimate the time required to study for the GMAT.
On an average, people take 3 - 4 months to perform well on the GMAT. The fact that you did not prepare for the required time meant that you did not go through the concepts well enough and did not get enough practice.

You need to build the concepts/fundamentals before you jump in solving the problems. You can do so by choosing one of the following ways:

1. In person classes/private tutoring
2. Online classes
3. Self paced online preparatory course
4. Book heavy approach

Whatever you choose, make sure that you choose one. Because GMAT tests you on some concepts and fundamentals that you can learn from a course. Most of the preparatory companies including ours offer a free trial of our course. You can take the trial and see if the course suits your needs. Our course comes with a 50 point score increase or full refund guarantee too.

In addition to the preparatory material, buy the Official Guides(both the Official Guide and the Verbal Review), Question Pack 1 and the 4 official mock CATs. They should be an indispensable part of your preparation.

You need close to 3 months to prepare well for the GMAT.

1. Understand the concepts and fundamentals before jumping into problem solving
2. Solve full length CATs including AWA and IR. You can get two free GMAT Prep mock CATs and can purchase two more from mba.com
3. Make sure you solve the official questions from the Official Guide

In order to improve in each section, try to drill down deep:

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.
Quants: Again try to break the questions in topics such as Algebra, Number system (very important), Geometry, PnC etc.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Make sure you complete all of the OG and the Verbal review and if required, you can buy the Question pack1 from mba.com

Hi leeproffitt123,

I see you have studied for only about a month. Keep in mind that many students have to study for much longer than 1 month to achieve their GMAT score goal. So while you may be frustrated with the GMAT, with some more dedicated prep and motivation, you can achieve your GMAT goals. I am happy to provide some advice for your retake but I have a few questions:

1) Did you get your enhanced score reports? If not, could you do so and share the score breakdown from your GMAT?

2) Can you provide us with the dates and score breakdowns from your Official GMAT prep practice exams? When you took the practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks)? Did you complete the entire CAT, including the IR and Essay sections?

3) Can you describe your study routine? What resources have you been using to study? How many hours a day did you study?

4) For your retake, how many hours a day can you commit to studying?

5) What are the MBA programs to which you plan to apply? What deadlines are you targeting?

To help diagnose your GMAT quant strengths and weaknesses, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you are provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level of all GMAT quant topics, as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.

Once you report back with some further information, I can provide some more strategic advice.

Dear leeproffitt123,

I am sorry to see that you could not score high on the GMAT. With proper planning and diligent execution, you can ace the GMAT and overcome every step in the journey towards your dream B-School.

GMAT exam is a test of ability and with mere practice and taking mocks  you cannot improve your ability. You need to identify your weak areas and build the core skills. Unless you build your core skills you cannot improve your GMAT score.  A student should also know how to apply the learned concepts properly to ace the GMAT. This is what we do at e-GMAT. We teach our students a foolproof process that starts with building your core skills at the conceptual stage and then following application-based approach to solve GMAT questions. This process has been designed by e-GMAT experts who are among 4 out of top 5 instructors on GMAT club.

For a score of 700+, you would need to score at least a Q48 and a V38. You may refer to the GMAT Planner tool to plan how to get to 700+ score in the GMAT.

Feedback on Quant: Your current score in Quant clearly indicates that you lack in the core conceptual knowledge in Quant for all topics. Take the Quant ability quiz to check for your ability/score in the various quant topics. Since you have followed a book heavy approach so far for your preparation, you haven’t been able to develop a structured methodology to approach/solve questions. You may refer to the Quant Free trial here to check your understanding on Quant concepts and also evaluate our methodology.

Feedback on Verbal: You are at a decent level in Verbal (V35/approximately 75%) which means you need to identify the sections out of SC/CR/RC and sub topics in SC/CR/RC which are restricting you score to around 35 in the Verbal section. Your ESR report would help in identifying your weak/strong section(s). Otherwise, you may take a Verbal Ability quiz to determine not just your weak/strong sections but also the individual Sub topics.

Remember, GMAT is just a test. If you put in your efforts in the right direction, you will succeed. GMAT is similar to one of the many challenges that you will face in your post MBA life. If you are dedicated and have the right strategy, then you will succeed.

I look forward to your response and your ESR report.

Hi leeproffitt123,

Locking up a strong GMAT score now (years before you'll actually 'need' it) is a smart idea.

Many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. When combined with the short (and limited) study time frame that you were working under, your 630 is actually fairly impressive. You'll have to make some significant changes to your overall study plan though going forward - you would likely find it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type. Since you appear to have solid 'basic' skills in both the Quant and Verbal sections, you would be free to focus more on GMAT Tactics and patterns, so that you can learn to answer questions in a more efficient way (and earn a correspondingly higher score).

1) When are you planning to retest?

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

I haven't really decided on a retake date at all to be honest. Like I mentioned above, I will not be going for an MBA for another 4 years, and the 630 score I received will be suffice for one year master's program I applied for. However, I really would like to get a 700+, so I won't have to worry about it in the future. I really have just used books up until this point and it has helped me increase my diagnostic from a 460 to a 630 in about a month and a week or 2. My first diagnostic was 460 (Q23 V30). I have never been good at the math portion of standardized exams. However, I just don't know where to go from here. When I received my 460 it was easy because I knew I lacked a lot of information, but now I don't know where to best focus my studying.

Hi leeproffitt123,

Since you've put in some study time already, you'd likely find it easier to put in a bit more study time now (and lock in that higher score) than come back to your studies later on and essentially start everything over 'from scratch.' With a Q42, you likely know most of the essential math that you need to score higher - while there are probably a few math categories that you probably need to review a bit more, most of your missing points are 'strategy-based' (meaning that you have to learn to 'see' GMAT Quant questions in new ways). Combined with some additional Verbal work, you're likely closer to your goal than you realize.

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