660 on GMAT, first attempt (Q43,V38)

Question

Gave the GMAT today after preparing on and off for the last couple of months, studied regularly for the last 3 weeks while balancing applications. Got a 660 (Q43, V38). 85% percentile in Verbal and 45% percentile in Quant.

My official GMAT practice test scores were 580 (Q39, V30), 620 (Q34, V31), 680 (Q47, V37), 680 (Q47, V36), and 660 (Q48, V34)

The paper seemed to be going pretty well, IDK where I went wrong.

I am applying to a few universities through the deferred admission program. I have to submit my score to Booth and it seems hopeless. Kellogg's score submission deadline is 25th April. Thinking of retaking the GMAT on 22nd April.

My target score is 700+.

Any tips or advice would be appreciated (including any suggestions for business schools that offer deferred admission and won't take my score as a joke)

I shall rest up today and try to engage in activities other than self-loathing for the time being.

KabxW · Answer

Same Problem mate. Got 680 in first attempt and was getting 740-760 in mocks. Don't know what to do now

rvgmat12 · Answer

Try investing in getting the ESR report and send it to the experts

Focus on improving your score to your target score. What is the right target score for the schools that you are applying to ? Probably closer to 710-730. Which resources did you use to prepare ? How long did you study ?

Also, take some pressure off of yourself and practice yoga, meditation. This can help in bringing some calmness and improving your score further .

Russ19 · Answer

Hi Mike,

Congrats! I recommend an online platform for your quant score improvement. You can explore its free resources such as video explanations of OG. Its paid material is simply wow.

https://gmatquantum.com/

Good luck!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Seems your Quant came down in the Actual but your Verbal went up. If you could give an idea what issues you felt during the exam it may help with the suggestions.

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello MikeTython,

A score of 660 is decent and a target score of 700+ seems realistic.

Also, with my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept a fact with a pinch of salt that diagnostic/ mock test scores are above then what one should expect in a real test. There is often dropping in the score. Some students have even experienced a drop of 100 pointers. It is one of the realities, and your preparation should not sideline this fact.

A couple of things that can be a noticeable barrier to your scores would be some or all of the below.

• Inefficiency by using time-consuming Conventional method to tackle DS and PS questions still
• No expert support (maybe) who can tutor, analyze, and guide you during your learning especially on hard level questions while stably hitting middle-level questions.
• Lack of many updated questions and practice in the recent exam trend
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

We would recommend you make a note of various possible combinations of your target score. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

The possible score combinations for 700 or 700+: Q should be Q 46, 47, 48, and V should be V38, 39, 40.

You can try our free diagnostic test and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. receive. This test will clearly help you understand your weak areas.

You can schedule a Comprehensive counseling session for 30 mins with one of our experts: https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session for detailed advice on your current study plans.

You must schedule your day smartly to revise the topics and also practice more questions. We would suggest you register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-day full on-demand course (27 topics, 490 subtopics, and 1,500 questions) for free trial lessons. 700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank are separately available, too.

Since we are a math expert, we will recommend you go through our post on the GMAT club: Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

Regular tests will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up. Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and hence will be able to learn time management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Punit Joshi
Math Revolution Team

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi MikeTython,

With a 660, you're closer to a 700+ than you probably realize. That having been said, many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you've really only been studying consistently for the last 3 weeks, then that might help to explain why you have not scored higher yet.

Since you're interested in some highly-competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement (and it might be beneficial for you to apply at a later time). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

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 type of study routine have you followed? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What "brands" of CATs/mocks did you use?
3) On what dates (or approximate 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) Are you planning to apply to any additional Schools besides Kellogg and Booth?

If you took your GMAT at a Test Facility, 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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Based on the scores of your practice exams, 660 is a great start!

To increase your quant and verbal scores to higher levels, you have to go through GMAT quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.
 
For example, if you were to find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, you would carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. 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. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant
topics.
 
Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see and that there are types questions that take you a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that currently take you five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, make some more areas stronger.
 
You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, Find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc.
 
As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why you didn't get it right. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you would have had to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.
 
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 the 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 at least around 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.
 
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 verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses .

You also may find my article with more information regarding
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

vamshikaithi · Answer

Hi MikeTython, I scored a Q43 in my first GMAT attempt. Seems like you are on the same boat. I suggest you to start focusing on the methodology to solve questions. On GMAT, it's important to use the right methods and strategies to solve questions and to avoid the traps, mainly in DS questions. I started doing that after first attempt and I could eventually improve my Quant score to 50. I hope you are looking to improve your Quant score only as your Verbal score seems pretty decent. You can go through my debrief to know more about how I prepared after my first attempt. Debrief of my journey from 570 to 680 to 720 https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-f ... l#p2648110 Hope it helped. Feel free to get in touch if you need any more help. All the best

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi MikeTython,

I see that your test date in just 10 days away. Are you taking the test on 22nd April or are there any changes? If you are still looking for help, I would love to help you with the process. We can get in touch over a call and have a detailed discussion on the study strategy, changes to be made in the approach and then come up with a plan of action.

You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call

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660 on GMAT, first attempt (Q43,V38)

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