710 (40Q/48V) Quant advice needed

Question

I've now taken the GMAT 3x, and while my Verbal score is good, my Quant score is pretty bad. To add insult to injury, while I never even studied for Verbal, I've put in over 100 hours into Quant and it refuses to improve. I can do okay on GMATPrep official practice tests, but when it comes down to the real thing  something  happens. Here are my scores over the past 2 months:

Official GMAT Prep (all under test conditions):

#1 2/1/18 (Before any studying) Q38/V41-650
#2 6/19/19: Q47/V42- 720
#3 (6/20/18): Q46/V46- 740
#4 (8/11/18): Q45/V47 -740

GMAT:
Attempt 1 (6/23): Q42 V41- 680
Attempt 2 (8/18): Q42 V41- 680
Attempt 3 (today): Q40 V48- 710

**all attempts, practice and real, are ordered Quant --> Verbal --> Ir --> Essay

Background

Books & materials used- Both Manhattan Prep books and Magoosh videos

Background information: Kinesology undergrad, Brokerage operations (client service basically) job

Length of study- 6 Months, 1-2 hours/day before work, 5 days/week

General strategy- First I went through all the MGMAT books, making sure I could answer 90%+ of the questions at the end of the chapters. Then I watched the Magoosh videos. Then I started doing OG problems, roughly 10 new ones per day, while also keeping an error log and reviewing the ones I got wrong.

questions

1. My total (710) is slightly above average for my target schools (UT-Mccombs, Cornell, Foster) but it I would assume that my quant score would be a red flag. For that reason, I assume it's a good idea to retake?

2. Would it be worthwhile to order my ESR?

3. Anyone care to speculate as to why I'm experiencing such a huge Quant dropoff when "Gametime" comes around? What should my strategy look like going forward? I'd like to get the GMAT out of the way to focus on essays and the rest of my apps as soon as possible, so I'm tempted to reschedule ASAP if I'm going to take it again.

souvonik2k · Answer

Hi
Sorry that your Gmat score wasn't as per your expectations. You have an awesome Verbal score, but can improve a lot in Quant. I would suggest to go for a retake. Also, it won't be beneficial to order an ESR since you have to cover up the basics of Quant. In my opinion, a subscription to Gmatclub tests may help. GC tests are tough and allow you to identify your common mistakes while reinforcing the concepts.
Hope it helps.

CAMANISHPARMAR · Answer

questions

1. I assume it's a good idea to retake? -   Yes, if you are able to touch Q44-Q46 the you would have a killer score

2. Would it be worthwhile to order my ESR? -   Yes, for whatever little information you could get from ESR, you must get it and analyse it. I feel you would get plenty of action points

3. Anyone care to speculate as to why I'm experiencing such a huge Quant dropoff when "Gametime" comes around? What should my strategy look like going forward? I'd like to get the GMAT out of the way to focus on essays and the rest of my apps as soon as possible, so I'm tempted to reschedule ASAP if I'm going to take it again. -  Difficult queston to answer. There could be multiple reasons. If you share your ESR with me then I will be in a better position to answer this question...please feel free to PM me

Bismarck · Answer

If possible, you can order ESR, just to look whether you are committing mistakes in first 10 questions.
For improving the quant score, I would suggest you to look into areas where you are facing problem in mock tests, if you do not want to buy the ESR.
After that, solve 600-700 level questions of those topics and try to improve accuracy.
You need not practice or master 700+ level question in those topics.

GMATNinja · Answer

Holy poop, congratulations on that epic verbal score, anzio129! That's unbelievably difficult to do, and it sets you up very, very nicely for a great composite score next time around.

I can 100% guarantee that you're making careless errors on quant, and there are plenty of reasons why that might happen. Does anything in this post ring a bell at all? It's hard for me to imagine that anxiety is an issue since you gave the verbal such a thorough beatdown, but maybe you just lack consistency in your overall quant approach, or you rushed through a little bit too aggressively?

But wow, that verbal score...

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi anzio129,

To start, your 710 is an outstanding overall performance - and the Q40 could be seen as a 'red flag.' This is meant to say that if you could pull up that Quant Scaled Score, you could be scoring well into the mid-700s (or higher), so you should consider retesting (with a focus on Quant Tactics and properly organizing your work to keep the little mistakes from happening)

Before I can offer you any additional advice, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What study materials did you use before each attempt at the GMAT?
2) What 'brands' of CATs did you use over the Course of your studies?
3) What application deadlines are you currently considering?

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

egmat · Answer

Hi  anzio129 ,

Congratulations on scoring a V48! It is not just a good score but a great one. Now coming to the questions you have asked:

1. Should you order the ESR? YES! ESR will help you see where exactly you are faltering on the test day. Once you get your ESR, you may check out the article on   3 steps to analyze the ESR  . If you need any further help in analyzing the ESR, please feel free to write to us.
2. Your scores suggest lack of conceptual clarity while solving Quant questions. How confident do you feel while solving the questions that you are on the right track?

Quant Strategy I would recommend that once you have the ESR, you look at the topics where your performance is the weakest in Quant and start with that topic and move up till you reach your target score. We are conducting a free Algebra webinar this weekend. In this webinar you will learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Values questions in GMAT.   Register here   to reserve your spot.

Here are a few examples of students who improved their Quant score to reach their target score:
 • Guillermo improved from a Q38 (36 percentile) to Q50 (85 percentile).   Click here   to watch his interview.   Click here   to read his amazing GMAT Club debrief.
• Carrie improved from a Q35 (26 percentile) to a Q50 (85 percentile) in 3 weeks.   Click here   to watch her amazing video interview.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Aditee

anzio129 · Answer

Thanks to everyone so far...I ended up ordering the ESR and attached it here. Any analysis would be much appreciated.

To answer some questions posted previously:

Was I nervous?  Maybe...I've considered putting Verbal first so I have some time to calm down and relax before attacking the Quant section which is my weakness. But I'm also afraid to change things now since I've been doing okay on my practice tests and only have 2 more attempts before I hit the limit of 5.

1) What study materials did you use before each attempt at the GMAT?  MGMAT books, and Magoosh videos
 2) What 'brands' of CATs did you use over the Course of your studies?  GMATPrep, I also took 3 MGMAT exams but didn't think they accurately simulated the Quant questions
 3) What application deadlines are you currently considering?  Consortium, January 5th 2019

Bismarck · Answer

anzio129
The percentage of Incorrect questions is high in the first set of questions.
please go through the below link to check the importance of first 10 questions for a good quant score.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/new-format-g ... ml?fl=menu

ESR result shows that you are rushing in the first set of quant questions. In order to take care of this, try practicing 600-700 level questions and pace yourself uniformly throughout the entire quant section.
I hope that you will find the pacing strategy specified in below link helpful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWrUiBT83PQ

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi anzio129,

Since you've got several months until the January Consortium deadline, you have plenty of time to continue to study and improve. That having been said, your Quant Scaled Scores on your 3 Official attempts are so similar to one another that you're clearly 'responding' to that section in the same ways each time you have taken the Exam. Regardless of the number of questions that you've worked through between your Exams, 'your way' of dealing with the Quant section is keeping you from scoring higher. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

While your focus is clearly on the Quant section, I would like to see your FULL ESR (with data on how you performed in the Verbal section); sometimes patterns in how you handle one section of the Exam can help to define other issues/inefficiencies in how you handle the other sections. If you would rather not post your full ESR publicly, then you can feel free to email or PM it to me directly.

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

anzio129 · Answer

Here you go...thanks!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi anzio129,

Before we discuss the data in your ESR, I've sent you a PM with some additional questions.

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

egmat · Answer

Hi anzio129 , Your ESR has brought to light an important aspect of the test that caused your low score in Quant. In addition to the above mentioned points, I am sharing some more points below from the ESR which will help you in the next attempt: - It seems like you rushed through the 1st block and because of that you got even medium difficulty level questions wrong. - In blocks 2 and 3 you have spent over 2 mins on an average and that improved your accuracy. You got even tougher questions that block 1 correct. - Considering all these and your 4th block performance, it is safe to say that your pacing in this test was not appropriate and this is one thing you must improve in your next attempt to score better. You must spend enough time in the first 2 blocks so that you get a shot at more hard questions which will improve your score. All of these points are in addition to all the points I mentioned earlier. Do write to us at support@e-gmat.com if you have any further queries or need help in creating a step by step plan. Regards, Aditee

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi anzio129,

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT. Assuming that you took your practice exams under realistic testing conditions, the results of your official practice tests show that you should have been able to score higher than 710 on test day. It’s quite possible that nerves, stress, tiredness, or a combination of all three negatively affected your test-day performance. It’s also possible that despite scoring Q47, Q46, and Q45 on your last three exams, you have some lingering quant weaknesses that were exposed on test day.

Moving forward, you need to go through GMAT quant carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. 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 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 around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.

For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then 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 types of questions that you take 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 you currently take 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, strengthen some more areas.

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 quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .

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

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

710 (40Q/48V) Quant advice needed

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards