Ways to improve in both q and v?

Hi Berlin77,

I'm sorry to hear about your test day experience. Given your health issues on the day of the test, it’s impressive that you scored a 600. Don't give up; you can make this happen.

With that said, I think there is still more preparation needed for you to achieve a 700+ GMAT score. With hard work and dedication I'm confident you can hit that score goal.

I see that for your initial GMAT you studied primarily by using the Official Guide. Did you use any other resources? While the Official Guide is a great book because it has official questions from past GMATs, it has limited instruction and does not provide full exposure to all GMAT topics. Thus, for your retake, you may consider seeking out some robust prep materials that provide sufficient practice for you to discover and fix your weak areas. Whatever prep resource you select, ensure that it allows you to do focused learning and practice of one topic at a time: e.g, sentence structure or good reasoning practices for verbal; number properties or rate problems for quant. By learning one topic at a time, and practicing a topic until it sticks, you should be able to improve your knowledge of both quant and verbal. You really want to strive to master the content and skills that the test rewards.

Do you plan to take another CAT? It would be great to see a new score from an MBA.com practice test. One tip: when taking your practice exams try to replicate the test day experience as much as possible. Take your exam in a quiet location, preferably at the same time and day that you will take the scheduled exam. For example, if your GMAT is scheduled for 11am on a Saturday morning, take your practice exams at 11am on Saturdays so that by the time your test rolls around, you will be mentally prepared for an exam given then. Of course, take all sections of the exam, including IR.

Also, given your quant/verbal practice exam score breakdowns, consider a quant to verbal study ratio of about 35 to 65. With that ratio you can focus on improving your verbal score, while also getting a few more points in quant.

If you need further advice, feel free to reach out and I’d be happy to help. Reach back out after you take the practice test.

Best Regards,

Scott

I would suggest ordering the official test report from GMAC and look at your weaknesses. Focus on those first because a more balanced test result leads to a higher score. Also, the best books can be found on this site according to your weaknesses. As for test conditions, I would suggest taking practice tests at different locations to make you more make you more comfortable when test day arrives. Also, test during the time that you sign up for the test during those practice runs to get your body used to taking tests during that time.

Finally, everyone is different in how long it takes them to improve. I started studying for the GMAT over 2 years ago and my first test didn't hit the mark. I have been studying ever since and plan to take it one last time in a less than a couple weeks. I also wish I could have scored higher the first time around, but this is a tough exam. Good luck!