Best Way To Go From 700 to 720

Question

I recently sat for the GMAT exam and scored 700. This was a significant increase from when I sat for the exam in December and got 610. But, all of my increase was in verbal. My 700 score consists of scaled scores of 44 in quantitative and 42 in verbal.

I've got work to do in improving my quantitative. I would like to see my quantitative score increase to 47 or 48.

The materials that I've used so far in my preparation are:

Manhattan GMAT series of books
MGMAT Advanced Quant book
GMAT Official Guide 2017
GMAT Official Guide Quant Review 2017
GMAT Official Guide Verbal Review 2017
GMAT Prep Tests 1-6
GMAT Prep Question Pack 1

I plan to sit for the test again in 3 months.

So, the question I would like to ask is where should I spend my time and money? For example, should I just revisit the Manhattan book chapters for the areas I am most weak in? I have read a lot of possibly good sources for study on GMATClub such as Math Revolution, GMATClub Tests, Magoosh, Veritas Prep, Empower GMAT. Should I invest time and money in one of those? If so, which one? Should I get a private tutor? If so, from where, Manhattan GMAT private tutor?

Although, I will say that I am hesitant to hire a private tutor because I think it would be difficult to identify a very good one. And, I think someone telling me that I need to learn a certain concept will not necessarily result in me learning that concept. In other words, I can buy a bicycle to lose weight, but I have to ride that bicycle on a regular basis in order to actually lose the weight.

Anyhow, I am asking for some practical advice on where I can BEST spend my time and money over the next few months in order to achieve my goal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated by me. Thank you.

twilliams · Answer

Again, I would greatly appreciate anyone's thoughts on this. Maybe I just need to revisit and really focus on improving my weak areas. Or, maybe I could really benefit from using GMATClub tests. I would really appreciate some help and advice. Thank you again.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi twilliams,

To start, with a 700 you have an outstanding score and you can certainly apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest might not be necessary. 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:

Studies:
1) How long did you study before each attempt at the GMAT?
2) What were your Official Scores for each attempt (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?

Goals:
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

twilliams · Answer

Hi Rich! Thank you for replying. My answers to your questions are as follows:

I studied 5 months before my attempt in December and studied 4 months before my attempt in April.
My official scores for each attempt are 610(q44/v29) and 700(q44/v42).
I plan on applying to business school this Fall.
Some of the schools that I plan on applying to include University of Tennessee and University of Pittsburgh.

My big concern is not so much my overall score. Although, I would feel more comfortable with an overall score of 720. My bigger concern is that I am worried that my quant and verbal might appear to some as too heavily weighted towards verbal. Specifically, my latest quant/verbal percentile scores are 52%/96% respectively. Maybe I am concerned about nothing, but I would feel more comfortable with a quant percentile score of 60% or above.

I really do think that if I worked on improving my 3 or 4 weak quant areas, then I would stand a really good chance of improving my quant score to 47 or 48. And, I am not sure, but my guess is that I really don't have to improve my quant score by much in order to get to 47 or 48. Is that true?

But, I think I need guidance from the experts here on where to best spend my time. It could be that I just need to simply go back to my MGMAT books and study the areas and related OG questions where I am weak. Or, maybe I would be better served by additionally using some other resources. I know that there is no easy way to improve a quant score except through hard work, but I am just thinking that some methods and resources for improving a quant score may be more effective than others.

Please let me know what you think. And, thank you very much.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi twilliams,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. As such, anyone who scores 700 on the GMAT could have easily scored 720 - and Business Schools understand that fact. As such, raising your GMAT Score another 20 points would likely not make your OVERALL application that much stronger - and your time might be better served working on improving OTHER aspects of your applications.

That having been said, there's no harm in continuing to study if you like. A Q44 means that you were great on most of the 'math questions' that you faced in the Quant section, but you made a few little mistakes as you worked through the section AND you missed out on LOTS of 'strategy-based' questions. The Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test' - it's a 'critical thinking test' that requires lots of little calculations as you work through it. To score at a much higher level in this section, you would need to become more of a 'strategist' and less of a 'mathematician.'

You could potentially improve a great deal with just a month of consistent, guided study. However, since you earned the same Quant Scaled Score after this last 4 months of additional study, it's likely that you have developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to 'fix' (and replace with new 'good habits'). If you're "stubborn" about adjusting how you handle the Quant section, then it would take longer to hit that higher level.

1) Assuming that you want to continue studying and retest, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week going forward?

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

twilliams · Answer

Thanks for the great advice! I will think about what you said. It is very good to hear that business schools understand that my score is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. I am still a little concerned about my quant score being a little low for having gotten an overall of 700.

When I prepped for my most recent test, I spent the majority of my time studying the MGMAT Advanced Quant book. It helped me to better "strategize" as you said. For example, I think I have improved a lot with my ability to adequately "rephrase" questions into a more meaningful and easier to evaluate question. Plus, I now pay much closer attention to problem constraints. This book helped me to realize that I was losing points by not paying adequate attention to problem constraints. But, I definitely can get better at rephrasing and paying attention to constraints.

Although, after all of this work I have to say I am puzzled as to why my quant score did not improve from my December test to my April test. I know that I was not nearly as nervous during my April test and that is why I think my verbal score improved so much.

I reviewed my most recent practice tests and I am still weak in Divisibility & Primes, Inequalities, Coordinate Plane, and to a much lesser extent also need to improve in Triangles & Diagonals, Exponents & Roots, and Combinatorics.

In terms of study time, I would say I have about 10-12 hours per week to dedicate to study.

Recommendations on where I should best invest my time, I would greatly appreciate. Thank you.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi twilliams,

Based on what you've described, I think that while your general math knowledge and organization are probably better than they were before, you didn't actually change the TACTICS that you were using as you worked through the Quant section of the GMAT on this 2nd attempt - and that's why you scored Q44 both times. Unfortunately, working through an 'Advanced Quant' Book is not the proper 'fix' to that problem. As an aside, a Q44 means that you missed out on a bunch of 'gettable' questions (that were NOT 'advanced') on Test Day. Your 'needs' in the Quant section are really about learning and practicing the proper Tactics (Tactics that apply to questions of ALL difficulty types) - and as I said before, you could potentially earn a higher Quant Scaled Score if you can adjust to more of a strategic mindset.

Based on everything that you've described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Quant Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in under a month, but your goal should NOT be on trying to 'rush' through any of that material - your goal is to properly practice the Tactics so that you can comfortably use them any time that they apply (and the training time you might need to get to THAT ability level might be more than a month). 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

twilliams · Answer

Rich, could you tell me a little bit more about the EmpowerGMAT Quant Booster and/or direct me to where I could read a little bit about it? It sounds interesting.

Also, if other experts on the forum could provide their thoughts to me on this issue I would greatly appreciate it! Just to summarize, I am planning on either doing an in-depth self study of my weak areas using the MGMAT books and/or supplementing that with another resource that will help me. But, I am trying to stay away from resources that are too broad. I believe I need a resource that will help me strengthen my weak areas and also that will help my improve my question tactics. Some of the other resources that I am thinking of using are the GMAT Club Tests, Manhattan GMAT Online course, or EmpowerGMAT. My study window is about 2 to 3 months. Again, I would greatly appreciate advice. Thank you.

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