Can you help me go from a 620 to a 650?

Question

I started my GMAT Prep last year in December and have had solid improvements since. Unfortunately, I am still not quite where I want to be before I apply to school. My undergrad is in mechanical engineering and I have a math minor. Strangely enough, I am performing much better in the verbal section that in the quant. From my understanding, engineers should be strong in the quant section. I have exhausted all of my resources...the official guides and have gone through the Manhattan gmat books thoroughly twice. What do I need to do to reach my goal of a 650? My GMAT prep, official, and MGMAT scores are take in the order as follows:

GMATPREP Q36 V25 530
MGMAT1 Q37 V28 540
MGMAT2 Q39 V32 590
MGMAT3 Q40 V28 560
MGMAT4 Q38 V30 570
MGMAT5 Q41 V32 600
MGMAT6 Q39 V32 590
GMATPREP Q43 V31 610
GMATACTUAL Q40 V35 620

I am planning on retaking the gmat in a month or so and would greatly appreciate any advice. I have highly considered signing up for MaGoosh or one of the other preps as I have exhausted my resources. I believe that I should be able to perform much better on the Quant section given my strong math background...maybe my approach is wrong... Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Skywalker18 · Answer

Hi kpadge92 , - Magoosh on demand - decent ROI - For Quant - Manhattan or Veritas prep guides are good - Use this to revise your basics - GMAT Club tests are fantastic for quant practice. - Also , solve the questions in Bunuel's signature and also have heard good reviews about Ian's stewart's math problem sets . Hope this helps!!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kpadge92,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, most of your various CAT score results show that you essentially performed way the same each time (+/- a few points) and that your current ability level is right around a 600. The 'good news' is that you could have very easily scored 650 when you took the Official GMAT; the 'bad news' is that you haven't done it yet (even on your practice CATs), so it's possible that you've gotten 'stuck' at this score level.

A certain number of 'math thinkers' (re: engineers, bankers, accountants, etc.) end up having some issues with the Quant section of the GMAT. That section is NOT a 'math test' - it's a 'critical thinking test' that requires lots of little calculations - you have to change the way you 'see' (and respond to) that section. With a Q40, you would have actually made lots of little mistakes throughout the section and you missed out on lots of 'strategy-based' points.

Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. With a month of proper, guided study, you could very easily score 650+.

1) Going forward, how many hours can you consistently study each week?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

cesarucv · Answer

I think if you take some prep course you can reach the 650 level without problems. You can improve your quant score up to 47-48 level.

Good luck :D

SUPERSARS · Answer

I think the Quant section is unique in the GMAT in that ir has DS type questions. I think you need to isolate your weaknesses in these CATs and understand where your mistakes. Are you weaker with inequalities/statistics/geometry type questions for example? or is the DS questions that are troubling you? Then you need to focus on the theory or how to tackle these types of questions. You can purchase question packs or practice on the forum for example.

DAVEexamPAL · Answer

Hey kpadge92
You're score is already good, and you need a bit of a push to climb over the hump. 
The way I see, there are three kinds of possible improvement that can be relevant for you:
-  Professional  improvement: as in, you just don't know some of the material well enough yet. Perhaps this is the casein Quant. Ask yourself: are some of your mistakes here coming from simply not being sure what a formula or rule is? If so, go over the relevant material. Ie don’t recommend starting by tackling the hard questions directly; this is like treating the symptoms only. Getting to understand the material well treats the condition.
 -  Strategic Improvement : This could be relevant if the trouble you're having with the practice tests has to do with not having enough time? If so, this entails examining your entire approach towards solving the different sections, and thinking of ways to optimize your results. A prime example of this is figuring out how to plan your time for each section: how much time should you give an average question? Should you divide your time evenly, or plan for less time on easy questions and more on hard ones? Since the GMAT is an adaptive test that uses your first few questions to establish your level, should you give the first 10 questions more time?
If you see there isn’t enough time in a certain section, you should figure out beforehand how many questions you plan to solve and how many you’ll guess.

-  Fine-Tuning : this is the easiest route, and thus may be the most cost effective. Are you making mistakes that don’t derive from lack of knowledge, but from simple lapses in concentration? If so, there may be some simple fixes you can make to your question-solving system, which may make a big difference.
The main rule of thumb you must remember is that the fewer details you have to remember, the freer your mind is to actually think. For this reason, we recommend writing down as much as possible: maybe it will help you to write down a few pesky formulas right at the start of the test section. Maybe for questions with lots of confusing wording you’ll benefit from writing down a short summary. Maybe by the time you go over all the answers, you forget which ones are right and wrong,and it’ll help you to write down the letters A-E and cross out each one as you eliminate it in your head.

Hope this helps.

MathRevolution · Answer

Hi kpadge92,

GMAT Math is logic math test, rather than math skill test. That's why students majoring in engineering or math have hard time in improving math scores. You should learn 'logic' to solve GMAT math. Since you have an engineering background, we assume that your basic skills are better than average students.

We highly recommend learning our approaches. Since it takes about 76 hours (2400 questions) to complete our course (All-In-One 51), you will surely hit your target score by learning our approaches.

With our unique approaches of Variable approach for DS and IVY approach for PS, you can significantly save time, and will have 10 minutes to spare on exam. For instance, with our approaches, you can solve questions that normally take 4 minutes in 1 minutes and 30 seconds, and 2-minute question in 30 seconds.
Also, You can solve DS questions 100% with Variable approach and 30-40% of PS questions with IVY approach.

If you would like to try our approaches, Please try Trial Pack (4 hour lesson) that reveal our secret approaches of DS+PS core theory that you have never seen. You can test whether you like them or not before you enroll.

Additionally, the below is a useful article featured in GMAT Club for your reference. This will be helpful for you. You can see what sort of questions you might encounter on actual GMAT.

· Most Updated Math Trend : https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of-g ... 11809.html

Also, we would like to share the link below.
This is not testimonial but just comments of our students' real voice after they take an exam.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/math-revoluti ... 24118.html
You can also do the same if you study with us!

Come visit our website for further information!
www.mathrevolution.com

Happy Studying!

Jin
Math Revolution

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