ESR Review & Analysis - [Post Enhanced Score Report Requests here]

Consider checking out Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for CR. For RC, becoming familiar with how INFERENCE questions work could be helpful as well. If you feel your fundamentals are solid, working with a study buddy may be helpful as well. If you can find someone who is strong on RC and CR but needs help with parts of Quant you are great on that could be a good fit.

3 RC tips

Hi sk69,

Were you already familiar with any of the questions in your official practice tests? If you weren't, you are most likely already capable of getting a score higher than 680. However, I would advise you to work on your timing before your next attempt. Aim to finish all the questions.

Hello experts

I need some guidance and could use any suggestions you might have for me.

I took the test on July 26 and scored a 630 - Q45 V31 - well below my target score (730). This is my first attempt. On the test day, I faced a few bold face questions in Verbal as well, which led me to believe I was doing well but turned out that I scored a meagre V31. I have bought the ESR to analyze it and help myself improve the score

I felt like I let myself down in quant and a few sentence correction questions. But this is my gut feeling, I don't know how to interpret this report and I would very much like your help in understanding the ESR. Where should I focus more? What are my strengths (according to the ESR)? Where am I going wrong?

I basically need to understand two things -

What went wrong in the exam? What can I do to make sure I don't do the same mistakes in my next attempt?

I'm a working professional. I must get an MBA degree. I work a minimum of 8-10 hours a day and can dedicate around 4 hours every day to my studies but I feel directionless.

I have the next test date on October, around 50 days left to prepare for it. Any guidance you might have for me would be much much appreciated

Thanks for taking a look at my report!

The following mocks were taken in a span of 2 weeks before exam date.
1st official practice exam:680(not exam conditions)
2nd official practice exam: 690
3rd official practice exam: 700
4th official practice exam: 710
5th official practice exam: 650
All mocks given on month of Oct & Nov
Gave my 1st GMAT after 3 months of prep on Nov 2022. Scored 680(V36 Q47).
Got very busy with life and work, so couldn’t study. Started studying again in April 2023. The following mocks were taken in a span of 2 weeks before exam date.
1st official practice exam:710
2nd official practice exam: 700
3rd official practice exam: 650
4th official practice exam: 720
5th official practice exam: 740
6th official practice exam: 710(only practice exam I did not attempt on my previous try)
2nd GMAT attempt: 620 (Do not remember the split as I cancelled. But maybe V27 Q49 as far as I can recall)
Brushed by on topics for one more month. Specially SC and CR.
3rd GMAT attempt: 650 (V33, Q48)
For the 2nd and 3rd attempt, could not sleep at all the night before exam. I do not know how much this affected my score.
Materials followed: TTP, Manhattan book for SC.

My weaknesses:
• Time. I cannot balance my accuracy and time. Those are inversely proportional for me. In the last exam, I guessed the last 4 questions without reading them.
• CR: No matter what rules I practice, during exam, everything flies out the window. I have learned to discard out of scope question options but cannot select between the last 2.
• SC: The way I approach a SC is I read the sentence, immediately search for mistakes without going to the options. Accordingly, I search for splits and eliminate them. While this works well for most, I miss out the intended meaning of the sentence as I am more focused on finding mistakes. This leads to missing out on facts like- the sentence wants to show contrast (usage of but), but I selected an option with “Not only…but also”.
• RC: No weakness that I can pinpoint out. Maybe taking time in reading passages. In the last try, I rarely practiced RC as my focus was mainly on CR and SC. Maybe practiced 3-4 passages in total.
• General weakness: I miss out important words which affects the answer. This mainly affects my answers for CR and DS. I have also missed questions where I have not read non-underlined portions of SC.
My target score: 730 or above.
Next exam date. 1st week of October.
GMATNinja bb Any inputs or plan will be very much appreciated. I want to give up and apply to the schools with the score I have (680), but being an Indian, the score is not enough for my target schools. And I don’t have it in me to accept the score that I have currently, because I believe I can do better.
I would also like to know what are communication-based questions in SC
Below is my ESR for verbal for the last exam taken. I am not posting my quant as it has always been 47-49, and I am not worried about quant too much.

Hi Experts,
I want an analysis on my ESR report. Also if possible please suggest on what material/test series should I follow.
Material used till now- ExpertsGlobal

ccooley EMPOWERgmatRichC AndrewN GMATNinja GMATWhizTeam AjiteshArun

Hi Srishin

I had a pretty similar ESR (posted earlier in the same thread ) wrt time management.
What worked for me was leaving a question as soon as I knew I was stuck. Because the chances of getting that question correct are pretty low and we end up missing a few easy ones at the end. Sometimes the questions that consume too much time are experimental.

Found this article by Stacey Koprice very useful:
https://poetsandquants.com/2020/12/30/e ... -prep-gmat

Hello Experts,

Kindly help me identify the areas of improvement.

I am seeking to zero in on the exact problem: time management or gaps in concepts. While attempting untimed my performance on gmatclub test's quant is 48-49 and >80% in hard questions in RC and CR. Kindly help me understand how to solve quant questions within 2 mins as I am consuming around 1:30 in reading and understanding the question.

Thanks.

SpartanX

If you felt pressed for time, consider using question/time markers. Might be worth checking out Manhattan-Prep's 6th Edition for SC and CR as well. For SC, memorizing commonly tested idioms may also help that part a bit.

SC Idiom list

Hello everyone,

I recently took the GMAT and scored 710 (Q49, V37), but I am aiming for a score above 760. In my last three mock tests, I consistently scored high (760, 740, 740, 710, 740, 730), taking them on consecutive days. However, I'm puzzled about the drop in my actual score.

In the Quant section, I was doing quite well, but I struggled with time management in the last few questions, which was unexpected. I'm surprised my score wasn't at least 50. As for Verbal, I encountered some timing issues, despite my efforts to keep a steady pace. This is a concern for me, as it didn't seem to affect my performance in the practice mocks. My previous GMAT attempt resulted in a 670 (Q48, V35), so this outcome is quite disheartening.

I would greatly appreciate any advice or strategies to help improve my performance, especially regarding time management and maintaining consistency under pressure.

I've attached my ESR for reference. Please let me know if you need any more information.

Thank you in advance for your support.


ESR Images link. Sorry for some reason gmat club image button is not worrking so attached link:

https://ibb.co/d4gtpBj
https://ibb.co/mvnF1qD
https://ibb.co/6Xd4HVv
https://ibb.co/4McLY80

Consider using question/time markers. If you feel your fundamentals are solid, working on your solving approach may help a bit. Had a 6-hour student who went from a V31 to a V40 in about 30 days, for example. Perhaps include working with a study buddy into your prep who is strong in areas you're not (there's a study buddy thread on gmatclub you can check out). You can check out Manhattan Prep's 6th Edition for SC and CR as well.

How to get a V40 or higher on the GMAT? What about a V51?

Dear all, another disappointed test-taker with a hilarious 20-point drop here.

1st 590 (Q41/V31/AWA4/IR5)
2nd 570 (Q35/V34/AWA5/IR6)
Mocks 580 (Q41) and 660 (Q44.)

If it's important, I've always been comfortable with time tracking. During my 1st attempt, I had 5 minutes to spare on Q (and did more guestimations in the last quarter of QQ.) During my second attempt, I was perfectly on time for all the sections. However, based on ESR, now I think maybe I should invest more time in the first two quarters and do more guessing toward the end.
Wouldn't call anxiety during the test day a problem: always liked test centers and exam vibes. I felt way more anxious (or rather reluctant and dull) doing practice tests at home.

Will apply in R2 with 590 explained in an essay + solid recommendation letters about my recent proven record in budgeting and fundraising; and have the third attempt on Jan 25.
Need realistically-ideally 660, could do with 640.

I've started my studies in June, 3-4 h/day except for Sundays, 75% time for Q and 25% for V. I used to study with TTP exclusively, including Online Classes, till my 1st attempt. After that I mostly switched to Manhattan All-The-Verbal for V (and felt a notable difference in understanding after combining these two sources though I spent only 1 week on V theory besides GMAT Club daily QQ) and a mix of sources for Q: revised theory from TTP + did easy and medium questions from OG + had a general math tutor + did GMAT Club questions with revision (I guess, not enough of the latter...), focusing mostly on sub-650 QQ.

I had mental health issues + stressful work deadlines between my first and second attempts and with that, despite the 50-day span, I was able to actually study only the last 4-3 weeks leading to the test. Now, thankfully, I've sorted everything out.

For this sprint, I ordered All-The-Quant + CR and RC Bibles. Considering private tutoring from GmatWhiz for Q, in part, for the sake of commitment because commitments inspire me to do more.
Planning to do at least 3 official mocks with thorough revision, maybe, from my co-working space, experimenting in part with dedicating more time for the first half of the sections. TTP subscription is over.

Looking for guidance in creating the best strategy for this remaining time and insights and advice on my test-taking style.

If it matters, I'd been SO not a math person till this June when I started my studies. With a BA in Philology and only battlefield experience in business (startups and tech on the product side), I literally didn't know what factorial was before my studies, and never had I ever done any prime factorization in my life before either. You got the idea. That said, my Q progress is significant relatively but not absolutely. I've been dreaming of developing "math thinking" for a while, and now I finally feel the shift. But that's not enough So I have huge motivation to improve.

Thank you so much for your willingness to help! I'll pay it forward.