Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt : Ask GMAT Experts

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EMPOWERgmatRichC

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

03 Mar 2023, 14:55

Expert Reply

Hi rvaGMAT,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2nd attempt did not turn out better. The similarity in your 2 Official Scores implies that you developed some 'bad habits' during your earlier studies that are keeping you from scoring higher - and to score deep into the 700s, you will have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. 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) What type of schedule was your class/course and what homework/study materials did it provide?
2) What GMAT Score would you comfortable applying with?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). Since you purchased the ESR for your 1st attempt (and you might purchase the ESR for your 2nd attempt), then I'll be happy to analyze it/them for you.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

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GmatKnightTutor

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Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

03 Mar 2023, 15:52

In case you're looking for fresh Official Questions, consider purchasing the Online only question banks through the main MBA website. When it comes to mocks, Official Mocks 3-4 would be a solid purchase. Fair to say these mocks (OM 1-6) best represent the actual exam compared to non-Official ones.

Quote:

GMAT Exam (1st Attempt): 640 (Q47 V31 IR 7) 21.11.2022

Quote:

GMAT Exam (2nd Attempt): 650 (Q49 V30 IR 5) 28.02.2023

This person went from a V31 to a V40 in about 30 days on a retake. They took a bit of tutoring (6 hrs SA) but also mention some tips/resources you could quickly check out.

All the best.

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rvaGMAT

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

04 Mar 2023, 00:02

MartyTargetTestPrep wrote:

Hi rvaGMAT.

You should take your next GMAT only when your practice question accuracies are very high and your practice test scores indicate that you're ready to achieve your score goal.

Regarding your preparation, only so much can be taught in a classroom. So, I'm wondering what you've done to prepare other than taking the class.

I get the sense that you need to study concepts more and perhaps practice in more effective ways.

Regarding Quant, you know what your weaker areas are. So, your move is to review the concepts and strategies associated with those areas and do practice questions in those areas until you basically always get them correct.

Hi MartyTargetTestPrep,

Thanks for promptly replying and providing some insights. I studied for classroom course during initial two months; thereon it was self study with only official resources.
I would like to know which resources should I use for practice (especially verbal) after exhausting most of the official ones. Would it be useful to revisit official questions post concept learnings. I tend to remember options or line of reasoning for the questions I have already solved.

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rvaGMAT

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

04 Mar 2023, 00:23

ScottTargetTestPrep wrote:

Hi rvaGMAT,

I see Marty has provided some fantastic advice. One thing I want to caution you on is burning yourself out. I realize you are not working but studying 8 to 10 hours a day could take quite a toll, so make sure you are not pushing yourself too hard. Also, please keep us updated as you move forward with your prep.

Hi ScottTargetTestPrep,

Thanks for the advice. I have at times felt the grind but am determined to score as lately life is not that rosy for me. Btw while studying I take breaks in between, exercise and practice mindfulness meditation.
I will definitely update you about my progress and hope to write in future one of those posts in which people share their success stories and motivate others.

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rvaGMAT

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

04 Mar 2023, 00:58

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi rvaGMAT,

I'm sorry to hear that your 2nd attempt did not turn out better. The similarity in your 2 Official Scores implies that you developed some 'bad habits' during your earlier studies that are keeping you from scoring higher - and to score deep into the 700s, you will have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thanks for the advice. You rightly pointed out the 'bad habits' which comes into play when I have timing issues during the test.

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

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) What type of schedule was your class/course and what homework/study materials did it provide?
2) What GMAT Score would you comfortable applying with?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

1) Course had 3hrs session for 4 days a week with a total duration of almost 2 months and study material was the overlap of OG and their paraphrased in-house questions segregated topic wise with some prerequisite theory.
2) 760 or above
3) Fall '24, with mostly top 15 US b-schools or ISB, IIM-A & IIM-B as an alternative. I'm open to suggestions about this, as my current priority is to secure a score good enough to have me considered for scholarships. I'm interested in corporate strategy and general management domain while having a relevant Work Exp. of 6yrs.

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). Since you purchased the ESR for your 1st attempt (and you might purchase the ESR for your 2nd attempt), then I'll be happy to analyze it/them for you.

As I have fewer than required posts to upload attachment here, I will mail you the ESRs.

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rvaGMAT

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

04 Mar 2023, 01:10

GmatTutorKnight wrote:

In case you're looking for fresh Official Questions, consider purchasing the Online only question banks through the main MBA website. When it comes to mocks, Official Mocks 3-4 would be a solid purchase. Fair to say these mocks (OM 1-6) best represent the actual exam compared to non-Official ones.

Quote:

GMAT Exam (1st Attempt): 640 (Q47 V31 IR 7) 21.11.2022

Quote:

GMAT Exam (2nd Attempt): 650 (Q49 V30 IR 5) 28.02.2023

This person went from a V31 to a V40 in about 30 days on a retake. They took a bit of tutoring (6 hrs SA) but also mention some tips/resources you could quickly check out.

All the best.

Thanks for your advice. I would appreciate if you can suggest which resources should I use for practice after exhausting most of the official ones. Also would it be sufficient to give only two mocks during this attempt. Moreover could you please suggest when would be the right time to use official mocks 3-4 during the time of preparation as now I know their relevance w.r.t. actual tests.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

04 Mar 2023, 18:17

Expert Reply

Hi Varun,

To start, since you are interested in applying to some highly-competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement (and the more time that you have to act on that advice, the better). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

I've sent you an email with an analysis of your ESR and some additional notes and questions.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

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EducationAisle

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

05 Mar 2023, 04:01

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rvaGMAT wrote:

Verbal Weakness: (TOP priority)
SC- during exams not able to identify POE and try solving each question with meaning based approach which takes 2min on average.
--
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5. I do anticipate exam anxiety plays a role because while solving SC questions in exams I'm unable to identify POE whereas while practicing or during mocks that is not the case.

Hi rvaGMAT, since you mention SC as your specific area of concern, thought I would mention that our sentence correction book Sentence Correction Nirvana is perhaps the only book that offers a score improvement guarantee, and is especially designed for non-native speakers.

After reading the book twice (yes! it's an academic book, and so must be read twice in all seriousness, to reinforce the concepts), you will start looking forward to solving SC questions!

The book is available on Flipkart and Amazon.in. You might want to refer to these sites, to also read testimonials of how readers have benefited.

You can als go thru this post on how Soubhik, who scored V51 (overall score 780), vouches for our book.

If you want to sample a chapter before deciding to go ahead with our book, please PM me your mail-id (along with the chapter that you would like to sample) and I will be happy to send that chapter to you by mail. In addition, the entire Grammar section of the book is also available for free preview at pothi.

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KarishmaB

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

05 Mar 2023, 04:36

Expert Reply

rvaGMAT wrote:

Hi,

This is my first post on GMAT club. I have never been able to contribute something new to the forum as almost everything is already posted ages ago and yet relevant (thanks to bb and all experts), and I consider myself too naïve to resolve others queries. I'm an Indian Male non-IT Engineer (partially doomed as per souvik101990 definition) and targeting a score good enough to have me considered for scholarships (did someone said 760+ ?).

I have been studying for about 6 months after signing up for a GMAT classroom coaching course late last year. I have access to the GMAT Official Guide 2022, GMAT Quant Review 2022 & GMAT Verbal Advance 2020 questions and I have quite a few questions left. I had also purchased official GMAT tests 5 & 6. My mock & GMAT exam scores were as follows:

Practice Exam 1: 620 (Q46 V30 IR 2) 15.11.2022 (Q-12 incorrect, V-15 incorrect)
Practice Exam 2: 640 (Q48 V30 IR 4) 17.11.2022 (Q-14 incorrect, V-16 incorrect)
GMAT Exam (1st Attempt): 640 (Q47 V31 IR 7) 21.11.2022

Practice Exam 5: 610 (Q49 V25 IR 8) 16.02.2023 (Q-7 incorrect, V-19 incorrect)
Practice Exam 1: 690 (Q49 V35 IR 5) 22.02.2023 (Q-10 incorrect, V-15 incorrect) Reattempt
Practice Exam 2: 690 (Q45 V39 IR 4) 23.02.2023 (Q-13 incorrect, V-10 incorrect) Reattempt
Practice Exam 6: 670 (Q49 V31 IR 8) 25.02.2023 (Q-4 incorrect, V-10 incorrect)
GMAT Exam (2nd Attempt): 650 (Q49 V30 IR 5) 28.02.2023

Please note that in between official mocks, I took coaching centers non-adaptive mocks in which I scored in the range of (620-700)

My GMAT Exam (1st Attempt) date was booked as per admissions deadline while my 2nd Attempt date was booked in first week of Jan'23 in consultation with coaching center tutors. I have ESR of 1st Attempt and about to purchase the same for 2nd Attempt.
In last three days from GMAT 2nd Attempt, I watched GMATNinja SC & RC videos which I found as an eye opener but due to lack of time didn't practice them.
I have been studying for 5-6 hours on weekdays and 10-12 hours on weekends.

Verbal Weakness: (TOP priority)
SC- during exams not able to identify POE and try solving each question with meaning based approach which takes 2min on average.
CR- struggle a bit with evaluate & assumption type 700+ level questions
RC- find difficult to eliminate options in inference and primary purpose question types

Quant Weakness: (greed for perfection)
Probability- in general
Inequalities DS type- find difficult to digest that option E could be an answer, causing wastage of time in cross-verifying multiple times
Word problems- any difficulty level consumes on average 3 min/question

Pain points:
1. What resources to use (exhausted almost 90% official questions from above stated books)
2. How to use (Study plan)
3. Which non-official/official mocks to use (Official Practice Exam 3 & 4 not yet purchased)
3. When to book a test and for which date (this time planning to take online test unlike last two test centers ones)
4. How to strike balance between speed and accuracy (in all mocks & GMAT exams, I guessed last 4-5 questions in verbal and 2-3 questions in Quant due to poor time management)
5. I do anticipate exam anxiety plays a role because while solving SC questions in exams I'm unable to identify POE whereas while practicing or during mocks that is not the case.
6. I feel stuck as I'm able to identify my weakness, but due to anxiety or timing issues I revert back to solving questions in my hardwired methods.

Need help from some experts to guide the way forward as this will be my third and final attempt and I'm ready to devote 8-10 hours per day as I have resigned from my job.

For your target score, you need V40+. This means you must be brilliant at atleast 2 of the 3 question types in Verbal.

It is not enough to do all the official questions. The point is to first understand the fundamentals being tested and then apply them on official questions.
I doubt you remember the answer to SC official questions. Use an SC prep book to understand the concepts of 'clear, easy to understand and unambiguous' use of language and then apply those on official questions.
For CR and RC, you can use LSAT questions once you exhaust official GMAT questions though you will need to be mindful in CR since some question types are not tested in GMAT. But this is more so as a last resort.

As for practice tests, 2 are enough since their purpose is diagnostic and little else. You took the official GMAT just a few days ago so get its ESR and it might tell you your weak areas. After a month or so of consistent effort, you could take a practice test and that would tell you what to work on going forward. Take the second one after another month and again it will tell you what to work on.

Keep practicing Quant meanwhile to maintain Q49 (or higher). Q 49/50 would not be a differentiating factor.

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

10 Mar 2023, 08:16

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rvaGMAT wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I have at times felt the grind but am determined to score as lately life is not that rosy for me. Btw while studying I take breaks in between, exercise and practice mindfulness meditation.
I will definitely update you about my progress and hope to write in future one of those posts in which people share their success stories and motivate others.

Thanks for the response. I’m here if you need me.

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MartyTargetTestPrep

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Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

25 Mar 2023, 17:55

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rvaGMAT wrote:

Hi MartyTargetTestPrep,

Thanks for promptly replying and providing some insights. I studied for classroom course during initial two months; thereon it was self study with only official resources.
I would like to know which resources should I use for practice (especially verbal) after exhausting most of the official ones. Would it be useful to revisit official questions post concept learnings. I tend to remember options or line of reasoning for the questions I have already solved.

For Verbal, it's definitely helpful to revisit questions after you've learned more concepts.

You can learn a lot by analyzing Verbal practice questions even if you know which answer is correct since the key challenge of Verbal questions articulating what's going on in each choice.

Also, there are some good third-party Verbal practice questions you can use if you use up all the official ones.

For Quant, there are many good third-party practice questions.

gmatclubot

Re: Expert advice and study plan for 3rd and final attempt [#permalink]

25 Mar 2023, 17:55