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09 Jul 2026, 20:45
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi everyone,
I recently took the GMAT for the first time and scored 545.
My section scores were:
Q79 | V76 | DI76
I studied for around 6 months before the test. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the result because I had put in a lot of time and effort. However, since this was my first official attempt, I am trying to treat it as a learning experience and use it to improve my next attempt.
My main challenge is Verbal. I come from a country where English is not widely spoken, so English proficiency is one of the biggest issues for me. During preparation, I felt that I could understand many of the concepts, but under timed conditions, Verbal became much harder. I sometimes struggled with reading speed, understanding complex sentence structures, and staying accurate when the passages or questions became dense.
Quant and Data Insights were also not perfect, but I feel that Verbal is the area where I need the most improvement if I want to reach my target score.
My target scores are:
Primary target: 655
Stretch target: 695+
What I learned from my first attempt
The biggest lesson from this attempt is that knowing the concepts is not enough. I need to improve my timing, consistency, and test-taking strategy. I also realized that the official test environment feels different from studying at home, so I need to practice more under realistic timed conditions.
Another lesson is that I should spend more time reviewing my mistakes deeply instead of only doing more questions. I think I need to understand why I got questions wrong, whether it was because of poor comprehension, weak fundamentals, timing pressure, or careless mistakes.
My current plan
For my next attempt, I plan to focus more on:
I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has improved from a similar score range to 655+ or 695+, especially non-native English speakers.
What would you recommend for improving Verbal?
How should I structure my prep from here?
Are there any resources, strategies, or study plans that helped you make a big score jump?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
I recently took the GMAT for the first time and scored 545.
My section scores were:
Q79 | V76 | DI76
I studied for around 6 months before the test. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the result because I had put in a lot of time and effort. However, since this was my first official attempt, I am trying to treat it as a learning experience and use it to improve my next attempt.
My main challenge is Verbal. I come from a country where English is not widely spoken, so English proficiency is one of the biggest issues for me. During preparation, I felt that I could understand many of the concepts, but under timed conditions, Verbal became much harder. I sometimes struggled with reading speed, understanding complex sentence structures, and staying accurate when the passages or questions became dense.
Quant and Data Insights were also not perfect, but I feel that Verbal is the area where I need the most improvement if I want to reach my target score.
My target scores are:
Primary target: 655
Stretch target: 695+
What I learned from my first attempt
The biggest lesson from this attempt is that knowing the concepts is not enough. I need to improve my timing, consistency, and test-taking strategy. I also realized that the official test environment feels different from studying at home, so I need to practice more under realistic timed conditions.
Another lesson is that I should spend more time reviewing my mistakes deeply instead of only doing more questions. I think I need to understand why I got questions wrong, whether it was because of poor comprehension, weak fundamentals, timing pressure, or careless mistakes.
My current plan
For my next attempt, I plan to focus more on:
- Improving Verbal fundamentals, especially reading comprehension and critical reasoning
- Building stronger English reading habits to improve speed and understanding
- Reviewing every mistake carefully and keeping an error log
- Taking more timed practice sets and full mock tests
- Strengthening Quant and DI so that I do not lose easy points there
I would really appreciate advice from anyone who has improved from a similar score range to 655+ or 695+, especially non-native English speakers.
What would you recommend for improving Verbal?
How should I structure my prep from here?
Are there any resources, strategies, or study plans that helped you make a big score jump?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
10 Jul 2026, 06:04
Kudos
Bookmarks
A 545 after six months of real effort is not a result to be discouraged by, especially with English as a second language. You sat the official exam and came away with data about where you stand.
The biggest thing in your post is worth reframing. You said knowing the concepts is not enough and that you now need to improve timing and test-taking strategy. What felt like a timing problem under test conditions is usually a sign that the underlying skill is not yet automatic. When you understand the concepts but can't apply them quickly and accurately under pressure, the fix is rarely to train speed as a separate skill. Speed is a byproduct of skill. The goal is not to get faster at Verbal. It is to get better at Verbal, and the speed follows. This matters even more for a non-native speaker. Reading fluency does affect performance, but the fix is not to read faster. Rushing your reading lowers accuracy, and speed-readers usually score worse, not better. Read more slowly and carefully so your comprehension is complete on the first pass, and build that comprehension over time by actively reading high-quality publications that match the density of GMAT passages.
The two Verbal question types call for different things. For Reading Comprehension, don't memorize every detail. Understand the structure: the main point, why each paragraph exists, the author's opinion, and where key details sit. Too slow loses time, too fast loses accuracy, and the middle ground is reading for purpose and organization. Go back to the passage to confirm, since it stays on screen the whole time. For Critical Reasoning, the process depends on the question type. When a conclusion is present, know exactly what it is before you touch the choices. Don't force every question into one template. First identify what the question is asking you to do, then read the stimulus with that task in mind.
On error review, your instinct is right. Just go one level deeper than logging what you got wrong. For every miss, ask why: a concept you didn't know, a misread, a genuine careless slip, or a trap answer. Be honest with the "careless" label especially, because what feels like carelessness is very often a skill that holds up untimed and breaks down under the clock. The most useful log sorts misses by topic and difficulty so you can see where gaps cluster. Doing that by hand is hard, which is where a structured course with a built-in error tracker helps, since it categorizes for you and surfaces where your weaknesses actually are.
If your six months came from scattered resources, the highest-leverage change is moving to one clear, comprehensive, structured course that lets you learn topic by topic and track your accuracy as you go. Verbal is your priority, but don't treat Quant and Data Insights as afterthoughts. All three sections are weighted equally, so a point gained in Quant moves your total exactly as much as one gained in Verbal.
Hold off on full-length mocks for now. A mock taken before you've rebuilt the skill mostly confirms gaps you already know about. Practice untimed first, get your accuracy consistently high one topic at a time, then add timing in short sets, and only then bring in full mocks for stamina and section management. Foundation first, mocks later.
A 545 to 655 jump is very achievable with this approach. The 695-plus stretch is a bigger reach that requires deep mastery across all three sections, so treat it as the goal you build toward rather than measure yourself against each week.
This article speaks directly to scoring high in Verbal: How to Score High on GMAT Verbal.
The biggest thing in your post is worth reframing. You said knowing the concepts is not enough and that you now need to improve timing and test-taking strategy. What felt like a timing problem under test conditions is usually a sign that the underlying skill is not yet automatic. When you understand the concepts but can't apply them quickly and accurately under pressure, the fix is rarely to train speed as a separate skill. Speed is a byproduct of skill. The goal is not to get faster at Verbal. It is to get better at Verbal, and the speed follows. This matters even more for a non-native speaker. Reading fluency does affect performance, but the fix is not to read faster. Rushing your reading lowers accuracy, and speed-readers usually score worse, not better. Read more slowly and carefully so your comprehension is complete on the first pass, and build that comprehension over time by actively reading high-quality publications that match the density of GMAT passages.
The two Verbal question types call for different things. For Reading Comprehension, don't memorize every detail. Understand the structure: the main point, why each paragraph exists, the author's opinion, and where key details sit. Too slow loses time, too fast loses accuracy, and the middle ground is reading for purpose and organization. Go back to the passage to confirm, since it stays on screen the whole time. For Critical Reasoning, the process depends on the question type. When a conclusion is present, know exactly what it is before you touch the choices. Don't force every question into one template. First identify what the question is asking you to do, then read the stimulus with that task in mind.
On error review, your instinct is right. Just go one level deeper than logging what you got wrong. For every miss, ask why: a concept you didn't know, a misread, a genuine careless slip, or a trap answer. Be honest with the "careless" label especially, because what feels like carelessness is very often a skill that holds up untimed and breaks down under the clock. The most useful log sorts misses by topic and difficulty so you can see where gaps cluster. Doing that by hand is hard, which is where a structured course with a built-in error tracker helps, since it categorizes for you and surfaces where your weaknesses actually are.
If your six months came from scattered resources, the highest-leverage change is moving to one clear, comprehensive, structured course that lets you learn topic by topic and track your accuracy as you go. Verbal is your priority, but don't treat Quant and Data Insights as afterthoughts. All three sections are weighted equally, so a point gained in Quant moves your total exactly as much as one gained in Verbal.
Hold off on full-length mocks for now. A mock taken before you've rebuilt the skill mostly confirms gaps you already know about. Practice untimed first, get your accuracy consistently high one topic at a time, then add timing in short sets, and only then bring in full mocks for stamina and section management. Foundation first, mocks later.
A 545 to 655 jump is very achievable with this approach. The 695-plus stretch is a bigger reach that requires deep mastery across all three sections, so treat it as the goal you build toward rather than measure yourself against each week.
This article speaks directly to scoring high in Verbal: How to Score High on GMAT Verbal.
arscarlet
