First Practice Exam - 35V, 44Q = 650 total

Question

Hi,

I did my first practice exam on mba and scored a 650.

I acquired the Mprep materials about 23 days ago and have been studying whilst working since; I've read all of the non-advance quant books (and did all the problem sets), and the CR verbal book.

I haven't read the VR/SC books but wanted to do a test first to see where i was coming out.

I want to achieve a 700 and 650 is obviously a good way off that; how would you advise to proceed from here? I only have one practice exam available on the mba website too.

Thank you; ideally would do the real thing in 4 weeks.

Best,
R

ayushkumar22941 · Answer

for 4 week timeline i would suggest practice only official material .use below given link https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?view=search_tags and select only gmac paper test , gmat prep , og option to practice . in last month before exam always concentrate on practicing only official questions .

Rashed12 · Answer

You have done very well at your first time mock test. However to attain your target, you can study the following books and tests.

1. GMAT Club tests - outstanding resource for quantative
2. Official GMAT guide
3. Veritas prep - for all section.

Best of luck and wish you will be able to get your desired score.

If the comment helps you what you are looking for, please do not leave without +1 kudos.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi robinhood123,

To start, a 650 is a great initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). That having been said, many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you're going to spend just another 4 weeks on your studies - after spending the last 3 weeks studying - then there will likely be a limit to how much you can improve. Statistically-speaking, the 700+ Score is approximately the 90th percentile - meaning that most GMATers never score that high on the Official GMAT (regardless of how long they study), so if you're set on earning a 700+, then you might need to push back your planned Test Date.

In addition, from what you describe, your immediate study plan has been 'book heavy'; unfortunately, many Test Takers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. There's no harm in starting off your studies in that fashion, but you'll likely end up needing to invest in some additional, non-book resources at some point. If you'd prefer to work with the study materials that you current have, then I suggest that you study as you like for the next 1-2 weeks, then take a new, FULL-LENGTH CAT - and make sure to take it in the same fashion that the At-home GMAT is administered (use an online notepad - not handheld notes, take the sections Q/V/IR in that order with no 'break' until after the Verbal section, etc.). Once you have your Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me directly) and we can discuss the results and how you might best proceed with your studies.

It would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
3) Could you potentially extend your studies beyond the next 4 weeks?
4) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

robinhood123 · Answer

Thank you! I will proceed on this basis and post back in two weeks time on my next CAT. In answer to your questions:

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School? I just want to take the GMAT for now, as I understand the score last for 5 years (unless I dreamt that), I would like the option to go to do an MBA in the US in 2 years time.
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to? Top 10 ideally.
3) Could you potentially extend your studies beyond the next 4 weeks? Absolutely, but I am much more a cram type intense learner than build slow etc, I need the content and the right access to harder questions and precedent exams and I think just doing tons of stuff 96 hours before my planned exam is the best method that has worked through all education for me to date.
4) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week? Aiming for 12 - 20 for the next four weeks but for me, I am nearly done with Content reading, so think its best to just focus on Qs, so not sure I have enough to hit these hours.....!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi robinhood123,

"Cramming" rarely leads to great results with Exams such as the GMAT, so you have to be careful about trying to do too much (especially in the last several days before your Official Exam). For example, the process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day.

At this point, the logical next step would be for you to work through some of your remaining books, then take that next practice CAT in 1-2 weeks. I want to reiterate how important it is to take your CATs in a fashion that mirrors what you will face on the At-home Exam, so you should make sure to be strict about those details.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi robinhood123,

First off, 650 is a very nice start! So, great job so far. I also see (in your follow up comment) that you don’t plan to apply to business school for two years, so honestly, I think you should give yourself as much time as you need to prepare for the GMAT. There is no need to create a time constraint when you don’t actually have to have your GMAT completed in 4 weeks, right? In any case, here is some general advice you can follow to improve both your quant and verbal skills.

To improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you need to go through GMAT quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see, types that you would rather not see, and types that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses . You also may find it helpful to read the following articles about 
 How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT  and  The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions. Good luck!

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First Practice Exam - 35V, 44Q = 650 total

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