GMAT preparation query

I'd recommend taking a practice test to see how you do. If you quant score is in a satisfactory range for you- then you can focus mostly on verbal.

Okay, will give the exam over the weekend and share the results here.
Regarding reading, I do read economist on daily basis. Bloomberg business review vs economist, which one would you suggest ? Or mixture of both ?

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Seems like giving the practice mock is the way to start the preparation. Will give the mock over the weekend and share the results with you guys.

Regarding my goals -- I do not have a stellar profile so I need a good score.
Graduation - 70.42% out of 100 (physics honors, 3 year program)
Work experience - 38 months till now in consulting domain ( 30 months in one company and 8 in current firm). Both of them being well known firms. One sales and marketing consulting and another being a leading newspaper.

As far as my goals are considered:

1. Score - I am targeting 730 or above. Which is the average score of schools I will target. Would want to get 740 or more. But will try ISB if I get anything below 740. I am ready to put in effort to achieve this.

2. Time - I was thinking last week of April or first week of may. Will schedule once I see my practice mock score over the weekend.

3. I am planning to apply in 2017 for class of 2020.

One more question from my side. I will have around 42 months of experience when I start filling my applications and around 54 months of experience when I join the course ( provided I get selected in any one of them). Is it too less for US MBA ? Should I wait some more time ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Sahil

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Seems like taking a mock test first is the way to go. Will take the test and share my score here.

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Hi Sahil,

Your score goal is above the 90th percentile - and that's clearly an outcome that most Test Takers are never able to achieve (no matter how many times they take the Official GMAT. That data is not meant to convince you to change your goal; rather, it's meant to reinforce the idea that it will take a lot of consistent, organized effort to get to that level. We'll have a better sense of what that effort will need to be once you've taken that first FULL-LENGTH CAT.

As far as presenting your Work Experience on your applications, the amount of Work Experience isn't as relevant as the type/quality of the Work Experience. Most US Business Schools expect 2-5 years of quality WE (and if you have 'leadership' experience, then so much the better). Whether your current WE will impress the Admissions Committees at the Schools you plan to apply to (or not) will also come down to how well you "market yourself" to each School.

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

Hi all,

First of all, sorry for the delay in response. I got super busy with pressure at workplace.

However, I gave a full length test from my GMAT prep software. My score is a very poor 640. With breakup between the two sections: q50 and verbal 26. I knew I would had to put in effort in the verbal section but I never expected a score below 33-35.

I gave this test without any preparation at all, as you guys said. I got 7 questions incorrect in quant, and I would be very honest. I was not at all confident in this section too. I am usually very good, confident and calm while doing mathematics. But I was scared and poor while attempting this section.

Not to mention how disappointed I am from my verbal score(19 questions incorrect). It was not that I lost my energy after AWA, ir and quant. I could give another 4 hour exam. But I just couldn't find the rythm.

I was planning a score of around 740 in my final gmat. Does it look unachievable now ?

I can devote 3 hours on weekdays and 5 hours each day on Saturday and Sunday. I have the following resources at my disposal: official guide, mgmat book set, powerscore cr, Aristotle SC and rc Grail.

I am planning to buy e-gmat verbal online course.

Please help as to how I should go about my preparation and achieve my goal score, if at all.

Regards,
Sahil

Hi Sahil,

First of all, I know a 640 might not be what you want, but it's really not bad as a starting point with very little prep. It's pretty common for people who have a good, consistent, thorough GMAT study plan to be able to improve their score by 100 + points. Of course no one here can *promise* you that you'd be able to get into the mid-700s range you want, but it seems possible. Don't give up hope! Just as a (hopefully encouraging!) example - when I took my first diagnostic GMATPrep mock in February, I got a 600. Then when I took the real GMATs last week, I got a 730. I was the reverse of you. My verbal was pretty good, but my math scores were pretty bad to start.

Since you felt a little uneasy with the math even though you managed a Q50, I'd recommend that you don't totally ignore the math section in your preparations. Certainly you want to devote *most* of your time to verbal. But do try to do at least a little math each week, to keep both the math content and the question types fresh in your memory. Try to think about what felt unnerving about the math section and come up with ways to combat that. Was it just nerves? Were you worried you were running out of time? Was it being unfamiliar with the question types? Even for someone naturally good at math, the data sufficiency questions can take some getting used to, and they're unique to the GMAT.

For Verbal: all the study materials you suggested are good. So is reading the economist. You might want to throw in some humanities and science type readings to increase your exposure to the types of passages on RC - The Atlantic and Scientific American are good. I think it might be best to start working through some of the verbal guides you have and hold off on working on Official Guide questions until you have a more solid content knowledge foundation built up.

Sentence Correction is a good place to start. It's one of the most easily learnable sections. And there are more sentence correction than other types of questions, so it's a good place to boost your score. Especially for people who are good at math/logical thinking, there can be something comforting about thinking about it as a set of rules or conventions that can be memorized. Or you could look back at your mock and see which question type you were weakest on (got most wrong, or guessed on, or felt uncomfortable with) and start with that. If you start with your weak points now and keep working on them throughout your studies, then you'll have the most time and repetition built in to your studies where you need it most.

-V.

Hi Sahil,

From your post, I'm going to assume that you've done little-to-no studying over the last 3.5 months. The type of score improvement and goal score that you're after is almost certainly going to require a commitment to a consistent study routine - so if you can't commit to that, then you're going to find it difficult to score 730+. A 640 is actually a really strong diagnostic score (it's right around the 80th percentile overall, so referring to it as "poor" makes you sound silly). That having been said, you're likely going to need at least 2 months of consistent, guided study to raise that score to a 730+. In addition, your study materials appear rather 'book heavy', and many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level, so you'll likely end up needing to invest in some non-book resources. You can certainly begin with the materials that yo have though - I suggest that you study as you see fit for the next 2-3 weeks, then take a new FULL LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections). That score result will give us a better idea of how well you're improving and what changes might be necessary.

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

Thanks for the awesome reply!!

And congratulation on your score !

Regarding Mathematics- I feel I felt a bit nervous while attempting my Quant section. Immediately after completing the section I thought I would get 43-45 score in this section. Regardless, I gave another test for this section from free GMATclub tests. I scored Q50 in that too. I think I need some good resource to move from Q50 to Q51. I don't need Q51 but I want it !!! Badly !. Can you suggest some good resource for this ?

Regarding verbal - I just couldn't comprehend most of the question. I do read daily. But mostly Economics, Politics and sometimes Business as I read Economist. I got history, culture and social RCs in my test and I just got quizzed. I would read from other sources too as you suggest. Can you share the list of sources that would be best for me in SC/CR/RC. I am thing of subscribing to e-gmat verbal online course.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
S

Hi,
Thanks for your reply.
You are correct. I attempted this exam very fresh, I did not study for this beforehand. I am ready to commit good time for my study. Well the reason I say it is “poor” is because of the schools I am targeting and the country from where I come (India). People generally have a solid GMAT score in India and I want to apply to only top 15-20 schools in the US. And a few schools outside US too- couple in Europe and a couple in Asia.
Regarding your comment about my preparation being book heavy- I think so too. I was thinking of enrolling into e-gmat verbal course just because of that.
Can you tell me a few sources that would help me in achieving my target score ? Also, what do you suggest, should I study each section daily for a couple of hours or should I focus on one section (let’s say SC) for a while complete it and then move to something else ?
Also, I want to score Q51, can you tell me about a few sources that could help me achieve that ?
Regards,
S

Hi S. -

For Math, MGMAT puts out a book called “Advanced Quant” that is separate from their main book set. I think that and the GMAT Club tests are the best sources for moving up to Q51. When you do GMAT Club tests, I’d suggest looking at the solutions for the problem given in the comments, even for questions you get right. Sometimes different people will suggest different ways to do a problem, or ask for a clarification of something you didn’t even think of. You might be able to find a way to do the problem that makes more sense to you or would be faster for you than the way you did (correctly or not) solve it.

It seems like you’re already pretty strong in math, so I don’t know how much you’ll need to do this, but if you’re not already solid on your multiplication tables, perfect squares, perfect cubes, Pythagorean triples, etc., I’d suggest making flashcards with something like Anki. https://apps.ankiweb.net

A lot of GMAT math is about your ability to estimate and have good number sense/intuition. So knowing numbers and formulas like that down cold can help you get through much of the test faster, saving you time to spend a bit longer on the difficult questions.

For Verbal, I’m probably the wrong person to ask. e-gmat seems to work well for a lot of people around here; I don’t know anything about it personally. When you’re first starting your studying, it can be helpful not to worry too much about timing. Sometimes as you’re learning the techniques that the books and prep courses recommend will make you slower instead of faster temporarily as you get familiar with the technique. But it can be very helpful to read, e.g, an article from The Atlantic or The New Yorker or an RC passage and trying to figure out the structure - outline it. What is the main idea in each paragraph? How does each sentence contribute to that idea or argument?

Just as a starting point, here’s a recent New Yorker article that seems like a kind of topic that might end up on the GMAT:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-tur ... mod-latest

Hi Sahil,

Assuming that you still plan to apply to Business School during the upcoming cycle (either Round 1 or Round 2), then you still have plenty of time to study for (and take) the GMAT. Since you already have some study materials - and you're just beginning - I think that it would be fine for you to work with the materials that you have for now - and you should focus on the Verbal section for the next couple of weeks (then take a new CAT). Once we have that next CAT score to use as reference, then I'll be better able to offer you specific suggestions for how you could adapt your Study Plan. You should plan to take that CAT in as realistic a fashion as possible (so take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back and we can discuss the results.

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