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12 Apr 2022, 11:57
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I have come to this forum to seek advice, suggestions, and tips to improve my GMAT score for a retake I have scheduled 05/04/22. I hope to find the most effective ways to study in the time allotted.
I. Background and Context
I took my first GMAT on 4/06/22 (last week) and I received a 660 (V37, Q44).
About a month and a half ago, I decided to apply for Master of Accounting programs. I studied while working, and my preparation was lacking to say the least. It had been years since I have studied anything, and my concentration and motivation started to wane under a false sense of security that I could do decently on the exam (I was getting 700's on the GMAT Official practice tests).
I wouldn't consider retaking the test if I didn't have some amount of belief in my capability to do better, but I also know it's going to take a concentrated effort to almost guarantee a score increase on my retake. If I can manage even a 700, I would be more than satisfied. Anything more than that I would be cherry on top.
One thing to note is that my IR score was horrendous. I did little practice with IR, I'll admit, but on test day I performed well, well below what I could have. For some reason, I got stuck on a question and just turned my brain off, spending some ridiculous amount of time on it, and forced to just guess on the last several questions completely (I have no idea why I did this). I believe the factors that contributed to this was 1) Overall anxiety taking a standardized test 2) Break in focus/concentration due to my negative perception (although correct) of my performance in the previous verbal and quant sections 3) Lack of prep. This was another deciding factor in scheduling a retake.
I'm surprised I got a 6 on the essay. I don't even remember the topic nor what I wrote.
II. Available resources and resources I used leading up to first exam
The resources I used were:
1. Magoosh
2. OG 2020
3. OG Exams 3 & 4, 5 & 6 (each has the 1 reset left)
With Magoosh, I originally trudged through the quant lessons at 2x speed. I felt this was not an effective way to use the little time I had, so I dove into the OG practice questions and focused on solving all of the problems. I made the now obvious error of spending more time just solving problems rather than analyzing the mistakes I was making.
III. Resources I've added/available for the retake:
I have asked for time off from work and will be studying full time for the 3 weeks until the retake.
1. GMAT club tests (purchased)
2. OG 2022 (purchased)
3. Manhattan Prep books (2017)
4. OG 2017/OG 2018/Quant 2018/Verbal 2018
5. Any free resources I wasn't aware of/couldn't use because of time constraints
To reiterate, any and all advice, critique, tips, etc. are welcome. I simply wish to find the the most effective ways to optimize the amount of time I have to study. Thank you in advance to anyone that spent the time to read/respond!
I. Background and Context
I took my first GMAT on 4/06/22 (last week) and I received a 660 (V37, Q44).
About a month and a half ago, I decided to apply for Master of Accounting programs. I studied while working, and my preparation was lacking to say the least. It had been years since I have studied anything, and my concentration and motivation started to wane under a false sense of security that I could do decently on the exam (I was getting 700's on the GMAT Official practice tests).
I wouldn't consider retaking the test if I didn't have some amount of belief in my capability to do better, but I also know it's going to take a concentrated effort to almost guarantee a score increase on my retake. If I can manage even a 700, I would be more than satisfied. Anything more than that I would be cherry on top.
One thing to note is that my IR score was horrendous. I did little practice with IR, I'll admit, but on test day I performed well, well below what I could have. For some reason, I got stuck on a question and just turned my brain off, spending some ridiculous amount of time on it, and forced to just guess on the last several questions completely (I have no idea why I did this). I believe the factors that contributed to this was 1) Overall anxiety taking a standardized test 2) Break in focus/concentration due to my negative perception (although correct) of my performance in the previous verbal and quant sections 3) Lack of prep. This was another deciding factor in scheduling a retake.
I'm surprised I got a 6 on the essay. I don't even remember the topic nor what I wrote.
II. Available resources and resources I used leading up to first exam
The resources I used were:
1. Magoosh
2. OG 2020
3. OG Exams 3 & 4, 5 & 6 (each has the 1 reset left)
With Magoosh, I originally trudged through the quant lessons at 2x speed. I felt this was not an effective way to use the little time I had, so I dove into the OG practice questions and focused on solving all of the problems. I made the now obvious error of spending more time just solving problems rather than analyzing the mistakes I was making.
III. Resources I've added/available for the retake:
I have asked for time off from work and will be studying full time for the 3 weeks until the retake.
1. GMAT club tests (purchased)
2. OG 2022 (purchased)
3. Manhattan Prep books (2017)
4. OG 2017/OG 2018/Quant 2018/Verbal 2018
5. Any free resources I wasn't aware of/couldn't use because of time constraints
To reiterate, any and all advice, critique, tips, etc. are welcome. I simply wish to find the the most effective ways to optimize the amount of time I have to study. Thank you in advance to anyone that spent the time to read/respond!
12 Apr 2022, 12:14
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I received a 660 (V37, Q44).
Might be worth working on the way you tackle verbal. See if you can make your approach more efficient. Strange as it may sound, a lot of the verbal tutoring I do focuses on that - not fundamentals. At the V37ish level, all things being equal, a person kind of gets the verbal section. For example, it's unlikely you're coming across SC questions that you may get incorrect but don't understand why upon review. That being said, if for example, your accuracy is falling because you are rushing through the 4th quarter, it may be time management you may want to look at.
How to get a V40 or higher on the GMAT? What about a V51?
Might be worth working on the way you tackle verbal. See if you can make your approach more efficient. Strange as it may sound, a lot of the verbal tutoring I do focuses on that - not fundamentals. At the V37ish level, all things being equal, a person kind of gets the verbal section. For example, it's unlikely you're coming across SC questions that you may get incorrect but don't understand why upon review. That being said, if for example, your accuracy is falling because you are rushing through the 4th quarter, it may be time management you may want to look at.
How to get a V40 or higher on the GMAT? What about a V51?
12 Apr 2022, 19:25
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Bookmarks
660 is a great start! 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.
You also may find my article with more information regarding how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
Feel free to reach out with any further questions.
Good luck!
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.
You also may find my article with more information regarding how to score a 700+ on the GMAT helpful.
Feel free to reach out with any further questions.
Good luck!
