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heisenberg26
Current Student
Joined: 01 May 2021
Last visit: 19 Apr 2022
Posts: 7
Given Kudos: 58
Location: India
Schools: ISB '23 (A)
GMAT 1: 690 Q50 V33
GMAT 2: 710 Q50 V35
GMAT 3: 730 Q51 V38
Updated on: 27 Jul 2021, 05:06
Originally posted by heisenberg26 on 25 Jul 2021, 22:39.
Last edited by heisenberg26 on 27 Jul 2021, 05:06, edited 1 time in total.
Last edited by heisenberg26 on 27 Jul 2021, 05:06, edited 1 time in total.
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Hi all,
I took my Enhanced GMAT Online Exam yesterday and scored a 690(Q50 V33). The score was lower than my final GMAT Prep mocks but close to the average score I got in the 6 official mocks.
Here are my mock scores in the sequence I took these exams-
GMAT Prep 1 - 630 : Q49 V27( before starting the prep)
GMAT Prep 2 - 630 : Q49 V28( 3 months into prep but not taking care of the time)
GMAT Prep 3 - 690 : Q51 V31
GMAT Prep 4 - 690 : Q50 V32
GMAT Prep 5 - 710 : Q50 V36
MGMAT Free mock - 630 : Q46 V31
GMAT Prep 6 - 730 : Q50 V38
I took the official tests (except the first one) consistently every weekend before my actual exam in the test environment where I was going to take my actual test and tried to keep all conditions similar to actual test day. I analysed all my mocks the same day and have a good error log maintained for the questions I got incorrect.
Preparation -
I started my prep by building some foundation on the basics of the various concepts in the verbal questions using some free resources by e-gmat. For quant I did a refresher course from a local test prep company(Wizako). I completed the OG2020, Verbal review 2021 and the Advanced questions guide. I kept a consistent error log of all incorrect questions and revisited them regularly. I also watched several GMATNinja SC webinars after taking the GMAT Prep 2 and saw a significant improvement in my scores as I followed his recommended strategy of eliminating four answers to find the correct answer.
Test day -
I took a week off from work to concentrate completely before my actual exam date. I completed the official advanced guide during this time since I wanted to attempt only hard questions towards the end of my prep. Also practiced several RC's everyday since that had always been my weakness in the mocks and was able to develop a good strategy for reading and grasping the essence of the passages quickly.
I tried to keep calm by practicing some meditation but as the date came closer I started feeling the pressure. I was also pretty worried about the logistics involved in taking the online exam(proctoring, internet connection stability etc.)
On the day of the test, I found the proctoring process to be incredibly smooth. The proctor was super friendly and I gained back all my confidence towards the end of the quant section( I attempted Quant/Verbal/IR/AWA). But in the verbal section, I felt that I was rushing through some questions so that I do not lag in time. Another weird thing was that there were many questions in the verbal section where I felt that I was just not able to apply any of the rules/strategies I had developed over my prep and had to fall back on my intuition. Also, I felt that for many questions, I didn't really apply the mindset I developed for focusing on the 'meaning' of the questions( maybe because of the test day pressure?).
Reason to write this post -
I am really confused on the strategy I should apply now before I attempt the exam again since I have already exhausted all the official prep materials. I do feel that the number of mocks I have taken might have been less so I could do couple of mocks and when the scores in verbal section are more consistent I could go for the exam again. I am aiming for a 740-750 as I aim to apply in some of the top B-schools with scholarship as well as apply for ISB(India). I request the experts to please share their views on how I should plan for the retest, what exactly should I focus on and how much time I should take( I was thinking maybe within a month since I am already in the 'zone').
I took my Enhanced GMAT Online Exam yesterday and scored a 690(Q50 V33). The score was lower than my final GMAT Prep mocks but close to the average score I got in the 6 official mocks.
Here are my mock scores in the sequence I took these exams-
GMAT Prep 1 - 630 : Q49 V27( before starting the prep)
GMAT Prep 2 - 630 : Q49 V28( 3 months into prep but not taking care of the time)
GMAT Prep 3 - 690 : Q51 V31
GMAT Prep 4 - 690 : Q50 V32
GMAT Prep 5 - 710 : Q50 V36
MGMAT Free mock - 630 : Q46 V31
GMAT Prep 6 - 730 : Q50 V38
I took the official tests (except the first one) consistently every weekend before my actual exam in the test environment where I was going to take my actual test and tried to keep all conditions similar to actual test day. I analysed all my mocks the same day and have a good error log maintained for the questions I got incorrect.
Preparation -
I started my prep by building some foundation on the basics of the various concepts in the verbal questions using some free resources by e-gmat. For quant I did a refresher course from a local test prep company(Wizako). I completed the OG2020, Verbal review 2021 and the Advanced questions guide. I kept a consistent error log of all incorrect questions and revisited them regularly. I also watched several GMATNinja SC webinars after taking the GMAT Prep 2 and saw a significant improvement in my scores as I followed his recommended strategy of eliminating four answers to find the correct answer.
Test day -
I took a week off from work to concentrate completely before my actual exam date. I completed the official advanced guide during this time since I wanted to attempt only hard questions towards the end of my prep. Also practiced several RC's everyday since that had always been my weakness in the mocks and was able to develop a good strategy for reading and grasping the essence of the passages quickly.
I tried to keep calm by practicing some meditation but as the date came closer I started feeling the pressure. I was also pretty worried about the logistics involved in taking the online exam(proctoring, internet connection stability etc.)
On the day of the test, I found the proctoring process to be incredibly smooth. The proctor was super friendly and I gained back all my confidence towards the end of the quant section( I attempted Quant/Verbal/IR/AWA). But in the verbal section, I felt that I was rushing through some questions so that I do not lag in time. Another weird thing was that there were many questions in the verbal section where I felt that I was just not able to apply any of the rules/strategies I had developed over my prep and had to fall back on my intuition. Also, I felt that for many questions, I didn't really apply the mindset I developed for focusing on the 'meaning' of the questions( maybe because of the test day pressure?).
Reason to write this post -
I am really confused on the strategy I should apply now before I attempt the exam again since I have already exhausted all the official prep materials. I do feel that the number of mocks I have taken might have been less so I could do couple of mocks and when the scores in verbal section are more consistent I could go for the exam again. I am aiming for a 740-750 as I aim to apply in some of the top B-schools with scholarship as well as apply for ISB(India). I request the experts to please share their views on how I should plan for the retest, what exactly should I focus on and how much time I should take( I was thinking maybe within a month since I am already in the 'zone').
26 Jul 2021, 11:47
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Hi heisenberg26,
690 is a nice 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.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses.
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!
690 is a nice 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.
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses.
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!
26 Jul 2021, 12:35
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi heisenberg26,
First off, a 690/Q50 is a fantastic Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Since you're interested in Scholarships, 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. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/
There's no harm in continuing to study - and you have a great opportunity to pick up points in the Verbal section. 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:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Did you take any other CATs/mocks besides the ones that you listed? On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
First off, a 690/Q50 is a fantastic Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Since you're interested in Scholarships, 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. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/
There's no harm in continuing to study - and you have a great opportunity to pick up points in the Verbal section. 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:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Did you take any other CATs/mocks besides the ones that you listed? On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
