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Alhamdan1995
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Alhamdan1995
Hi All,

I am starting my GMAT journey and could use some advice regarding my study strategy. I am aiming for 700+ and planning to apply to M7 schools a year or so from now. I am hoping to take the exam and achieve this score by mid September. I don't have an exam scheduled yet, planning to schedule it once I feel ready.

I spent some time studying the concepts using Magoosh and took my first CAT on the official GMAT website today. I scored 530, so I clearly need a lot of work. I am planning to take my second exam in 2 weeks, between now and then, I will be reviewing the questions I got wrong, and spending the rest of the time to work on concepts/areas that are my weakest. I will be taking a practice exam every 2 weeks going forward as well and review in between. My quant score was 42 and 21 in verbal. 38% of questions I got wrong on quant were DS questions, and the rest were PS questions. I will be diving into the specific topics for quant questions I got wrong, and focusing my review on those. As for verbal, 59% of the questions I got wrong were RC questions, 18% SC, and 23% CR. I got most of the RC questions wrong, and I believe getting many questions wrong in a row impacted my verbal score.

About me: I have an undergraduate degree in business administration, major in accounting. I work in public accounting at a big 4 firm, have the CPA license, and planning to sit for the CFA Level II exam in Dec 2020, so I have taken many exams already but the GMAT is a completely different beast. English is my second language, but my English is pretty good. I have taken the taken the GMAT two years ago, so I am familiar with the exam structure. However, I spent less than a month studying for it and didn't do any practice exams or OG questions, so I did really bad.

I am planning to spend 2-3 hours a day during the week and 6-8 hours a day on the weekend studying. Resources I am using are Magoosh, gmatclub, and OG questions. My plan to improve my weakest areas is by reviewing the main concepts, and then spending the rest of the time working on problems, and maintaining an error log. I am wiling to do whatever it takes to achieve my desired score. If you have any advice, things I should incorporate into my study plan, additional resources I should look into, or any modifications to my current plan, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Hi Alhamdan1995,

Welcome to the club!

My first advice for you would be NOT to appear for the mocks this frequently (2 weeks). Mocks are just a representation of your current level; so, it's better to focus on improving your accuracy than appearing for the mocks.

I would suggest you go through the theory first as strong basics are the foundation of GMAT. Following are my suggestions:
1. SC --> MGMAT SC
2. CR --> Powerscore CR Bible
3. RC --> Read a lot (Scientific American & Oxford journals)
4. Math --> GMAT Club Math book

Since you aim to join one of the M7s, I am assuming that your target score is definitely 700+. Always review the questions that you practice: reviewing played a significant role in my preparation too.

All the best!
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Shrutimishra
Hello friends, I am preparing for GMAT from the last one year and taken some mock tests also but my performance is not consistent specially in verbal at times I got 42 and at times 14 another problem of I prepare dedicatively for quants i perform poor on verbal and if I prepare dedicatively for verbal I perform poor on quants. Out of several quants mock test I have scored 46 as highest.
I am using experts global for my mock test and out of 13 test I have scored 630 as highest but again want to remind I am not consistent as on my last test I scored 470, please help my target score is 740

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Hi Shrutimishra,

The fluctuation in your score (V42 - V14) is too much! Further, your score of 630 (your personal best), mostly, signifies that you still lack some basic knowledge of concepts. From your post, my understanding is that you have also appeared for the mocks frequently, which is a very bad practice.

You should balance out your prep for Verbal and Quant instead of solely focusing on one thing. For instance, I used to study verbal and quant on alternate days; however, I made sure to practice 2 RCs daily. You can also try this way of study.

Further, I would also suggest you go through:
1. SC --> MGMAT SC
2. CR --> Powerscore CR Bible
3. RC --> Read a lot (Scientific American & Oxford journals)
4. Math --> GMAT Club Math book

Post that your aim should be to build your accuracy. Make sure that you have an accuracy of about 90% in easy and medium questions before moving on to hard questions. I also used to practice questions in an untimed manner just to grasp the concepts and build my accuracy over a period of time. Once you become comfortable, your accuracy and speed will shoot up. Additionally, focus on reviewing the questions (it doesn't matter whether you get them correct or incorrect). Reviewing in detail is very important since you come to know the rationale behind why a particular option is correct/incorrect.

All the best!
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Hi Alhamdan1995,

A 530 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so with a mid-September Test Date, you have given yourself plenty of potential study time - which is great! That having been said, raising a 530 to the point that you can consistently score 700+ will likely require that you make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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) What study materials are you currently using?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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