My Story - Got 500 (Q27, V33) on a MBA practice exam, need 600 soon!

Question

Hello everyone! - TLDR: how to improve my quant from 27 to 39 with full-time availability in six weeks

This is my first post on GMAT club. Everyone seems very helpful over here so i just want to let my thoughts go here for a moment.

My name is Raymon, 24 year old dude from the The Netherlands and i can say i was a real screw-up in primary school, got kicked two times and finally graduated on one of the lowest possible degrees in electrical engineering. After that i studied IT management for four years at a MBO, which translates into secondary vocational education according to Google Translate. Didn't do anything over there so i decided to start studying commercial economics for four years at an university of applied sciences (HBO). Turns out that wasn't so hard either and i graduated two months ago

Now, for the first time in my life i want take things seriously and i am looking for a pre-masters program in business administration, the condition of which is a 600 GMAT score. As a non-native English speaker, i miraculously keep getting high scores on the verbal part for the GMAT practice tests. Perhaps all my years of gaming weren't a waste of time after all. But i am just so bad at the quant section. I think the problem lays in my low-level earlier math. About two months ago i could only do some head counting and knew the Pythagorean theorem(never did algebra of geometry in my life). Lately I have put a lot of effort into this and really started with the basics. Today I took a practice exam and got 27 for quant, long ways to go. According to a 2019 chart i need Q39 at least with my verbal score.

My first official GMAT moment is due for 29th of may so i have about six weeks left in which i almost have full-time availability. 
What do guys recommend? I bought the GMAT official Guide books which come with the online Wiley learn environment(don't have €500 laying around for expensive courses). I figured i just need to practice a lot more so i am planning to do practice questions only for the next two weeks.

If anybody has any suggestions i would really like to hear them!
Thanks for reading

udaypratapsingh99 · Answer

Hii  Raymon

Q27 to Q39 is very practicable in six weeks.
try following these steps, no doubt, you'll make it.
 
1) Target to do is in 4 weeks, instead of 6. You'll need at least 2 weeks as allowance.
2) pick up any good and standard quantitative aptitude book, not necessarily of GMAT specific. Go through the theory, chapter wise, and easy and medium questions. Purpose for this is to build your basic concepts only. Do not waste time, You should finish it in around 3 weeks. (Do not leave more than one topics)
3) While following 2, do not focus on any Short trick. Short trick is the most common blunder that fails candidates. Do not use calculator even for tough calculations
4) Try practicing, approximation while solving, as well as option based approach.
5) After you're done with book, start practicing with sectional test. Don't get demotivated if you do not do well in first or 2nd test. You'll improve.
6) Always, do deep analysis of every test after you give it. For every single question.
7) Do not waste time.

Try it, and let me know how you improve. Don't forget to give Kudos. All the best.

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Raymon, Welcome to GMATCLUB! For Quant, You can try out the TTP course as it is phenomenal and covers the entire syllabus really well. Plus it has great reviews on GMATCLUB. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practice tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. You will also find the following link helpful. https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... h-focused/ Hope this helps. All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

HI Raymon,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. So, although you’ve come a long way with your GMAT quant skills, since you are at Q27, it’s clear that you are lacking some of the fundamental GMAT quant skills you need for a higher score, right? Thus, moving forward, you should follow a linear and structured study plan that allows you to individually learn each GMAT quant topic, starting with the foundations before moving to more advanced concepts. Let me expand on this idea further.

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

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.

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 materials, and, as  rohan2345  suggested, Target Test Prep would be an amazing resource for you. We are the  top-rated quant course here on GMAT Club .

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Raymon,

For free math practice and help, I recommend that you set up an account at Khan Academy (www.khanacademy.org). The site is completely free and makes the learning a bit more fun and 'game-like' (as opposed to the dry academic approach taken by most books). While the site is vast, you should limit your studies to basic Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry.

Beyond that, 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?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) Are you applying to just one Program (and is the only application deadline on May 29th - or are there any later Application Rounds?)?

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

Raymon · Answer

1) About two months, starting from no mathematic background whatsoever 2) Bought lower school math books, used the Khan Academy for math basics, OG guide for practice questions, some trials like the Economist. And watched a lot of YouTube video's with overall tips. 3) Totally forgot i took a Mock from GMAT club as well so the only mocks i took were: GMAT CLUB Q37 V25 (530) (got tired at verbal part) MBA prep Q27 V33 (500) I feel like i am getting more messy with the math questions as i'm increasing my daily amount of study time. 4) There is one program where i am in need of a GMAT > 600, there are similar programs but just not in my city. Which means that if i don't get 600 on my GMAT i'll have to move out of my room which is on a campus contract. Moving to the other uni would mean moving away from alot of my new made friends and even my girlfriend. A lot is at stake

I'll have to apply to the local program before the 1st of juli. I read somewhere it takes up to two weeks for MBA to send the results to the uni so i still have a second change in June.

Raymon · Answer

rohan2345   ScottTargetTestPrep  Thanks for the advice. TTP really looks like something that could help me. I will immediately start the trial and keep you guys posted.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Raymon,

To start, it's worth noting that you do NOT need to correctly answer ANY of the really hard/weird questions on Test Day to hit your Goal Score - but you do have to keep the little mistakes to a minimum. Since you admit to being "messy" with some of your Quant questions (and potentially getting those questions wrong because of those errors), you might actually have the necessary knowledge right now to hit your Goal Score right now... but you're not doing the proper work (on your PAD) to earn those points.

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). As such, I'd like to know a bit more about your last CAT (the 500 you scored on the Official CAT). While a full Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of that CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Sounds good! I’m here if you need me.

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