Got 660 (Q 42, V 39)... Any suggestions to raise my Quant?

Question

Hi,

I took the GMAT on the 24th and my score was disappointing. 660 (Q 42, V 39). I am going to be taking it again and would love to get some advice on how to raise my Quant score.

I think the biggest problem with my Quant section was that I studied for the last 2 months exclusively from CAT. I did realize that most programs seemed to test me on the same types of questions and seemed to ignore many types that I had seen in books. When I took the test, those that I didn't see in CAT were the ones that I was tested on. I knew how to do them, but I took too long and ended up guessing on approx. 15 of them. :shock:

As a non-native speaker, I think it'd be difficult to raise my verbal score much more (because to be quite honest, I don't even know how I am getting that score)... so for the next two months I plan on focusing on my Quant and then retaking the test. I am hoping for a 7--...

Any suggestions you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

As a non-native speaker, I think it'd be difficult to raise my verbal score much more (because to be quite honest, I don't even know how I am getting that score)... so for the next two months I plan on focusing on my Quant and then retaking the test. I am hoping for a 7--... Any suggestions you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

bobokitty82 · Answer

Hm... I was hoping that you helpful people could give me some assistance and realized that maybe I need to let you know how I prepped so far...

I started starting from prep books, with TPR's Cracking the GMAT, then NOVA's GMAT book, then The Official Guide (10th edition), then Kaplan. For CAT I largely used just PowerPrep, GMAT Prep, and some TPR. 

I was too scared to use the GMAT Challenge... do you think it is useful? Also, I have looked at MGMAT books, but while the SC section is great, the other math ones didn't seem as good...

necromonger · Answer

scared? I guess that sums it all. Conquer the fear - go back to basics (use MGMAT and study basics in Math - and really hard), then go do GMAT challenges and pour over your mistakes, relearn, re-do. Even if you do the same problem twice, solve it again the second time. Write down equations and strategy on paper. Go after it like it's a cartoon whose neck you want to throttle. For a lot of people, Math is scary because they let it scare them. Don't be :) And then there are all these smart people here who can help. Good luck.

Praetorian · Answer

You must ensure that you do not lose track of your verbal prep. 

If Math is your problem, the challenges will help. I have found that most people find the challenges more difficult than the Actual Test. But we really like to focus on the fundamentals. Challenges are definitely difficult, but we feel that working with a few difficult problems is much better than working on 100 easy ones. Sure, please keep working on the Official Guide Math problems. You dont want to ignore the easier questions.

I can understand why the challenges can make one nervous. You dont have to take them every day and you definitely dont have to take all the 25. But if you wish to do well in Quant, you must be very clear about the fundamentals. The purpose of the challenges is to strike at the root of any problems you may have in Quant. By forcing you to think harder, you will be required to summon all the knowledge you have about a concept. 
After every challenge, study the results, analyze your data and study it. 

GMAT does not test too many advanced concepts. They do however have extremely creative ways of asking questions. When you look at any problem, try to start with the absolute basic idea of the solution and build upon it.

HongHu · Answer

It sounds to me you've already identified your weakness yourself: You didn't cover all areas in your preparation. Bad time management. I say if you improve in these two areas, you'll see a nice raise of your math score.

rbcola · Answer

Thanks for the information. 39 on verbal is really good. While you refocus your efforts on math, make sure you also devote time to verbal.

giddi77 · Answer

Well I would say that you should be able to REASON out how to arrive at the correct solution for *each and every* question in OG. If you have full grasp of the basics and you understand all the OG questions you should be able to attempt most of the questions.
If you need to improve your basics you can buy MGMAT guides. If you need more parctice solve as many GMATPrep questions that you can get your hands on. If you need even more parctice, go for Challenges/MGMAT online tests/PR tests... Depends how much time/money you want to invest..

bobokitty82 · Answer

Thank you for all your feedback. :-D

Yes, I think this time I am going to try the GMAT Challenge no matter how much they scare me. As I have mentioned before, I think the biggest problem with my Quant was that I hadn't looked at those types of questions in a while. I had gone through test prep books first to study, and I only really studied the ones I had gotten wrong... so the types of questions I got on the test day happened to be those that I do know how to solve, but I just took too long to solve them.

BTW... it was surprising how similar the questions on the GMAT and the Official Guide were... basically it was the same types of questions but with different numbers plugged in. I am going to take a break for a month while I get ready to move... I think it'd be too stressful to plan a move (half way across the country) and be studying at the same time. I hope to give myself 1 to 1.5 months to study after the move before retaking the test. I don't want to take much longer than 1.5 months since it will already be August by the time I start studying and I would like to finish my application process earlier than later.

I will take everyone's advice and buy the MGMAT math books, then review ALL Quant questions in the Official Guide extensively, then take the GMAT challenge. I will also review my verbal and do some questions from 1000sc, cr, and rc. Thanks everyone and, again, if you have any more recommendations, I would love to hear them from you. And if anyone has any questions about the test setting, ear plugs, work stations, anything at all that I can give away after signing my life over to take the GMAT, I would be more than happy to help! :lol:

haas_mba07 · Answer

I guess that underscores how  *IMPORTANT*  it is to be well versed with all types of problems in OG and also have a good timing strategy.

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Got 660 (Q 42, V 39)... Any suggestions to raise my Quant?

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