Hi,
Welcome to Gmatclub. 540 in the first mock with no practice is not bad. It's normal that you made some silly mistakes and forgot concepts. You got a month to prepare and get your desired score. It will not be easy to get 190 score improvement in 1 month and hence, you need to work smartly and efficiently. You need to prepare for both the sections equally. I suggest you to check out the study plan: https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-plan-217827.html . Choose the books/courses carefully and try giving 2 mocks every week for first 2-3 weeks. On the last week before your official exams, give more mocks. I will highly recommend Official GMAT prep exams (1-6), GMAT club tests (to test you for Q50-51). Make an error log and analyze every question you do correct/incorrect.
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following
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Hi mur282,

To start, a 540 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). That having been said, raising a 540 to the point that you can consistently score 730+ will likely require at least 3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to 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.

While I understand that you want to apply for the upcoming application Round, the type of improvement that you're after - in such a short period of time - is likely too difficult to be considered realistic. There's no harm in taking the GMAT in mid-December, but you would almost certainly end up having to pay to retake it again later, so you might want to consider adjusting your plans so that you have a better chance at hitting your Score Goal.

Before I can offer you any additional advice, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:

1) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
2) What are the exact application deadlines that you're facing?
3) What is the minimum GMAT Score that you would apply with?

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

Answer 1: I want to apply for PhD programs in Business information System specialty. Few of the universities I am applying would be Purdue University, Carnegie Melon, University of Illinois at Chicago, Penn State, Michigan State University

Answer 2: The deadline start from around 3 Jan and moving towards 15 January or later

Answer 3: 700+

Hi mur282,

The PhD application process tends to be a bit more 'rigorous' than the MBA application process is - since there tends to be a small group of highly qualified applicants competing for a relatively small number of PhD 'slots.' As such, beyond having a strong GMAT Score, you'll need a strong OVERALL profile and you'll need to properly 'market yourself' to each individual Program that you apply to. By extension, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans (so that we can get a clearer sense of the type of GMAT Score that you might "need" to be considered a competitive Applicant). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

Even with a Score Goal of 700+, you would likely need at least 3 months of consistent, guided study time to earn that type of Score.

1) What is the latest application Rounds for each of the Schools that you are interested in?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Thanks for the input. Really appreciated!