Help! Quant score is stuck at 46

Hi mcjenks23,

How much of TTP quant did you actually complete?

Thank you for the extremely thoughtful response.

I have gone back and forth over the past 2 years about retaking the GMAT after getting a 720, but decided to go for it mainly because I'll be applying to business school as an ex-MBB consultant in Private Equity and I'm worried that my particular applicant pool tends to have scores well above the admitted average for top business school programs (740-770). I know that there is more that is taken into consideration than just the GMAT, but want to make sure that my score is a "non-issue" when applying rather than a hurdle I have to overcome.

Here are some of the answers to your questions:

1) Official GMAT dates and scores
- 2/6/20 : V37 Q46
- 3/7/20 : V44 Q46
- 4/19/22 : V41 Q46 (Cancelled)

2) I studied ~20 hours a week for the past 4 weeks, predominantly math focused

3) For some reason, my official practice tests from 2020 were deleted, so I don't know what my scores were. I haven't taken any CAT/mock exams other than the official practice tests.
- Practice Test 1 3/26/22 : Q47 V40
- Practice Test 6 4/18/22 : Q47 V47

4) As of right now, I am planning to apply to business schools Fall of 2023, targeting Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton.

Thank you again!!

Hey Scott,

Great question - should have been more clear in the initial post. Given the accelerated timeline (~1 month) I started with the chapter tests and then read the chapters associated with questions that I got wrong. I attempted to get above the accuracy threshold in both medium and hard before moving on. I probably completed 30-40% of the chapter tests, and spent ~50 hours in TTP just doing quant.

Totally get that in order to get the full benefit of the program, have to play by the rules. Though I'm still surprised that I somehow manage to get the same score regardless of whether I studied or did not study.

Cheers!

Matt

Any thoughts on what I can change...

Consider thinking over shorter approaches you can use to solve Quant questions. You likely do this to some extent already when you use the answer choices, for example, to reverse solve. Here's a silent video of a quant DS question being solved in 3 different ways. The third way applies the most "reasoning" - it's worth remembering that the section is actually called Quantitative Reasoning.

How to get better at GMAT Quant. Apply reasoning to save mental energy and time.

So a Q46 is a solid quant score. It's not 'elite,' but it's very respectable. It shows you have a solid grasp virtually all the foundations. You're hardly ever missing average to above average difficulty questions, and on the harder questions, you're probably going 75% right. The very hardest questions are probably in the 30-40% range.

So how to improve? Your instinct will be to focus on the hard stuff, and you should (make sure you pick up the Advanced Official Guide; MPrep also has an advanced quant book you may find useful), but don't neglect the easy stuff either.

To score a 48+ in quant:

--Average and slightly above average questions you should be able to get right, basically 100% of the time, in about thirty seconds (not that there isn't the occasional exception, but by and large, that's where you need to be).

--The 'hard' questions need to stop feeling hard, by and large. You should recognize a solution path, possibly several, to most of these questions within 25 seconds, and virtually always get them right.

--You're not allowed "Silly mistakes" (maybe one or two a section). If arithmetic costs you even one question on a quant section, you need to practice your arithmetic.

--And then, yes, the hardest questions need to be more accurate than 30-40%. Dig into the advanced quant for that.

First note that improvement at any level will be in the ways mentioned in this post, so when you're reviewing a quant question, pull out your scalpel and really figure out where you need to improve.

Make sure you have a full Problem Solving toolkit:



and that you're not relying on pure algebra, all the time.

On PS questions you miss, I highly recommend, in your review, that you build the 'inference chains' of that problem:



and figure out which arrows give you the most grief, and why.

A lot of hard questions force away a traditional, algebraic solution path. Make sure you're developing new strategies for certain topics you might not have needed before (e.g. number line visualizations for inequalities/absolute value questions; a 'teeter totter' approach for weighted averages).

And, of course, if you can afford it, a private tutor can help snipe the places that are costing you the most points, and can help you learn and practice the strategies you need to get those sky-high quant scores.

Your profile shows that you have a 720. That is a very decent score for almost all schools.

It sounds like you took your first GMAT cold, and got a Q46? If that's true, then after fifty or sixty hours of prep, if you learned the material in the right way, you should be at least at a Q49 level, so if you've spent dozens of hours with certain prep material and are seeing no improvement, that's a sign that the material isn't helping you. Test takers at your level should be learning differently from test takers at, say, a Q30 level. Especially at the higher level of the test, the GMAT is about how well you think about math, and not about how many formulas or methods you can memorize, and if you want to push for a Q49+ score, you should seek out material that approaches the content conceptually. You'll be able to get there through self-study, if you learn the material in the best way. Tutoring is worth considering -- it will be substantially more expensive than self-study, but if you can find a good person to work with, it will save you time, and might let you reach a slightly higher score.

I agree with much of what Reed says above -- to get to the Q49-Q51 level, it's important to eliminate careless errors, and you'll likely want to rely less on algebra, and more on conceptual reasoning. But I would not set a goal to solve medium or medium-hard questions in thirty seconds; it's theoretically possible to do that, but in practice most test takers who try to solve questions that quickly end up doing no better than they would guessing randomly. Especially during a test, if you know how to answer a question, you don't want to rush -- you want to be sure to get right everything you know how to get right. If you need to save time, you don't want to do that by rushing through medium-level questions; you want to do that by moving on from the hardest questions when you don't see a path to a solution.

That is true, but could there have been other factors also affecting your GMAT score?

Hi mcjenks23,

I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Hi mcjenks23

I can understand the feeling of being stuck at a particular score repeatedly despite consistent and dedicated efforts over a considerable period of time. I can see that you are almost there. So, don’t lose hope. Just a little brush up/guidance will help you understand what is holding you back.

Let me tell you that the improvement to Q46+ is all about identifying the core pain points not only from a conceptual standpoint but also from a methodical standpoint. Let me elaborate.

You're probably doing decently well on the easy and medium questions but when it comes to hard questions the issues start surfacing. What it means is that the methods that you might be using are not efficient. There is a need to improve the methodology and focus on logic. If you do so, it is possible to improve your score to Q50+ and push your overall score as well.

Probably mentorship or a few session with a tutor/strategy expert may be helpful in your case to discover your exact pain points and help you with advanced strategies to break this score plateau.

You can check out how Ruthwik scored a 740 with perfect quant score and get some success tips from his journey:


Feel free to reach out to me in case you have any more queries.

If you wish to discuss this over a call, you can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. Considering the effort you have put, I would really like to know the concerns and help you improve your score.

Hey all,

Just wanted to update this thread with some exciting news. I just took the GMAT last weekend and ended up scoring a 770 (Q49, V48), which constitutes a 3 point improvement in my Q score and a 4 point improvement from my best Verbal score! I no doubt have all of you to thank for giving me confidence that an improvement was possible and for all of the advice in how to realize the improvement.

I especially wanted to give a shout out to IanStewart who I decided to enlist as my tutor over the last couple of months. While it was likely possible to achieve this improvement via self-study, the lack of results from my past attempts drove me to try a different avenue. I can't recommend working with Ian enough! While I had quite a broad base of prior knowledge from my past attempts at taking the GMAT, Ian and I went back over all of the relevant concepts and he was able to help me understand the math principles behind some of the formulas I had mentioned as well as different ways to approach solving GMAT problems. In some cases, such as weighted averages or rate/work problems, the method he taught me turned 2.5-3 minute problems into ones that I could solve in less than a minute. His depth of GMAT knowledge was also helpful because he was able to walkthrough common problems the GMAT has used in the past to test these concepts (common structure, etc.) some of which appeared later on practice exams and the official test. In between sessions, I solidified what we had worked on by looking through the verbatim notes that he takes while running the tutoring session (extremely impressive!) and working through OG and QR problems that he has recategorized to fit within his lesson structure. I think going through almost all of the questions in the OG and QR was vital for me and not something I had done before - I had largely focused on the problems sets within the program that I was using instead of the OG which I found to be much more comparable with the kinds of questions that appeared on the exam.

The week of the test, I took three practice exams, two of which actually went very poorly (Q44, and Q46). I almost cancelled my official exam, but Ian helped me walkthrough the test and notice areas where I had likely made mistakes because of test circumstances (e.g., I took one test at 5:00 AM and the other at 9pm after a stressful day of moving) and other areas where I needed to better understand the concept being tested and how to do so. On the last exam I took, I scored a Q50, though there were ~3 questions that I had seen from prior exams that week. That really helped me boost my confidence going into the actual exam. One other change that I made was all of my official tests prior to this one were at 8 AM, which I thought was my optimal test taking time. I actually decided to put this one in the afternoon which I think really helped me. I did 5 quant questions and 5 verbal questions in the morning as a warm up and was able to take my time heading to the testing center. Luckily, the hard work paid off and I was able to get a score that I'm really happy with.

Again, can't thank you all enough for the extra confidence I needed to get back on the saddle again and tackle this beast of a test. And of course, thanks to Ian! Absolutely positive that I could not have done this without him and would most definitely recommend him to anyone who is looking to really crack down on the quant portion of the exam or is finding themselves stuck trying to improve their quant score. He is extremely thoughtful in the way that he tutors, flexible in adapting to difficult schedules, and one of the most smart and intelligent human beings I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Hats off to you Ian!

Cheers!

Matt

Congratulations again, Matt! I knew you'd get a great score, but a 770 is truly extraordinary, and I'm thrilled that all of your hard work paid off. Thanks for the kind words, and good luck with your applications!

Hi,
To assist you to strengthen your quantitative approach, please let me.
I've taken two GMAT tests, and neither time did I have any issues with Quant.
I can advise you to attempt this now.
Comparing PS and DS issues, answering PS problems would be easy because you only need to identify the solution (or eliminate the superfluous possibilities), whereas, in DS, you would need a thorough comprehension and would need to extensively evaluate the potential scenarios. Therefore, try to test and practice those questions before moving on to other quant topics.
Your understanding of which areas to learn and practice more in quant will steadily improve as a result.

Practice, Strategize, Excel...
Hope it helps!