Help with study plan for a 100 score improvement

Question

Greetings,

I've just finished my first CAT mock test with a score of 570 (Q42, V27). My target score is 670, i'd aim to give it another try in next 3 months.

Before this mock test, I actually spent around 40 hours in the past 2 months to review abit of fundamental concepts (the routine was abit messy since I only have free time at night, after work). I'm aware that weighted score relied on the difficulty level, but still I was quite disappointed with my Verbal performance (I got 21/36 correct answers for Verbal compared to just 15/31 correct ones for Quant). Anyway, thanks to this mock test which helped me realized my reading comprehension was interrupted under timiming pressure. So is it reasonable to try more mock tests in order to get acquainted with timing pressure or just focus more on practicing and studying fundamentals? Since I don't want to waste free test attempt from GMAC.

Here's my first thoughts on which to focus during the next 3 months:
- Quant focus: Q49, V33
- Verbal focus: Q47, V35. I prefer this one though you guys will probably think it's less feasible than the above.

My current study materials for both quant & vebal is OG 2018 questions, but considering these as well:
- Quant: Math book from Gmatclub
- Verbal: Manhattan Review for SC, Powerscore for CR. 
Also, I'm a non-native English speaker and I found it's more challenging to improve my reading speed. Any tactics to improve this?

All advice is appreciated.

Thanks & have a nice day!

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello 5hawne3,

GMAT club is one of the great platforms to get information about the GMAT official test, Study plan, Section wise instructions, and many more.

Your current Mock test score is a bit shaky. You can schedule a Free counseling(https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session) session for 20 mins with one of our experts to have detailed advice on your current study plans.

A couple of things that can be a noticeable barrier to your scores would be some or all of the below.

• Inefficiency by using time-consuming Conventional method to tackle DS and PS questions still
• No expert support (maybe) who can tutor, analyze, and guide you during your learning
• Lack of many updated questions and practice in the recent exam trend
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

Precisely, there has to be one end-to-end solution encompassing all the points mentioned above. You can try our free Quant diagnostic test https://www.mathrevolution.com/diagnostic/dtExamMember and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will clearly help you understand your weak areas.

The diagnostic test report will give you a detailed insight into various topics and your performance.

We recommend that you must learn the Variable Approach for solving DS questions and the IVY approach for solving PS questions in order to improve your accuracy and save time while solving the question types.These approaches are the robust self-designed time-saving techniques that will help you learn efficiently, thus raising your score in the quick nick of time.

Register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-days on-demand course for free trial lessons.

Make a habit of taking notes during the initial learning of the concepts.

Below is the useful link we will recommend you to visit on GMAT club to experience the power of DS and IVY approaches.

Ultimate Q51 guide: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-ultimate ... l#p1613600

Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

Regular tests will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up. Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and hence will be able to learn time-management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@mathrevolution.com

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Math Revolution Team

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi 5hawne3,

To start, a 570 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). From what you describe, your studies so far have been relatively light (many GMATers study 15 - 20 hours a week - or more) - so you should not expect to have mastered any of the concepts just yet. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level - and if you can commit to a reasonable, consistent study routine and Study Plan, then a Score Goal of 670+ is certainly realistic.

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

1) Are you planning to take the At-home GMAT or are you planning to take your GMAT at a Test Facility?
2) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi 5hawne3,

570 is not a bad start! Regarding how to move forward, I have the perfect article for you to check out:

The Best Way to Study for the GMAT

If after reading the article you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi 5hawne3,

A significant improvement of arounds 100 points is challenging but possible with hardwork and consistent efforts directed in the right direction.

Let us first understand the purpose of mocks:

WHAT MOCKS ARE NOT MEANT FOR
 Scoring well on GMAT requires you to do well on hard and very hard questions. Taking one mock after the other won’t improve your score magically. For that to happen you need to strengthen your weak areas. So, take timed sectional tests in specific areas such as SC, CR, RC, Algebra etc. By doing so, you prepare yourself for all topics that you can come across and not just limited topics that you get in a mock.
So, the approach is simple.
1.Learn the basics first, then
2.Take up one section at a time in a sectional test. Find your weaknesses. Revise the concepts if needed, then
3.Take medium questions on them and master them. Move to mastering difficult questions. Remember, proceed one step at a time.
4.Once you have gained confidence then you should start taking mocks.

WHAT MOCKS ARE MEANT FOR
 Mocks should be given to get used to a 3 hr test format, understand how the adaptive test works and identify which section order suits you the most. That’s why I suggest taking 3-6 mocks with gaps of 2-3 days between each attempt. Make sure you try different section orders and see which one suits you the most.

Mocks are not meant to be given for practice. In fact, don’t waste GMAT Prep mocks for practice. They are the closest to the real GMAT, and hence should be saved till the end to gauge where you stand after completing preparation. Don't waste them when you're in your early stages of prep.

Coming to your biggest foe, time management is one of the most important skills for competitive exams that most students struggle with. There is a significant penalty for failing to complete any section of the GMAT exam, so it is also important to develop pacing skills. Once you hone your time management skills strategically, you will be confident about not missing out on any questions on the test day.

The possible reason for struggling with time management:
 There is one fundamental mistake that most students do, that is trying to read the passage fast.

Talking about the reason behind struggling with time management, you are likely taking more time to solve RC questions. The reason for this might be you are taking too long to read a passage or you might be going back and forth to the passage for every question. This happens when you don’t use the right reading strategies. Students often read the passage from a detail perspective and stuff themselves with the details. And once they come across an inferential question or a main point question, they cannot answer it and they read the passage again to find the answer. This would often lead to the wastage of time.  The trick to ace RC is not to understand WHAT is written, but to understand WHY it is written.

Important Tip  – Don’t practice tons of questions directly. First focus on learning the right methods for each question. That plays a significant role in getting hard questions correct within 2 mins.

Your individual score breakup suggests that you have a good hold over concepts in Quant. Just a little focus on application of concepts should help. However, your Verbal score is an area of concern. You are surely not on the right path for Verbal prep. Verbal questions on GMAT are very tricky. Your verbal score clearly indicates there are many conceptual gaps and you may need to start from scratch, revisit the concepts and get a clear understanding of them before you solve the questions.

The importance of using a standard resource:  
The only method to make sure that you invest your time, money and effort in an effective way is to use a standard resource which teaches you the concepts, strategies and also helps you work on your weaker areas. Studying using OG or a few random resources might help you to solve GMAT like questions but I’m afraid that they won’t be able to help you much from a strategy perspective.

As you still have time for your GMAT prep, it would be better to prepare using a standard course which can help you with your overall preparation. A resource which can provide you all the things on a single platform will help you save your time and energy and prevent your chances of being unstructured in your approach. Also, as you are a working professional, creating a study plan may be a tedious task for you.

GMATWhiz helps you to create one. Moreover, GMATWhiz is one such unique course which teaches you a  methodical approach  to solve each question type. The  concept booster  and  practise quizzes  help you to solve the GMAT like questions by using the right methodology. It  uses an AI powered platform  to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz .It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes to help you improve. This way working on your weak areas in a specific topic becomes easy right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas.

There is a free trial of GMATWhiz available for which you can register and check out its features.

Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

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