How to get to 770+ from a no-prep score of 730-740 (Indian Engineer)?

Question

(This is my first post here, so apologies if this is not the appropriate place for this post)

Hi,

I am an Indian engineering student with a strong background in Mathematics and reasonably good proficiency in English. I want to give my GMAT right now so I don't have to worry about it later while I'm working. My GMATPrep Free Mock score was 740 (50Q,42V, 8IR) and my Kaplan Free Mock score was 730 (49Q, 42V, 7IR). I tried looking at various debriefs on this forum but couldn't find many with a similar background as mine that started at a high score as their base and wanted to get into the 770+ range. There are a lot of options for me and I'm not sure what to choose. Hence, looking for some guidance.

Here are the things that I want to keep in mind while selecting:
1. I want to particularly focus on improving my Verbal score as well as ensuring I maintain a score of 50/51 on Quant.
2. I have a reasonably strong background in both Q & V so I don't want any book/learning material/practice questions to be underwhelming and easy since that would be redundant and a waste of time. 
3. I don't wish to spend too much money on the prep. I'm keeping my prep budget to be under $150 including everything but I'm willing to stretch it if absolutely essential.
4. My undergrad GPA is not impressive so I want to compensate for it with my GMAT as much as possible so I'm targeting at least a 770. 
5. I don't want to spend too much time in prep since I tend to procrastinate with longer timelines. I'm thinking 1-1.5 months of prep for now. Open to suggestions here.

Given the above situation, could someone suggest which resources I should focus on, which tests should I buy, etc? For now, I'm considering using at least the OG and the GMATPrep tests. I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Buying some more Official Mocks to get "sharper" with taking the actual exam may be helpful. If you can consistently hit a Q50/Q51, the only meaningful part to improve your "out of 800 score" would be the Verbal.

noob121 · Answer

Thank you for your response. Any particular resource aside from OG that would be helpful in improving the Verbal score to get it 45+. Or will consistently taking more practice tests be sufficient?

Gmatisking · Answer

Focus you Verbal on everything official.
There's the OG, VR, official mocks, and question bank on mba.com

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello noob121,

A score of 720+ in the GMAT practice test tells the entire story about how well prepared you are for the GMAT official test and how to change the gear now to meet the target score in reality.

With my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept the fact with a pinch of salt that diagnostic/ mock test scores are above then what one should expect in a real test. There is often dropping in the score. Some students have even experienced a drop of 100 pointers. It is one of the realities, and your preparation should not sideline this fact.

You can schedule a counseling session for 30 mins with one of our expertshttps://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session for detailed advice on your current study plans.

Since we are a math expert, we will recommend you go through our post on the GMAT club: Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411.

Register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-day full on-demand course (27 topics, 490 subtopics, and 1,500 questions) for free trial lessons.

700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank are separately available, too.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Math Revolution Team

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

If you were a Verbal student of mine, I'd probably look at your "solving approach" - and see whether there were some inefficient methods you might be using that add up over the roughly 30 timed questions. The difference between a V48 and a V42 does not necessarily come from a lack of fundamental Verbal knowledge.

To be clear, a V42 is a very good verbal score. If you end up getting a Q50 V42 760 you may want to consider leaving it there. Even though I got a V48 on my last attempt, the Verbal scoring is quite steep at that level. One incorrect counted question, for example, can drop your score by 3 points.

shlokgupta · Answer

The journey from 550 to 700+ in GMAT in 3 attempts:

It has been a journey of rising from depression and back to back failures. I could have never imagined after scoring 550 that I would be able to cross the mark of 700 in GMAT ever. But because I was not ready to give up easily, I was able to reach this milestone.

I have written this article & given my personal tips on what changes you can bring to make this happen !

I hope it would be helpful to the people. Read it with this link:

https://shlokk.wordpress.com/2021/05/10/how-i-scored-700-in-gmat-in-3rd-attempt/

ved02 · Answer

Assuming your basics are solid, I would go through the entire OG, Quant and Verbal, and the Advanced Questions 2020. Ideally do the OG questions in sets of 20 and gradually speed up over time. The beauty of going through the OG is it highlights areas in which your basics are lacking and you can focus study those topics and come up to speed. Concentrated practise in difficult areas helps drill concepts.

Keep doing the GMATPrep tests say on a weekly basis to learn time management skills. Once you are through the Prep Tests, do the 700+ and as many of the 600-700 difficulty Verbal questions on the GMATClub forum (use the tag function). If you are really strong in CR, skip them and just do the SC. At-least for me, SC can be a wild-card. GMATPrep questions are probably the most representative of the actual exam. The reason you want to do them after you finish all 6 exams is it would contaminate the results otherwise. Can't really simulate the stress of 36 questions in 65 mins if you haven't seen the harder ones before and breeze through them.

Increasing your verbal score to V45+ gives the most bang for your buck. But is also fairly difficult and somewhat luck based (IMO). 3-4 mistakes can land you a V45. 1 mistake could get you a V48. No mistakes for a V51. So it's pretty unforgiving. Which is where practising so much SC helps, as if you can be relatively fast with them, gives more time for the crazy technical RCs GMAC loves to throw at you.

The 1-1.5 month timeline is fairly tight, otherwise TTP Verbal is pretty solid. Definitely see all the GMATNinja videos on YouTube - they are phenomenal. I skipped the CR, but saw all the SC and RC ones.

Make sure to maintain an error log. I have 2 word files (Quant and Verbal) with my errors and key learnings/random tidbits from mistakes collated. Typically go through it on the day before I give a mock. And will go through before I give the actual thing in 1.5 weeks! Best of luck

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Regarding resources, in addition to seeking advice in this thread, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses, and also read through some GMAT success stories to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers.

You also may find it helpful to read this article about how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.

Good luck!

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Good luck!

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