How to improve gmat score

Question

Im stuck at q49 sometimes q50 and v32-33 (total around 670-680 avg) .if i try to solve questions faster than i loose accuracy, also i spend too much time in first 5-7 questions (in verbal)as it is said they matter a lot , could you advise some strategy to not loose accuracy and score better please.

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Chirantan098,

Many Test Takers face pacing issues in the Quant section, the Verbal section or both – so if you're dealing with that type of issue, then you are not alone. However, it's important to remember that pacing problems do NOT exist on their own - they're the results of OTHER problems. Most GMAT questions can be approached in more than one way, so if "your way" of approaching a question is taking too long, then it's likely that there are some 'inefficiencies' in how you are working (and there might be faster approaches that you can learn).

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) 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

Goviz · Answer

Dear  Chirantan098 , As I see it, ur quant score is good and its the verbal part that u need to work upon. Which exact section in verbal challenges you in verbal? RC is all about practice and having the correct mindset while answering the question and SC is about basic rules ,identification of the exact part which is incorrect and practice. CR strategies can be improved upon by referring to trusted sources. I really hope this helps. Please get in touch if u want me to elaborate any more!

All the best

egmat · Answer

Hi  Chirantan098

Thanks for reaching out on the forum, it feels good to see you coming out and asking for advice.

Looking at your scores, I can say that you need significant improvement in Verbal. You are taking too long to solve initial 5-7 questions because you are not warmed up before the mock well and the warming up is taking your time. I would suggest you to solve 2 Hard questions from each sub-section before the test, this will bring warm-up your mind and you will not spend too long in the initial questions.

A score of V32 indicates that you have conceptual gaps which needs to be filled. You need to go through the concepts and Identify, Isolate and Eliminate your weak areas. This will help you in getting to a score of V40.

Askul (V17 to V40) tried coaching institutes and books but could not improve. Finally, he used a structured approach to improve his score.

I would be happy to build a personalized strategy that will help you crush the GMAT based on your strengths and weaknesses. Please book some time to connect  here .

Karan
e-GMAT strategy Expert

Chirantan098 · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC  Firstly thanks a lot for your reply , much appreciated. Secondly,
1)I have studied for 3-4 months duration but have started studying diligently from past 2 months . I study 2.5-4 hrs a day irrespective of weekdays or weekends as i work from home.
2) firstly i studied through mgmat sc, cr and rc then i completed the og 2018, twice( 2 time exhaustively) along with verbal review 
I also watch online video’s from veritas and gmatninja. Also im solving bunuel series, 1000 series 30 minutes quizzes for verbal
And question bank from veritas
3) I purchased veritas 6 tests and i started with gmatprep free test where i got 630 . Then i started with veritas with a score of 610 -q-44 v30 ,April-27
May 19 -650 q-49 v30,may-30 660 q-47 v-34, then i reset the test and on june-19 670 q50 v32, june 21 q 49 v32, june 29 670 q-49 v33, july 5- 690 q49 v36 Also i took kaplan 2 weeks back where i got 660
3) my goal is to score 720+
4)i plan to take gmat When I consistently score above 720 and i have 6 yrs of work ex with average academics but good co-curricular activities in school and under current covid scenario i plan to apply next year
5) i want to apply to top 10 schools in usa else best schools in canada.
Regards
Chirantan

Posted from my mobile device

Chirantan098 · Answer

Thank you  egmat  i have booked a session and i would try this trick the next time i give a mock

Posted from my mobile device

Chirantan098 · Answer

Goviz thank you, it is not any particular sub section it always varies sometimes i mess up rc other-times sc or cr but usually when i get stuck between 2 options it takes away a lot of time .Modifiers and parallelism sometimes confuses me even though i have thoroughly practiced them.Also in quant i tend to make lot of silly mistakes in ds and i know there is scope there too.

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Chirantan098,

To start, retaking a CAT that you've already taken is NOT a realistic way to assess your skills - since you will likely see some 'repeat' questions that you have already faced. Unfortunately, seeing even a couple of repeats can 'throw off' the Scoring Algorithm and impact your pacing, energy levels, fatigue, etc. (meaning that they would likely all appear to be better than they actually are). Thankfully, with the 6 Official GMAC CATs and the CATs from Kaplan, MGMAT and Veritas (which are all 'close enough' to the real thing that they will provide you with a relatively realistic score assessment - assuming that you correctly take the CAT in a realistic fashion), you have plenty of opportunities to take a NEW CAT each time.

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your various first-time score results show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 640 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes. Raising a 640 to the point that you can consistently score 720+ will likely require at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make 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.

From what you've described, your studies so far have been "book heavy"; unfortunately, many GMATers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level - and it's possible that this has happened to you too. Even the best books are limited in what they can teach you; they also can't force you to approach questions in a certain way and their explanations are often one-sided. As such, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in some new, non-book study materials for this next phase of your studies.

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) Assuming that you would need to study for another 2 months, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Chirantan098,

First off, great work with quant! Q49/Q50 is a fantastic quant score. Regarding verbal since you have been scoring around V32 it’s clear that you really need to learn GMAT verbal from the ground up. In other words, you need to learn each GMAT verbal topic individually and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. Let me expand on this idea further.

For example, when studying Critical Reasoning, you need to ensure that you fully understand the essence of the various question types. Do you know the importance of an assumption within an argument? Can you easily spot a conclusion? Do you know how to resolve a paradox? Do you know how to properly evaluate cause and effect? Do you know how to properly weaken or strengthen an argument? These are just a few examples; you really need to take a deep dive into the individual Critical Reasoning topics to develop the necessary skills to properly attack any Critical Reasoning questions that you encounter.

As you learn each Critical Reasoning problem type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you incorrectly answered a Weaken the Argument question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice Reading Comprehension, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. You can perfect your reading strategy with a lot of practice, but keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be stimulating. So, to better prepare yourself to tackle such bland passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the New York Times, Scientific American, and Smithsonian.
 
Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects. 
 
Regarding what you know, to be successful in Sentence Correction, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.
 
This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending less than two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.
 
There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and none of those reasons are that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answers were always the ones that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.
 
As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey meanings that make sense. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to put in the necessary time to see the differences between answers and to figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.
 
To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did to arrive at that answer and what you could do differently to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could do differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your skills improve, you’ll then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple SC topics.
 
Ultimately, if you are unable to learn and practice in the manner described above, you may consider looking for additional verbal prep resources. If you are unsure of which resources to choose, check out some reviews here on GMAT Club.

You also may find my article with more information regarding  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

Chirantan098 · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC  yes it might be the case of repeated questions. Please guide which study material should i pursue and also could you suggest some way to improve ds portion as well?

1) i can devote atleast 16-20 hours a week for 2 months or more
2) i plan to apply to business school next year i.e 2021

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Chirantan098,

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

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

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

How to improve gmat score

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards