improving GMAT from 690 to 750+

Question

Good afternoon,

I have taken GMAT a few months ago after about 20-30 hours of prep and got 690. 
Here is a breakdown of my score: 44 Quant, 40 Verbal.

My target is 750+, could somebody suggest a time-efficient way to improve my score.

Thank you very much in advance, I really appreciate all the input i can get.

P.s. I work full time in Private Equity and do not have a whole load of time to review. I plan to retake it in about 3-6 months.

cfc198 · Answer

v40 is a great a score and that's why I would recommend TTP to boost the Q score.

kiran120680 · Answer

You have a very good score in Verbal and have good scope to improve Quant. Revise basics once again then, try eGMAT or Target Test Prep. all the best

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi ivsemenov, Welcome to GMATCLUB! V40 is an amazing verbal score. You should definitely focus most of your preparations on improving your Quant. You can try out the TTP course as it is phenomenal and covers the entire syllabus really well. Plus it has great reviews on GMATCLUB. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practice tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision. https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... h-focused/ Hope this helps. All the best.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ivsemenov,

If you truly studied for just 20-30 hours, then this 690 shows that you're a strong overall critical thinker - which is good. To consistently score at the 750+ level though, you'll need to focus on learning and practicing the proper Quant Tactics. Depending on your available study time and your capacity to adapt your thinking to the Exam, you could potentially retest in a month and hit your Score Goal (although it might take 2 months - or more).

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) What study materials have you used so far?
2) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ivsemenov · Answer

Thank you all very much for taking the time to give me you opinions and answers! I really appreciate it and will definitely will be useful moving forward.

To answer your questions:

1. So far I have only used the official guide book for quant, and the test banks available on MBA dot com
2. I have not taken any CATs or mocks before taking the exam, just practiced the problems from the test bank trying to time myself
3. I am thinking of applying next winter for the 2020 intake
4. HBS, Stanford, Columbia, Wharton

Thank you all very much again!

Sobes4life · Answer

Hey,

Read my post below. I also recommend Target Test Prep. I went from a 690 to 770– took A LOT of hours, but you still have enough time to get it done(even with a busy job). I did it in 2 months, and it looks like you have 3-4 months before you need to switch gears to apps (you should really try and apply round 1 with your profile)

https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-t ... s#p2252812

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ivsemenov,

To properly help you plan out this next phase of your studies, we need to better define your schedule (if possible). Going forward, how many hours do you thin you can consistently study each week? Will there be any blocks of time in the next few months in which you won't be able to study at all?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi ivsemenov,

First off, 690 with just 20+ hours of studying is really great. That said, I know you are busy, but if you can really dedicate some time to your prep, you probably can hit your 750+ score goal. In any case, here is some advice you can follow to improve your GMAT quant and verbal skills.

To improve your GMAT skills, you must go through quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your ability to handle the various types of GMAT questions. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.

For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses . You also may find it helpful to read the following articles about  How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT  and  How to Study for the GMAT While Working in a Demanding Job .

Feel free to reach out with further questions. Good luck!

gmat1393 · Answer

Hi  ivsemenov

To start with V40 is really good verbal score.

You definitely have a lot of scope in improving your Quant score
For Quant I would suggest you go thru Manhattan Quant guides, solidifying your Quant basics and couple them with GMAT club tests, which will help you to reach Q49.

All the best!
Hope this helps!

	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.
	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	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

improving GMAT from 690 to 750+

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