Improving GMAT score

Question

Hi
I need some guidance for improving my GMAT score. I gave a mock test by Veritas and scored 640 (32V,46Q). The main problem areas are DS,RC and SC.
Also, I have completed OG once (approx 80% accuracy) and have gone through Manhattan books.
Please suggest some strategies/materials/tests that will help me boost my score to 740-750.

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi niyatibansal,

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?
2) What study materials have you used besides the books that you listed?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

niyatibansal · Answer

Hi Rich

I have been studying for a month now. I haven't used any other materials other than OG and Manhattan. I have given only one Mock and scored 640(68 percentile, V-32/60, 46/60).

I am planning to give GMAT in one month and want to apply for fall 2019. As for the B-Schools, my preferences are Harvard, Wharton, LBS, Insead, NUS.

Please advise.

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egmat · Answer

Hi niyatibansal , To reach your target score of 740/750 from a current 640, you will have to plan for 100+ points improvement. Your current score of Q46 is 58 percentile and V32 is 66 percentile. To be able to score 740 you would need scores of Q50 (85 percentile) and V41(93 percentile). You can plan for your sectional and sub-sectional target scores using GMAT Planner tool. You may read our article on Personalized Study Plans for 100+ Score Improvements to plan for your target score. This article will help you create a detailed plan and equip you with all the necessary information. If you have any difficulty or query in creating your own plan or need further inputs you can write to us at support@e-gmat.com. Here are a few examples of students who improved from a 600 something score to 700+ scores: · Rhea improved from 620 to 760 in just 40 days. Watch her video interview to learn how she achieved this feat. · Martina improved from 620 to 730 in just 3 weeks. Click here to learn our course helped her reach a 95 percentile from a mere 63 percentile on the GMAT in such a short time. · Nihal improved from a 630 to 760 in 2 months. He followed a structured approach and used Scholaranium and internal forums to his advantage to achieve this feat. Click here to read his debrief. All the best! Regards, Aditee

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi niyatibansal,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so since you've been studying for just 1 month, there is a reasonable chance that you would naturally improve over time. Raising a 640 to a 740+ will likely require at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thus, you might need to consider pushing back your Test Date. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?
2) What is the latest that you could push back your GMAT and still hit your application deadlines?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi niyatibansal,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. The good news is that 640 is not a bad starting point. At the same time, as I’m sure you are aware, you will need to put in a lot of effort and time to improve to a 740+ GMAT score. 
 
It's possible to score 640 without fully understanding some topics or refining certain skills. To score 750, you have to go through GMAT quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. 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 at least around 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, 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. As you practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why you got it wrong. 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.
 
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, if anything, you would have needed to know in order 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.

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.
 
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 verbal and quant 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 my article for more information regarding
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.

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