Just took GMATPrep Test cold, score: 640, how much can I improve?

Hi ruotian,

To start, a 640 is a great score for your initial CAT (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years), so you're clearly a strong logical thinker and I think that you would have a good chance at hitting your score goal in the timeframe that you've described.

1) What study materials have you purchased so far?
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?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi,

1. I purchased a magoosh subscription and ordered the manhattan strategy set, planning on also getting the official GMAT study guides
2. I think I can consistently devote 25-30 hours of studying per week
3. I'm planning on applying in January
4. I'm planning on applying to Berkeley, UCLA, Georgetown, Emory, LBS, and Duke

Hi ruotian,

Since you have some study materials, I suggest that you study as you see fit for the next 2 weeks, then take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT and make sure to take it in a realistic fashion (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we discuss how you might adjust your studies.

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

GMATPrep is very accurate, and that is an excellent score to get at the beginning of your prep (it would make for a pretty good final score as well). Given that you are not very likely to be familiar with GMAT "patterns" at this stage, I would expect both your quant and verbal scores to go up quite a bit (maybe quant more than verbal, as you have more room to improve there).

Hi

You can improve your score 740+ with good strategies and home work gmat prep score is most reliable and accurate among the available test in the market its score is within +-30 score range.

Hi ruotian,

GMATPREP tests are the most accurate indicators of your real GMAT performance. You can definitely rely on the GMATPREP score and consider 640 as your base score. You should dedicate around 2 months to improve your score. It’s a good thing you have taken your GMAT PREP once. You now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for two months, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation.

In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB.

Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas.

You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well.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 practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... 68383.html

Hope this helps. All the best.

Hi all,

I just took my second practice test yesterday after ~3 weeks of studying 1-2 hours each weekday and ~6 hours on the weekends. (I'm definitely going to be putting more hours each week from now on).

Ended up with a 690 (640 to 690) in three weeks' study time on the second GMATPrep test.

Q: 40 to 45
V: 38 to 39

In these three weeks, I went through the Manhattan Prep strategy books, but only for Quant sections and SC. I also went through the official quant guide of the GMAT (up to ~100 questions so far).

Specifically, my quant score is still lower than I want it to be. I have been looking at Math Revolution as a possible review source, would any of you guys recommend?

For quant would definitely recommend you to try Gmatclub tests, they can improve your score by at least 5points. Don't know about manhattan revolution, but make a log of your mistakes from Gmatclub tests and see similar questions and strengthen concept from manhattans.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

Hi ruotian,

After taking each CAT, it's important to review the CAT in full (with the goal of trying to define WHY you got questions wrong). With that information, you can then determine what you should focus on going forward.

After reviewing each section of this CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

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

Most people find GMATPrep is very accurate.

I got either a 640 or 670 (can't remember exactly which) and bumped it up to a 770 with 75 hours of study. Your ceiling is an 800, but you'll have to put in the (deliberate, careful) hours to get there.

I don't think it's that abnormal -- I put in those hours over ~6 weeks, and was super-focused (actively engaged in the problems / content, rather than just reading or mindlessly doing practice problems) and made sure that I didn't over-saturate my brain on any given day. The thing that sets me apart from most, I believe, is that I was on summer vacation and had little else on my mind, so my mind was more absorptive than people who are learning in conjunction with employment or other studies.

The thrust of my post was "it's not abnormal, given the approach I took," which is a sound, logical point to make -- the key implication being that I, on a mental and physiological level, am not special, which was an appropriate response to your corporeal simile:


Perhaps you should work on your inferences, instead of pounding out lengthy, snide (& poorly reasoned!) posts on a standardized testing forum.

Again, I wasn't addressing (or denying) the abnormality of the results or the approach I was able to take, but the abnormality of me, which was the crux of your first response.

You took your swing and missed -- quit while you're only a little behind.

Let my dumb it down one more time for you:

It == my result, given my prep (crucial, the control variable, in statistical terms). This is not what I am ultimately addressing in my first post, however.
Implication == There is nothing abnormal about me, the corporeal being and original point of contention, that allowed me to obtain "it," which directly counters your 'weight loss' simile (which you still have failed to address -- a weight loss ad prescribes the same program to all, different results are due to differing physiologies). The second level takeaway is that this sort of gain is teneable and "normal" to the average test taker if he makes a similarly extraordinary efforts.

Another way of putting it would have been: "the results were not altogether unexpected/abnormal, as I had a host of advantages to aid my jump that, for many, would yield similar results

Best of luck on your quest to improve your SC/RC score -- you'll need it.

I am studying a lot for it and I encourage everyone to do the same.

And now we're editing posts. Another L, my friend...

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