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DylanHwan
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Last week before exam 19 Jul 2025, 08:36
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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some strategic advice from experienced test-takers as I approach my GMAT Focus exam next Friday.
My Current Situation: After starting my GMAT prep from scratch 1.5 weeks ago, I just completed my first official GMAT Focus practice test and scored 655 (Q-80, V-85, D-82) - which exceeded my initial 645+ target!
Background:
  • Original target: 645+ for Masters admission
  • New target: 685+ to secure merit-based scholarships
  • Starting point: 535 diagnostic with zero GMAT knowledge (1.5 weeks ago)
  • Total prep time: ~2.5 weeks. Due to an upcoming internship, my only window of studying and taking the GMAT was this 2.5 week period.
  • Test date: This Friday, July 25th (6 days remaining)
Specific Questions:
  1. Consistency: How can I ensure I reliably achieve 655+ on exam day? What should I do with the rest of my time and also, what should I not do.
  2. Score optimization: Is pushing from 655 → 685+ realistic in 6 days? My weak areas are:
    • Quantitative: Time management issues (taking 3+ minutes on some questions). This was really surprising as I have a math background and math has always been one of my hobbies (yes, I'm a nerd). I was expecting a much lower score for Verbal and Data Insights and a much higher score for quant.
  3. Final week strategy: Should I:
    • Take a second official practice test Tuesday and focus on maintaining confidence?
    • Drill specific weak areas intensively?

I've uploaded my exact results from the official test if that helps!

Any insights from those who've successfully pushed their scores in the final week would be incredibly valuable!
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

Best,
Dylan
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GMAT Test Results - Official Test 1.pdf [73.93 KiB]
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Archit3110
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Last week before exam 19 Jul 2025, 12:56
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Give official mocks.. practice weak sections you feel you can improve
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Last week before exam 19 Jul 2025, 19:22
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Quote:
Quantitative: Time management issues (taking 3+ minutes on some questions).
Show more

If you feel it takes you a bit of time to warm up, consider doing a few questions beforehand. On Q1 Quant, for example, you spent 3.6 minutes. When reviewing questions during practice, seeing whether there may have been shorter/easier ways to get to the correct answer choice may also be helpful (this could include questions you already got correct).

How to get better at GMAT Quant. Look for the correct answer choice - not the exact answer.
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Last week before exam 19 Jul 2025, 19:36
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Revise your error log ..... note down situtations/questions in which you make mistakes or take more time and prepare strategies to tackle those in the exam.
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Last week before exam Updated on: 20 Jul 2025, 08:29
Originally posted by yc168 on 20 Jul 2025, 08:27.
Last edited by yc168 on 20 Jul 2025, 08:29, edited 1 time in total.
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Hi Dylan,

Thanks for sharing your score report. It's too bad that you have only 2.5 weeks. Otherwise I kinda feel you could aim even higher, given your great first mock score and your math background.

The good news is, you have done quite well in Verbal and DI, while Quant is usually the most "workable" section.

Quote:
Final week strategy: Should I:
  • Take a second official practice test Tuesday and focus on maintaining confidence?
  • Drill specific weak areas intensively?
Show more

As to this last week, I'd suggest that you do both. It seems like you still have some gaps in some Quant topical areas. I'd suggest that, based on the analysis of your errors, drill intensively one math topic at a time. You can use GMAT Club question bank to filter questions by topic, and set up a drill of 15~30 questions for each topic, from Easy to Hard difficulty. You seemed to be still missing some of the earlier questions in Quant, which tends to have bigger impact on your score.

For how to practice questions on GMAT Club, you can refer to the following great post:
How to Practice Questions the Right Way on GMAT Club

One thing to remind is that for people with strong math backgrounds, sometimes they tend to solve GMAT Quant questions in a "too rigorous" or academic way. Remember that in GMAT, every question is supposed to be solved in about two minutes' time. So when you review your errors in your practice drills, not only look for where you got the answers wrong, but also for questions you spent more than 2 minutes. Then look up the various solution approaches to questions you take too long, and learn the most efficient way to problem-solving. Also, a lot of times, the questions can be solved either by estimation, by working backwards, or by testing cases.

Hope this helps a bit and all the best.
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Last week before exam 20 Jul 2025, 12:18
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DylanHwan
Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some strategic advice from experienced test-takers as I approach my GMAT Focus exam next Friday.
My Current Situation: After starting my GMAT prep from scratch 1.5 weeks ago, I just completed my first official GMAT Focus practice test and scored 655 (Q-80, V-85, D-82) - which exceeded my initial 645+ target!
Background:
  • Original target: 645+ for Masters admission
  • New target: 685+ to secure merit-based scholarships
  • Starting point: 535 diagnostic with zero GMAT knowledge (1.5 weeks ago)
  • Total prep time: ~2.5 weeks. Due to an upcoming internship, my only window of studying and taking the GMAT was this 2.5 week period.
  • Test date: This Friday, July 25th (6 days remaining)
Specific Questions:
  1. Consistency: How can I ensure I reliably achieve 655+ on exam day? What should I do with the rest of my time and also, what should I not do.
  2. Score optimization: Is pushing from 655 → 685+ realistic in 6 days? My weak areas are:
    • Quantitative: Time management issues (taking 3+ minutes on some questions). This was really surprising as I have a math background and math has always been one of my hobbies (yes, I'm a nerd). I was expecting a much lower score for Verbal and Data Insights and a much higher score for quant.
  3. Final week strategy: Should I:
    • Take a second official practice test Tuesday and focus on maintaining confidence?
    • Drill specific weak areas intensively?

I've uploaded my exact results from the official test if that helps!

Any insights from those who've successfully pushed their scores in the final week would be incredibly valuable!
Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

Best,
Dylan
Show more
Congrats on the huge jump from 535 to 655 — that’s seriously impressive in just 1.5 weeks!
👇 Here’s how I’d approach your final 6 days:
1. Lock in Consistency:
  • Don’t cram new content. Focus on timed practice, decision-making, and stamina.
  • Daily 30–60 min focused sessions (e.g., timed quant sets, verbal review).
2. Push for 685+:
  • Possible — especially since your Quant issues are about timing, not ability.
  • Set a timer per question (2 min max), and get used to moving on quickly.
3. Plan:
  • Tuesday: Take Practice Test 2 under real test conditions.
  • Wed–Thurs: Review mistakes, drill Quant timing, light review for Verbal/DI.
  • Friday (test day): Light warm-up + confidence.
Stay calm, trust your prep, and go crush it. You've got the momentum — just finish smart. Good luck! 🚀
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Last week before exam 25 Jul 2025, 08:45
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Hi DylanHwan,

For the next week, you will need to continue finding your holes and fixing them to help improve your score. Thus, engaging in topical practice is a great way to do so. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly.

For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!
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