HOW TO START, HOW TO IMPROVE, WHAT MATERIAL TO USE?

Your quant score and your verbal score are the same, so I dont know which one is your strength and which one is your weakness. In my opinion, improving quant score is easier than improving verbal score. Hence, you could focus on quant section first.

I see that you've already taken Magoosh course. Just follow their course and try to understand every concept in math. Spend more time in praticing. You could search every sub-600 level questions in this forum by this link
https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?s ... tag_id=217 (for PS part)
https://gmatclub.com/forum/search.php?s ... tag_id=223 (for DS part)

I think that your quant score will increase soon.

Hey guys,

I have been preparing for GMAT for some time now and have rescheduled the exam 3 times. But not able to improve score in practice tests. I prepared 3 yrs ago as well and was able to score around 620 without complete preparation but for some reason couldn't take exam. Now after 3 years i don't know what i am doing wrong but my best score so far is 540.

I am feeling totally demotivated after seeing my score. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
KM

here is my story and how i prepared, along with all the study materials i used. https://gmatclub.com/forum/should-i-ret ... 37714.html feel free to ask me any questions.

trust me, im an idiot. if i can do it, anyone can. just requires time and dedication.

ive noticed that the farther im out of college, the weaker my math skills were getting. im a banker, but i dont deal with shapes and word problems all day. that could be the case for you.

lebron23Goat Thanks for quick reply.. working in accounting so numbers are not a problem i guess.. lacking in time management, mostly in understanding the question and i have found myself choosing the trap answer choices more than the right ones.. It's been happening over and over

i wouldnt say working in accounting is a bonus for the gmat. id even say its a negative. accounting math has nothing to do with gmat or standardized test math.

for each question in your error log, it is important to know the right answer, why its right, but also its important to understand exactly why each other option is 100% wrong. doing this in your review will help you better identify traps on future questions.

reviewing is something i am not doing a lot or spending time on. That makes sense.. I hope it helps improve the score.. Thanks..

Hi Km2014,

In prior posts, it looks like you were studying for the GMAT back in November - with the goal of taking the GMAT in February. Since you haven't taken the Official GMAT, have you been studying consistently since November (meaning the last 7 months)? Before I can offer you any additional advice, 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?
2) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
3) Did you take the FULL CAT each time (with the Essay and IR sections)/

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

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

How long have you been studying? I'd think that you should be able to get back to that 620 level at least.

Hi

it is better to start with taking a CAT exam know starting point
you can start with Best comprehensive material

1. Manhattan GMAT Quant Guides
2. Manhattan GMAT Verbal guides
or
Aristotle Verbal Guide
for CR critical reasoning bible is best book with 300+ pages of comprehensive Data

Start with quant, learn the concepts tested on GMAT
After learning, practice your learned section with times practice
You can also take quizzes to meet the pace of GMAT

1 Month for learning concepts and 15 days of practice and same with the verbal
when completed all the concepts learning and handsome practice
Take full lenght CATs, know your estimated score

Analyze the result with Correct/incorrect questions, pacing analysis
trace your mistakes and learn from them, make an error log to know
your mistakes in the previously attempted questions

Best CATs

1. Official GMAC (50+50$)
2. Manhattan GMAT (49$)
3. GMAT Club Quant CATs (80$ or 25 Kudos)
4. Veritas CATs (49$ but you can buy at 15-20$ During sale period)

above Mock exams are as important as ranked

Good Luck
Cheers

Be careful about continuing to do what you've been doing for the past 3 years. You keep studying the same, you'll keep getting the same results. Over this time, you will likely have fallen into certain habits - I don't know what those habits may be, but those habits are constantly giving you the same results. You need to kill those habits, and the best way to kill them is to replace them with new ones. You can't get rid of bad habits without creating new ones.

So force yourself to create new habits - and perhaps you can start to see some new changes.

If you are able to identify any habits, what might they be?

We have some students who were in a rut as well - one guy took the exam 3 times (for real) - and came to us on his 4th try. His official score report is posted at: https://www.gmatpill.com/testimonials

Hi Km2014,

Kindly do not be disheartened as GMAT is all about high commitment. It’s a good thing you have taken your exams. You can now know your weaknesses and work on them. If you are willing to study with high dedication for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course as you may be a bit weak with your concepts. 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 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 a 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 guys,

Well, my GMAT exam is scheduled for June 7th morning, so I have 17 days to finish my preparation, and I am on vacation until June 7th afternoon so I can concentrate on my preparation.

In my first mock test I got 430 (Q36V14), that was before I start any preparation.
I was preparing 10 hours per week for 2 months, and I finished to review the Manhattan Verbal books. For Quant I am OK with the theory (I'm an engineer). Yesterday I took my Second CAT (from Manhattan) and got 570 (Q41V28). My timing was weak and I don't have enough time to answer about 5 quant and 10 verbal questions. I feel calm with the result as I understood my mistakes, and I think I can improve my weakness points and timing.

My target score is 700. I see another posts in the forum talking about what to do X days before GMAT, but none of these talk about when you are on vacations and can spend all your time to preparation.

Do you have any recommendations for me?
Is Ok if I spend all the time making mock tests?
Which resources do you think are the most useful?
another recommendations?


Thanks a lot for your comments, and have a nice day!

You can find usefull information here:
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... 80727.html
You can look for Study plan articles at GmatClub's Forum

Thanks for all of your kind suggestions. They are very helpful. But if let's say I have GMAT Exam tomorrow, what are the three things that can help improve my score a little higher?

Let me tell you, i have been studying for 8 months now and i've finished studying whole Kaplan GMAT Premium 2017 book. So i am kind of mentally done with GMAT now. Any three helpful tips would be greatly appreciated.

KM

Hi JimPayments,

Assuming that your recent CAT score is accurate, then your goal is to increase your score 130+ points in just 2.5 weeks. Unfortunately, that goal is likely too difficult to be considered realistic (even if you can study a lot more right now - the type of 'cramming' that you're hinting at rarely yields great results in these types of situations).

You can certainly take the GMAT as scheduled, but you'll likely end up having to take it again (thankfully, Business Schools generally do not care if you take the GMAT more than once). You'll probably need another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study to hit that score goal though, so you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date. That having been said, if you're going to stick with this Test Date, then you shouldn't plan to take any more than 2-3 CATs in these next 2-3 weeks. A CAT is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to put in the necessary practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. This is one of the big reasons why you really shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week.

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC and other guys, thanks for your comments.

Well I did GMAT Prep 1st free CAT and got 540 (Q48V17), I really improve Quant, But get worse in Verbal

I know my goal is far, but I see that my main weak point is my timing. I take too long reading the longer passages, and get frustrated and so do not have enough time to do the rest of the question. In the last CAT I made, the Verbal part starts with 2 passages, and took me the hafl of the time and I could not complete the last 10 questions.

What could you recommend to improve my timing? what sources of RC o others questions?

By the way, I planning to apply this September when the next 1st rounds start, and planning to apply to LBS or other international schools in UK or outside US. Could be some US' too. (I work in the Payments business in retail banking (half retail and half technology, and am Peruvian, engineer, 30 years old)

Regards

We have a post that addresses your question and probably goes way beyond reasonable in preparation for the test, but you can always ignore some of the bullets: https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-to-do-3 ... 52506.html