Need Advice for GMAT Second Attempt Coaching Recommendations

Question

Hello Everyone,

I’m currently preparing for my second GMAT attempt and would really appreciate some guidance from those who have been through a similar situation.
For my first attempt, I enrolled with TOP for coaching. While I’ve built a good foundation, I feel somewhat stuck in my preparation. At the moment, my accuracy in both Quant and Verbal is hovering around 80%, and despite practicing consistently, I’m not seeing the improvement I was hoping for.
I have not focused much on Data Insights (DI) since my first attempt, so I don’t yet have reliable accuracy metrics for that section.
My current TOP subscription expires in about 10 days, and I’m considering whether I should switch to another coaching program that can provide more structured guidance for my second attempt. What I feel I need most right now is:
 
 A clear and personalized study plan  
 Help identifying and addressing my weak areas  
 Strategic guidance on how to move from my current level to a higher score  
 Accountability and direction so that my daily practice feels more purposeful   
Sometimes it feels like I’m doing the same type of practice every day, which is a bit frustrating.
For those who have been in a similar position, which coaching program or tutor helped you break through this plateau and significantly improve your score? I’d be grateful for any recommendations or advice on how to approach my second attempt more effectively.

Thank you in advance!

MartyMurray · Answer

I personally would do the following if you worked with me:

- Use a Quant diagnostic to find weak areas and other opportunities in Quant to identify how to increase your Quant accuracy.

- Help key aspects of Verbal click for you so that you get virtually every Verbal question correct.

- Show you ways to handle DI questions efficiently and consistently arrive at correct answers.

- Help you structure your study and practice for maximum results.

Examples of students who have used a similar approach with me and gotten great results:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/755-official ... 50220.html

https://gmatclub.com/forum/100-point-im ... 87172.html

https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-gmat-jour ... 42839.html

https://gmatclub.com/forum/a-thank-you- ... 53797.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/GMAT/comments/ ... cy_is_key/

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi ametsed,

It's good to see that you're looking to bounce back from the score drop last time. However, accuracy isn't the most reliable indicator of your current level. Have you taken an official practice test recently?

EducationAisle · Answer

Isn't this accuracy already quite decent  ametsed , especially if you are achieving this accuracy in medium and hard level questions?

What have your Quant and Verbal scores been in the official mock(s), with this accuracy rate?

ametsed · Answer

Recently, No I havent taken any practice exam. As I am working professional, balancing my prep and work has not allowed me much time on prep in April. Although, in mid of April I have started my preparation again after the first attempt in last week of march and since then I am focusing on building confidence on topics which I am weak at for eg. Number systems, data sufficiency questions and some other topics. so after getting a bit comfortable with these topics again I will take a mock exam most probably in the third week of may.

AjiteshArun

Hi ametsed,

It's good to see that you're looking to bounce back from the score drop last time. However, accuracy isn't the most reliable indicator of your current level. Have you taken an official practice test recently?

ametsed · Answer

In the official mock I took last time I got 81%ile in verbal and 80%ile in quant with a total sore of 575. also one more thing I guess I forgot to mention earlier is that I am getting this accuracy in mix of questions typically ranging from 555-705 level. There are questions in the 655-705 marks which I find difficult to handle at times among my weaker topics. 
If I talk about the last mock I took before my GMAT exam was from GMAT club again I got 80%ile in verbal and quant with a total score of 615.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Plateauing at 80 percent accuracy while feeling like every day looks the same is a common pattern. The plateau is almost always a methodology issue, so before deciding whether to switch courses, it is worth diagnosing what is actually happening. 
 
80 percent accuracy in both Quant and Verbal means you are missing roughly one in five questions. Those misses are the entire game. The real question is not whether you are practicing, but whether you are doing rigorous error analysis on every miss. For each wrong question, you need to know exactly what went wrong. Was the underlying concept shaky? Did you misread the prompt? Did you fall for a trap answer? Did you choose a slower or wrong approach when a better one was available? Did you make a careless arithmetic or logic error? Without that diagnosis, you will keep getting roughly the same percentage right, because the underlying gaps are unchanged from week to week. 
 
The second issue is the pattern of practice itself. If your daily work feels repetitive and is not producing improvement, you are likely doing mixed practice across topics rather than deep topical work on your specific weak areas. Mixed practice is where you confirm mastery, not where you build it. To break through a plateau, you have to go back to the topics where you are missing questions, relearn the concepts thoroughly, and drill those topics in isolation until your accuracy on each one is consistently high, in the 85 to 90 percent range, before moving on. When that depth is in place across all topics, your overall accuracy moves up. Until then, it will not. 
 
The third issue is Data Insights, and this one is significant. Leaving DI essentially untouched between your first and second attempts is a major opportunity cost. DI is one third of your Focus Edition score, and most students who have not worked on it are nowhere near where they need to be. You will need to treat it like a full section. Learn each question type (Data Sufficiency, Multi-Source Reasoning, Two-Part Analysis, Graphics Interpretation, Table Analysis), build accuracy on each one individually, then practice mixed DI sets under timing. Ignoring DI is probably the biggest single lever you have for raising your second-attempt score. 
 
Now to your course question. If you do decide to change resources, what matters is whether the structure of the course actually supports how real improvement happens. Look for a clear, comprehensive, structured prep course that lets you study one topic at a time in a defined sequence, tracks your accuracy by topic and subtopic so the gaps are visible in the data, provides enough targeted practice in each area to reach mastery rather than just exposure, and includes thorough DI coverage. The "personalized study plan" you are asking for is largely a function of the accuracy data your own work generates over time. It is not something someone hands you on day one. The plan emerges from the work, then guides the rest of the work. 
 
On accountability, the most reliable form is daily structure, weekly review of your error log, and a clear target for what you want to accomplish in each study block. A tutor can help, but a good tutor will only accelerate what you are already doing rigorously.

My recommendation is this. Before you switch anything, spend a few days auditing your last two weeks of practice. Categorize every miss by reason. Identify the three or four topics that are producing most of your errors. If your current resource lets you isolate those topics and drill them with accuracy tracking, the issue is your study method, and switching will not help. If your current resource does not support that workflow, then find one that does. Either way, the path forward for your second attempt is deep topical work on your weak areas, real error analysis on every miss, and a serious plan for DI starting now.

AjiteshArun · Answer

That's a good idea, as an official practice test will give you a much better idea of where you are in your prep. I don't know enough about you to help you with a detailed study plan, but feel free to reach out if you'd like to (broadly) discuss your prep.

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