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Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month?

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roadrunner
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Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2017, 02:18
Hi All,

Need your guidance to direct my study strategy for next month. I aspire to score 720 in my next attempt, which I plan to take in the first week of march.

A bit about myself:

A 29y old male Indian engineer living in Singapore from past 6 years. By Profession a Senior Consultant (Front Office Business Analyst) in a Corp finance product company with high degree of client interactions and work related travel.
Received promotion in 2 years. Cleared CFA level 2 exams, and also hold FRM designation. No subordinates reporting to me directly.

Aiming for Insead, HEC Paris (Jan 2018), HKUST, and NUS in the order of preference.


A little insight on my journey so far -
Started preparing in Jul 2016 and without a concrete study plan, I was mostly running around like a headless chicken. In mid Sept, I decided to purchase eGMAT quant and verbal course and diligently started preparing for the exam but still not so diligent in maintaining error log.

During this period, I took only one practice exam per month just to see if I'm making any progress in scores and took 4 full length and 1 without IR/AWA exams in January. My performance in these 5 tests are as follows:

7 Jan 17 - MGMAT - 620 (Q42, V32) (No IR/AWA)
14 Jan 17 - GMATPrep EP1 - 670 (Q47, V34, IR6)
21 Jan 17 - GMATPrep EP1 - 680 (Q48, V34, IR6)
28 Jan 17 - GMATPrep EP2 - 680 (Q49, V34, IR6)
31 Jan 17 - GMATPrep EP2 - 680 (Q46, V38, IR6)

1-Feb-17 GMAT Exam - 670 (Q48, V34, IR6)

TBH, I wasn't expecting such low score in Verbal and even more surprising is my sub-par performance in SC (59 %ile on exam as opposed to >70 %ile in all 4 prep tests).

I feel time management issue is also a major factor in higher number of incorrect answers towards the end of the exam. In practice test also I ended up quickly marking last 3-4 questions with only couple of minutes left. I don't know how I can improve it as I have always answered practice questions under timed conditions.

Attaching my ESR for your perusal

Please help how I should approach my study going forward. Is a goal of 50 points score improvement farfetched to achieve in a month?
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2017, 21:02
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Hi roadrunner,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your last 4 CAT score results, when combined with your Official GMAT Score, show that you essentially performed the same each time (+/- a few points). This ultimately means that for the last month you've been remarkably consistent. On one hand, you do lots of things consistently well; on the other hand, you likely make the same consistent mistakes in how you work through questions. A 670 is actually closer to a 720 than you probably realize, but based on the data that you've provided, "your way" of dealing with the GMAT has gotten you 'stuck' in the high-600s.

You could conceivably hit your score goal in a month, but you would have to make some fundamental changes in how you deal with BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. If you've developed any 'bad habits' during the last couple of months of study, then it would probably take 1-2 months of consistent, guided study to hit your score goal (since it takes time to eliminate bad habits and replace them with new 'good habits'). Thankfully, you have plenty of time before you plan to apply, so you can continue to study and retest. If you have the free time now, I suggest that you continue to study so that you don't lose the 'momentum' that you've generated.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can study each week?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2017, 21:35
Hi Rich,

Firstly thanks for your response.

Although I have been scoring consistently for the past month, unfortunately it also means my skills did not improve much over the month. As you've rightly pointed out.

I want to get done with my GMAT ASAP so that I can completely focus on my applications.

Quote:
1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can study each week?

2 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on weekends, barring the days I take practice exams.

Not sure if it'll help, but I mainly use GMATClub's question bank feature to filter questions in each section and my performance thus far is as below:

<600 level : 100 % in both verbal and quant sections
600 <- <700: 80-90 % success in both sections
> 700:
50% difficulty: 60-70% success rate
75% difficulty: 40-50% success in quant and 30-40% in verbal
95% difficulty: 10% success = mostly guess work.

Sorry if its TMI but I hope to get some good directions to achieve my goal ASAP.

So what strategy do you recommend that I should follow for next month?
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   02 Feb 2017, 22:35
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Hi roadrunner,

I've sent you a PM with some notes/suggestions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Adityagmatclub
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   25 Jul 2017, 23:45
EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi roadrunner,

I've sent you a PM with some notes/suggestions.

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


Please share your views on official website as it will help us. we are facing similar problem.
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EMPOWERgmatRichC
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Joined: 19 Dec 2014
Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder
Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat
Posts: 21846
Own Kudos [?]: 11665 [0]
Given Kudos: 450
Location: United States (CA)
GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49
GRE 1: Q170 V170
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink] New post   26 Jul 2017, 17:36
Expert Reply
Hi Adityagmatclub,

The type of ESR analysis that I offer sometimes includes questions/information that is specific (and personal) to the individual, so I sometimes choose not to have those discussions in public. If you have questions about your Enhanced Score Report, then I'll be happy to analyze your ESR for you though.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
GMAT Club Bot
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Re: Need advice to improve from 670 to 720 - attainable in a month? [#permalink]
26 Jul 2017, 17:36

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