Need help: to increase score from 500 to 700

Hi MPhizzle,

Both Columbia and Wharton are highly competitive Schools, so beyond having a competitive GMAT Score, you also need to have a strong OVERALL profile AND you need to make sure that you properly 'market yourself' to each individual Program. Given the type of score improvement that you're looking for, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

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

At 500, I think you need to focus more on concepts and fundamentals first. Only practice problems may not help that much at this stage. Practice problems help in fine tuning the concepts, not establishing them. I am guessing there are some major gaps which first need to be filled through theory and basic practice. At these scores, I usually advise students to run through a complete curriculum to see an uptick of about 100-120 points. Here is a link to some of our free resources:
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/
You will get our DS book and SC video here. They discuss GMAT relevant fundamentals in detail.

Ok will take a look. Thanks a lot for the feedback. Definitely some disconnect so I'll spend some time with fundamentals first. Would you suggest running through my manhattan prep foundation books as well?


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Hi MPhizzle,

CAT review is an important part of the training process - you need to know WHY you're getting questions wrong so that you can focus your energies on 'fixing' whatever needs to be fixed (so that you can score higher).

After reviewing this last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong in each section....
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 narrowed the answers down to 2 choices, but "guessed wrong"?
5) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

Once you have answers to these questions, we'll have a better idea of what you'll need to work on to improve.

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

Ok thanks. Will take a careful assessment tomorrow.


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Hi

First of all learn all the concept being tested on the GMAT, Manhattan Guides are good source to do that. When you have learned 100% concept with good sense THEN Do practice of Official guide questions + additional questions in OG 16 + additional questions in OG 17. Make an error log while practicing and time your practice. When each and every question is done then Take a CAT, check your result if there is still no progress then you should reschedule your Test date. Each time you take a CAT always review your wrong and guessed questions. Take at least 6 CATs review all of them review your error log know your weak areas and learn again from it.
If studying for two month and their is 440-500 progress, I think you need to reschedule your Test date to get 700+ Score and if you want to apply into top 10 Business School then definitely you need 720+ Score

Good Luck

Hi MPhizzle,

You need to focus on both Quant and verbal. One month may be a short time to improve your score drastically, however you can try. It’s a good thing you have taken a GMAT mock exam. You now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, 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.

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.

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.

Yes thanks very much for your input!


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