Need tips on how to go from 650 to 700

Question

Hello GMATClub

I hope you're doing good. I know this question is not new and will not be old even few years down the line but each person is different so I will ask anyway. I am currently scoring between 640 to 660 and I know if I go ahead and take the official test tomorrow I will score about 650. I need how to do things differently from now now till my exam date (21st Dec 2019) so I can cross the 700 mark or at least touch 700. Below is a quick summary of my scores so far: GMATPrep 1- July 13, 2019 - Q42 V26 - 560 GMATPrep 2 - July 20, 2019 - Q44 V21 - 540 Expert's Global Free Exam - Don't remember the date - Q47 V18 - 540 (At this point I realised just taking mocks won't help so I need to study. So no mocks for a period of time) GMATPrep1 - Attempt 2 - Sept 29 - Q47 V28 - 620 GMATPrep2 - Attempt 2 - Nov 3 - Q50 V36 - 710 (Obviously I saw repeat questions specially that one RC I can recollect) VeritasPrep1 - Nov 11 - Q48 V32 - 650 Egmat Test 1 - Nov 17 - Q45 V33 - 640 Veritas Prep 2- Nov 22 - Q48 V33 - 660 I will answer some of the frequently asked questions by Rich: 1) What is your overall goal score? - Because of the fact that I am from over highly represented demographic (Indian IT male) I know I need 720+ but if I am honest to myself I know 700 is best and achievable by me. 2) When are you planning to take the GMAT? - Dec 21, 2019 3) When are you planning to apply to Business School? - I know I want to get into one year MBA. I want to apply next year so my class starts in Summer/Fall 2020. 4) What Schools are you planning to apply to? - Honestly, I haven't thought. I am inclined towards Indian B-schools only but I am okay with applying to US Colleges as well because I already have an H1B. 5) I have been preparing since June 2019. But that's not all. I have taken Common Admission Test (India) in 2013,2014,2015 and 2016. So I have quite a good amount of experience with all these competitive MBA exams. I didn't get into 99percentile and It's a fact that India is very competitive place for MBA colleges so I didn't get into tier 1 colleges. I did make it to Tier-2/3 colleges (the best one out of those would be Great Lakes PGPM I believe) but again I didn't want to compromise on the brand name. I always wanted to and still want to get into a tier 1 college. Since this has already been a long post, I will just brief about my profile. Always a topper in academics from school to Graduation. University of Mumbai Rank 1 in my specialisation of engineering (Rank 1 out of 50,000 may be?) Percentage 82.47% (GPA should be 4). Will have 6 years of experience by Feb 2020. Almost 2 years International experience (2 major US telecom companies). Looking forward to any kind of inputs. Tips to make it to 700/Colleges that I can consider/Application deadlines I should consider Thank you!

TheNightKing · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

mykrasovski · Answer

TheNightKing  hey there. Seems that you might be able to achieve your target score if you add ~5 points to your Verbal score. However, there could be a multitude of things to look at and try... Do you have an idea about your weakest & strongest area in Verbal?

We are in similar situations. And my problem is with results inconsistency, which is caused by pacing and CR ability. I did score V37 - V39 in several official diagnostic tests, but I do not consistently get such scores in all my exams. I tend to do CR quite slowly and this is why I have started looking into ways to improve both pacing and CR ability.

I will listen in to what experts say in your thread. Good luck!

TheNightKing · Answer

Hey!  mykrasovski 
So if I talk about Verbal section, the weakest area out of the three is RC, which I am working on constantly. And it's not the pace. It is the accuracy. Out of the other 2, I perform better in SC than in CR. but still both need consistency just like you mentioned. I have been bad at maintaining the streak of correct answers (if you know what I mean and how it can hurt).

In my last mock yesterday (VP test 2) I got a RC almost towards the end and it was so so so bad (firstly the RC was related to DNA and it was so complex) and I got 1 correct out of 3 questions which is really bad.

So Yeah to sum it up, RC is what can make or break things for me.

Curious, when are you taking test?

mykrasovski · Answer

TheNightKing  if that is the case, then develop a methodology to improve your RC. Have you seen posts by Stacey Koprince from Manhattan? I recommend it to people because the posts are very good. She takes an OG passage and dissects it to a tiny detail, including the explanation of how to read, how to skim, how to address questions, and what to look for while reading and answering.

Do not get discouraged by getting 1/3 wrong in RC. If you have 4 passages and you do well in 3 passages and make two mistakes in only one passage (ideally, not the first two RCs), then your score is unlikely to drop a lot. Also, by the time you reach 32nd - 33rd question the algorithm is likely had converged. So, missing a couple of questions won't hurt your score too much.

I do not have a date yet for my next retake. I want to improve my pacing and CR ability before I go for another official test.

TheNightKing · Answer

mykrasovski 1. Please share the link to those Posts. I mean I can search but if you can provide that would be great. 2. See, RC is bad in general. I agree with what you are saying towards the end the algorithm pretty much has decided where you will land and it doesn't matter as much as it matters at the beginning but still. Take a look at below analysis of yesterday's mock ( I did this after you mentioned about initial RCs otherwise I haven't done analyses yet) RC1: 1/3 - 6 minutes RC2: 2/3 - 5.5 minutes RC3: 2/3 - 6 minutes RC4: 1/3 - 6 minutes You see? It's not great consistently. 3. Sure mate. You need to be ready to take the test this time. I understand. I haven't booked it myself but I want to take one attempt in this year. So mostly 21/23 Dec. I feel this is like marriage, You're never ready

Just Kidding

mykrasovski · Answer

You definitely need to work on your RC skills.

Here is the post - https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ge-part-1/

Do not be lazy & look for more of her posts. They do help. As an alternative, look at nightblade354's RC guide.

Sure, the analogy works, but to some extent. It does not make sense to go for a real exam unless you have achieved your target score in official practice test(s). I have made this mistake before and went for a test when I was not prepared well enough. Then I changed my approach and studied more. But even after I got 690 and 680 in practice tests, I scored only 640 in the real test (twice) because my performance in Verbal was not good enough. In my opinion, the real test is harder than official practice tests are, because the questions in the official test are less common and test pressure plays a role.

TheNightKing · Answer

mykrasovski 
Surely I will look at the guide you shared and search for more content. I have read nightblade's guide and Ninja's too.

I understand what you're saying but I have been preparing for months now man. Apart from these months, I have been preparing for this MBA thing since 2013.
I have dragged it enough man.! That's why this Post. I want to make it happen in a month's time. I know it won't be easy and I know this is not the best approach. And honestly, there are times in your life when you realise not everything is meant to be. From my long journey, I have realise that I am not a 760 candidate or a 780 or a 99 percentiler for CAT India. I just want to be good enough and go for MBA from the best college possible based on the profile and based on the score. 
Life is tough man!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TheNightKing,

While the most realistic CATs available are the 6 from GMAC, retaking a CAT that you've already taken is NOT a realistic way to assess your skills - since you will likely see some 'repeat' questions that you have already faced. Unfortunately, seeing even a couple of repeats can 'throw off' the Scoring Algorithm and impact your pacing, energy levels, fatigue, etc. (meaning that they would likely all appear to be better than they actually are). Thankfully, the CATs from Kaplan, MGMAT and Veritas are all 'close enough' to the real thing that they will provide you with a relatively realistic score assessment (assuming that you correctly take the CAT in a realistic fashion).

Your 3 most recent CATs imply that your current 'ability level' is in the mid-600s - and that's a nice improvement compared to how you were scoring a few months ago. To pick up the missing points that you're after, we'll have to define your prior studies in a bit more detail, so I have a few questions about how you've been studying:

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? Have you taken any other CATs/mocks besides the ones you listed in your first post in this thread?
3) What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical RC, SC and CR prompt?

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

TheNightKing · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC 
Hi Rich, Thanks for your response.!

Yes. I agree that the repeat attempts on the official mocks are not the accurate representation of my ability and Yes I realise that I am at mid 600s level now.

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week? - 2 hours a day in the evening with no distractions and I keep solving questions during my office time as I don't have crazy workload. On weekends, I study for about 5 to 6 hours each day. That has been my schedule since July 1st (I came back from a vacation in June last week and after that there has been just studies with almost little to no hangout and no vacations.

2) What study materials have you used so far? Have you taken any other CATs/mocks besides the ones you listed in your first post in this thread?

(i) I have completed the MGMAT books when I started my prep. Apart from that my only source is the club (explanations, approaches, guides everything). As per my error log, I have solved about 7000 questions in total all areas. (1000 DS, 1700 PS, 1400 CR, 1700 SC, 1000 RC. They might not add up because I just rounded the numbers). That has been my main source.

(ii)No other mocks. I listed all GMAT mocks I have taken.

3) What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical RC, SC and CR prompt?

CR: I have learned to engage myself in the prompt. I keep rephrasing so I know what author is saying. I keep an eye for special words such as "However, Yet etc" to understand how the argument is shaping up. I have seen your BID approach as well. (Note : I don't write anything in Verbal like literally nothing because I can't. It just doesn't work for me). I basically find out Premise/Counter Premise/Conclusion/Fact in my mind and go from there. For specific questions like Bold face, my main goal is to identify the Conclusion and how each statement impacts it (Premise/CounterPremise)

SC: I mostly read the prompt and understand if verbs are involved or SV or may be like/such as. I eliminate low hanging fruits first (GMATNinja's approach). Only if I am sure of something and not otherwise. I mostly (and successfully) boil down to 2 answer choices and pick the best.

RC: My approach is pretty much what I describer for CR. I keep telling myself what the author is saying and keep myself engaged. Stopping at the end of each paragraph and telling myself the purpose of it. 
If I manage to engage myself with the passage then I usually have no trouble. If the passage and I are not off to a good start then it can be rough. My speed is not an issue. If it works for me then it does. If it doesn't then it doesn't. I am really practicing RCs to improve myself.

I generally do not have issue with time management. The last VP's test I submitted the quant section 5 minutes to spare. I know that's not the best and now when I am analysing I could have stopped a minute more on a certain question and may be got it right. So I will work on that. On Verbal I generally average 2 minutes even including RC so I just need to make sure I am marking the right answer after spending the time.

I tried my best to answer your questions. Let me know if you need any more details.

mykrasovski · Answer

TheNightKing  I understand you. Good luck with everything! Hope you manage to grab that 700!

TheNightKing · Answer

Thanks mate! And thanks for the support. You can always reach out to me via PM or across forum.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TheNightKing,

Trying to answer a GMAT question "in your head" (without taking notes) is the WORST way to approach any question - and it's almost certainly costing you points in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. From what you've described, you've convinced yourself that you have to approach the Exam in that way, so this all might come down to one choice: continue to work in this way and probably score 650 OR change your Tactics and put yourself in a position to score a lot higher.

You're clearly a strong critical-thinker overall, so that's not an issue. The type of Score that you're after requires a high level of 'precision' - and that's based heavily on being organized with your work (again, on your note pad). With just a few tweaks to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Exam, you could potentially lock in that higher Score in a month - but if you're 'stubborn' about making those changes, then it could end up taking longer.

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

TheNightKing · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

Thank you for your response.
 
Just to clarify on this one, I don't do Quant questions in my head. It's mostly with Verbal.

Firstly, I don't want to score 650. I want to be on the other side of 700. Secondly, I know what you're saying. I realised this today (since I am thinking too much about the exam and my approach) that if I continue the same way then I will end up scoring what I am scoring right now. So when I was practicing RC today I was writing one line summary for each of the paragraph. I practice 4 such RCs. And I did try to approach CR questions in a more structured manner (to be precise PowerScore's CR guide approach) but I will admit I did not write anything for CR. At least not yet.

Thank you for saying these Kind words. I appreciate it.

I am willing to change my tactics and I know that I won't again anything from being 'stubborn'. I feel all the work that is needed to solve a particular question is already done by me; I just need to make the last mile right to select the right and not the wrong answer.

I had once in the past accessed your course for 24 hours and I did utilise as much as I could. I have enrolled in EMPOWERgmat for one month. I am willing to put all efforts that are needed to make this happen. Please guide me further.

One last thing, I haven't booked the date yet. I am thinking 21st Dec and I want to take that slot ASAP. The question I am asking myself is can I do the last mile in these remaining days? I know I can but I can't convince myself. Please let me know if you think we can work this one out. If yes then I will book the test date tomorrow and we can go from there.

Thank you so much Rich!

TheNightKing · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC Extremely Sorry for the tag but will really really appreciate your response. Thank you!

bb · Answer

Taking into consideration that you’ve been preparing already since June, I would not stretch out your prep too long past December. Test prep skills Sauer after about four or five months in my experience and people have a hard time maintaining focus for a long periods of time and things just get rusty. I would highly recommend that you don’t push your test beyond early January. I Deleigh late December and you do a strong push and exploring every single witness you have until then.

Your goal should be in eradicating mistakes at this point. It is possible to take a test perfectly so things such as oh I did this too quickly or I did a careless mistakes, so that’s ok... nope it’s not. They are not forgiven on the test. You should not forgive yourself for those mistakes either. Whatever mistakes you make, you need to eradicate them.

PS. If you’re applying for R2 in Jan, I would definitely take the test sooner than later. But whatever you do, the longer you wait the more you stand to lose. Can you to realize that and change things that are not working for you. If you have been studying a certain way and this has not produced a score for you after six months I think it would be insane to assume doing the same thing would provide results. I’m not talking about materials. I’m not saying that you’re using the wrong course or the wrong book. It is the study method it’s the fundamental principles behind your studying that likely need the most help and revision.

Good luck!

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi TheNightKing,

Based on everything that we have discussed, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Verbal Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients finish that Study Plan in well under a month, so it should fit your schedule perfectly. While you might be tempted to try to 'rush' through some of those Lessons, that should not be your goal. Your focus has to be on learning and practicing the proper Tactics, so that you can use those same Tactics every time that they apply on Test Day. Most Verbal questions are fairly standard - they're based on rules and patterns in the same way that Quant questions are - so you have to note specific details, organize the information that you've been given (on your pad) and answer the exact question that is asked.

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

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