Need to improve my GMAT Focus score from 595 to 655!

Question

Hi All,

I recently gave my GMAT Focus and scored 595 (Q80/V81/DI78) which was heartbreaking as I had put in a lot of effort over the past 9 months.

Here are some thoughts on my performance:

1. Exam sequence - Q-DI-V. Took a 10 minutes break after DI which I feel was a mistake as I lost my momentum. 
2. I felt good after completing the Quants section and I just made 3 mistakes in total but still got 64 percentile for some reason. Someone please let me know how this is possible. 
3. I was scoring the worst in DI during my mock tests but despite making 8 mistakes still managed to score 70 percentile. This is an obvious area for improvement. 
4. My strongest area was always Verbal but I uncharacteristically spent a lot of time in my initial questions which derailed the entire section and had to guess the last three questions.

Overall, while I feel I can improve my performance in Quants and Verbal with a little more effort and practice, I can't say the same for DI.

Major areas for improvement:

1. Time management
2. Data Insights

More Context: I have been using TTP (my accuracy has been in the 80-90% overall in Quants and Verbal) primarily along with OG and individual GMAT section review guides and practice tests.
Just a month back (after studying for 8 months) I gave my first practice test and scored an abysmal 435 which crushed me. But I found that it was due to anxiety and time management and tried to fix as many flaws as I could. But now I feel I need help to cross the 645 threshold and it's gonna be tough to do that.

So I need your suggestions on the following:

1. How can I improve my time management? 
2. How I can improve my DI performance? Are there any prep providers which are good especially for DI? 
3. Any other areas that I should focus on or any other brutally honest feedback would be welcome.

nafuzzz · Answer

For time management, try setting strict time limits when practicing, use timed sets or full-length mocks to get used to the pressure. In Verbal, make sure you don’t get stuck on the early questions. Keep a steady pace throughout the section, even if that means moving on from tough questions quicker. For DI, since it's been a challenge, focus on identifying the exact question types that are causing you trouble, like Multi-Source Reasoning or Data Sufficiency. You’re already using TTP, but maybe explore additional DI-specific resources like Manhattan Prep or GMAT Club’s question banks to get more targeted practice. The key is reviewing mistakes and understanding not just what went wrong, but why it happened. AND just be confident! Don't be scared. Because you've already put in the hardwork, now just fine tune yourself. Don't let setbacks put you down. I'm rooting for you!

Anticapitalist · Answer

Perfect!! Understood, thanks a lot for the suggestions and your kind words.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

One thing that may help a bit is using question/time markers. You could also consider doing timed practice sets (if you haven't already). If, for example, you have the Official-Guide 2024, you could activate/access the online platform to easily create timed practice sets according to your specifications.

Time management - Time currency

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Anticapitalist,

I noticed that your timing issues seemed to be mostly in the verbal section based on your debrief. With that in mind, it's important to recognize that running out of time in verbal may indicate lingering weaknesses in Verbal.

To increase your verbal score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.

For example, assume you begin studying Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to master the individual Critical Reasoning topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why you didn't get it right. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you would have had to know in order to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

Regarding RC, when students get those questions wrong, it’s partly because they don't truly understand what they have just read. To understand what you are reading, you may have to slow down even more (for now) in order to eventually speed up. You have to learn to comprehend what you read, keep it all straight, and use what you are reading to arrive at correct answers.

At this point, your best bet is to focus on getting the correct answers to questions, taking **as much time as you need** to see key details and understand the logic of what you are reading. If you don't understand something, go back and read it one sentence at a time, even one word at a time, not moving on until you understand what you have just read. There is no way around this work. Your goal should be to take all the time you need to understand exactly what is being said and arrive at the correct answer. If you can learn to get answers taking your time, you can learn to speed up. Answering questions is like any task: The more times you do it carefully and successfully, the faster you become at doing it carefully and successfully.

Another component to understanding what you are reading is being “present” when reading. Don’t worry about how things are going at work, or what you will eat for dinner, or even how long you’re taking to read through the passage. Just focus on what is in front of you, word by word, line by line. Furthermore, try to make reading fun. For example, even if you are reading about a topic that bores you, pretend that you are the person making the argument. By doing so, you will make the passage more relatable to YOU, and ultimately you should be able to read with greater focus.

One final component of Reading Comprehension that may be tripping you up is that RC questions contain one or more trap answers that seem to answer the question but don't really. So, a key part of training to correctly answer RC questions is learning to notice the differences between trap answers and correct answers. You have to learn to see how trap answers seem to follow from what the passages say, but don't really, while correct answers fit what the passages say exactly. Of course, the better you become at noticing the differences between trap answer choices and correct answers, the faster you will answer RC questions.

Here is also a great article that you can check out:

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal on the Focus Edition

Anticapitalist · Answer

bb  Any thoughts on how I can improve my score?

MBAACCOUNT2025 · Answer

Hi Anticapitalist,

Here are my suggestions for you:
1. Skip the questions you find difficult. You don’t need to answer all questions correctly to reach your target score of 655.
2. For DI , focus exclusively on official questions. 
3. Consider changing the order of the exam to find what suits you best.

Feel free to reach out if you have any more questions.

Anticapitalist · Answer

Hi!

Thanks  MBAACCOUNT2025 !

Will reach out to you if I need any guidance.

Regards

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