60 points at least in 40 days

Hi GiuPao94,

Assuming that this 640 is accurate, you're closer to a 700+ score than you probably realize - but you're going to have to make some significant adjustments to how you handle the Exam to pick up those missing points. Many Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level, so since your studies appear to have been book-heavy, you might need to invest in some new, non-book resources. Before we discuss how best to proceed, I'd like to know a bit more about how you took your CATS and your overall goals:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: in an online forum or in a practice set)?

6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Firstly, Thank you for your answer
1) I took CATs caring totally about Verbal an Quantitative, because the school for which I want to apply does not requires those two.
2) I took the CATs in my dad's office, and there was a lil bit of noise
3) I took the CATs during the week, so it should be the same day in which I will take the GMAT. There is to say that the nearest center to me requires something like 3 hours of train, so I'm planning a travel to arrive in the night, sleep and then take the GMAT the morning after, or one day after.
4) Only yesterday, during the GMATprep mock test, I paused the exam to go to the bathroom
5) I took the GMAT prep CAT both once, and maybe there are 1 or 2 questions that I have already seen. In the two Kaplan CATs there where 2-3 questions already seen too
6) I'm planning to apply after the GMAT official score, so around half of March
7) I'm planning to apply to Bocconi for the MSc Finance and MSc corporate finance, but I'm open to suggestions if it is not too late for apply for other BS

Later I will write my profile
Thank you again

So
Male, 24
Currently in the end of my Bachelor in Business administration and economics in a little private university in the south of Italy with some links to Bocconi(Some lecteurs are in common with Bocconi, Ex bocconi alumni or collaborate with bocconi). GPA around 28/30.
Several years of work in the family business as administrator and coordinator; collaborating with a NGO for projects of international learning(CWMUNs), 2 CWMUNs(One in Abu Dhabi and one in NYC); 4 year of activity in a airsoft sport club; an internship planned in February after the GMAT in my professor's financial studio

Yesterday I reviewed my GMATprep mock test(the one scored 640)
There were some dumb mistakes on powers(I have to clear I lil bit on powers, roots and spacial geometry), and on verbal, there were 7 SC mistakes(I was too confident), 3 RC mistakes and 6-7 CR mistakes. I think that there I really a lot of room of improvement on Verbal

Hi GiuPao94,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your practice scores can become - and that's likely what happened here. By skipping sections and seeing repeat questions, you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.' In addition, I'm concerned about the 3-hour train ride and sleeping in a 'strange' bed the night before your Exam. Little 'disruptions' to one's daily routine can significantly hurt Test Taker's performances on Test Day. For your next practice CAT, I suggest that you sleep in a different bed (in a different location, if it's convenient) and then take a NEW CAT in FULL.

Test Day involves a variety of really specific steps and parameters (including steps before the Test even begins - such as leaving your home, traveling, etc.). Every factor matters, including the psychological ones. When you sit down on Test Day, you KNOW that you're going to be in the Computer Lab for about 4 hours - but if you're just taking individual sections (or taking a CAT without the Essay and IR sections), then you KNOW that you'll be done in 1-2 hours. The attitude and energy that you use during practice will NOT be a match for what you'll need on Test Day, so it's not a proper way to practice.

Thankfully, all of these issues are relatively easy to 'fix' - but you have to put in the extra effort to take your CATS in a more realistic way. From what you describe, you also made a number of little mistakes. To hit your score goal, you have to keep those little mistakes from happening. For the next week, you should focus on the 'precision' in your work (taking proper notes, labeling your work, etc.). Once you have that next CAT Score, you should report back and we can discuss how best to proceed.

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

Thank you for your answer,
Next week I will repeat the GMAT prep CAT in my university, in a much more realistic way. In the meanwhile, what can I do to strengthen my SC, over doing a lot of SC?
During the last CAT, in the verbal section I felt confident and relaxed(Maybe too much). It is not just because I was in a familiar ambient, but much more because in my last 2 CAT I noticed that I start to rush in the Verbal section if I do not face it with a clear and relaxed mind, and, if so, I read incorrectly a lot of RC and end with 5-10 minutes of spare time

For the bed question, I can think to travel the first day, then take one day to feel confident and so take the GMAT in the morning of the third day. I have a unbalanced life, honestly. I work in the night and I study all day long. I wake up every morning at 3:30 a.m. but I should be able, if I take some spare days, to wake up around 8 am and attend the GMAT in the first hours of the day

So, another last thing: yesterday, when I faced my second GMAT prep CAT, I worked something like 4 hours before and I was waken since 3,30 am. Maybe with a more balanced routine, during the days before the test I can perform much better

Hi GiuPao94,

To start, I want to clarify that you should NOT take a CAT that you have already taken - meaning that you should take a NEW CAT (with questions that you have not seen before) each time you practice in this way.

There are a variety of physical, mental and psychological factors that can impact a Test Takers performance, so it's important to think about how YOU can put yourself in the best physical, mental and psychological state before you take each Exam (and when you take the Official GMAT). The little details matter a great deal, so the more you properly plan for, the better.

At their core, SC questions are all based on grammar/idiom rules. While other issues, such as 'style' or 'meaning' can sometimes play a role in solving an SC, most of the time you just need the grammar knowledge. Thus, if you're not comfortable that you have that knowledge, then you should focus on gaining that knowledge in the next week. Reading the explanations for all of the SCs that you work on (and/or watching video explanations) would likely also be helpful.

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

Thank you again for your answer
Another thing: which kind of CAT do you suggest me? I have already done both the official GMAT CATs, but I still have 3 Kaplan CATs from Kaplan prep Plus. Are those reliable? Or is it better if I install again GMAT Prep? Or can you suggest any other kind of source for new reliable CATs?
Thank you again for your time

You can improve 60 points in 40 days, provided you follow the right strategy and routine. I suggest you use only OG and GMATPrep resources. If you dont have the QP1, EP1, and EP2, please get those. Also you can subscribe to EMPOWERgmat course. They have some really good tactics which will help you to train your body and mind. Go for a trial and check whether you like it. And also check Thursday with Ron series videos. Those are really awesome and very helpful.

Hi GiuPao94,

There are actually 6 Official GMAC CATs (Exam Pack 1 and Exam Pack 2 each come with 2 CATs), but the Kaplan CATs are 'close enough' to the real thing that they'll give you a reasonably accurate score result (assuming that you use the CAT correctly).

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

Hi,
So, I finished my third CAT and I'm a lil bit worried.
Scored a bad 610(Q41 V32)
On quantitative I felt absolutely no confident with the first 10 questions, actually I made 6/10 mistakes. There were a lot of linear equations and I with more than one variable. I have to work on this for sure
I'm planning to go through Jeff Sackman's Math book again and train with different levels of questions taken from this forum, starting with the 500 level and then move on the 600 only when I can get 10/10 without mistakes, and so on to 700

On verbal, I was feeling confident because the questions were tough, but actually not so much ad I thought. On 15 CR, only 6 correct, so I have to work on this
7/13 correct RC, considering that I found a really tough passage, it's not so bad
8/13 correct SC that is not bad, but I hope to get better with the manatthan guide for SC bought yesterday

I've done also IR scoring 3 and AWA
I have selected the order: Q-V-IR-AWA, so Q and V had not been influenced from the IR fatigue, but the viceversa is likely.

I've simulated as much as I can the test center mode, but I made the test something like 2-3 hours later than my previous two.
Honestly, I don't want to assume this as benchmark, not just because it is my lowest score, but I felt very below my average performance, expecially in math.
On verbal, I have to work on tough CR.
I drank one redbull before the quantitative and another one before verbal. On quantitative I spent a really little bit of time on the first 10 questions. Maybe a redbull is excessfull for me before quant and/or verba. It pushed me too much and it didn't allow me to think clearly. In reviewing my first 10 questions and I'm noting that on 6 mistakes, at least the half were avoidble with a clearer mind

Please can someone help me? I’m studying all the math basics again and the manatthan Sc guide. Any kind of suggestion?


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Hi GiuPao94,

Based on what you described about how you took your earlier CATs, it sounds like this recent CAT score might be closer to your current 'ability level.' With your current Test Date, you have about 5 weeks of study time remaining. However, it's possible that you might need more time than that to raise this 610 to a 700+ and it's not clear what steps you're going to take to improve. Working through the same practice materials as before using the same approaches as before is likely NOT going to 'fix' any of areas that need to be improved. This is meant to say that you might need to push back your Test Date and invest in some new study materials.

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

Hi Empower
Sadly, I can't push back the test because I'm already on the edge of the deadline.
Seriously, I don't wanna assume this CAT as benchmark. I have never scored so bad in math, neither in my first CAT in September. I prefer to take another CAT the next week or in these days. In the meanwhile, from which sources can I study to improve? What kind of approach should I use?
I always studied from hard books, but I'm thinking about to go through the math chapters of the Kaplan prep plus(I studied only verbal from this). The verbal ones helped me to approach more strategically at least RC and SC with a good improvement from my first CATs(I was scoring something like V27-25), and maybe a strategical approach to some questions is what I need.
During my last cat I felt as I was too much "hardly" prepared on math, approaching every question directly with algebra, and much less "flexible" to face them in the right way.

For examples, I got wrong two simple questions like

(x+3)^2+(y+4)^2=100 What is the lowest highest possible value of y?

I attacked this multiplying without see that you can easily delete the first power plugging x=3 and getting a simple 6 in the second

Seriously, I think that the excess of redbull hurted my score, because idiot mistakes like this were frequent in the first 10 questions where I rushed a lot.

Should I buy the whole manatthan guide an close myself in a room and study for my remaining 35 days?
I'm thinking about this. On the average, I'm studying 5-6h/day, and so I should be able to finish all the books if I rush a little bit

Hi GiuPao94,

I'm hoping that you can provide some additional information on your application plans:

1) What are the exact application deadlines that you're facing?
2) If you took the GMAT in 5 weeks and scored 650, would you still apply as scheduled (or would you keep studying with the goal of scoring 700)?

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

My deadlines are the 21 March, and if I score 650 I will apply anyway. This Sunday I will try another cat(because I don’t work on Sundays) simulating the exact hour at which I should take the real gmat


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Hi GiuPao94,

Although I don't think that you've defined the exact date that you plan to take the GMAT, based on the general timeline that you've described that date would be sometime around February 20th.... And that is a FULL MONTH before the application deadlines you named. That 4+ weeks of potential study time could be quite valuable as it would given you considerably more time to study and improve. As such, while you might not want to push back your Test Date right now, doing so might be the better option.

The next CAT you take is really important to defining your current 'ability level', so you should make sure to take that CAT in as realistic a fashion as possible (as described in the prior posts in this thread). Once you have that score, you should post back here and we can discuss the results.

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