How to improve my quant score

hey @sirr999 these are my thoughts on improving your quant score:
What this section measures is your ability to analyze data and draw conclusions using reasoning skills. The mathematics needed for this section is usually not harder than secondary school level. This section is adaptive. This means that based on your answer to each question, it chooses a harder or easier question for your next question.

Learning basic Algebra, Statistics and Geometry is a necessary prerequisite to actually studying for the exam. In fact, even if you already know this information, reviewing it before you delve into GMAT questions is a very good idea.
this is only the first step, though. The important thing to work ones figuring out the most efficient way to solve each question. This will only sometimes be the straightforward, precise, answer - it will often be taking a shortcut (Alternative) - or applying a Logical rule.

These are all things the examPAL course focuses on. If you have any questions - please ask me in our chat here - ask for David and I will personally answer!

thank you all, I'll start right away!

Hi sir999,

A Q45 is the type of Score that a strong 'math thinker' (re: accountants, engineers, bankers, etc.) would earn - it means that you were great on most of the 'math questions' that you faced in the Quant section, but you missed out on LOTS of 'strategy-based' questions. The Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test' - it's a 'critical thinking test' that requires lots of little calculations as you work through it. To score at a much higher level in this section, you need to become more of a 'strategist' and less of a 'mathematician.'

Since your Verbal skills are so strong, you could potentially score well into the 700s IF you can make the necessary adjustments to how you "see" (and respond to) the Quant section.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What study materials have you used so far?
2) What is your exact Test Date?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hey Rich, thanks for your replay!

So far I've only used the OG 2018 and the Cracking the Gmat book.
I don't have a precise date yet but since most of 1st round applications deadline end in October I'll probably book it on the first days of september. I'll probably apply to HEC and LBS for the MSc in Finance

Hi sir999,

From what you describe, your Quant Scaled Scores have been fairly consistent during your practice. A Test Taker's performance can be influenced by a variety of factors though, so I'd like to know a bit more about how you've taken your practice CATs:

1) On what dates did you take each CAT? How did you score on EACH (including the individual Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores fore EACH)?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
3) Did you take them at home?
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
5) 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.)?
6) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: on a prior CAT, in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

Seems like you've been taking the GMATprep tests for some time now. Are you reviewing the test afterwards? I was stuck in exactly the same zone for 3 attempts and managed to break out of it finally this year. I found that reviewing the GMATprep tests helped a lot. I realized the types of mistakes I was repeating, and learned better ways to solve them.

2 weeks is a bit tight to start new material. However, you can consider taking the Official Quant Diagnostic test pack (costs $30 I think) for some additional timed exam scenario practice (don't pay too much attention to the "predicted score". As before, focus on reviewing what you got wrong and why).

Getting 46-48 consistently means that your quant basics are strong, and you need to refine how you are approaching problems.
Is timing a problem for you? Are you having to guess too many answers at the end? If yes, that may account for your lower than expected score. Try to avoid getting multiple questions wrong in a row. If you need to guess, try to guess questions all through the exam, and not right at the end.

Finally, I suggest that you go through OnePercentGMAT's introductory class video on Youtube for some insight into approaching difficult quant problems. Be warned - it is close to 3 hours long and the audio quality is not great. But I got a lot of value from the video, especially with respect to solving speed and finding the right approach to DS questions quickly. From what you have written, a Q50 is within reach for sure. Combined with your V40+, you are capable of a 740+ score in the next two weeks. Believe in yourself.

Hope this helps! Let us know how your GMAT went. All the best!

With quant - there are certain types of problems that repeat over and over. You'll want to get a feel for positive vs negative exponents, numberline properties, common geometric ratios like 30/60/90 triangles, divisibility checks, rate problems, and on the more advanced side, mixture/permutation problems.

The best approach we recommend is to understand some of these core problems -- and do slight variations off of that core problem. For example, you might have rates question with two trains moving towards each other -- what if they move away from each other? What if one goes north and the other goes east? What if they start at different times?

Once you are able to master these variations - the next time you see a variation, you'll know what to expect and be that much more prepared to deal with it.

This is the approach we take at GMAT Pill -- to teach core frameworks and do exercises off of the variations.

We encourage you to learn more about us at https://www.gmatpill.com/testimonials

In the meantime, practice with some quant questions free at:

https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... -questions

Hi sir999,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. The good news is that 47Q on your latest practice exam is a pretty awesome quant score. That being said, to improve to a Q49+, your preparation is going to have to be more complete. So, to lock in that type of score, you have to go through GMAT quant carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point.

For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant courses.

You also may find it helpful to read this article about
how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.

Please reach out with any further questions.

Let’s do this!!