Improve GMAT Score from 660 to 700

Hi karankaul18,

Welcome to gmatclub!

So, did you go through manhattan prep textbooks?

Did you read this thread? Check out #9 "How to improve your quant score"

Hi karankaul18,

First off, a 660 is a strong score (it's right around the 80th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. There's certainly no harm in retesting though - and if you really were sick on Test Day, then that could have thrown off your performance enough to cost you the missing points that you were after. Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you've studied for just 2 months, then you might naturally improve as you continue to study. That having been said, there is an important aspect to Test Day that you might not realize.

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. A Q44 means that you did well on most of the 'math questions' that you faced in the Quant section, but you made a number of little mistakes as you worked through the section AND you missed out on LOTS of 'strategy-based' questions. To score at a much higher level in this section, you need to become more of a 'strategist' and less of a 'mathematician.' To that end, you don't necessarily need that much additional study time. If you're a flexible-enough thinker to learn and practice new Tactics, then you could potentially retest in a month and hit 700+.

Before I can offer you any additional advice, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Did you use any other study materials besides the books you listed?
2) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
3) What is your goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

I don't think you should read too much into your GMAT score. You were unwell, and I'd expect that to have a negative impact on your score.

Can you list all your GMATPrep scores?

So here is my detailed GMAT prep:
Cold Test in September-GMAT Prep-Scored 600 (Q37,V37)
After this, I started with the OG 2019. After completing the OG, I gave another CAT.
Kaplan CAT-610(Q41,V32)
Then I started the Kaplan Prep Plus 2019
Then another CAT
Kaplan CAT-680(Q45,V38)
I then picked up Kaplan 800, and then another mock
Kaplan CAT-680(Q46,V37)
Then I did some gmat club questions, and then two days before the date, gave one last mock.
GMAT Prep-710(Q47,V41)

I believe the problem for me in quant is that I tend to make silly mistakes, and end up getting wrong answers.

I'll now be picking a date for December last week, and also have my college exams in between.

My target score is at least a 700, and I know I can score more than 700.
I'll be applying to schools in January.
I'm looking for a masters in finance program. The top schools for the program are MIT Sloan, UCLA, Haas, Maryland, John Hopkins

The OG, Kaplan Prep Plus and Kaplan 800.

Hi karankaul18,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. First off, given that you have not done a ton of prep, 660 is not a bad start! That being said, to improve your quant skills, 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 increase your GMAT quant score.

Please reach out with any further questions.

Let’s do this!!

Hi karankaul18,

You can try out the TTP course as it is phenomenal and covers the entire syllabus really well. Plus it has great reviews on GMATCLUB. 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 practice tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

Lastly I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the Quant review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ma ... ml?fl=menu

Hope this helps. All the best.

Hi karankaul18,

Since it's been about 3 weeks since you took the Official GMAT, I'd be interested in hearing any updates on your studies so far:

1) Have you taken any additional CATs/mocks since then and how did you score on each?
2) What additional study materials (if any) have you used during that time?
3) When is your next Official Test Date?

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

Hi, karankaul18

It seems that you are disappointed at your score drop. According to your CAT score, you got good scores quite consistently, and it means that you have great math level. There could be a lot of variables on test day which can influence your test result and many students experience this. I recommend you to analyze your test result(official one), which means that you should figure out your weaknesses. It could be test anxiety, failure of adjusting your physical fitness and so on. In most of the cases, the cause of making a lot of mistakes on the real test can be rooted in test anxiety, or failure of time management. Especially, Time management could be a big challenge. Regardless of math skill, good bases of math doesn't make sense at all if you take very long to solve the problem. You should find the way to solve questions for 2 min each, which is what we exactly teach and offer in our online course.

[Physical Condition] Do your intensive studying until the week before the exam, and make sure you get enough sleep at least 3-4 days before the exam. Maintaining good physical condition while taking the exam will help you to get a good score.

[Time management] I recommend you Math revolution’s unique approach which save you about 10 minutes on the real test. We developed our own approach for both DS and PS. ‘IVY approach’ for PS and ‘Variable approach’ for DS guarantee high accuracy and quick solving. Most of our students have 10 minutes to spare.(More information about our approach: https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/vs)

If you hit the score over Q49, it could be much easier to reach the score over 700. Consdering that your quant score is around 44, I recommend you to spend 2-3 hours studying quant for 1-2 months. To hit the score over 49, it is important to learn and internalize skills which is based on fundamentals. As the question styles of DS and PS are different, the approaches should be different. Math Revolution offers ‘IVY approach’ for PS and ‘Variable approach’ for DS. With Math Revolution ’s ’Variable Approach’ for DS questions, you can minimize time spent on each question while improving accuracy (over 80 percent) (solving a question in + having a checking time = 2 minute) On average, our students have about 10 minutes to spare before the exam ends. To briefly explain our ’variable approach’, we apply ’variables–equations matching system’ to the DS questions. For example, you first need to count the number of variables and equations given in the question. By doing so, you can determine which answer choice will most likely be the answer. Then, you can apply our ‘IVY approach’ to PS type questions. Our IVY approach for PS can give you lots of tips and techniques to find the answer quickly and easily. (More information about our approach: https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/vs)

Please let us know if you have further questions.
You can reach us at info@mathrevolution.com

Success is within your reach,
Good luck!

Hi!
I gave another attempt on 22nd December, and scored a 710. I believe this is a good score, considering the fact that I also had my college exams this month. With a 710, I believe I'll be able to get into most of my target schools.

Thanks a lot to all of you for your help and effort.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Hi all.

I got 690 (Q50 V33) My aim is Msc finance in European Business Schools.

As far as I understand my overall score is not that bad, but a well balanced score would really help. Since I am not a native speaker, verbal is my nightmare. I used Manhattanprep SC, OG and OG verbal review for verbal practice. I dont know what can I do more. (To be honest, I did not practice for CAT, I have only completed 2 free practice tests)

I will take the test in 2-3 weeks, what can I do in the meantime? Could you please recommend verbal prep materials and CAT practice tests?

Thanks a lot!

That's a great score. All the best for the admissions process!

Was that 690 on the actual GMAT or on a practice test? Either way, V33 is a pretty good score.

If you are taking the exam again, you should aim to improve it, given that you can't do much more with quant, but you don't have to worry about the difference between your quant and verbal percentiles. That is very unlikely to be a problem.

Hi dnzdnzdnz,

For how long have you been studying? What is your verbal score goal? Do you have to take your test in 2 to 3 weeks or could you push your exam to a later date?

Regarding verbal resources, have you taken a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best verbal materials?

Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.