680 on First Mock Test, What's the next step?

Thanks a lot! I'll look into the threads!

Thanks for the concise tips, really appreciate them.

Hi teaforte,

680 is a great start! Regarding materials, in addition to seeking advice in this thread, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant and verbal courses, and also read through some GMAT success stories to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers.

Also, would you like some general advice on how to improve your verbal and quant skills?

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

Hi teaforte,

To start, a 680 is an outstanding initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years) - and your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores show that you are a strong overall critical thinker - which is great! The Study Plan you should follow (and the study materials that you should use) will depend a great deal on your goals though, so 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 your timeline and plans

1) What is your overall goal score?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Thanks a lot for your help! I'm going through the posts here to learn from others' experiences.

P.S. I'm not allowed to post urls and hence cannot quote you in full.

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC,

Thanks for your reply. My target score is 760+. I haven't booked a date yet but plan to take the GMAT by end of August. I haven't decided on the schools yet (mainly because I'm unsure MBA v. EMBA as I kind of fall in between the two typical groups). Right now I'm considering 1-year programs in the US (MIT sloan, Standford) and EU (INSEAD, LBS), or EU/US EMBA programs (LBS/Columbia etc.)

Hi teaforte,

To start, since you are interested in some highly-competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement.

There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores. While your initial CAT Score shows that you have some strong test-taking skills already, there's no way to know how quickly you could hone all of the skills needed to earn a 760+. If you wanted to take the Official GMAT by the end of August, then you would have no more than about 5 weeks of potential study time - and that would likely limit how much you could improve.

As an aside, the 760+ score is the 99th percentile - meaning that 99% of Test Takers never score that high (regardless of how long they study or the number of times that they take the GMAT). Thankfully, NO Business School requires a score that high - so it's important to realize that the score that you "want" and the score that you "need" to get into your first-choice School are not the same thing.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the insight. I started prep last week and will try another mock test this week to get a better feeling of how much I still need to work on and how fast I can learn. On average I think I can study 10 hours/week minimum.

I just took the mock test II from GMAC with a week's study.
CAT I 680 (V36, Q47, IR4)
CAT II 710 (V40, Q48, IR7)

Hi teaforte,

Assuming that you took this 2nd CAT in a manner that matches-up with how you will take your Official GMAT, then this 2nd Score confirms the original idea that you are a strong overall critical thinker. These two Scores are similar-enough to one another though that the differences could have come down to a couple of 'lucky' or 'unlucky' guesses on these two Tests.

1) What study routine have you been following over the past week? How many hours did you study and what materials did you use?

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

Hi teaforte,

First of all, 680 is a great score to start with. By following the right study plan and with a proper guidance, I’m sure you can score well on GMAT. Let me share my insights on what should be the next step.

You are absolutely correct about having the right strategies to solve Verbal questions. Test makers set a lot of traps to confuse students. It is really important to use the right strategies to eliminate the close answer choices and choose the best one. You need to approach each module of Verbal in a certain way. For example:

• To solve SC questions, you need to approach them from a meaning stand-point. The test makers test your ability to convey the right meaning without any ambiguity. So, it is really important to understand the meaning and also the have the knowledge of grammatical rules which help you to eliminate a few answer choices.
• To solve CR questions, you need to develop the ability to pre-think. This can be done only when you have the proper understanding of the framework behind the CR questions. Understanding the framework will help you to pre-think the assumption and thereby eliminate answer choices easily which do not match your assumption.
• To solve RC questions, you need to have the right reading strategies. These strategies should help you read the passage in an inferential manner so that you can draw the right inferences and the main point of the passage.

Coming to Quant, I see there is a scope of improvement in it too. Identifying your weaker areas and working your weaker areas should ideally get you a score of 49/50. For this, you need to have a strong understanding of the concepts and also use the right methodology to solve the questions. The good thing about GMAT quant is it tests only specific types of questions from each topic. Knowing how to solve those types of questions will help you score well on GMAT quant. It is also important to learn the right methodology to solve the questions.

Moreover, it is really important to follow a proper study plan. And the resource you choose must help you identify your weaker areas and help you work on them. As discussed above, the resource has to teach you the right methodologies and the strategies. There are plenty of online courses and the best way to choose the right one is by checking the free trial of the courses. I’m also sharing a link of the blog regarding the key points to consider while choosing an online course. I suggest you to go through the blog to know more about the online courses.

Link to the blog

Apart from all these, I can help you to plan your studies in a better way if you can provide me with

• your target score,
• the number of hours you can dedicate in a week and a few more details.

You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

I waited another week so I can give better feedback on study plans and results.

CAT I 680 (V36, Q47, IR4)
CAT II 710 (V40, Q48, IR7)
CAT III 740 (V44, Q48, IR8)

During the last 2 weeks, I finished the Manhattan Prep material for Verbal, Quant and IR. I tried about 5 sets of CAT Quant from Gmatclub, and started on Kaplan 800. I spent probably 70-80% time/energy on quant and the rest on verbal. I kept an error log and always revisited mistakes to ensure I understood the solutions.

Looking at the scores, I think what I'm doing is probably right with regards to Verbal. My weak point in verbal is the SCs though and would appreciate any advise there.

With quant, I'm a bit frustrated. Obviously I spent more effort there and am seeing less results. I feel like I learned a lot though, so maybe my basis was too weak to start with? For verbal and IR I also always have plenty of extra time, with quant I really needed every second and had to guess on a few questions. I wonder how I can change the way I study to see more improvement?

Thanks a lot for your detailed advise. My target is 760+ and I have around 8-10hr/week to study. My weaknesses are SCs and quant in general, and I'd appreciate any advise on improvement potentials.

My pleasure!

Good job to the author! I enjoyed an interesting and useful article. Thanks for writing and posting it on this site, it`s cool

Hello Teaforte,

A score of 680 on the first mock is a wow! It is a great start, and considering your target score of 730+ seems realistic. The breakdown of your score (V36, Q47) gives a clear plan to follow:

For Verbal – Revise your grammar basics by GMAT grammar book or Aristotle grail for sentence correction. For RC and CR, try solving the 700+ level question.

For Math - We recommend you learn quick and alternative approaches to solve questions to save you the time. Q 51 shortcut will help you do so. You may check our free lesson plan, take a diagnostic test, and can strengthen your concept related to any topic.

Let us know if you have further questions.
You can reach us at info@mathrevolution.com.
Success is within your reach.
Good luck!
Punit Joshi