I Scored 490 in first attempt. Want to take it to 650 plus pls guide

So Official GMAT Guides are not for preparation. Preparation should be done using some materials as have been mentioned above. GMAT guides are for you to utilize your learnings and put them into practice.

You need the basics to be cemented to get to 650. GMAT Quant is a lot trickier than you would think. So you need to understand it from GMAT point of view and thus access to GMAT specific materials to understand those concepts is necessary

Hi shayan0321,

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so since you studied for just 1 month, you should not expect to have mastered all of the skills needed to score 650+ yet.

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) How many hours did you typically study each week?
2) Did you use any other study materials besides the Official Guide? What "brands" of CATs/mocks have you taken?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

Statistically-speaking, raising a 490 to the point that you can consistently score 650+ will likely require that you commit to at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. While I understand that you want to retake the Exam as soon as possible, if you ultimately "need" a 650+ to apply to the School(s) that you're interested in, then THAT Score Goal has to come first - and you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date.

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

I spent 1 year of consistent study before achieving 640. It was a 90 point jump from my lowest score. I would said don't waste the time taking the GMAT exam without making a real improvement. The reason is that the GMAT algorithm is so advance that it will always give you the fairest score base on your standard. Luck plays a very very minimal part here as the algorithm will erase any of that.

My thought is that you should focus on practice and practice. I have attempted over 3000 quantitative questions before hitting a 49/51. What I observed in myself is that I made improvement from can't really finish 31Q in 62 min and surprised to know that some of my "sure correct answers" are wrong, to able to finish 31Q in 62 min while maintaining a more or less score, to able to finish 31Q in 50min and get 27 - 29 Q correct. At last, I was able to tell where the traps are and avoiding them. Quantitative questions are tricky but not difficult. Once you get used to it you will know that it is not difficult at all. You get the answer wrong not because you can't do the question, but the question tricks you to give you a wrong answer. So I would encourage you to practice as much as possible.

Don't listen to people when they said they spent 1 month to get 700. That is not in my case at least. People have different standard. You should work on your own pace. If you need 1 year, then give one year. If you need 10 then go for it.

Hi Shayan,

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. You can definitely improve your score provided that you identify what went wrong in your previous attempt and work on your weak areas. Let me help you here.

The reason for scoring low on GMAT"

The key to scoring well on GMAT is to do your prep in the right way. Before understanding the right way, let us understand is OG really enough to prepare for GMAT.

Is OG really sufficient?

GMAT is not a typical exam which tests your conceptual knowledge. It tests a lot more than that. So, the normal tendency of “improving the score by practicing more and more questions” doesn’t work here. There is a certain way you have to prepare for GMAT. As GMAT tests your application skills along with the conceptual knowledge, your focus while preparing has to be to learn the right methodology as well.

Only after you are done with learning the concepts and the methodology of a topic, you can jump into solving questions of that topic. Now ask yourself, does OG really help you learn the concepts and the methodologies effectively?

So, it’s always better to start your preparation with a standard resource which can help you learn the concepts and the methodologies and then move to solving questions using OG. This way your preparation will be a lot more structured and there are less chances for you to have any gaps while solving questions.

How to choose the right resource?

I would suggest you to choose a resource which can help you with:

• Concepts
• Methodology (Most important)
• Standard questions
• Their detailed solutions
• Study plan

The best thing to do would be to check out the free trials of the online courses out there and choose the one which suits you the most. But make sure you choose the one which can help you with the above factors. You can check out the below article to know more about the factors to consider while evaluating an online course.

Key factors to consider while evaluating an online course

And I would suggest you to check out the free trial of GMATWhiz before taking a decision. You can attend our free webinar series that we are currently running to learn a few strategies that will help you solve questions in a methodical way. You can register for the webinar series using the below link.



If you have any more queries regarding the study strategy, you can get in touch with me using the below link.

Hi shayan0321,

Unfortunately, you will no be able to improve from 490 to 650 in just 10 days. Are you able to push out your GMAT, study longer, and take it once you are truly ready to do so? In the meantime, here is a helpful article:

The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT

Hi shayan0321,

As pointed by many people above, it is extremely difficult to improve by more than 150 points in 10 days or less. The only exception would be if you study diligently with a precise plan and full-time for the next 10 days. Given your scores, it is clear that you have major conceptual and process gaps. At this point, solving more questions without any focus on understanding the concepts and their application process would be a waste of time and resources.

Nanditha improved from 490 to 740 by following a structured approach and I would recommend the same for you. If you would like to further discuss your preparation strategy, please feel free to reach out to us from here.

Regards,
Aditee

I think you are still struggling with the concepts of a few topics. Make sure to identify your weak areas and revisit the concepts of the topics in which you have gaps. And once you do that, you need to focus on learning the methodology as well. So, all this process is not very likely to happen in 10 days. So, you can start focusing on doing the prep right and once you start getting your desired score in the mocks, you can book a slot.

If you are ok with postponing your test, you can start by choosing a resource which can help you with the concepts and the methodology mainly. I personally used GMATWhiz online course to improve my score from 570 to 720. You can check that out. All the best!!

Hello shayan0321,

If you have your ESR we can take a look at it. However with the current split both Quant and Verbal need considerable improvement. There is no quick fix for this.
You will have to do some more analysis to figure out what's going wrong in the way you are preparing.

Sometimes it might be a small change in the way you prepare and approach the questions which can do wonders to improve your score.

My suggestion would be do spend some time or take expert guidance to figure that out first and then run in the right direction.

All the best. PM me if you need any help to work on this.

regards,
Shree