Plateaued and really unsure what to do

Question

Hey,

I am writing here after taking my 2nd GMAT yesterday, and truth be told, being left slightly heartbroken.

During my preparation, I used Magoosh (doing pretty much every question, and also watched every video). Furthermore, I consolidated with the Official GMAT 2016.

I started my preparation on the 2nd of May this year, and the GMAT is all I haves focussed on since (I'm currently transitioning between jobs).

I took the exam twice:

Early June - Q-47, Integrated-7, Verbal-34, Overall-650

Yesterday - Q-45, Integrated-8, Verbal-33, Overall-640

Edit: For privacy.

It js quite clear to me that my Verbal is weak. However, I do not have any excuses. I am a native speaker of English, and have lived in London my whole life. What is really disappointing for me, is I get all the verbal sections content wise, I understand the vocabulary, but I consistently score between 33-35. My target here is really 38/39.

I really am unsure as to how I can redress the problem. My magoosh overall correct answers total is 68%, and I pretty consistently score in this area in all 3 sections. My reading comprehension is generally stronger, with the other two slightly weaker.

I often sort easily into 2 potential answers, then end up picking the wrong one in my practice, something I have observed.

I am generally exhausted from the whole experience and for the MBA schools I am looking at, I need around a 700. I start work at a strategy consultancy on Monday, which I am really looking forward to, but I have been left very disheartened.

Any tips, encouragement or suggestions will be much appreciated.

Posted from my mobile device

Sammy599 · Answer

Hi DeepBis,

I must say you have a pretty good profile by the looks of it, and a good GMAT score should get you a long way. Moving on to the topic of the post, have you considered using one of the "guides" written by prominent forum members? Personally, I really couldn't wrap my head around CR until I came across Whiplash's guide. It compresses an entire textbook's worth of knowledge into a few pages very effectively. I would definitely suggest it to anyone who was struggling with CR. As for SC, the only way to improve your score on that front is to dig deep into idioms, grammar and meaning.

I hope my advice was helpful!

If you liked my response please don't forget to hit the Kudos button.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi DeepBis,

First off, a 650/Q47 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. As such, another retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

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

Beyond that point, you will likely also receive more of a response if you post your story in the Shared GMAT Experience forum here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/share-gmat-experience-8/

If you do choose to retest, then we have to examine how you were studying before. Your two results are remarkably consistent, which means that "your way" of approaching the GMAT will likely continue to lead to a score result in the mid-600s. To score significantly higher, you'll need to make some significant changes to how you handle the Quant and Verbal sections.

1) How long did you study for each of your two attempts at the GMAT?
2) What study materials did you use for each attempt?
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

DeepBis · Answer

Dear Sammy,

Thank you for your kind words, I hope so too!

I am definitely going to check that out. What do you suggest about that? I just could not work out if there is much utility in me starting to understand concepts such as past progressive, because as a native speaker, I probably do it intuitively (and it is so difficult now to learn the language in any other way).

I must also say in the UK, I've been to top schools and universities, and I have never learnt language in any other way other than immersion. It's probably a glaring flaw now, and although I am fluent in a non-European language, probably explains why in the UK, the population struggles with learnimg foreign language so much.

Best,

Deep

Posted from my mobile device

DeepBis · Answer

Hey Rich,

Thanks for your post.

The schools I would be looking at are:

Insead (France)
Harvard
Wharton
Stanford
Princeton
Columbia

I am 23 at the moment, so I am not in a position to apply for at least a year. Given my stage of career, some time in next 3-4 years. My plan had been to bank a top GMAT score prior to my move to this strategy consultancy in my summer position which in my sector (development), is the top one. I will be in international development for the forseeable future (consultancy or government).

I wouldn't want to transition away from the development sector, and I would be doing the MBA to complement all my other experiences to hopefully pioneer a worthy social enterprise at a later date.

My first attempt, I studied 2-3 hours a day for 23 days.

Second attempt, 4 hours a day for 13 maybe.

I did them back to back and hadn't done the practice tests prior to my first attempt. I just looked over the theory on magoosh and did their practice questions.

Second attempt, I did the official GMAT practice tests.

Scored 620 - Q43, V33, Integrated 8

and
 
640 - Q45, V33, Integrated 8.

I brought in the Official GMAT book in my 2nd attempt and did questions from them. Often, I'd time myself in 30 minute intervals or do banks of 10/15 verbal.

My second attempt, I didn't touch quant except the occasional revisiting of theory, all my efforts focussed on verbal.

With my 2nd practice score, I decided to get used to more GMAT style questions, and used the documents in verbal section on this forum attempting random assortment of verbal questions again in 15 question bursts.

I basically just worked at verbal, only to see basically a complete plateau of all my scores.

I am looking forward to any insight tou have.

Best Wishes,

Deep

Posted from my mobile device

DeepBis · Answer

Just to add, I would read the explanations of the answers, and it would make perfect sense to me. I actually started changing way I answered verbal from reading whole sentence, to 3-2 split, etc after my 2nd practice score.

In fact, on the day, I thought I had breezed verbal. However, the algorithm probably gave me really easy questions. So I suspect, on my 2nd attempt, I had bombed early.

I move to a new country (Switzerland) in 2 days, so I won't be in a position to do more than an hour or two a day now and there is no centre there either.

Posted from my mobile device

AjiteshArun · Answer

Your verbal isn't "weak". V33 and V34 are 69% and 72% respectively, whereas Q47 and Q45 are 65% and 59% respectively. Go by the percentiles, not the absolute numbers you see. So, yes, your performance in verbal could have been better, but that applies to your performance in quant as well.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi DeepBis,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores; from what you described, you studied for about 5 weeks. This is meant to say that you likely have just not put in enough time and effort to have scored higher yet. The minimal time between Official attempts also helps to explain why your scores are so similar - you didn't have time to make substantive improvements to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Test.

Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level. However, you will likely need at least another month of consistent, guided study to raise your scores to a 700+.

1) Now that you're about to start this new job, how many hours do you think you will be able to consistently study each week?

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

DeepBis · Answer

Thanks Ajitesh for your reply,

I do agree. However, any improvement in quant will not drastically alter my GMAT score, and the marginal gains in theory that I am likely to see at Q47 are not going to be substantial. Whereas for verbal, it is quite clear that it is an area to improve.

Percentiles can be useful, but I know that if I get a Q45-47 and a V38-40, I will hit my target score roughly, So whilst I am hitting my head for improvement in verbal, I have also accepted that given time constraints, I cannot drastically improve quant, so my focus needs to be verbal.

DeepBis · Answer

Hey again Rich,

I won't be taking the GMAT for at least 3 months now, possibly a year. As you point out, as I had not done enough prep first time, I had believed at the time that using my momentum, I could just increase my verbal, and leave with approximately 700.

Realistically, I am not sure how much available time I have. I am expecting 50-60 hour weeks now, but for anything worthwhile, you can always make time. I am quite prepared to put in an hour after work, and maybe more on weekends to see gains. However, I will have long work days, so I probably cannot do any more.

I probably had a very mechanical, one-dimensional approach and used cramming techniques. I have done this pretty much throughout my studies, but clearly, in this instance it didn't work. My constraint was moving of country, so that's why I largely did it, not so much because I thought it was the wisest.

Where would you say a starting point would be for Verbal? I do agree with the above poster that my Q can also improve, but just from a cursory glance, it's clear that regardless of how well I improve my Q, unless my V (substantially improves), it would largely be pointless.

Best Wishes,

Deep

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi DeepBis,

While you could pick up all of the missing points that you're looking for in the Verbal section, you should make sure to put some of your energies towards the Quant section too. Business School Admissions Officers often view the Quant Scaled Score as representative of one's ability to handle the 'academic side' of their respective Program. A Q45-Q47 won't impress anyone at the Schools that you listed - thankfully, neither score would likely keep you out of any of those Schools either. This is meant to say that while scoring higher would almost certainly help the strength of your application, there's an added benefit to improving your Quant Scaled Score.

Given the hours that your new job will require - and your needs in both the Quant and the Verbal - you would likely benefit from a Course that will allow you to study at your own pace (and when it's convenient for you). Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then feel free to contact me directly.

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

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