Please advice on how to improve GMAT score from 700,OG ques. exhausted

Question

Hi Everyone,
I took the test on 15th and scored 700. My test did not go smoothly as my test began after 2.5 hrs and I completed the test around 1 am.

I had an observation during the test. The test felt more difficult than what I had faced in the official mock tests (Test 1 - 6), and I am very sure of this observation. The DS questions were tougher than the ones on official mocks and on GmatClub quant tests. The RC passages were tougher than anything I had seen either on the mocks or on Gmatclub, and CR and SC were more complicated than the official mock questions.

I discussed the same with my few other friends and they felt the same way. Hence putting it out there to a larger audience to confirm whether others feel the same way or is it a known thing?

Some background:
Target schools: Top 20 B-Schools in the US and top 5 in Canada
Work experience: 4yrs at Microsoft India
Undergrad school/major: Information Technology (Bachelor of Technology)
Race/nationality: Indian
Sex: Male
GMAT Score: 700 Q49 V35 IR6
Undergrad GPA: 4

I am willing to take the test again but I have only a month's time for this. Hence my concerns are as follows:
1)How can I improve and be comfortable at the level of GMAT questions if I do not practice consistently at that level. Please let me know how I can do this?
2)My thinking is - a test series that is already difficult and comparable to GMAT test questions could be the solution. Can anyone suggest me some test series which is of the difficulty level on/above par with the actual test?

Thank you for your input.

sonaligoel · Answer

I’d suggest that you attempt the OG questions again. Doing the OG questions twice will make sure that you identify new mistakes and better understand the old ones.

Hope this helps!

Posted from my mobile device

EducationAisle · Answer

How much did you use to score, in your mocks?

aaditya005 · Answer

Hi EducationAisle,
 These tests were taken in the last 3 weeks.
GMATPREP1 - 730 Q50 V38
GMATPREP2 - 750 Q51 V40
GMATPREP6 - 770 Q51 V42
PRINCETON - 750 Q51 V43

E-GMAT(PRACTICE TEST TAKEN 3 MONTHS AGO) - 700 Q49 V36

I have a strong feeling that the GMAT exam is tougher than the mocks. But my concern is, how do I ramp up in a short span to be able to apply for R1s or R2s?

EducationAisle · Answer

These are brilliant scores and I don't see any reason why you cannot replicate this performance on the actual exam. Wondering if nerves contributed to your assessment of difficulty level of questions on the actual exam

davidbeckham · Answer

I had the same observation. I had scored 760, 770, 770 in GMAT Prep Mocks but scored way below in the actual test. Felt RC and CR were extremely difficult.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi aadiya0893,

The good news is that 700 is a really nice start! Regarding how to move forward with your study plan, for the next month, to improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you need to go through GMAT quant and verbal 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, types that you would rather not see, and types 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.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

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.

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

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Please advice on how to improve GMAT score from 700,OG ques. exhausted

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