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Hi Science,

To start, was this 420 on a practice CAT/mock or on the Official GMAT? What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for this Exam? If you've been studying for over 6 months, then it's possible that you have developed some 'bad habits' that are keeping you from scoring higher (and will take time to fix). 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" are not the same thing.

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) What study materials have you used so far?
2) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks/Official Exams (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Science
I have given a GMAT exam ,scored 420 in my exam. Already have spent 6-7 months. I am planning to apply again but this time I want my score 760. The problem is when I look into best MBA colleges like Harvard the GMAT score is not only consideration. They consider the work experience , background and I have only 2 year experience in IT by the time I complete my next GMAT score and I have not done anything extraordinary to be eligible for these schools. But I only want the best. Please let me know shall I drop my plan for MBA , or if not then what shall with GMAT score to be eligible for the best MBA schools
Because admissions committees look at other things as well, there is no minimum GMAT score that determines eligibility. You don't need a 760 to get into even the best schools. It might help, but you should be working on the other aspects of your application as well.
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Hi Science,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. Regarding business school, although it’s true that admissions will look at your application holistically, in order to gain consideration from top schools, you will definitely need to improve your GMAT score. That said, there is no reason to quit, OK? With some smart and dedicated studying, you CAN improve your GMAT score. I provided you with some detailed advice on how to do so here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/need-guidance-288065.html.

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

Let’s do this!!
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Hi Science,

Admission Committees in business schools indeed consider various other factors other than your GMAT score. To get a detailed understanding of what top business schools look for you may give this article a read - How to get into a top Business School?

However, there is no denying the fact that a good GMAT score will give a boost to your application. You can get started with improving your score right away and build the other parameters alongside.

What does it take to ace GMAT?

Consider GMAT as a project where you need to first plan it out well and then take one step at a time. I have listed out the steps below,

1. Create a plan

This is the first and most important step of your preparation. Using the Personalized Study Planner tool you can create a plan that is personalized to your starting score, target score, strengths, and weaknesses.

The key takeaways from the tool are,
    1. Clear milestones (target percentiles) for each sub-section tailored to your strengths, and weaknesses
    2. Estimate of the overall time required to reach your target score and a tentative GMAT date
    3. The sequence of study and an estimate of the time required for acing each sub-section

The image below shows how your plan would look like. You can edit the sequence of study, study hours, off days etc. as per your requirements. Learn how you can refine the plan using your inputs.






2. Execute the plan

Planning is only half the work done. You need to stick to the plan and execute it diligently.

A score of 420 shows that you need to work right from the basics. So, you should go through each topic that GMAT tests. It will require dedicated effort. Learn how Gabriel improved from a 430 to a 700.

I am sharing some of the free resources to get you started with preparation. You can get access to a lot more of these videos and practice questions once you sign up for the Free Trial.

Learning the concepts is not enough. Applying the concepts is the key and this requires effective practice. To make the practice more effective, learn the right processes that will help you score high consistently. To do so you can attend the free CR session – Pre-thinking for Assumptions and Algebra Webinar this weekend. Learn through live interaction with the top-rated experts.

If you need further help with your preparation feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].

Regards,
Zinnia