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02 Nov 2021, 14:02
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Hello GMAT experts,
This past week I took my first official GMAT exam after 2 1/2 - 3 months of studying and scored an abysmal 530 Q47 V17. I will say that I have studied more for the Quant than the Verbal as I am a native English speaker. Also for my first practice CAT before I started rigorous studying in early September I scored Q:35 V:33 and a month and a half later I scored a Q:42 V:33. The days leading to my test I scored on similar mocks Q:47,47 however my verbal drastically dropped to V:26,24 just a day or two prior to my exam which probably shot my confidence. I'm starting my studying again this week and I started on MGMAT SC, but I don't know if this is the correct route I should take. I'm aiming for a 700+ for reference and would like some advice as to where I should start, how long I should study for again before taking an official test, and any other advice. Thanks
This past week I took my first official GMAT exam after 2 1/2 - 3 months of studying and scored an abysmal 530 Q47 V17. I will say that I have studied more for the Quant than the Verbal as I am a native English speaker. Also for my first practice CAT before I started rigorous studying in early September I scored Q:35 V:33 and a month and a half later I scored a Q:42 V:33. The days leading to my test I scored on similar mocks Q:47,47 however my verbal drastically dropped to V:26,24 just a day or two prior to my exam which probably shot my confidence. I'm starting my studying again this week and I started on MGMAT SC, but I don't know if this is the correct route I should take. I'm aiming for a 700+ for reference and would like some advice as to where I should start, how long I should study for again before taking an official test, and any other advice. Thanks
02 Nov 2021, 14:58
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Hi finney2214.
Nice job so far in quant. You can certainly score higher a couple points higher in quant by continuing to master one topic at a time, but you're off to a good start.
Regarding verbal, with an effective approach to preparing, you'll be able to harness the reasoning skills that you're using to score high in quant to score high in verbal as well.
So, the question becomes that of what's an effective approach.
One part of the answer is that you have to develop more concept knowledge.
For one thing, as you've seen, the fact that you're a native English speaker is helpful but not that helpful, partly because the way native English speakers use English is often not what the GMAT considers correct. So, to prepare to find the answers to SC questions that the GMAT considers correct, as opposed to what sounds natural to you, you'll have to learn sentence structure concepts, modifier rules, etc. that you can use in analyzing SC versions.
Also, there are CR and RC concepts that you can learn as well to get a clearer sense of what makes CR and RC choices correct or incorrect and improve your performance.
Another part of the answer is that you can learn and develop effective strategies for answering verbal questions. An effective strategy can make a huge difference. For instance, even just understanding which parts of a CR passage to focus on when answering a Weaken question can dramatically improve your performance.
Finally, to increase your verbal score, you have to practice effectively. In other words, you won't master GMAT verbal just by learning concepts and reading explanations. You'll master verbal by doing a lot of practicing to develop skill in seeing what's going on in the questions and arriving at correct answers, and the type of practice matters too. What works best for improving your verbal skills is to practice untimed, at least at first, to give yourself time to learn to analyze the questions choice by choice and arrive at correct answers supported by solid reasoning.
So, to sum this all up, make sure that your verbal prep includes learning the key concepts, learning and developing effective strategies, and doing the kind of practice that results in your developing strong skills.
For more on how to master GMAT verbal, you could read this post. How to Score High on GMAT Verbal
Finally, regarding how long you should study for before taking the GMAT again, the answer is that you should prepare until you feel totally prepared to hit your score goal and you've scored at your goal level on at least one or two practice tests. It's not easy to say how long that will be, but you may be able to arrive at a good estimate by seeing how long it takes you to make a certain amount of progress and then using that information to gauge how long it will take for you to get the rest of the way to your goal.
Nice job so far in quant. You can certainly score higher a couple points higher in quant by continuing to master one topic at a time, but you're off to a good start.
Regarding verbal, with an effective approach to preparing, you'll be able to harness the reasoning skills that you're using to score high in quant to score high in verbal as well.
So, the question becomes that of what's an effective approach.
One part of the answer is that you have to develop more concept knowledge.
For one thing, as you've seen, the fact that you're a native English speaker is helpful but not that helpful, partly because the way native English speakers use English is often not what the GMAT considers correct. So, to prepare to find the answers to SC questions that the GMAT considers correct, as opposed to what sounds natural to you, you'll have to learn sentence structure concepts, modifier rules, etc. that you can use in analyzing SC versions.
Also, there are CR and RC concepts that you can learn as well to get a clearer sense of what makes CR and RC choices correct or incorrect and improve your performance.
Another part of the answer is that you can learn and develop effective strategies for answering verbal questions. An effective strategy can make a huge difference. For instance, even just understanding which parts of a CR passage to focus on when answering a Weaken question can dramatically improve your performance.
Finally, to increase your verbal score, you have to practice effectively. In other words, you won't master GMAT verbal just by learning concepts and reading explanations. You'll master verbal by doing a lot of practicing to develop skill in seeing what's going on in the questions and arriving at correct answers, and the type of practice matters too. What works best for improving your verbal skills is to practice untimed, at least at first, to give yourself time to learn to analyze the questions choice by choice and arrive at correct answers supported by solid reasoning.
So, to sum this all up, make sure that your verbal prep includes learning the key concepts, learning and developing effective strategies, and doing the kind of practice that results in your developing strong skills.
For more on how to master GMAT verbal, you could read this post. How to Score High on GMAT Verbal
Finally, regarding how long you should study for before taking the GMAT again, the answer is that you should prepare until you feel totally prepared to hit your score goal and you've scored at your goal level on at least one or two practice tests. It's not easy to say how long that will be, but you may be able to arrive at a good estimate by seeing how long it takes you to make a certain amount of progress and then using that information to gauge how long it will take for you to get the rest of the way to your goal.
02 Nov 2021, 18:09
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Hi finney2214,
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:
1) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
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?
If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. When these types of score drops occur, the two likely "causes" involve either something that was unrealistic during practice or something that was surprising (or not accounted for) on Test Day. Before we discuss any of those potential issues though, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:
1) Over the last 3 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
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?
If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
