Practice exam score Improvement / Quant improvement

Question

So I took exam 1 and got a score and got a 460 ( as my diagnositc) 27 V and 25Q ( this was 2 weeks ago ). I took took exam 2 and got a score of 530 33 V and 30 Q. I was wondering if thats a good pace increase in my score? How to further improve my Quant score a lot more. I consider myself someone who has a solid math foundation, but I am severely rusty. I did by the OG book and I am slowly working through it. Also both of these practice were from mba.com.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi shamyt10,

This second CAT/mock result is a nice improvement over your first result (although in another post, you noted that you were sick when you took that first CAT - meaning that your overall skills might essentially be the same at this point and we're only now properly defining them).

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:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied in total? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the OG? Have you taken either of these CATs/mocks before?

Goals:
3) What is your overall goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider working on your solving approach if you feel your fundamentals are solid. May boost your score a bit even on Verbal. Had a student who went from a V41 to a V45 in about 10 days (retake), for example. Perhaps work with a study buddy with strong Quant or Verbal skills.

Sentence Correction Idiom List 
 5 Quant tips

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi shamyt10.

Going from 460 to 530 in two weeks is a good pace. Nice work.

That said, you could probably do even better by working on one topic at a time in the following way:

- First, review the concepts and strategies involved in a topic.
 
- Then, do practice questions involving that one topic UNTIMED until you're achieving high accuracy.
 
- Finally, work on reducing the time per question until you're correctly answering questions involving that topic at test pace.

Then, you can move on to the next topic and do the same thing.

Regarding how to prepare for GMAT quant, see the following post for a detailed discussion.

How to Increase Your GMAT Quant Score: Top 25 Tips

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi shamyt10,

I see Marty provided some great advice already, but in addition, just be careful about taking practice tests too often. Your improvement is great but really dig into GMAT quant prior to taking any additional practice exams.

egmat · Answer

Hi  shamyt10

Thank you for reaching out.

A 70-point improvement in 2 weeks is a good pace of improvement. That being said, your Quant-Verbal splits in both mock attempts indicate that you need to fix your foundation first in both areas (Quant and Verbal). So, what I would suggest here is to start with working on basics and then moving to practice, not the other way round. Let me explain how you can do that.

First, to improve your basics, you not only need to  learn the concepts but also focus on learning the right process of solving questions (i.e., application of concepts) . Here are some helpful resources (with YouTube links) that will help you with the  right approach to solving questions  in Verbal and Quant. 
   Meaning-based approach in SC  
  Pre-thinking in CR  
  Reading Strategies in RC  
  Process skills in Quant

Secondly, once your foundation in a sub-section (say, Number Properties in Quant) is strong, you must then,  Cement your skills in that sub-section . This involves practicing Medium and then Hard Questions, first in relaxed timing and then in standard timing (under 2 minutes per question). In this stage, you will hone your ability to apply the concepts and core skills tested on the GMAT,  under time constraints . Also, a  detailed data of your accuracies and timings , will help you  identify finer topic-wise weaknesses and issues that you’re facing in those topics (ability and/or timing issues) .

Lastly, upon cementing your skills in all sub-sections, progress to the  Test Readiness  stage in which you practice multiple subsections together  (essentially putting yourself in the exam mindset) . Once you’ve done test readiness well, you can now proceed to taking full length mocks. Remember, we do not write mocks for improvement. We only write them to check for test readiness. Full length mocks are a scarce resource; use them wisely.

Some motivation for you   –

Pritam  also started off with OG and got a  540 with low scores in both Quant and Verbal . He realized that he needs to work on his fundamentals first. He  built a solid foundation  before moving to  structured practice . He scored a  740 (200-point improvement) in 3 months .  Click here  to watch his debrief.

We invite you to experience our  free trial course  (it even has a  free SIGma-X mock , which comes with an  Enhanced Score Report . This ESR will highlight your strong and weak areas in Quant and Verbal).

Hope this helps.

-Vaibhav

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi  shamyt10

Good to see that you started seeking out suggestions during your initial stages of preparation. This will save you a lot of time, money and effort. You need to understand what is actually tested on GMAT before diving into the prep. Because without knowing the destination, there's no point starting your journey. Let me elaborate it to you.

What is tested on GMAT? 
GMAT is a test of application of concepts. So, once you learn the concepts, it's important to learn the application of those concepts as well. Because most questions on GMAT are framed along the application point of view. And to reach a level of 700, it's important that you learn the right methodology to solve the questions.

The right way to prepare: 
  Learn the concepts (Deal with one topic at a time) 
 Learn the methodology of that topic ( Most important ) 
 Practice a few questions to solidify your learning 
 Move to the next topic only if you get at least 80% accuracy 
 If not, revisit the concepts and make sure to understand them better 
 Once you are done with all the topics, start taking timed quizzes

As you see, I have highlighted the second step that is learning the right methodology. So, you need to make sure that you select a standard resource which helps you learn the concepts, learn the methodology and then lets you practice questions and take timed quizzes. And the  best way to learn the right methodology is to analyze the solutions . Spend considerable time on analyzing solutions even if you get the question right. Compare your approach with the right one and narrow down the gaps if any. So, all in all, look for a resource which provides you all the content on a single platform, thereby reducing your effort to shuffle among various resources.

Coming to OG, it may be a great source for solving GMAT like questions, however, it is definitely not the ideal way to prepare in your case. Moreover, you may find that the OG is a good option as a question bank but lacks detailed explanations for you to use for improvement. It’s always better to prepare with a definitive resource to help you learn concepts while formulating a consistent strategy to solve questions before practicing them from the OG. This way, your preparation will be a lot more structured, and the chances of you leaving gaps in your learning will be significantly less. Focus on improving the method you follow to solve questions because that's what stops people from scoring 700+.

How to make a proper study plan? 
The right way to make a proper study plan is to organize the concepts based on their difficulty level, dedicate a few hours to study every day and then make clear deadlines for every week. Having clear deadlines will help you stay motivated right till the end. Having said that, as you are a beginner, you might find it difficult to make a proper study plan. And following a  generic study plan is not advisable because you need to create a study plan based on the number of hours you can dedicate for studies . So, make sure you choose a course which provides you a study plan based on the number of hours you can dedicate for studies.

You can start by creating a personalized study plan for free by signing up for the   free trial   of GMATwhiz course. Feel free to get in touch if you wish to know how to strategize your GMAT prep or if you wish to know any thing about GMAT study strategy.

Click here to schedule a call

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