Quant got me in the exam, what to do next?

Question

Hi everyone,

I took my GMAT yesterday and got 650 (q40 v39 IR 7), the quant score shook me as I was not expecting it. Although I am from non quant background, I was getting q47-48 on official mocks in the last few weeks leading up to my exam. I was hoping to get a score in that range. My other subscores (verbal, IR) in the official exam closely resemble what I was getting in official mocks.

I prepared from magoosh premium, OG, verbal and quant reviews. I only used official mocks as well. I am not able to understand what went wrong in my prep or exam because there is such a massive difference between my mock scores and the official exam score.

More importantly, I need your help to decide my next steps, as the deadlines are fast approaching, and need to get at least a 680. I have some 20 days to prepare for my retake.

Can anybody help me to get to my goal of 680???

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi SSJOSAN.

Since you've scored much higher on practice tests than you did on the actual GMAT, you're probably closer to achieving your score goal than your score on that test seems to indicate.

To get some ideas regarding why you experienced such a score drop and what to do about it, you could read this post.

Why Was My GMAT Score Lower Than My Practice Test Scores?

To increase your quant score in the next few weeks, you could work from two angles.

One is to work on weaker quant areas one by one to fill gaps in your quant skillset that could result in your failing to achieve your score goal next time you take the test. To identify those weaker areas, you could get an ESR if you took the test in person or analyze your practice tests and practice sets to determine which types of questions you have trouble with.

The other angle is to work on overall accuracy and consistency so that you get correct the questions you're ready to get correct. For some tips on how to reduce the number of careless errors you make and achieve higher accuracy, see the following post.

Improving Your Accuracy on the GMAT

SSJOSAN · Answer

Hello Marty Sir,

Thanks for such a quick and insightful response.

I have gone through both the articles you mentioned. The pitfalls I can resonate with are -  Pitfall #9: Falling Back on Bad Habits  and  Pitfall #8: Having a Bad Day . The other mistakes mentioned in the blog, I already made sure were not a part of my study plan.

I am also planning to get the ESR, to analyze where exactly it went wrong.

Also, I wanted to ask what should be my next steps? which study materials I should refer to now- I have exhausted the OG, Quant Reviews questions and all 6 official mocks. Should I redo the OG and Quant Review ( I had an accuracy of easy- 90%, M- 85%, H- 70%) or should I opt for something else?

What all I should cover in the 20 days I have before the retake?

pintukr · Answer

Please solve questions of various difficulty levels, as in GC forum Quiz

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Probably, you should use some new practice questions. You need to practice coming up with ways to answer questions you haven't seen before and arriving at correct answers without falling for "tricks," for lack of a better word, and you'll only get practice in those things by using new questions.

Also, you could retake official practice test 1 and 2 without seeing huge numbers of repeated questions, and you could also use third-party practice tests even though they don't always produce scores that accurately reflect how you would score on the real GMAT.

I think I covered the answer to this question in my previous response.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SSJOSAN,

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. With a 650, you're closer to a 680+ than you probably realize, but you will likely have to make some 'tweaks' to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Exam to make sure that you pick up those additional points. 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) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) 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)?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to and what specific application deadlines are you facing?

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

For Quant, looking over your ESR, going over your error log, and leveraging the gmatclub math guide may be some good options. If you can find a study buddy that may be helpful, too.

For Verbal, see if you can improve your solving approach. May boost your score a bit. Had a 6-hour student who went from a V41 to a V45 in about 10 days. You have 20 days. A study buddy with strong Verbal skills may provide some insight into how they efficiently tackle questions.

SSJOSAN · Answer

Thanks, Marty Sir,

I will then purchase practice questions 1 & 2 on MBA website. Those are the only official ones I haven't tried.

SSJOSAN · Answer

1. I have studied for about 3 months. For the first 20 days, I had to cover the basics as I am a non-native English speaker and not from a quant background, I used magoosh's lessons for that. Then I started solving the OG and then completed both the verbal and quantitative reviews. I studied on average 4-5 hours a day for the last 3 months.

2. 1----17/8---- 660 (q44 v37)
 2----31/8- -- 680 (q44 v39)
 3----08/9----660 (q45 v36)
 4----14/9----700 (q42 v42)
 5----24/9----730 (q47 v42)
 6----04/10---730 (q48 v41)
 
on 7/10 I did a retake of quant section of official mock 1-- Got a Q50

3. Schools I am applying to have their deadlines at end of November or early December. But I also have the English proficiency test to take.

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

You could use some third-party quant questions as well.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi SSJOSAN, I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions. GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made, Rich Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

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