Re-taking the GMAT to move from 680 to 730+

Question

Hi everyone! I appeared for the GMAT 3 days back and scored just 680. Q49 V32. I intend to re-take the exam within a month's time because I want a score of 730+. For this I drastically need to improve my verbal score while increasing my Quant score by 1 or 2 (would be great!). Is it possible to achieve this score jump in such a short duration? I have a valid e-gmat verbal subscription and they have the best prep content but wanted to know if its a realistic target for me?

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Batmangsr,

A 680 is a great start! While it is possible to improve to a 730+ in one month, it will certainly take a lot of time and effort. To help provide some more tailored advice, I’d like to learn some more about your GMAT experience and MBA goals. I have a few questions:

1) Did you get your enhanced score report? If not, could you do so and share the score breakdown from your GMAT?
 
2) Can you provide the dates and score breakdowns from your Official GMAT prep practice exams? When you took the practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks)? Did you complete the entire CAT, including the IR and Essay sections?

3) Have you been using any other resources besides EGMAT?

4) To what schools do you plan to apply?

5) What deadlines are you targeting?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi batmangsr,

First off, a 680/Q49 is a strong score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

With a 680, you're closer to a 730+ than you probably realize - but to gain the missing points that you're after, you will likely have to focus on learning and practicing some new Tactics (and that would probably take another month of consistent, guided study).

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

batmangsr · Answer

Thanks for the reply guys! As required, the following are the answers to the questions asked:

1) When are you planning to apply to Business School? < i am planning to apply next year or this year only if time permits but I want to apply to top schools since I intend to apply to the top 10 colleges >

2) What Schools are you planning to apply to? < Wharton, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Sloan, LBS and NYU >

3) Did you get your enhanced score report? If not, could you do so and share the score breakdown from your GMAT? <Yes, I did get my enhanced score report. Details are as follow:

Verbal -

a) CR- 37th percentile
b) SC- 73rd percentile
c) RC- 68th percentile

Percentage correct

75%, 57%, 57%, 25%

Quant-

PS- 67th percentile
DS- 95th percentile

Percentage correct

86%, 86%, 86%, 86%

I could complete the entire paper on time and time management was not an issue

4) Can you provide the dates and score breakdowns from your Official GMAT prep practice exams? When you took the practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks) ? <GMAT prep 2 - 730, prep 3- 710, prep 5- 760 all taken under realistic conditions>

As far as the resources are concerned, I had used MGMAT books for Quant and Verbal, OG 2016, Extra problem set 404 questions. I have now taken the e-GMAT subscription to improve my verbal score.

It would be great if you can suggest the routine I can follow for the next one month considering the fact that I am a working professional and can devote time for study only after 7 pm and have the whole of Saturday and Sunday to myself. Also, is it possible to finish the entire e-GMAT verbal course in the time frame I am looking for? In order to not lose touch with Quant, any resources I can use to increase from Q49 to Q51? (however, verbal is my top priority).

Thanks in advance!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi batmangsr,

While the ESR doesn't provide much information, I'd like to see the entire ESR so that I can give you the most personalized advice possible. Can you upload the full ESR? If you'd rather not post it publicly, then you can PM it to me directly.

1) You mentioned having some Verbal materials already? Have you used them before?

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

JeffTargetTestPrep · Answer

So, the good news is that you were scoring right around your score goal on GMAT prep exams. Thus, it’s possible that nerves could have negatively affected your GMAT performance. Do you recall being nervous while taking your GMAT?

In any case, it’s a good plan to study for another month prior to retaking the GMAT. In regard to your study plan, since you are weaker in verbal than you are quant, it may be a good idea to use a verbal to quant study ratio of around 4 to 1.

To improve your verbal score, you should practice one topic at at time, whether Reading Comprehension, Sentence Correction, or Critical Reasoning, so you can find and fix any remaining weaknesses. For example, if you are reviewing Critical Reasoning (your weakest verbal area according to your ESR), be sure that you can practice many questions on just Critical Reasoning: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. The results of that practice will help you determine your weak areas within that topic. Once you find and fix your weak areas, then move on to the next verbal topic. Since CR appears to be your weakest topic, you should consider starting with that.

If you are looking for resources to help improve your quant from a 49 to 51, I welcome you to get a trial to my GMAT quant course,  Target Test Prep .
The course is quite robust, with around 3,000 GMAT practice quant questions organized by topic, so you can easily practice and improve on your weakest areas. The trial is $1 and will expire after five days - no automatic billing. 
 
If you prefer, you can start out with a free  37-question quant diagnostic . After completing the diagnostic, you will be provided a detailed analysis of your proficiency level in GMAT quant topics as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.
 
If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to me directly.

Good luck!

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