Recommended Approach for Final 5 Weeks for 720+ (Strong V but Weak Q)?

Question

Hi all,

Concscious that there may have been similar posts elsewhere (apologies, I am a newbie!), but it appears as though most people on the forums are naturally strong in Quant but weak in Verbal; I seem to be in the minority and fare stronger in Verbal than Quant.

I'm worried that I've reached a plateau as I've scored a 660 the past two times I've taken the CAT (1st Kaplan, 2nd GMAC free CAT), and I already understand the basic concepts (having gone through most of the Magoosh and VP videos already). My Quant score on the GMAC CAT was 43.
(For context: I began my studying at the end of March, though admittedly it wasn't as productive as it could have been, having been very ill for the whole of April and transitioning into a new job the past three weeks.)

I have already implemented many of the recommended tactics on GMATClub:
1. I've kept an error log and occasionally refer back to the questions after a week or two of revision to see if I'm able to answer it correctly and efficiently
2. I've made use of several online self-prep sources (specifically, Magoosh and Veritas Prep videos)
3. I read regularly before I even decided to apply for an MBA (I actually read The Economist for fun... :lol:

)
4. I benchmarked my performance when I first started the process (before I even fully understood what the GMAT entailed) and twice over the past month

Is it a matter of dedicating the next 4-5 weeks to drilling maths concepts and going through as many practice problems as possible? I've seen that MGMAT and GMAT Club tests are a good resource for people hoping to go beyond the 700+ score - are there any other tactics / resources / strategies anyone would recommend?

I've postponed my GMAT to 1 July, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

(Happy to share a week-by-week progress update if that's helpful for anyone else in a similar position as well.)

) 4. I benchmarked my performance when I first started the process (before I even fully understood what the GMAT entailed) and twice over the past month Is it a matter of dedicating the next 4-5 weeks to drilling maths concepts and going through as many practice problems as possible? I've seen that MGMAT and GMAT Club tests are a good resource for people hoping to go beyond the 700+ score - are there any other tactics / resources / strategies anyone would recommend? I've postponed my GMAT to 1 July, so any suggestions are greatly appreciated. (Happy to share a week-by-week progress update if that's helpful for anyone else in a similar position as well.)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Judy1389 , I'm happy to respond: this is Mike McGarry, the voice of the Magoosh math lessons. :-)

I am sorry to hear of your illness and I hope you are in better health now. I also hope the new job is going well. I would say one thing that will help is to practice mental math every day for the next five weeks. Have a friend holding a calculator quiz you on two digit and three digit addition and subtraction, on one digit times two digit multiplication, etc. Also, in this blog . . . Number Sense for the GMAT . . . I recommend an exercise that I believe I also recommend in one of the Intro to Math videos in Magoosh. That is a great exercise to practice every day. Just roll four dice to give you the set of four numbers you will use, and then from those four numbers, using all of them one time each, make every number from 1 to 20. If you get stuck in this exercise for certain numbers (how do you use these four numbers to get this target number?) then that's a great question to pose in the Quant section of GMAT club. Feel free to solicit my input with the Mention This User button. I would assume that you already know about the Magoosh GMAT Math Flash Cards , but if you don't, get those on your phone and drill them until you know them cold. You may also have a few insights from this post: How to do GMAT Math Faster Finally, my friend, I will say: math happens in the details. For every single math question you get wrong from here on, search for the question here on GMAT Club. If it is not here already, then post a new thread. If it's already here, add your comments to the thread. There, you should explain in detail what you thought was true, how you approached the problem, what you think is true about the situation, what you don't know, etc. Spell out your question in as much detail as possible. Giving all that detail will help me or any other expert to give you a response tailored to your need, but also, when you force yourself to articulate exactly what you understand and exactly what you don't understand, this primes your mind to receive the information you will get. Again, feel free to solicit my input on any such problem. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitant to ask! Mike :-)

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Judy1389,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so it's possible that you just have not put in enough time and effort yet to be scoring higher.

1) What were the individual Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each of your last 2 CATs?
2) On what dates did you take each of these CATs?

With a test on July 1st, you still have plenty of time to study and improve; we just have to make sure that you're focused on the proper Tactics and study materials.

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

KarishmaB · Answer

Hey Judy,

First off, Q43 is a decent Quant score- not bad at all. It means you already know your basics well and are able to handle most 600 level questions. The problem lies in advanced concepts and higher level questions. You have checked out our videos but have you also checked out our blog?

My weekly series 'Quarter Wit Quarter Wisdom' focusses on people like you - those who have strong basics but need to work on advanced concepts of Quant.
https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/categor ... om/page/8/
This is the first page. Take a look at the posts you find interesting or based on topics with which you are not very comfortable.

Also, most higher level official questions would already be discussed on GMAT Club. Check out the discussions. You will get to see many alternative useful methods. Question every step till you fully understand. Feel free to ask for further explanation wherever required.

Ensure that you keep working on Verbal as well. You don't want to get rusty on one section while getting stronger at the other.

Judy1389 · Answer

Hi Mike - thanks for taking the time to respond to my post! First of all, I want to thank you for your videos / website - they've been an incredibly helpful resource in pushing my Quant score up to this level so far (I floundered when presented with Geometry and Word Problems before I subscribed to Magoosh)! Re: your blog posts - I've bookmarked these and will have a thorough read of them later on. You mention that this tip was referenced in one of your earlier vidoes. I didn't actually go through all of your videos (I skipped much of Arithmetic, Percents, Ratios) and focused my time on the more advanced topics - Geometry, Probability, Stats, etc. - do you think this will have been to my detriment? Re: Flashcards - I did download them when I began my GMAT journey a couple of months ago, but will concede that I haven't looked at them since! :oops:

I'll be more disciplined with drilling them more regularly. Re: your final point - that's certainly a unique approach that I wouldn't have considered. I tend to jump straight into "this is how I should have done it" mode, rather than spelling out the assumptions held that led me to the incorrect answer. I'll start to do this more. Thank again for your help!

Judy1389 · Answer

Hi Rich,

That's reassuring to hear. I've only dedicated two months to studying (and much of it wasn't peak productivity), so that may well be the case.

Re: your questions:
1) unfortunately I don't have the individual scores for my first CAT (unless I'm being daft, Kaplan's free CAT didn't seem to include this), but I apparently ranked 58% for Quant and 56% for Verbal. On the second CAT (from the GMAC Prep software) I scored 43 in Quant (I don't have the percentile to hand) and 38 in Verbal (from memory, I believe this was ~84%).
I know I could score much higher in Verbal; I made silly mistakes purely due to fatigue (each time I went through the  entire  test, including AWA) and I rarely get questions wrong nowadays when I go through practice drills.

2) I took the Kaplan CAT after work on 25 April and the GMAC CAT last Saturday, 21 May.

Thanks!
Judy

Judy1389 · Answer

Thank you Karishma - I haven't made use of your blog at all, so I'll peruse that on a weekly basis.

Re: verbal - duly noted. Do you believe 1-2hrs per week is sufficient?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Judy1389,

Since you're dealing with a lot of varied advice right now, before I offer up any additional ideas, I suggest that you study as you see fit for the next 1-2 weeks, then take a new, FULL-LENGTH CAT (with the Essay and IR sections). That score result will help to define how well you're progressing. If you continue to score in the low Q40s, then I have some recommendations.

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

KarishmaB · Answer

I don't think so. It's hard to quantify in terms of time but I would suggest you to do 5 questions each of CR and SC and at least 2 passages of RC per day, 5 days a week.

JenniferAtKaplan · Answer

Hi Judy,

On Kaplan CAT score reports, the section scaled score should appear as a purple number, with the percentile given as a smaller gray number beside that score. It sounds like your scores are not displaying properly for some reason, so I am going to follow up with you via private message to get that issue fixed for you.

Best,
Jennifer Kindy

Judy1389 · Answer

Thank you Jennifer, I've responded to your private message.

As an update - after incorporating the suggestions made above, I took GMAT Club's CAT over the weekend and scored a 680 (I improved 2pts to Q45, and my verbal remained the same at V38).

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