Retake Study Advice

Question

Hi,

I just took the GMAT a week ago and I am scheduled to take it again at the end of August. I got a 670 (42Q/40V, 5.5 AWA, 8IR) on my actual exam.

Practice Tests: 
GMATPrep 1 (taken as a diagnostic in late February) - 700 (44Q/41V, 8IR)
GMATPrep 2 (a few days before my exam) - 710 (48Q/40V, 8IR)

I haven't taken any other practice tests. I didn't have much time to study between the two tests because of other commitments but I thought my practice scores were good enough to go ahead and take the exam. I did a bit of refresh on quant topics in the time that I did have but didn't study verbal at all.

Now that I have my score, I am looking to retake and break 700 after getting serious with studying. While I had 15 minutes left on verbal the first practice CAT and 5 minutes left on each section in my second CAT, I felt a lot of time pressure during the actual test and had to guess one a couple quant questions near the end. I think I was being overly cautious and checking and re-reading the answers too much.

I need some advice on what my study plan should be for the next month and a half. I have been studying both quant and verbal strategies this past week for 2-3 hours each night and will be dedicating this weekend to developing a full study plan and actually studying. Would it be wise to take another practice test this weekend and then make an error log from it or should I go back to my practice test from a little over a week ago and write an error log for it? Should I study quant and verbal equally or would it be more efficient to work on gaining points in one area vs the other?

Right now I have the 2017 OG books and I still have a large number of unanswered questions in the question bank. I have been watching and taking notes on the free Magoosh videos but haven't purchased a plan. Should I buy any other books or online tools or would it be sufficient to stick with what I have?

Thanks!

bluemba · Answer

Your practice exam scores were solid, so I would try to remain as calm as possible when taking the exam.

To prepare for your re-take, I would recommend creating an error log so that you can find any trends in types of questions that you consistently answer incorrectly. Also, I would focus on Quant (understanding basic concepts, doing more practice problems) so that your score can be more consistent. It seems that your verbal score continually hovers around 40-41, but your Quant score jumps around between tests. If you can strengthen your core understanding of Quant, you should be in a much better place the next time you take the exam!

m38t · Answer

Thanks! I'll look to make an error log from my last GMATPrep exam and then go from there. I know I am definitely rusty on coordinate geometry but I am not sure about some of the other specific areas in which I might be missing questions due to the lack of a foundation.

AjiteshArun · Answer

I think you should be able to get to a 700+ with just a little bit of additional work, though it's good to see that you're planning to put in a lot more effort than that. Just pick any good resource for quant. The important thing here is to get through whatever you do pick up. Try to get the additional GMATPrep tests (the exam packs) for testing practice.

AndyDufresne · Answer

Which resources did you used for the earlier attempts? Error log would really help in analyzing the root cause of mistakes and rectifying the repeating mistakes. I would also look at using test series from some other sources like Manhattan or Veritas. Do give it a try.

m38t · Answer

To provide a follow up on this, I took the GMAT again last week and scored a 740 (48Q/44V).

My main method of study of the last month was taking practice tests from Exam Pack 1 and Exam Pack 2. I worked to get a lot more comfortable with the timing I had on each question and also gauging my time on the section overall. I noticed that while taking the practice exams that I had a better sense of when to just flag a question and move on. I realized that I had much better timing when I did that and it also stopped me from wasting time second guessing myself. I then reviewed my flagged and incorrect questions from my practice exam to see if I was missing questions due to silly mistakes or due to not understanding an underlying concept. I got scores of 730, 740, and 730 on my last 3 practice exams so I am happy with my retake score.

Thanks to everyone who replied here.

AjiteshArun · Answer

That's a great score, and all the best for the rest of the process!

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