scored 540 in gmat(need tips to improve)

Just to add my 2 cents. It is clear that you need to work on both quant and verbal. Also, you need to divide the 200 point jump in 3 jumps - say from 540 to 620, 620 to 670, and the last being 670 to 700+. Note, these are mock test scores and not actual GMAT attempts. Even though you stated that you have completed OG12 and some other resources, you scores indicate that you have not understood the fundamentals or mastered the concepts. Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself:

1. What is your strength = Quant of Verbal? Make sure you capitalize on your strength first.
2. How much time can you spend per day - have a realistic estimate. Note this time is high quality time.


Overall, you are looking at 200+ hrs of effort to attain your desired improvement. Hence, either change your goal or schedule your next attempt accordingly.

Study Plan:

I conduct a 2 hr session on GMAT strategy and study plan. Below is a recording of one such session. It also includes a study plan and a few other things.

https://meet25754052.adobeconnect.com/p4sb588p1sy/

Regards,

Rajat Sadana

I am not sure this plan will work very well. A 200 point jump is not ambitious but you need 2-3 months for that. Mind you, the difficulty level increases exponentially as you touch the higher ranges of the score. Let's say, if 540 to 600 needs 1 unit of effort, 600 to 650 needs 3 units and 650 to 700 needs 9 units. I hope you get the point. I am not saying it is impossible; all I am saying is that it is hard for most people. You may be an exception; I certainly hope you are.

Also, if you intend to study 8 hrs a day in the next one month, I doubt it will work as well as 4 hrs a day over 2 months. Your mind needs a break after 2 hrs and is unable to grasp very well. Also, if you study too much, burnout is a risk. GMAT study involves understanding the concepts which needs focus and concentration. It is not a retention based format.

Another thing, you should go through a complete set of study material to cover the concepts well.

Thank u for giving me a brief idea on what I should do.
I am pretty clear with my fundamentals in quants but most of the time I am not able to apply the concepts in the actual problems..recently I got one of the 5 volumes of the manhattan series quants book!! Will it be useful to get the entire series??
And for verbal I get stuck most of the time with two choices for sc and cr!! I just got the power score critical reasoning bible and the manhattan sentence correction book in order to strengthen my concepts..
And I would be very happy to get any score above 700!!
Please let me know what I should be doing next like when to take up each of my mock tests from manhattan and GMAT prep!! I definitely have to take up the actual gmat test by 14th march as most of the universities that I am applying have an application deadline on march 31st...
Would be very happy to hear ur thoughts!!
Regards,
Vivek

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