Scored 690 on first practice exam- Strategy to reach 750+

Question

Hello all!

I recently decided to apply for an MBA program in 2021. Over the last week, I familiarized myself with the exam format of the GMAT, did 75 practice questions on the GMAT Practice website, reviewed my incorrect answers, and finally took the computer-adaptive Practice Test 1 available on the GMAT site. My scores are as follows:

Total Score: 690 (86th percentile)
Integrated Reasoning: 8 (93rd percentile)
Quantitative: 45 (57th percentile)
Verbal: 39 (89th percentile)

Given the results of this initial test, what strategies should I adopt to reach the 750+ range? I am willing to spend 100+ hours to improve my score as much as possible, but I'd love to hear advice from everybody on how to best refine my strategy in order to maximize results. As for timelines, I plan on taking the exam in April 2021 and apply for Round 1 in September.

Additionally, I'd like to ask how much emphasis I should put on the Integrated Reasoning and Essay portions of the GMAT in my studies. It seems to me that the Quantitative and Verbal is what people mostly care about- does this mean MBA programs don't look at IR/Essay very closely?

And finally, if anyone could direct me towards any useful resources or tips for the process on this website I would greatly appreciate it! I am brand new so any advice would be welcome

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ivyfan409,

To start, a 690 is an outstanding initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years), so you likely are already a really strong critical-thinker. In addition, if you're not planning to apply to Business School until 2021, then you also have given yourself plenty of time to study - which is great! Focusing on your GMAT now - far in advance of when you'll actually "need" your Score - is a smart choice. Assuming that you took this practice CAT in a realistic fashion that matches what you will face when you take the Official GMAT, you could potentially hit your Goal Score in a month. That having been said, you'll need to focus on some specific Quant skills going forward. It's worth noting that the Quant section of the GMAT is NOT a 'math test' - it's a 'critical thinking' test that requires lots of little calculations as you work through it. 
 
Many Business Schools do not put much (if any) emphasis on an Applicant's IR Score, but they still expect Applicant's to at least score at a minimum level on the AWA (typically a 4.0 out of 6.0). If you would like to know how any specific Programs view these sections of the GMAT, then you should contact them directly and ask (the School's representatives will likely be happy to answer any questions that you have).

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:

1) Assuming that you would only need another 1-2 months of study time, would you prefer to begin your studies now or later on (in 2021)?
2) If you want to begin now, then how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ivyfan409 · Answer

Hi Rich, thank you for your reply! I appreciate your advice- I'll reach out to MBA school representatives right away to get an idea of where I should set my goalposts.

As for the additional information, here is more about my situation:

1) I would feel more comfortable studying as soon as possible to attain a GMAT score that reflects my highest potential. If I reach a satisfactory score within 1-2 months that's great, and if it takes me longer I'd have peace of mind without needing to panic. Also, as I understand it, if I reach a level where I'm confident in taking the exam formally I could simply take it in 2020. Please feel free to correct my understanding if there are any drawbacks to taking the GMAT too far ahead of the application date.

2) I believe an hour every day would be a steady and sustainable pace. If necessary I am okay with slightly longer sessions daily.

3) I am currently a rising Junior undergraduate in a business school that also has a well-known MBA program. From my knowledge, it seems applying for an MBA program straight out of undergrad is much more difficult, thus my goal is to try only for the top programs. If I am not admitted to any top choices I plan to work for 2-3 years and apply again. The programs that appeal most to me are Stanford GSB, HBS, and Sloan. My top interests are entrepreneurship, technology, and consulting.

I have some other questions regarding the application process as a whole, such as whether US-based students should consider international b-schools, and what some good steps to take towards building a strong application would be considering my status as an undergraduate. Any directions towards where I could find answers would be greatly appreciated

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi ivyfan409,

690 is a great start! To improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you need to go through GMAT quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see, types that you would rather not see, and types that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses . You also may find it helpful to read the following article about  The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT .

Regarding IR and AWA, I think you can work on those topics once you complete your quant and verbal prep.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions. Good luck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ivyfan409,

Since you are interested in some highly-competitive Schools, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement.

There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

Many Programs expect that Applicants will have at least 2-5 years of quality Work Experience when they apply, but there are some Programs that will accept Applicants straight out of Undergrad. As such, you might want to consider how/when you want to apply to School as well as what you can do now (and in the coming year) to better your chances of earning an invite when you apply.

As far as your studies are concerned, studying just 1 hour a day is a bit 'light.' The 1-2 month timeframe I referenced earlier was based on the assumption that you could study at least 15 hours a week. There's no harm in starting off with a 1-hour/day routine, but a longer overall timeframe would likely be the result. You have given yourself plenty of lead-time though, so you can decide how much GMAT study time you can incorporate into your existing schedule.

Based on everything that you've described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Quant Score Booster to be quite helpful. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly at any time.

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

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