Scored a 580 on the GMAT. Restarting my prep after a 3 week break

Hi aayushkrishnan,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores - and from what you described, you studied for only about 1 month (meaning that you simply have not put in enough time and effort needed to consistently score 700+ yet). By extension, you might naturally improve as you continue to study - but you will have to hone some really specific Quant and Verbal skills to score 730+ and it's not clear whether your current study plan properly focuses on that or not. 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 how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) Over that first month, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
3) When are you planning to apply to School?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

The max I got in verbal was a V34

How to get a V40 or higher on the GMAT? What about a V51?

Hope this helps.

1) Hi, so in approximately 1 month, I spent at least 50+ hours every week on the GMAT. I finished the entire syllabus pretty quickly in about 10 days and focussed on only solving questions from Magoosh, OG and GMAT Club. Yes, in retrospect, I realize that the plan was very unstructured and random.
2) Mocks:
1. 29 Jan 2022: Official Practice Exam 460 ( Q32 V21) ( Without any prep or knowledge of how the GMAT works)
Then Started prep around 4th February 2022

2. 13 Feb 2022: Official Practice Exam 580 (Q46 V25) After studying for about 10 days and finishing all topics from Manhattan Guides and Video lessons from Magoosh.
3. 16 February 2022: MGMAT Mock: 620 ( Q43 V32)
4. 19 February 2022: MGMAT Mock: 590 ( Q41 V31)
5. 22 February 2022: MGMAT Mock: 570 ( Q41 V28)
6. 25 February 2022: MGMAT Mock: 590 (Q41 V31) IR=6.7
Actual GMAT: 2 March 2022: 580 ( Q41 V28)

So after the initial mock test I gave on 13 Feb, I realized I had focussed on Quant too much and ignored verbal. I practised Verbal and gave the test again and then got the V32. But after that, I started practising questions every day and my scores dipped rapidly. I read a lot of articles and saw a lot of videos about MGMAT being a lot tougher and thought that the actual GMAT score might be higher. I had also almost approached burnout by the end of the last mock due to excessive studying and decided to stop mocks for a week before the actual exam. I was completely relaxed on the day of the exam.
After talking to Peers, almost everyone's scores had increased with more prep, but mine started to decrease for a strange reason. After that initial 580 and 620, I thought more practice I could hit a 700 but the opposite happened

3) I've submitted the Stage-I application for ISB and the Stage-II application deadline which requires GMAT scores is in August. The rest of the MiM programs I mentioned have their Round-I applications at the End of September or Early October.
Since my new semester will start along with Applications for Jobs/Internships around August/September, I am hoping to give the GMAT by June/ July

I'm not sure where I was going wrong with my prep. I know it was unstructured and my scores started to dip because I was stressing too much but before the exam, I was completely relaxed. Also, I come from India and have given numerous sich competitive tests so struggling on this one was a real shock.

Hi aayushkrishnan,

I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions.

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

Contact Rich at: Rich.C@empowergmat.com

Hi aayushkrishnan,

I have the perfect article for you to check out:

The Best Way to Study for the GMAT

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Hi aayushkrishnan,

Sorry about how things went with your GMAT. The key to scoring well on GMAT is to focusing on the right aspects. First let us understand the right way to prepare for GMAT.

How to prepare for GMAT in the right way?

Before you start preparing for any test, it's important to understand the structure of the test, what is tested on it and then prepare accordingly. In this case, GMAT is a test which focuses on your application skills along with the conceptual knowledge. So, just learning the concepts and practicing questions without focusing on the right methodology will not do any good. So, I suggest you to first focus on the methodology to solve questions of a particular topic and only then move to practicing questions of that topic.

So, the right way to prepare would be to first

• learn the concepts of a topic,
• learn the right methodology to solve questions of that topic
• practice a few questions of that topic to solidify your learning and then move to the nest topic
• Repeat the process for all the topics

And working on weak areas is equally important. You move to the next topic only if you get a decent accuracy in the previous topic. If not, you revisit the concepts, fill the conceptual gaps and then move to the next topic only when you are 100% confident. There are a couple of articles which you might find helpful.

And you can go through the recording below to understand how to strategize your GMAT prep in an effective way.

What might have gone wrong?

As we have understood the right way to prepare, now let's analyze what could have gone wrong with your previous attempt. You must have learnt the concepts of the topics and you must have practiced questions as well. But did you focus on the methodology part? Did you focus on working your weak areas?

These two could be the major reasons for you not scoring well on GMAT. So, this time make sure you do your prep in the right way by focusing on all the above parameters. And regarding the resource, choose a resource which can help you with not only the concepts, but the methodology as well. And the questions to practice and their detailed solutions are equally important as the solutions help you understand where exactly you are making the mistake. And a study plan would be an added advantage as you will have clear deadlines.

You can check out the free trial of GMATWhiz online course if you are looking for one. And regarding pacing yourself on the test, you can go through the recording below to understand a few test taking strategies.

And regarding how to proceed further and the study strategy, I think it would be better if we can get in touch over a call and discuss the same as I would like to ask a few questions about your current preparation strategy and your weak areas. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.