Specific Quant Strategy Advice

Question

Hi all,

I started studying for the GMAT in the fall of 2019. I put in approximately 12 hours of prep time, and took the first official GMAT practice test and scored 640 (Q39, V39). Then life got busy and completely abandoned studying.

I picked up studying again in the beginning of Oct 2020. I studied for approximately 30 hours in October and then at the end of the month took another official GMAT practice test. This time I scored 690 (Q42, V42). Of the 30 hours I studied, ~8 were for verbal and the remaining 22 were quant.

Since a V42 is a 96% percentile score for verbal, and since I reached that without a ton of effort, I decided to focus on quant. In Nov - Dec I spent ~65 hours studying quant. I spent zero time on verbal. I then re-took the first official practice test and scored a 700 (Q47, V39)  .

My goal is achieve a score in the range of 730-750. To that end, I would like to get a Q49 score. I am not sure what the best study strategy is to get there. When I started studying for the test, my friend (who scored a 740) told me to buy the "Manhattan Advanced Quant" book, because he said it had the hardest GMAT questions. I bought it and worked through it, but I found a lot of the questions were too advanced for me (i.e., I couldn't solve them without looking at the solution). I then purchased "Manhattan All the Quant" and found it very helpful. I found most of the chapters were pretty trivial aside from a few that I had to think through.

My plan going ahead is to: 
(1) work on areas I have identified as my weak areas (such as functions and word problems)
(2) work through the Manhattan Advanced Quant book one more time
(3) Do practice problems from the OG   and practice problems from this site.

Note: I have the GMAT official guide bundle and the manhattan advanced quant and manhattan all the quant.

Does anyone have any more specific/better advice on how to hit a Q49 score?

Any help is appreciated.

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello GMATStudying,

Welcome to the GMAT Club. It is one of the great platforms to get information about the GMAT official test, Study plan, Section wise instructions, etc.

A score of 700 in the GMAT mock test tells the entire story about how well prepared you are for the GMAT official test and how to change the gear now to meet the target score in reality.

With my GMAT tutoring, guidance, and counseling experience, we have to accept the fact with a pinch of salt that diagnostic/ mock test scores are above then what one should expect in a real test. There is often dropping in the score. Some students have even experienced a drop of 100 pointers. It is one of the realities, and your preparation should not sideline this fact.

You can schedule a Free counseling session for 20 mins with one of our experts:https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session for detailed advice on your current study plans.

A couple of things that can be a noticeable barrier to your scores would be some or all of the below.

• Inefficiency by using time-consuming Conventional method to tackle DS and PS questions still
• No expert support (maybe) who can tutor, analyze, and guide you during your learning especially on hard level questions while stably hitting middle-level questions.
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

Since we are a math expert, we will recommend you go through our post on the GMAT club: Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

We recommend that you must learn the Variable Approach for solving DS questions and the IVY approach for solving PS questions in order to improve your accuracy and save time while solving the question types.

Register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-day full on-demand course (27 topics, 490 subtopics, and 1,500 questions) for free trial lessons.

700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank are separately available, too. Start with the learning of the concepts. Make a habit of taking notes during the initial learning of the concepts.

The day regular mock tests show the consistent score of Q48+ with V37+, then it will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up. Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and therefore, will be able to learn time-management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Punit Joshi
Math Revolution Team

logro · Answer

Hey - Manhattan books are a great resource. You can stick to your plan and also make sure to have an error log in place (will help you to revisit this in the fag end of your prep)

Apart from that if you need some quick review/course, i guess TTP has a 5-day free trail for $1. You can identify weak areas and explore lessons on that topic f need be

Hope it helps

prateekchugh · Answer

My only suggestion is that Practice GMATclub tests. These test are very good. Give the test and check your mistakes. Do not study more for the Quant, just practice through these test you will definitely get improve. I was at the similar position, but after practicing through gmatclub test my score in quant increased. However, what you suggest for verbal? your score in verbal is quite good.

GMATStudying · Answer

Thanks for your advice, I think I will do that. A tip I learned from someone else was to try to identify the type of question(s) you struggle with and then do a bunch of those type until you're confident you can master them. For example, I struggle with overlapping sets, so I did ~20 overlapping sets problems on this site and now feel pretty confident on my ability to handle them.

In terms of verbal, I believe the reason my mock scores have been alright is because I am a native english speaker and a I read a ton. I find that I tend to be pretty good at sentence correction just because I intuitively can guess the answer  . I haven't really spent much time prepping aside from doing questions from the official guide. I'm happy to discuss verbal at more length with you. My first piece of advice would be to identify your strengths/weaknesses if you haven't already done so. CR and RC are quite different from SC. Hone in on what specifically you find difficult. I would look back on your past tests and count how many problems of each type you got wrong so you have an idea of what you're good at and where you should spend your time. Feel free to PM me if you have more questions about verbal, or post them here!

Cheers.

akadiyan · Answer

GMATStudying

Welcome to GMAT Club.

I am not surprised that you mentioned that MGMAT Advanced Quant is little advanced and MGMAT Quant strategy guides are on the easier side considering that you are currently in Q40 range.

I believe you have not mastered 500 and 600 level questions yet , let alone working on 700 level questions. Since you have MGMAT - All the Quants guide you are pretty much covered on conceptual side.

I would advise you to follow the below plan for each subsections in Quant

1.Study a chapter for eg Arithmetic in MGMAT - All the Quant book and solve all the problems under that chapter in the book.
2.Practice 20 questions starting in 500 level and slowly move on to 600 and then 700. You should aim for 100% in 500 level , 80% in 600 level and around 60% in 700 level questions.
3.Revise the same chapter again in the forum -  Ultimate GMAT Quantitative Megathread 
4.Do all the practice sets under the chapter in the forum mentioned in step 2.

Follow the above plan for each and every chapter.

Once you reach Q47/48 level, then you can try GMAT Club tests.

All the best for your preparation.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi GMATStudying,

To start, while the most realistic CATs available are the 6 from GMAC, retaking a CAT that you've already taken is NOT a realistic way to assess your skills - since you will likely see some 'repeat' questions that you have already faced. Unfortunately, seeing even a couple of repeats can 'throw off' the Scoring Algorithm and impact your pacing, energy levels, fatigue, etc. (meaning that they would likely all appear to be better than they actually are). Thankfully, the CATs from Kaplan, MGMAT and Veritas are all 'close enough' to the real thing that they will provide you with a relatively realistic score assessment (assuming that you correctly take the CAT in a realistic fashion that matches the parameters that you will face when you take the Official GMAT) - so you can use any NEW CATs from any of those sources next.

Based on what you described about your studies so far, it is likely that your overall math knowledge is fine. However, 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. To score at a much higher level in this section, you need to become more of a 'strategist' and less of a 'mathematician.'

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 the last 2 months, what type of study routine have you been following? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT - and are you planning to take the At-home GMAT or are you planning to take your GMAT at a Test Facility?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

GMATStudying · Answer

Hi Rich, thanks for the reply.

To answer your questions:
(1) my studying tends to vary based on how much I work. Some weeks I work around 12-14 hours a day, and on those weeks I don't usually get much GMAT studying done. I logged on average around 9hrs week in October, 5 hrs a week in November, and 11 hours a week in December (December hours were inflated upwards because I studied a lot over the Christmas break). My routine has involved studying the Manhattan Quant guides and doing the problems in them.

(2) I am planning to take the GMAT in late March or early April. I would like to write at a test facility, providing they are open. I want the flexibility to be able to cancel my score if I'm not happy with it.

(3) I would like to go to Business School in the fall of 2022 or 2023. My target schools are Booth/Wharton/Columbia.

Thanks,

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi GMATStudying,

To start, studying for the GMAT now - far in advance of when you will actually "need" your Score - is a smart choice.

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores (and during that time, it's common to study 15 hours a week - or more). Based on your Score Goal, a greater degree of consistency in your studies (and likely more overall study hours) will be necessary before you can consistently score at that higher level.

Since it's been over 2 months since you took a NEW CAT, we need to better define your current 'ability level' in the context of taking the GMAT under realistic testing conditions. I suggest that you study however you like for the next week, then take a NEW CAT this coming weekend in a fashion that properly matches-up with how you will have to take the Official GMAT (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, at the same time of day as when you'll take the Official GMAT, wear a face mask, take it away from your home if possible, etc.). Once you have that Score, you should post back here (or you can feel free to PM me) and we can discuss the results and how you might best proceed with your studies.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi GMATStudying,

Q42 after just 22 hours of quant prep is pretty solid! To improve your GMAT quant score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant 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 and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions 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.

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.

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

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