Stuck: 500-550 in GMAT, how to break 600-650 barrier

Hi amu1093,

Unfortunately, raising a 500 to a 650+ in one month is not a realistic goal, so you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date. You will likely need another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study to hit your score goal. Thankfully, if you're not planning to apply to Business School until next Spring, then you should have plenty of time to continue studying and improving.

1) Have you actually scheduled your Official GMAT yet?
2) How many hours do you study during a typical week?

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

1) Nope, I haven't scheduled my official GMAT.
2) I study approximately 9-10 hours a day.
Today I attempted a veritas GMAT mock test..again scored 510(M-45, V-16)
I have plenty of time to dedicate it to my studies. If not this spring I'll target fall 2016. I won't delay more further than fall.

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Opps! that is fall 2017.

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Hi amu1093,

Studying 9-10 each DAY is likely too much (you might be too focused on 'quantity' of study and not 'quality' of study). Based on everything that you’ve described, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in under 2 months, so the time commitment wouldn't be that bad. 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.

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

Hi amu1093,

Since you have been putting plenty of time into your studies, I think the biggest issue affecting your GMAT progression is “how” you have been studying. Thus, you may consider adjusting your study routine.

When considering how to adjust your study routine, you must realize that the GMAT is such a challenging exam because there are relatively few questions asked in a given exam, yet those questions come from a huge topic pool. Thus, the best way to get a great GMAT score is to have a thorough understanding of all the topics that may be tested on the exam. To develop such mastery, you want to strive for linear and targeted learning and follow that with focused practice. In other words, you want to master one topic before you move to the next. Have you been able to study in this way?

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should learn everything possible about that topic, e.g., LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. After that, be sure that you practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties. The results of that practice will help you to determine how well you have truly mastered that topic.

For verbal you will want to follow a similar study routine; focus on learning one section at a time: reading comprehension, sentence correction, or critical reasoning. For example, when learning about critical reasoning, you want to be able to cover all aspects of critical reasoning: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. Follow up your learning with focused critical reasoning practice so you can determine your specific weaknesses within that topic. You should follow a similar routine for sentence correction and reading comprehension.

I also, see that you have mostly been using books for your GMAT prep. Have you considered using a self-study course? In comparison to GMAT prep books, self-study courses typically provide detailed study plans and have granular analytics, so you can easily track your progress as you move through the course. By being able to track your progress, you will remain more engaged, and you’ll be able to forecast when you are ready to take your real GMAT.

Lastly, feel free to read my article that provides some actionable steps that you can follow to achieve your GMAT score goal.

First off, Veritas practice exams are hard in my opinion. Harder than the "real thing" so don't get discouraged if you score low on a Veritas exam.

It looks like you are doing "sort of" okay in quant but not okay at all in verbal. That's good news because if it is SC in verbal that you are having the most problems with (I am guessing that this is the case) then you can definitely work on that and make the biggest gains in SC.
You should register with a really good course that has a great emphasis on verbal. I keep reading good things about eGmat from other people here but don't know the course myself so I can't recommend it based on my experience.
Look around and take advantage of free trials test companies offer.

One more important tip from somone who has been studying for 8 months as well: 8-10 hours per day is definitely TOO much. There is a really high risk you will experience "burn-out" soon. Don't do this to yourself.
I had a few weeks when I studied 35 to 40 hours per week and that felt like A LOT to me and is not even close to 8-10 hours.

Seriously.... if you do have time to take the test and are not pressured to do so soon then take a step back for a short while and come back refreshed with some new tactics.
Maybe a tutor would be a good idea too?

Thanks @empower GMAT.. I'll reduce my study hours and will focus on quality of questions I do for practice.

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@Scott target test prep
I have been studying in the same linear way as you suggested. But I did this in quant only not in verbal. I'll start solving 50+ questions on each topic I read so to concrete my concepts.
sir I have already enrolled in @endeavor institute.

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@silviax
I have attended e-gmat live session for sentence correction and critical reasoning. They are awesome. I felt following that approach I'll get questions right but those approach consumes a lot of time. It took me 5 mins to solve the same question that I can do under 2mins.
I'm also experiencing the same "burn out" within me sometimes. But I'll not stop until I ace GMAT.
I have time till December 2017 before that I need to write GMAT as I'm planning for fall 2017. I don't wish to take a break. Now I'll stop when I'm done with this GMAT. I have a tutors at my private institute but I guess he not helping me as he doesn't believe that I'm a bright student. But I'm gonna prove them wrong.

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Hi amu1093,

I’m glad to see you are following my advice. If there is anything else at all that I can do to help, feel free to contact me directly.

Good luck!

I don't know but seems things are are not working out that well.. Scored 470 (Q-39, V-18 ) on economicst GMAT :\ today having a pathetic feeling of falling back into the pit.

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amu1093 -

Why don't you take a break from studies for a day or two, and then take a practice test from www.MBA.com? Then, you can report back with your score.

Don't give up; this test is not easy for anyone...

Very Best,

Scott

Hi amu1093,

In a prior post, you stated that your Test Date was September 30th. Is that still your Official Test Date or did you reschedule your Exam?

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

I have rescheduled my exam date. Now my official test date is 26 October.

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To achieve a solid GMAT score, you must:

1) Learn the concepts and techniques tested on the GMAT (e.g., circle properties, divisibility rules, past perfect tense, equation-solving, etc.)

2) Master GMAT-specific strategies (e.g., testing the answer choices, rephrasing the target question, identifying subjects and verbs in sentences, etc.)

3) Understand the many different ways the test-makers can test your knowledge of each concept

4) Hone your test-taking skills (e.g., endurance, time management, guessing strategies, etc.)

Many students make the mistake of limiting their preparation to item #1 and perhaps item #2. So, once they fully grasp a concept and successfully answer 1 or 2 related questions, they move on to the next topic.

The problem with this strategy is that the test-makers can take any concept, no matter how simple, and create dozens of wildly different questions, each requiring a different approach. So, to achieve a great score, you must answer a lot of practice questions specifically-related to each concept tested on the GMAT.

To find tons practice questions related to a certain concept, you can use GMAT Club's question-tagging tools (search.php?view=search_tags). Alternatively, our GMAT course is arranged so that students can fully explore each concept.

Cheers ,
Brent

Hi amu1093,

The CAT scores that you've reported are all remarkably similar to one another, which means that you continue to 'see' (and respond to) the GMAT in the same general way every time you take a CAT. By extension, if you continue approaching this process in this current way, then you will likely continue to score at this level - and taking additional CATs will NOT solve this problem. Thus, some big adjustments are necessary and you'll have to work to eliminate the 'bad habits' that you've developed (and replace them with new 'good habits'). I mentioned in a prior post that you would likely need 2-3 months of consistent guided study to hit your goal score - with an emphasis on learning and practicing new Tactics - and that is still the case (and that's from the moment you invest in those new resources). Your current Test Date gives you about 4 weeks of additional study time and that's likely not going to be enough time to properly complete all of the necessary work and study.

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

I guess you are right.. I again attempted a MGMAT paid mock scored 510 (Q-40, V-20 ).
But sir I have already taken a date. Could you please help me.. To improve.. And help me to take most out of the time that I'm left with.. Even if I make an improvement of 60-70+points I'll be happy. If I reach any close to 600 in the test.

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