GMAT Quant Studying?

Question

Hi all, I recently took the online GMAT for the first time after only a month of studying and got a 580 (V35, Q35), which is better than my mocks: First Practice: 450, Second Practice: 530. Quant has always been my toughest section and during the test, I was absolutely stumped throughout the entire section and extremely pressed for time. I felt that I could only confidently answer a few questions. I am much more confident on Verbal but was very shocked to see my score-- I was pacing myself well and felt good about the questions. Because this was the online test, I can't order an ESR so it's hard for me to pinpoint what exactly I had trouble with and focus on that in my studying from now until the end of August, which is when I plan to retake the test.
For studying, I watched a couple of GMAT Ninja videos and used TTP although I breezed through TTP and only went through the sections I knew I had trouble with because of my very tight deadline for my first GMAT test. How did you all go about studying for a retake of the GMAT and what did you do differently from the first time? Are there any other Quant resources that you recommend? Thanks!

kntombat · Answer

MartyTargetTestPrep ,  ScottTargetTestPrep ,  CrackVerbal ,  AndrewN ,  EMPOWERgmatRichC  your opinion here would help  cannolicookie .

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

I've gone through a math guide with a student to dragnet any issues that may turn up, but something that may help regardless is fine-tuning your approach. Probably fair to say there is an easy way and hard way to solve Quant questions. Getting used to seeing the answer choices sometimes as part of the question itself may be helpful.

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello cannolicookie,

GMAT club is one of the great platforms to get information about the GMAT official test, Study plan, Section wise instructions, and many more.

Your current GMAT score is shaky but you can surely do better.

You can schedule a Free counseling(https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session) session for 20 mins with one of our experts to have 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.

• Not detailed knowledge of GMAT Math patterns and Question types
• 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
• Lack of many updated questions and practice in the recent exam trend
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

Precisely, there has to be one end-to-end solution encompassing all the points mentioned above. We also want to understand your approach to solving PS and DS questions. You can try our free diagnostic test https://www.mathrevolution.com/diagnostic/dtExamMember and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will clearly help you understand your weak areas.

The diagnostic test report will give us detailed insight into various topics and your performance. After an in-depth analysis, we will draw out the category of the topics in which you are already better and those where you need more improvement. Also, we will be able to compare your performance while solving the PS and DS questions.

Also, make a note of various possible combinations to achieve your target score. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

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 on-demand course for free trial lessons.

You may also connect with one of our experts to get one of the best tutoring supports, which will help understand the topic(s) and solve questions and learn how to manage time and accuracy.

Below is the useful link we will recommend you to visit on GMAT club to experience the power of DS and IVY approaches.

Ultimate Q51 guide: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-ultimate ... l#p1613600

Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

Regular tests 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 hence 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 info@mathrevolution.com

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Math Revolution Team

AndrewN · Answer

Hello again,  cannolicookie . I am guessing everything worked out with your Windows Home edition? Please let us know, since I remember the two of us crossing paths before, when you expressed concern about the issue. As for your current query, by your own admission, you barely scratched the surface of TTP. If you liked what you saw, and especially if you still have access, dig in and get ready to cover a lot more material this time around. There is no silver bullet to GMAT™ preparation, no resource that works for everyone. Just pick a course of study and stick to it, remembering to go back to official questions on a regular basis to gauge your understanding and approach.

Best of luck.

- Andrew

cannolicookie · Answer

Hi again,  AndrewN . I actually ended up taking the GMAT on a MacBook-- I had the Windows laptop as a backup because my MacBook was having some issues a few days before that I was able to resolve before the test. However, I did read on some other forums and on GMAT club that apparently the Professional vs. Home edition does not matter as long as the software is either Windows 8 or 10 according to the requirements on the MBA website. Also, thank you for your advice! I am going to dig back into TTP and go through it more thoroughly this time around and definitely revisit OG questions as well.

cannolicookie · Answer

Thank you so much! I will definitely check out your resources.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi cannolicookie,

Considering that you studied for just one month, this Official Score is a reasonable improvement (over the 530 practice CAT Score you mentioned in early June). With this Score, you're closer to a 630+ than you probably realize - but since you are not facing any immediate application deadlines, we should define your studies and timeline in a bit more detail at this point (to make sure that you're approaching this next phase of your studies in an efficient fashion).

1) What type of study routine were you following over the last month? How many hours were you studying each week?
2) Back in June, you only mentioned your 530 CAT Score, but now you're mentioning an earlier result (the 450). Did you take any other CATs/mocks (besides those two) during your studies? On what dates (or approximate 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) You mentioned that your Score Goal was 630-650. Is that still the case? Would you be happy if you scored a 630 on your next attempt or would you keep studying?

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

cannolicookie · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC , thank you so much for your response again. I actually do have another deadline which is at the beginning of September, which is why I am taking this test at the end of August.

1) Last month, I was studying approximately 2-3 hours every day and splitting my time between Verbal and Quant. I am weaker at Quant and studying for this section was just not clicking for me. I felt that I really grasped each Quant concept I studied well until it came time to do actual questions, where I would get very confused and oftentimes do more work than was necessary. I used TTP and isolated the topics in both Verbal and Quant that I found I was having trouble with based on my experience with practice questions. I read through the corresponding TTP chapters and took the quizzes they had at the end of those chapters. Because I was on a tighter deadline, I didn't have time to go through every single lesson in TTP and just focused on what I was having the most trouble with.

2) The 450 score I had was when I took my first CAT cold with no prior practice at all-- I took that on 5/24 and got V26, Q25. On 6/3, I took my 2nd CAT after having practiced a little and gotten used to the format and got a 530 (V31, Q31). My final CAT that I took before the real GMAT was on 6/17, and I got a 530 again but my scaled scores for the sections were very different (V37, Q26). Usually, my Verbal and Quant scores are very close to each other as was the case with my actual GMAT score, and I took the GMAT on 6/27. I feel much more comfortable with Verbal compared to Quant but would very much like to get over the humps for both sections and move to the high 30s, possibly low 40s range for my section scores.

3) My score goal right now is still a 630-650, and I think if I got a 630 I would just keep that score.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi cannolicookie,

I'm happy to help. Could you paste in a screenshot of your TTP analytics page? Once I have that information, I can provide some advice.

cannolicookie · Answer

Thank you, Scott. Here's a screenshot of my TTP analytics page-- I have been focusing more on reading lessons first and have not been doing as much practice problems but will get to them more now that I have some more studying time.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Thank you for sharing. The best move is to follow the study plan exactly as it's laid out. If you can do that, and complete the entire course, you'll be in a great spot for test day.

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