Retaking GMAT for Quant

Question

Good morning!

I booked my test date for mid-July to retake the GMAT with a focus on Quant. I got my official score report which was 700 Q44, V41, but since Q44 is in the 63 percentile and I have a "poet" background, I really want to hit 48/49 and push my verbal up to 45. I'm aiming for consulting in b-school.

IR was a 7 (81 percentile), AWA was a 6.0 so these will get attention in the last two weeks.

I've been looking at others who were in my predicament, but posts on this forum are disproportionately targeted towards those wanting to improve verbal for their retake. I checked out the 44 to 48+ Quant threads, but not sure if I can get more opinions for strategy?

Currently, I have:
- Veritas (old prep books)
- MGMAT Strategy Guides (old prep books)
- Power Score Verbal
- OG 11, 12, 13 and Verbal/Quant OGs
- Advanced MGMAT Quant

I was thinking about purchasing GMAT Club Tests and Total GMAT Math (Sackmann). Any other relevant resources to look into?

My strategy was to review all the math strategy guides for MGMAT to review (Geometry/FDPs) this week and then do math problems and error logs based on the problems. I did timing before, but I'm going to not focus on timing and really hone in on concepts/tricks. During the exam, I had a TON of time left over for the Quant. I was at the end with 7 minutes to go.

I also would like to practice more back solving and number testing. I have 2 months to get it together.

I know SC and CR will be my focus for Verbal since I was incredibly rusty. Sad. I'll be studying them simultaneously.

sarahrs · Answer

Your overall score is good and with the IR and AWA being high is it wide to retake?

If your worried about proving to business schools you can deal with maths you could a maths or a stats college course instead.

Either way good luck
Sarah

Posted from my mobile device

daedalus1989 · Answer

Hi, abk!

I can empathise with your situation. I originally scored 690 (double-checked my first official report - the breakdown was Q44 V40). I re-took it to improve the quant, and scored 740 (Q49 V42) the second time. I didn't really do much else for Verbal, except make sure that I was solid on idioms and had solved 30-50 700 level CR problems.

On the Quant side, I already knew that I was good with the fundamentals. My bane was an inability to solve the "compound"/multifaceted problems that integrated multiple theories. For this, I used Legendaddy's 700-800 level Quant problems below:
700-800-level-quant-problem-collection-detailed-solutions-137388.html

After solving about 75% of what was in there, and actually figuring out the best way to simplify the layered questions, I felt significantly better than I ever had in Quant. The trick is to realize that one could solve an entire GMAT Q section, scoring 51, without ever doing long multiplication or long division. You have to get into the mindset of grouping and sorting information in such a way as to circumvent doing the heavy lifting in the pure calculation sense.

I hope the quant problems will do as much for you as they did for me. Best of luck!

abk · Answer

I wouldn't retake except the Quant 44 is in the 63 percentile and I'm coming from a non-quant job. Plus I already took calculus/stats in college and did okay (B+ in multivariable calc, A in stats) so I do have some quant courses underneath me... But consulting/IB companies ask for your GMAT and individual Q/V breakdown for jobs so I need to get the Quant higher. At this point, I'm worried about a job lol

abk · Answer

THIS post is so magical, I wish I could give you more than one kudos :-D

. That's exactly where I am with the Quant. I just need to push it around 48/49 and I'll be happy. I'm definitely focusing on SC and CR for verbal. I feel that I can boost my verbal score especially on CR assumptions. How were you able to get into the mindset of grouping/sorting information? Is it just really more practice problems? I feel that is my weakness too and then the stress of the test just compounded it.

GMATNinja · Answer

I couldn't agree more. This is going to sound painfully geeky, but the GMAT quant section isn't really a math test--it's a test of your quantitative reasoning, and that's a fancy way of saying that it's mostly about logic and how you think , not how much you know about math. The GMAT basically features 10th-grade math concepts, packaged in bizarro ways. Sure, you need to have a solid grasp of the fundamentals, but getting into the 48-51 range on quant requires an ability to make connections between concepts and find innovative ways to penetrate a problem. I don't think there's necessarily a magic bullet out there, abk, but more practice definitely helps, especially if you're approaching the questions with the right spirit. You're not trying to memorize steps, you're trying to learn concepts and hone your ability to think critically about how best to solve a problem. There might be six ways to solve a typical 650-level GMAT quant question, and you want to put your energy into finding the smartest, most efficient way to solve it. As daedalus mentioned, long division and long multiplication are pretty much never part of that smart, efficient solution. Once you get to higher-level questions, backsolving and number-picking are rarely part of the best solutions, either. As you study, be really careful to avoid careless errors. That might sound really, really obvious, but the adaptive test amplifies any errors that you make on easier questions--if you goof up just a few easy questions early in the test, you might never see the advanced stuff. When you're diving into the multi-layered insanity of 700-level GMAT questions, make sure that you stay focused on being hyper-accurate on the easier questions, too. Religiously recheck your work. Please go kick some serious a** on your next attempt, abk. The world needs more "poets" with killer quant skills. :-D

abk · Answer

THANK you! I'm going to make the poets proud :-D

RyanCJW · Answer

Hey abk-

I'm in a similar boat. 41Q/40V on my last GMAT - way below where I want to be with regard to quant percentile.

I picked up Total GMAT Math - started from there. Built a really good core and started tackling everything I could. After going through total gmat math, I decided to go through my MGMAT guides once again. I found that going through TGM allowed me to effectively get through a lot of the problem sets and advanced problem sets without difficulty. Of course there are some that are giving me trouble but I've been marking them off and at a later date will go back over them - trying to teach myself where I went wrong. As a last option I will likely hire a tutor for the ones that I just can't seem to get a grasp on.

I have been doing this since March, so going on three months now - I feel like there has been a ton of progress but haven't taken a CAT to measure it yet because I still feel there is room to improve and have been working on that as much as possible.

TGM might work for you but I would also try to get some problem sets or maybe the GMAT Club Sets or even just go through the old MGMAT sets again trying to locate weaknesses and build from there. After you've gone through all the MGMAT guides once again - hit that Advanced Quant GMAT. I just picked up that book as well and am looking forward to digging into it. Good luck!

abk · Answer

Hey! Thanks for all the posts in the thread, guys. I bought Total GMAT Math and I've decided to use that as my base for the next week and move onto the GMAT Club Tests and then Daedelus's link to the 700-800. Meanwhile, I'm going to figure out CR and SC since those are inherent weak points.

I'll review IR and AWA DEAD last. I'm not so worried about IR anymore since I already scored a 7 (81 percentile, good enough for me). AWA will be fine.

I'm also fine tuning my mental math skills. I've been using a few apps. If you have an iPhone, please check out "Math Workout", "Mental Math Cards", and "Mathemagics". I prefer Math Workout the best, but all 3 apps have been really good. Not sure if they have droid versions out there.

I'll update the thread for other future posters/poets who are in the same (obsessive) predicament. I'm also going to be working on essays (organizing all my experiences, etc). So yeah, I'm nuts but here we go!

D-Day is July 12th!

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

Retaking GMAT for Quant

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards