First CAT Simulation 630 Q44, V32. Can I get to 700?

Question

After going through the OG 2015 Guide, I did my first CAT simulation on the Manhattan Gmat website. I managed very badly my time: in the Quant section I had to guess on many questions because I wasted a lot of time dealing with some difficult ones, but in the Verbal I finished the whole section with 10 minutes left (which I think is way too much). I thought I was going to score very low because of my poor time-managing strategy, but I finally got 630(Q44, V32), which was way beyond my expectations.

I'm planning to take the GMAT in September, which means I still have more or less 2 months of part-time study (2-3 hours per day) and 2 months of full-time study ahead of me before the exam.

Do you think it's possible, given this amount of time and taking into consideration my bad time-managing strategy in the simulation, to get from 630 to 700 in the actual exam?

My intention is to go through the Manhattan Strategy Guide (10 books) and, at the same time, keep practising on the OG 2015 Guide and the Official Verbal and Quant Guides, maybe alternating "Strategy Guide reading" days to "practising exercises" days. Do you think it's a good strategy?

ChiGMAT · Answer

Hi andreahu27,

That's a good diagnostic score. Your first step should be to analyze which section/question types you need to work on and then start your preparation.

Also, maintain an error log religiously to ensure that you can analyze your strengths and areas of improvement.

Manhattan is a good source to study from along with the the OG. So as long as you stick to your plan, I think a 700 is achievable.

All the Best!

Cuse2Duke · Answer

Absolutely you can get a 700. My first MGMAT CAT was a 530 about 2.5 months before I took the real deal and received a 700. Best of luck!

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi andreahu27,

You've given yourself plenty of time to study, which is good. With this score, you're closer to 700+ than you probably realize, but there's still lots of work to do.

Beyond the immediate issues (reviewing this CAT so you can figure out what types of questions you got wrong and WHY you got them wrong), you have to deal with the broader issues: pacing, endurance, making your CATs realistic, etc. All of those details will factor into your performance on Test Day, so you have to factor them into your studies.

Most Test Takers who use a 'book heavy' study approach end up getting stuck at a particular scoring level, so you might end up having to adjust your studies at some point. Since you have so much time though, you can proceed as planned for the next month or so. Depending on how your next couple of practice CATs go, we'll be able to determine if you need to change your approach or not.

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

Louvre886 · Answer

Thanks for the advises and the support guys! I'll try my best to stick to my plan

sameerp80 · Answer

630 is a very good score on the first test. I got a 530 on mine. Good luck!

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First CAT Simulation 630 Q44, V32. Can I get to 700?

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