GMAT 730, Q47 V42 - Retake strategy for 750+ ?

Question

Hi everyone,

I recently took the GMAT on September 20th and scored a 730, Q47, V42, IR7 and have been considering retaking the exam. I have been studying probably 2.5 hours/day on average for approximately 4 months, across a few different resources. I just completed my undergraduate degree and spent my summer studying for the GMAT as I plan to go back for an MBA within 5 years. I start a full time job as of October 4th which will significantly restrict my ability to study. However, I still think I could devote up to 2 hours per day studying for the next few weeks if I plan to retake.

My GMAT study plan over the last few months:

Month #1/2: Veritas Orion
- Diagnostic (05/14/18): 610, Q37 V37
- Veritas CAT 1 (06/02/18): 650, Q42 V37
- Veritas CAT 2 (06/17/18): 670, Q46 V36
- Veritas CAT 3 (07/02/18): 700, Q44 V43

Month #3: GMAT Question Pack + OG
- GMATPrep Exam 1 (07/12/18): 740, Q46 V46

At this point, I felt that if I could improve my quantitative score to a 49 and maintain my verbal that I would be scoring into and above 750. I started primarily using Target Test Prep to improve my quantitative section. However, I ended up contributing a significant amount of time each day to quantitative at the neglect of verbal, causing it to decline slightly over time. I am still not sure if this was the right choice rather than focusing exclusively on official questions and simply maintaining an error log.

Month #4: Target Test Prep (only completed 50%) + GMAT Question Pack for Verbal
- GMATPrep Exam 2 (08/20/18): 750, Q48 V45 ---- This score is not fully representative as I retook Exam 1 prior to this and saw repeat questions on Exam 2.
- GMATPrep Exam 3 (09/05/18): 720, Q47 V42
- GMATPrep Exam 4 (09/12/18): 740, Q47 V45
- GMATPrep Exam 5 (09/14/18): 750, Q48 V45
- GMATPrep Exam 6 (09/17/18): 710, Q44 V44

Official GMAT (09/20/18): 730, Q47 V42

While I understand that 730 is still a fantastic score, I still feel like I could be performing closer to a 750. My verbal score of V42 felt like a significant underperformance compared to what is typical for me. I am somewhat frustrated because I have used up all of the official exams and basically completed all of the verbal questions in Question Pack 1, OG, and Verbal review with around 93% accuracy. I would appreciate any advice on an effective strategy for retaking the exam, but also keep in mind that my studying will like have to be restricted to 1-2 hours per day on weekdays and more on weekends going forward.

I tried to attach my Enhanced Score Report but I have not met the minimum number of posts to enable file uploading. I will try to follow up on this.

I tried to attach my Enhanced Score Report but I have not met the minimum number of posts to enable file uploading. I will try to follow up on this.

GMATbuster92 · Answer

below link might be useful for you , https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-to-do-i ... l#p2108758

akela · Answer

Hi  derekgibbs96 ,

IMO, the most efficient way is to concentrate on quant to get Q49+. These threads might be helpful:

ALL YOU NEED FOR QUANT ! ! ! 
 How to improve your quant from 44 to 50

Hope this helps!

AjiteshArun · Answer

With a 730, you wouldn't normally need to take the GMAT again, but a retake could be a good move given that you're not applying immediately. A few quick points:

1. Even people with 99% scores can get lower scores occasionally. Although your 96% is not low (although you may feel that it is), the probability that you'll get a score closer to your actual ability goes up with number of attempts.

2. That said, don't go the other way this time around and focus on verbal instead of quant. Quant is still where you can improve the most. Q47 (61%) is... okay. It won't raise any major red flags, but it won't really do much for you either.

3. You have a really good score, so there will be less pressure on you when you take the exam again.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi derekgibbs96,

730 is a fantastic GMAT score! Looking at your practice test scores, your Q47 came pretty close to what you were scoring on practice exams, and your verbal dropped slightly. So, to achieve your 750 score goal, you should look to improve both your verbal and quant scores.

For quant, since you have completed only 50% of the Target Test Prep course, your goal should be to complete the entire course before your retake. If you do so, there is no reason why you cannot hit a Q49+ on your next GMAT. Feel free to reach out to me directly, and we can discuss the TTP course further.

Regarding verbal, since you are already at a V42, to improve that score, you will need to engage in focused practice. For example, if you are reviewing Critical Reasoning, be sure that you practice a large number questions just from that topic: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. Once complete, do a thorough analysis of each incorrect question. If you got a weakening question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? By thoroughly analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to more efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your Critical Reasoning knowledge. You also can follow this process for Reading Comprehension and Sentence Correction questions.

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 verbal 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 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 efficiently answer questions correctly that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker verbal areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your verbal score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

Accomplishing this end could take doing dozens of questions of one type, then dozens of the next, and so on. When you do dozens of the same type of question one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of the questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.

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.

Please reach out with any further questions.

Let’s do this!!

derekgibbs96 · Answer

Hi all! This is 2 years in the making. I did not end up retaking the GMAT immediately as I was just starting my first job.

However, around November of last year I started getting the itch that it was about time to retake and began studying again. I took the exam on Monday and am happy to report having scored a 770, Q49 V47 IR8. Absolutely blown away and couldn't be more excited. Big thanks to everyone on this forum for helping along the way!

bb · Answer

WOW! Amazing job!!!! Thanks so much for reporting on that
Are you applying in the fall for R1 then?
It seems any school was really an option with 730... but 770 is pretty amazing. What are your application thoughts now?

siddharthfrancis · Answer

Hey congratulations!!!
How did you get so much in verbal?? What all study materials did you use for verbal sections ??

bb · Answer

I would also be curious about how far you went back after taking such a long break. Did you use the same materials to refresh where did you get something completely new?

Posted from my mobile device

derekgibbs96 · Answer

When I finally decided to retake, I was debating whether I would re-visit Target Test Prep and continue a self study (but start from scratch) or actually take a live course (which is what I ended up doing).

The last time I studied, I definitely tried to work myself into a good score, I probably did thousands of practice problems and studied for hours and hours, even if I was exhausted. I depleted the OG, question packs, all 6 practice exams, basically anything I could get my hands on. This time around, I felt I could get better results by actually being more focused in my approach and felt that a course with an instructor would be helpful, basically to act as mini-tutoring for specific strategies or questions that I had while also walking through the content from top to bottom. I will say that I learned the content much more deeply this time around. I think it’s party attributable to having an actual instructor (who was very good) and also party attributable to having learned all of the same topics once before. In fact, I think if it wasn’t for burning 1.5 minutes waiting for them to get me a new white pad, I probably could have hit Q50 which would put me at 780.

As for my plans business school plans, I am planning on applying R1 this coming fall- I’ll have around 3 years of experience at that point as well.

Posted from my mobile device

bb · Answer

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Going deeper seems to be the way to go... very interesting you took a course and went deeper. Some folks hitting that level of 700+ may consider self study as the faster path but good on you for putting in the work!

If you don’t mind me asking, which course did you decide to take?

Posted from my mobile device

If you don’t mind me asking, which course did you decide to take?

Posted from my mobile device

derekgibbs96 · Answer

I took the Veritas Live Online Course with Anthony Ritz - glowing review incoming! I decided on Veritas due to the retake policy. Based on my timing, I was planning on retaking the advanced course if I didn’t hit my target score (around 750).

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

gmat1393 · Answer

Congratulations  derekgibbs96  on the amazing improvement!
All the best for your applications!

AjiteshArun · Answer

This is great news.

Congratulations, and all the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Amazing job!! Thank you for sharing and good luck with things moving forward.

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