460 in GMAT . Need help

Question

Hello All,

This is Lalitha.
I ended up with 460 in my first attempt.

Took 3 months of prep time with E-GMAT.

In my mocks, I was able to score 510 to 530. 
Now I am devastated with my scores. Lost hope.

How I can overcome and cope up to score 600 plus. Any other way I can improve.

Please guide.

u1983 · Answer

Hello lalithakarthik .... welcome to the community.

1. First of all forget everything.
2. Take 2-3 days off.
3. Take time and think if you are ready to dive in this journey.
4. The link below will give you a general view :
https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml#p605856

5. Once you are mentally in there .... then start.

Now coming to the score ..... 460 means ... your concepts are still weak.
1. For Quant use GMAT Club book ( free pdf) and practice in the forum. Move up the level gradually. i.e., when your accuracy level is >90% at 500 level under 2 mins then move to 600 level and so on.
Practice link:
PS : https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ps-ques ... l#p1048252
DS : https://gmatclub.com/forum/ds-question- ... 28728.html
2. For Verbal official questions are the best. Solve them mindfully ( you need to know why wrongs are wrong ) . Go through the explanations on the GMAT CLUB forum.

Good Luck !!

VPGMAT · Answer

Sorry to hear about a dip in score.

But if you were scoring 510-530 in mocks and hoping for 600 in actual; It rarely happens. Actual GMAT is always a reflection of your mocks, usually with similar or lower score -30.

Anyways, you are not the first to have a dip in score hence leave that thought out. It happens with most folks.

Get an ESR and do a thorough analysis of the same. There is a module in e-gmat for analysing ESR, you can use that. Alternatively , you can post your ESR here for analysis , if you are unable to comprehend it. I would prefer the first one , since you will have first hand understanding of the GMAT scoring and will remember the mistakes easily.

Once done then for a target score, decide on a balanced breakup of score. Work on the weak areas and try and achieve those breakup in mocks. Once there in mocks, schedule the GMAT quickly. Don't rush into giving GMAT again.

Good luck.

Posted from my mobile device

EncounterGMAT · Answer

Take a break of 2 days and then with a fresh mind, start brushing up the concepts, in short the basics. After the completion of each topic(concepts), solve questions related to the topic you just completed. If you're able to do well, only then move on to the next topic. This goes for both Quant and Verbal. The challenge you might face is- if you're starting with Quant and then move on to Verbal, in the end it might happen that you may forget math concepts and tricks because you took a big break from quant and did verbal. Again, vice-versa. Hope you're getting me. Make sure you maintain a balance in doing both Quant and verbal. Then solve OG and Gmatclub questions.

If you think you're prepared, go for mocks and make sure you score 650+. As in your case, scoring 510-530 in mocks and going for real exam with an expectation of scoring good was not at all a wise decision.

The entire preparation might take 1-2 months or more or even less....but depending on your pace. Don't rush. If you stay determined, you'll do well. Good Luck!

If you think you're prepared, go for mocks and make sure you score 650+. As in your case, scoring 510-530 in mocks and going for real exam with an expectation of scoring good was not at all a wise decision.

The entire preparation might take 1-2 months or more or even less....but depending on your pace. Don't rush. If you stay determined, you'll do well. Good Luck!

sonia26 · Answer

Do the questions from 500 to 700 levels 
for ex : Arithematic - first solve 500 levels questions. If are getting them all right and in ryt time means 30-50 sec.
Then move to 600 level.

Follow this way in verbal also.
You can spot your weaker topics and levels.
And always time yourself while doing questions.

Best of luck
you can do this

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi lalithakarthik,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) What type of study routine were you following? How many hours did you study each week?
2) What study materials have you used besides the course you listed?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs/mocks (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)? Did you take the FULL CAT each time (with the Essay and IR sections)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Lalitha,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. First off, do not lose hope, my friend! If you get on the right study path and give yourself a realistic timeline, you CAN improve your GMAT score, OK? That being said, since you scored 460 on your GMAT, it’s clear that you lack the GMAT quant and verbal fundamentals you need for a high score. Thus, moving forward, you should follow a linear and structured study plan that allows you to learn each quant and verbal topic individually, starting with the foundations before moving to more advanced concepts. By studying in such a way, you can methodically fill in knowledge gaps and ensure that no stone is left unturned.

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. When you do dozens of questions of the same type 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 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. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills.

Follow a similar routine for verbal. For example, let’s say you start by learning about Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to fully master the individual topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you learn about each question type, do focused practice so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you get 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? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and instead focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and thereby comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect Reading Comprehension answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. Keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be easy to read. So, to better prepare yourself to analyze such passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the Economist, Scientific American, and Smithsonian. 
 
Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, it is likely that you will have to work on all three of those aspects.
 
Regarding what you know, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not just a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.
 
This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending under two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.
 
There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and those reasons are not that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answer were always the one that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.
 
As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey logical meanings. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice repeatedly until you start to see the differences between the choices that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to be determined to see the differences and figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.
 
To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did that resulted in your arriving at that answer and what you could do differently in order to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could have done differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your skills improve, you will then want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple Sentence Correction topics.

In order to follow the path described above, you may consider using an online self-study course, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses . You also may find it helpful to read the following articles about
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  and  the phases of preparing for the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.

egmat · Answer

Hi lalithakarthik , I am sorry to know that your scores were not in line with your expectations. As VPGMAT suggested, you can analyze your mistakes using the ESR Analysis module in YSP course. Alternatively you can write to us at support@e-gmat.com and we will help you with the analysis. I would request you to write to us anyway using your registered email id so that we can look at your course dashboard and Scholaranium to give you personalized inputs. Looking forward to your response. Regards, Aditee

MathRevolution · Answer

Hi, lalithakarthik

I’m sorry to hear that you are frustrated with your score. Firstly, Your score of the actual GMAT test could vary with physical condition on that day. Even though you did improve your level, you could not perform at your optimal level, if your physical condition is not the best. Also, discrepancy in mock and actual test scores can exist due to the different testing mechanism. Keep in mind that it was your first attempt. It is really difficult for most people to hit the target score at the first time. So, don’t be devastated with your situation and do not lose hope. It’s too early to kick yourself.

I recommend you to analyze your actual test result and find out the weaknesses. There could be a lot of causes such as failure in time management, adjusting your physical condition, and not efficient way of studying. In my opinion, lack of solid foundation in both verbal and quant could be the main problem considering your low score. Take time in solidifying the base. It is essential to fully understand the basic concepts and start to solve the questions. You‘d better not skip repeating and reviewing the basic steps until you internalize them. To be honest, getting the correct answer shows that you understood the basics to some degree but I can make sure that if you can explain out loud your answer perfectly like a tutor, then it means you internalized all the concepts.

Please let us know if you have further questions.
You can reach us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach,
Good luck!

460 in GMAT . Need help

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