Inconsistent gmat practice exam scores (Unique circumstances)

Question

Hi everyone,

So I'm looking for a bit of advice. I have to take my GMAT (online) within the next 2 weeks, and my official practice GMAT scores are concerning. For context, I only need to achieve a minimum of 500 (I'm aiming for 520 to be on the safe side). That said, I'm not really sure where I am in terms of progress. I've been studying the past few weeks, though not intensely. I exclusively studied quant. When I take practice GMAT's it's usually after a long day. I take them in the order they appear on the online GMAT, no breaks. I often guess a fair chunk of quant, which I'm very weak in. To prepare for quant I focused on arithmetic, algebra and word problems since I'm under a time crunch. My IR scores are a mess. My latest IR I completely ran out of time and guessed almost all of them. My scores are as follows:

July 14 (no prep, ran out of time on all sections): 480, Q23, V34, IR4

Sep 6 (minimal prep): 540, Q29, V35, IR7

Sep 21(Reviewing MGMAT books, ran out of time on all sections): 500, Q28, V31

Sep 27(LinkedIn Learning/GMATclub, ran out of time on Verbal, IR): 570, Q33, V35, IR1 (yikes)

Looking for advice on how best to prepare given my circumstances and how to improve my time management/If I can be confident going into the exam that I can score 520. Thanks!

UPDATE:

Oct.3: 610, Q36, V37, IR8

I booked my exam for tomorrow. I hope all goes well...but still concerned because my main strategy is to guess most quant questions.

DisciplinedPrep · Answer

delub  - Wow. Your Quant section leaves so much room for improvement. With a mid 30s verbal score, you could ever get a 700+ score, if you make some good improvements in the Quant section. Given you have only two weeks to GMAT Online, you can only practice questions rigouriusly. Please make sure to complete Official Guides, GMAT Prep questions, and all GMAT Club questions with GMAT Prep tag.

tuan1995 · Answer

My recommendation is Princeton review. As I remember, there is a section in the book discussing about the timing strategy depending on your goal and performance. Good luck.

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi delub,

To score a 500 on GMAT, I would recommend you to learn the concepts first and then learn a few methodologies. This will help you answer the easy questions and a few medium level questions as well. As you have only two weeks time, I recommend you to focus on your strengths and learn the methodologies to solve the questions of your stronger topics. You need not worry about IR much because IR is not going to impact your score. To learn the methodologies, I would recommend you to go through the   series of webinars  , which we recently finishes, that focus on various strategies to solve questions.

Or to understand in a better way, you can get in touch with me over a call. You can schedule a free consultation call suing the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi delub,

To start, with a Score Goal of 500 or 520, you do NOT need to correctly answer ANY questions on the GMAT that you think are too hard or too weird, so you shouldn't spend too much time on any questions that you think are difficult. Assuming that you took your CATs in a realistic fashion that matches-up with what you will face when you take the Official GMAT, you appear to have the skills needed to hit your Goal right now. The fact that you're taking your practice CATs at night is a notable deviation though (assuming that your Official GMAT will be in the morning or early-afternoon), so you might want to take your next 1-2 CATs at the same time that you are scheduled to take your Official GMAT.

It's worth noting that the process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day. Many Programs place little (or no) emphasis on an Applicant's IR Score, so unless you received information from the School(s) that you plan to apply to about needing a 'minimum' IR Score, then you likely have nothing to worry about in this regard.

1) What application deadline(s) are you facing?
2) Have you scheduled your GMAT appointment yet (and if so, then when is it?)?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi delub,

Since you are looking to score 520, the good news is that you seem to be in a pretty nice spot. Since quant seems to be your main issue and since you have only two more weeks to study, one thing you could do is engage in topical practice of each individual quant topic. Based on how you perform in that practice, you’ll have a good idea of where you are weak, and you can then improve in those weak areas. If, for some reason, things don’t work out with your test in two weeks, report back here and we can discuss a more stable, longer-term strategy. I’m here if you have any other questions.

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Inconsistent gmat practice exam scores (Unique circumstances)

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