GMAT Online 710 (Q47, V40, IR8) - Want to improve my Quant

Question

Hello everyone,

I just received my score for GMAT Online and I got a 710 (Q47 / V40). This was my first attempt at the exam and will be taking it again to try and score in the 740 range. I studied for 5 months and used Manhattan books to prepare (which is great and I definitely recommend) and also did the official practice tests 1-5 / gmat prep questions on GMAT Club.

My practice tests score below: 
GMAT #1 - 760, Q48 / V46 
GMAT #2 - 730, Q50 / V39 
GMAT #3 - 750, Q48 / V45
GMAT #4 - 750, Q47 / V46
GMAT #5 - 760, Q48 / V45

To be honest, I found the actual test tougher; however, I did not struggle on time element. I am assuming there's a lot of room to improve on quant and RC section on the verbal (which is the likely culprit for the lower Verbal score). I am looking to retake it in a month and was wondering whether anyone has any suggestions on Quant material to focus on medium + hard questions to get my score in the 48-49+ range and also any other Verbal material to focus on harder questions.

Thank you in advance!

bb · Answer

Thanks for your debrief! Appreciate it!
Sorry about the scores being all over the place. It definitely looks like you hit a rough patch of questions and perhaps cored on the lower side.
I am not sure this really applies to your situation but I put this post together about bumping a Quant score: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-impro ... 41670.html ... though I feel perhaps a retake would do the trick since your GMAT Prep scores are quite high...

HoneyLemon · Answer

Congrats on scoring 710 .. 
You can go for Manhattan's advanced quant or GC hard ques (Are you up for challenge section ) or TTP for quant improvement ..

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello kayjay123,

Your current GMAT score is exceptional!

You can schedule a Comprehensive counseling session for 30 mins with one of our Math experts(https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session) before you kick-start your preparation in order to achieve your target score of 740.

You can also get detailed advice on your current study plans.

Since you are very close to your target score, 1-on -1 tutoring can also be helpful to you(https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/online_02tutoring).

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

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Good luck!

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Math Revolution Team

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi kayjay123,

Congrats on scoring a 710. As you said, there is definitely a scope for improvement, mainly in Quant section. And as you have been scoring 40+ on Verbal in mocks, you can try for an improvement in verbal as well. Let me guide you in the process.

How to improve Quant score? 
The first step in the process of improvement is to identify your weak areas. So, if you are clear of the topics in which you are struggling, then that would be easy for you. Once you do that,

Identify if it's the concepts or the application of the topic in which you are struggling 
 If it's the concept, then revisit the concepts of that topic and make sure you understand perfectly this time 
 If it's the methodology, then analyze the solutions of the questions of that topic in depth

This is how you should work on your weak areas. Make sure to focus on the methodology part as that is majorly tested on GMAT. You can go through the recording below to understand it better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL1pmGSHO2Y

Improvement in Verbal: 
As you say that, you are mainly struggling with RC, I'll tell you the right process to read the passage.

The right way of reading a passage: 
The best way to read the passage is to read it in an inferential manner. The focus should be to identify the purpose of the passage. While reading a sentence, make sure to understand why it is written and to connect it with the previous sentence. This way you can make a structure out of every paragraph and once you finish reading the whole passage, you will be having a mini-summary of it. One more important thing to keep in mind is do not stuff yourself with details while reading the passage. There might be a few details which you might want to take note of, but when you come across detailed questions, you can always go back to the passage and answer them.

Should you worry about the topic of the passage? 
A few students get nervous whenever they come across passages which deal with certain topics such as History, Biology etc. But you need to understand that GMAT doesn't test your knowledge on any topics.  GMAT gives you ample amount of information in the passage and if you understand the passage as a whole, you can answer all the questions related to it . So, it is the methodology which you have to learn. Once you are comfortable with the methodology, the process is same for every passage no matter what the topic is.

So, I recommend you to start reading in an inferential manner.  Do not time yourself during the initial stages . The process might take time in the beginning but it is important to invest this time to get better results in the future. You can understand the gist of the approach by going through the following video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VhuzaV6P0

We are currently running a free GMAT Score Booster Webinar Series that deals with the strategies that will help you solve questions in a methodical way . You can register for the webinar series using the below link.

Registration Link:   Click here

To suggest you in a better way, I would need a little more background about your GMAT study strategy, your weak areas and the way you approach questions. This will help me understand your concerns and guide you in a better way. We can get in touch over a call and have a detailed discussion on the same. You can use the below link to get in touch with me.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi KayJay123,

The good news is that Q47 is a nice start! To improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point.

For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. 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. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

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

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.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  How To Increase Your GMAT Quant Score

Please reach out with any further questions.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kayjay123,

First off, a 710/Q47 is an outstanding Score, so you can comfortably apply to any Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is probably not necessary. Depending on the Schools that you are interested in, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

There's certainly no harm in continuing to study and retesting - and with a 710, you're closer to a 740+ than you probably realize (especially if your Verbal skills are as strong as your various practice Scores imply they are). With a Q47 and V40, you do not have any big 'weak spots' as far as question types are concerned - meaning that the additional points that you're after will almost certainly be based on pattern-recognition and Tactics.

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:

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) Did you take any other CATs/mocks besides the ones that you listed? On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) For your next attempt, are you planning to take the At-home GMAT or are you planning to take your GMAT at a Test Facility?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

kayjay123 · Answer

1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
About 5-6 months; weekly hours varies depending on my work. It took a while due to some career changes and covid.

2) What study materials have you used so far?
Manhattan GMAT books 1-8; Gmat Prep tests; Kaplan Mock Tests; GMATClub practice questions from select sources

3) Did you take any other CATs/mocks besides the ones that you listed? On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
I took a couple of Kaplan tests, scored around 720 but the algo was very weird.
Prep #1 - 760, Q48 / V46 (late Dec)
Prep #2 - 730, Q50 / V39 (mid Jan)
Prep #3 - 750, Q48 / V45 (late Jan)
Prep #4 - 750, Q47 / V46 (early Feb) 
Prep #5 - 760, Q48 / V45 (mid Feb)

4) For your next attempt, are you planning to take the At-home GMAT or are you planning to take your GMAT at a Test Facility?
At-home GMAT after April 8; around April 10-11

5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?
M7 + Yale/Haas; I have the resume and the key attributes that are required for the app (banking/consulting start + pivot to strat/finance role in a unique non-traditional industry). Only real hindrance is that GMAT score.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kayjay123,

I've sent you a PM with some additional notes and questions.

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

kayjay123 · Answer

Thanks for the assistance everyone. Wrote the Enhanced Online test and officially got a 750 (Q50, V42, IR7, AWA6). 
Just had to work a lot harder to improve the quant score as the quant section in online tests is indisputably tougher. 
All's well that end's well. On to the apps now!

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