Suggestions for my 4 month Study Plan for 630 Base?

Question

Hi!

I am brand new to the forum and just completed my first baseline GMAT Test where I scored a 630 | 35V | 42Q

I would deeply appreciate any suggestions of where I should look on this forum for studying tips and materials.

I am targeting a 730-750 and think this is achievable with a significant focus on Quant - I really did not know a lot of the necessary formulas and exponential rules which is what primarily tripped me up.

Thanks and I really appreciate any insight and advice!

Best,

LamboWalker · Answer

You have a really good starting score, especially Verbal. Go through this -

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-study-p ... ml?fl=menu

And don't forget to read debriefs of people who nailed the GMAT to get more insight on how to prepare. All the best.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi groovy23,

630 is a great start! Regarding prep courses, in addition to seeking advice in this thread, take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for  the best quant  and  verbal courses , and also read through some  GMAT success stories  to see what materials have worked well for other test-takers.

You also may find it helpful to read this article about  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Good luck!

SohGMAT2020 · Answer

Quants you can easily improve to 49-50 when you get acquainted with all the formulas .

For Verbal you are already starting at a good place so will a bit if effort you can improve that score and achieve your target score .

Good luck

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi groovy23,

A 630 is a strong initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 550 most years). With a Score Goal of 730+, you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections though. 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 your timeline and your goals:

1) How much studying - if any - have you done so far?
2) What study materials do you currently have access to? What "brand" of practice CAT Test did you just take?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
4) 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

homersimpsons · Answer

Try Target test prep.
Best course for Quant.

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello groovy23,

Welcome to the GMAT club. It is one of the great platforms to get information about the GMAT official test, Study plan, Section wise instructions, and many more. You are recommended to visit various posts and utilize this forum in the best efficient way.

Your current score is decent. You can schedule a Free counseling session for 20 mins with one of our experts: https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session for detailed advice on your current study plans.

The target score of 730+ seems realistic. You need to practice demanding and most challenging level questions and take as many mock tests as possible. Create the error log and try access to the specific areas and topics that require improvement.

Also, make a note of various possible combinations to achieve a score of 700 or 700+. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

Possible score combinations: Q45/V41, Q46/V40, Q48/V38, Q50/V36

You can try our free diagnostic test(Quant only): https://www.mathrevolution.com/diagnost ... Memberfree] and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will help you understand your weak areas. You can also connect with our expert one-to-one for a complimentary session to understand the score better. There are also many free materials available in the GMAT Club.

We recommend learning unique, alternative time-saving approaches [VARIABLE APPROACH to hit DS questions accurately in less time and IVY Approach for PS questions]. You can check the applications of the mentioned approaches on our various posts in the GMAT club. Also, make sure that you revise your basic concepts every week on any one day.

Below are two useful links.
Ultimate Q51 guide: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-ultimate ... l#p1613600
Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

You can visit Math Revolution and get access to our 7-days on-demand course for free trial lessons and free videos. 700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank) are separately available, too.

Regular tests will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up.
Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and hence will be able to learn time management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.
If we can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

You can reach us at [email protected].

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi groovy23, First of all, 630 is a great score to start with. Hitting your target is possible with hard work and consistent efforts dedicated in the right direction. Let me help you. Before you start preparing for any test, it's important to understand the structure of the test, what is tested on it and then prepare accordingly. In this case, GMAT is a test which focuses on your application skills along with the conceptual knowledge. So, just learning the concepts and practicing questions without focusing on the right methodology will not do any good. So, I suggest you to first focus on the methodology to solve questions of a particular topic and only then move to practicing questions of that topic. Your individual score break up indicates that you have a good command over concepts in Quant. However, you need to work on application of concepts in a methodical and effective manner. Your Verbal score suggests that you are good enough with two of the three modules (SC, CR and RC) and need to work on the other one. You should consider identifying the weaker module, analyse your setbacks and turn them into your strengths. Using the right methodologies and strategies to approach the Verbal questions should ideally help you to avoid the traps set by the test makers. How to prepare for GMAT in the right way? So, the right way to prepare would be to first • Deal with one topic at a time • learn the concepts of a topic • learn the right methodology to solve questions of that topic • practice a few questions of that topic making sure that you use the right methodology to solve questions • Repeat the process for all the topics And working on weak areas is equally important. You move to the next topic only if you get a decent accuracy in the previous topic. If not, you revisit the concepts, fill the conceptual gaps and then move to the next topic only when you are 100% confident. You can go through the articles below to understand the approach in a better way. How to effectively plan your studies for GMAT How to score 700+ on GMAT How to start preparing for GMAT And you can go through the recording below to understand how to strategize your GMAT prep in an effective way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65n8_LIbPIM The importance of using a standard resource: The only method to make sure that you invest your time, money and effort in an effective way is to use a standard resource which teaches you the concepts, strategies and also helps you work on your weaker areas. Studying using OG or a few random resources might help you to solve GMAT like questions but I’m afraid that they won’t be able to help you much from a strategy perspective. I would suggest you to go for some standard course for your preparation which can help you prepare in a structured and efficient manner thereby increasing your productivity. GMATWhiz helps you with all these things as we follow a structured and methodical way of teaching things, which makes the learning process simpler and efficient. It also helps you to develop an understanding of the test maker’s intention behind asking the question. It uses an AI powered learning platform to provide you with real time improvement modules after every practice quiz. It provides you with additional concept videos and practise quizzes which helps you overcome your weaker areas in a specific topic right away without having to put in additional effort to identify your weaker areas. You can check out GMATWhiz and decide for yourself. Here’s a link to our free trial – https://learn.gmatwhiz.com/?page=signup Hope this helped and feel free to contact if you have any further queries. You can always write back to me here or the better way would be to connect over a call and have a discussion. You can schedule a free consultation call using the below link. Click here to schedule a call

ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

630 is a solid base. Though I'm going to break a little from the mold here, maybe? Your quant and verbal scores are really quite balanced. A V35 is comparable to a Q41. You might notice a huge disparity in the section percentiles... Ignore that. The way to compare is subtract 6 from the quant scaled score.

In my signature you'll see a link to the 'studying for verbal' starter kit. That will cover a lot of material, strategy, and study advice that will get you thinking in the right way. We also have loads of 'Free GMAT prep hours' that are quant focused (I need to make a 'studying for quant' starter kit too, I realize).

Note that you're going for the best of the best scores!

To justify a top 5% score, keep in mind you need to be different some how. That means:

1). An unusual knack for the test
2). Study for an unusually long time 
3). Study unusually *well* (meaning, study 'smarter' than anyone else... Study for the right things, in the right way). 
4). Study for an unusual amount of hours each week. 
5). Absorb/Adapt/Learn unusually well.

Most people need at least two of these! Figure out which ones you can do best!

Leeke254 · Answer

Oh good job on the great start. I have been using Target Test Prep TTP for my studies these past couple of months and I highly recommend it to anyone who is targeting to reach 700-800 on the GMAT. The explanations for each topic are so detailed and the content is arranged in such a way that it builds on each other. They also hold webinars to discuss difficult questions. Each topic has over 100 questions to practice with, from easy, medium to hard. I am 100% certain that with your 630, TTP will get you to your 750+ goal easily in the time frame you have. All the best as you study!

merlot05 · Answer

Really recommend TTP. My first score was a 540 (Lol - anxiety) in Nov. 2019. Raised it to a 710 by Jan. 2021; focused mostly on Quant. Gave myself a lot of time to do this too — if you’re working through multiples modules a day coupled with lots of practice questions, you could get a 700+ a lot sooner; I’m sure.

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Anupom · Answer

Many of the concepts are much cleare after using TTP &, i would really recommend it. The quizzes seemed also more useful and explanations really from the ground.furthermore,their live chat system is super active.you can ask your any queries regarding practice problem.Dm me if you have any more queries.

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Posted from my mobile device

yasharoraa · Answer

Hi Groovy , I actually started with the same base score but my split was a bit different (Q45, V31). I prepared for 6 months and gave my GMAT online in August. I managed to score 770(Q50, V46). And I believe it is very much achievable. I did my preparation through The Princeton Review. But, I won't suggest any particular prep company here since there are a lot of experts here in that regard and I cannot speak for other products apart from the one that I had. I'll just suggest you to take a month or two to go through the concepts, make clear notes of the formulae, techniques and patterns that you weren't aware of. In these 2 months, take 2-3 tests as well to monitor your improvement. After that, take tests at least once a week for the next 2 months (considering you require a 4 month plan) so that you properly build the stamina to sit for the exam for 3 and a half hours. Also, from the beginning, try to replicate the real exam like conditions in your practice tests and don't skip AWA and IR. Trust me, will help a lot if you take AWA and IR in each practice test, you will probably not need any more effort on these two sections apart from the practice tests. Create a template for your AWA and try to write according to that in each test. Template should mostly be like (one intro para -> 3-4 paras each discussing one assumption or issue in the argument, how it affects and how the author can improve upon it -> concluding para). For verbal, the thing that will help you the most is trying to eliminate the wrong answers instead of finding the correct answer. Practice this extensively and you'll do better than you expect. I took a long time to get used to this and I eventually used to come down to 2 choices and then instead of eliminating I used to go with the choice that I liked better and get it wrong. Because of this I was stuck around V40 for long. For quant, just know the formulae, know how to go about data sufficiency questions, and practice hard level questions a lot and you'll be able to get V49+ easily. Just take a lot of practice tests. Also, regarding the practice tests, the closest ones to the real exam would be the official practice tests only. Others might be a bit harder or maybe the questions won't be of GMAT level. I suggest keep the official practice tests for the last. I got 10 practice tests with Princeton Review. And there are a lot of free tests available. Also, Gmatclub tests are also good from what I've heard from most people. Also, Manhattan tests' quant might be a bit harder, 45-46 in Manhattan's quant can translate to 49-50 in official one's, but still do give the Manhattan's free test at least. Will help you clear up concepts and will provide you with an idea of the hardest questions you can get on official test. All the best for your preparation! DM me if any help is required anytime. Hope you get your desired score.

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