Need help to move from 660 to 720+score.

Question

Hi experts!

I took the GMAT today (28th March'22) and scored 660 (Q47, V34, IR 6). I am targeting a score of 720+ and need your suggestions on how should I plan my preparation.

Following are some of the pointers which I have noticed during my preparation so far and the official GMAT attempt:

1. I had given 4 official mocks and my scores were: 690, 710, 750, 750 (in this order),but the issue that I realise now was that none of those mocks were in proper GMAT like conditions (I took a lot of pauses etc.)

2. During the actual GMAT, I always felt that I was behind the clock (especially in the verbal section). Hence, I probably ended up submitting my response to the final 7-8 questions in approx. 8-10 minutes.

3. I had a lot of test anxiety especially during the first 2-3 questions and the last 5-7 questions of each section.

I want to take the GMAT again by maximum May'22 end, and request you to kindly suggest if 720+ is a reasonable score to target in about 2 months of time. (Note: I am a full time working professional and can give max 1-2 hours to preparation during weekdays).

Below is a brief about my profile, request you to kindly evaluate and suggest if there is a mismatch between the schools and the scores that I am targeting:

Indian / Male / 29 years

Graduation: Chemical Engineering (CGPA: 7.28 / 10, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute; mid-rank engineering college)
Post Graduation Diploma In Management: (CGPA: 7.05 /10, Indian Institute of Management Raipur; one of the top 15 business schools in India)

Work Experience: (Total 54 months till date)

30 months: Worked with a national Oil Marketing Company (a Fortune 500 company) in the Corporate Strategy and Planning team.

13 months: Worked in the CEO's office as a Program Manager at a cloud kitchen Start-up (this company is part of a group that owns two mobility based unicorn start-ups in India)

7 months: Program Manager to the CMO at the largest chain of Departmental stores in India.

Currently working as a Senior Manager in the CEO's Office at 7-Eleven India.

Target Schools: INSEAD, LBS, Said, Judge, HEC

Awards and Recognitions:

Implemented a project to optimize cash flows at 'Ola Foods' (part of a unicorn start-up group) during COVID-19 that not only led to ~42% optimization of excess space in kitchens but also resulted in monthly revenue stream of ~INR 8 lacs - Received recognition from Head of Projects and Head of Business Finance.

Guest Columnist for under 30 writers, a series of a daily column focusing on current affairs started by all 65 Dainik Bhaskar (leading national news daily) editions across 14 states.
Winner - Consulting case event at Advaita’15, the International Management fest of ISB Hyderabad.
Finalist - B-plan competition at Intaglio’16, the International Management fest of IIM Calcutta.
Finalist - Markician, the national marketing case study challenge organized by IIFT Delhi.
Winner - Case-Write-up competition in DIGITAL INDIA WEEK held at IIM Raipur, 2015

Post MBA - I want to pursue a career in consulting (with a focus on Energy sector).

Regards,
Kumar Abhishek

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Abhi3492.

To get to 720+, you should drive your quant score a point or two higher and achieve the rest of the score increase by increasing your verbal score to around 40.

To get a sense of what section scores you need to achieve your goal GMAT total score, you could use this  GMAT score chart .

To drive your quant score higher, you can determine which areas of quant you are less strong in and master those areas one at a time, driving your expected quant score a bit higher with each area you master. To master an area of quant, you'd first review or learn the concepts involved in that area and the do practice questions from that area until you practically can't get them incorrect. When practicing, you should start off working untimed, and focus on achieving high accuracy. Then, once you've achieved high accuracy in an area, you can seek to work the time per question down until you're answering quant questions from that area at test pace.

By mastering one area of quant at a time in this way, you'll eventually master the entire quant section.

For more on how to prepare for GMAT quant, see this post.  How to Increase Your GMAT Quant Score: Top 25 Tips

To master GMAT verbal, you can do the following three main things:

- learn concepts / fill knowledge gaps

- learn strategies

- practice to develop stronger GMAT verbal skills

The following two posts discuss in detail how to prepare for GMAT verbal.

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

Three Key Practice Tips for Mastering GMAT Verbal

Also, since you want to speed up in verbal, you'll likely find the following post helpful.

How to Get Faster at GMAT Verbal

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

...scored 660 (Q47, V34, IR 6). I am targeting a score of 720+...

If your Verbal fundamentals are solid, consider working on the way you tackle questions/passages. Pattern recognizing incorrect answer choices (i.e. the true-but-chronologically wrong answer choice) may make your solving approach more efficient. Perhaps working on the way you read through a passage may be helpful, too.

How to get a V40 or higher on the GMAT? What about a V51?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Kumar,

To start, a 660/Q47 is a solid Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. Since you're interested in an assessment of your profile, 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/

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day did not turn out better. You seem to understand why though - if you were not taking your CATs/mocks in a realistic fashion that matches-up with how you rook your Official GMAT, then the results from those Practice Tests were likely 'inflated.' There might be other factors of course - and we can discuss those factors in more detail once we've had a chance to better define how you have been studying up to this point. It's also worth noting how similar your Official Score is to your initial CAT result; by extension, it's possible that you developed some 'bad habits' during your earlier studies that kept you from scoring higher. You'll need to make some significant changes to how you 'see' (and respond to) the Exam before you will be able to consistently score at the 720+ level.

Since we last discussed your studies approximately 5 months ago, I have a few questions about how you've been studying during that time.

1) Over the last 5 months, how many hours did you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used over the course of ALL of your studies? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) 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) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

If you took your Official GMAT at a Test Center, then you might also choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn’t provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong on Test Day (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi Abhi3492,

For scoring 700 and above, you need to get the easy medium questions right as GMAT test is adaptive in nature. You can afford making mistakes only in the latter half of the Section, not in the beginning. You have to make the GMAT algorithm serve you difficult questions and get them right. For that, being conceptually clear on all topics is really vital. Not only this, you have to be good with application of concepts because  GMAT is a test of application of concepts .

Ideally, 2 months should be good enough to improve your score to 720+ if utilised in a planned and structured manner with consistent efforts guided in the right direction.

Coming to time management, let me share my 2 cents from my experience of scoring 740 on GMAT and helping many students reach their target score.  Taking extra time to solve questions is a symptom and not the disease itself . Let me elaborate.

There are 2 things that you do while solving questions - 1. You think about how to solve the question and 2. You solve the question. It's the first point that eats up unnecessary time. Now how do you tackle Point 1. Most people think the best solution is by solving additional questions. It does help but sadly is not the most effective solution because by just practising more questions you end repeating the same mistakes. 
 
The better solution is to learn the right logical methods to solve questions and then master these methods with additional practice. Now before suggesting you the right methods, I would like to understand how you approach questions at present and then accordingly I can suggest you what's the way out.

Meanwhile you can check out how Manish got into INSEAD with GMAT 720 and also how Ilias got into HEC with a GMAT 640 to get some powerful insights from their journey:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxFXI28NNBI  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LON6fD-HLeU  
Coming to overcoming test day anxiety, you may find this helpful:
    Expert Tips on How to Overcome GMAT Test Anxiety

Hope this helps!

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

EducationAisle · Answer

Hi  Abhi3492 , HBTI is a very well known brand.

Which resources have you been using for your prep? Can you share the ESR?

Need help to move from 660 to 720+score.

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