SOS! 6 days to D-Day, Help!

Question

Hi Experts!

I'm a Project Manager with an engineering consulting firm and a licensed civil engineer with 7 years of WE in Canada. I've been playing with the idea of getting an MBA for a while but got comfortable with the status quo. Finally, one fine day this spring I sat down for a diagnostic exam (GMAC PE#1). Lo and behold, I got a 690 (Q48/V36) and a little ego-boost. I figured that was a good baseline and I could easily build myself up to a ~740. However, I crawled back into my status-quo hole and ended up enjoying another beautiful Canadian summer. Woke up from my slumber this Fall and figured the only way to get started would be to book the test.

Gave myself 5 weeks to prep and booked the exam for Nov 2. Plan was to study in the evenings and sit for the PEs over the weekend. Unfortunately, my score hasn't moved much from the baseline - PE#2 at 700 (Q48/V38) and PE#3 at 690 (Q48/V35). I was really disappointed, analyzed my PE #3 result and recognized SC was a huge gap. As I got only 38% SC questions correct on PE#3, I spent the last week going through  GMATNinja  YT videos and practicing SC OG questions. Sat for PE#4 today and got a 710 (Q47/V41). Excited to see the V40+ but lost one in Quant this time. The Quant score seems to have stagnated now and I really need to push for Verbal at this point. PS - I'm not a native speaker.

With 6 days to go, please advise on how to strategize now to try get to ~730. I have been preparing so far by practicing OG questions and following solutions on GMATClub forums.

Also, should I not enter any schools on the test date, incase I end up with a sub-700 score? Or do schools consider the higher score received by them?

Please help  bb   Bunuel   GMATNinja

bb · Answer

Hi. Welcome to GMAT Club. I’m not sure it really matters what your job is or how many years of work experience you have, but I guess it’s nice to get some background. 😎

What I would say is, there’s a few things you can try but if you have not been able to improve your score in the last five weeks, I’m not sure this last week before the test is going to work unless you make some substantial changes. The challenge, however, is when you make substantial changes, you get side effects, unintended side effects, and you have to dry run through the test a few times to catch them all and two account for them because otherwise, these side effects will usually decrease your score. Think about it as a basketball player or a soccer player, changing their shoes and having to get used to them. It’ll take time and you don’t really want to change your shoes before a big game or perhaps a week before the big game either…

Anyway, the best approach would be to not change anything big but instead focus on the problem areas and chase some mistakes.

I would go through the questions you missed in the last 5 weeks and make sure if you see it again you know how to solve it. I would also not focus on hard questions but medium and easy ones. The ROI from accuracy and speed on medium question will always outweigh solving a hard question correctly.

But at this time I would focus on protecting your score you have and make sure you perfect the timing.

Posted from my mobile device

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Probably, your move is to focus on some weaker areas of quant and master them one at a time. To master an area of quant, review the relevant concepts and strategies and then do practice questions, UNTIMED at first and working on answering them at test pace once you're getting them correct consistently.

From what you said, I get the impression that you haven't been preparing for quant in the way I just outlined and that your quant score has stagnated for that reason.

For some additional insights into how best to prepare for GMAT quant, see this post.

How to Increase Your GMAT Quant Score: Top 25 Tips

Also, you could practice quant and verbal as discussed in this post.

The Best GMAT Practice Methods

You can cancel your score after you take the test, either right then or within 72 hours. If you cancel it, no schools will see it.

If for some reason you feel that your upcoming test date is your last practical opportunity to take the GMAT, then I guess you have to do your best to prepare over the next six days and see how you do. In that case, even if you don't achieve your score goal, you could apply to European schools along with some top 10 US schools as reaches.

However, the truth is that you started off with a relatively high baseline score but haven't been preparing for quant in an effective way and haven't done all that much to prepare for verbal. So, basically, you're considering changing your target schools because of your GMAT score when you haven't really prepared for the test.

People commonly achieve GMAT score increases of 150 points or more with effective preparation, and some  achieve increases of 300 points or more .

So, if you can take the GMAT at a later date, such as toward the beginning of December, I'm sure that, with effective preparation, you can score 740 or significantly higher.

In case you take the latter route or in case you you continue to prepare for verbal over the next six days, for some additional insights into how to prepare effectively for GMAT verbal see this post.

How to Score High on GMAT Verbal

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi jeonacivil,

In addition to what Marty has said, you may find it helpful to engage in topical quant and verbal practice.

For example, let’s say that you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, thoroughly analyze your incorrect questions. For example, 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 fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant and verbal topics.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jeonacivil,

To start, if you are interested in applying to some highly-competitive Programs, then 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 (and the more time that you have to act on that advice, the better). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

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

Business Schools generally do not care if you take the GMAT more than once, so having more than one Score on record probably would not impact your applications. If you're concerned though, then on Test Day, you don't have to list any Schools to receive your Official Score Report (although you will have to pay a per-School fee to sent that Report later on).

Assuming that you took your CAT/mocks in a realistic fashion that matches-up with how you will take your Official GMAT, then based on your Scores, you likely have the necessary knowledge to hit 730+. By extension, the adjustments that you have to make to hit your Goal Score likely have more to do with your 'mechanics' than anything else (the Tactics you use, your note-taking, etc.). While you might be tempted to do a lot of studying in these final days before your Exam, you have to be careful about not over-studying at this point (since we do not want you to inadvertently 'burn out' before Test Day). You should limit your studies to general practice and light review (NO CATs and NO 'cramming') - you would be better served by getting some extra rest so that you can go into Test Day calm, clear-headed and ready to work.

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

got a 710 (Q47/V41).
to push for Verbal

For Verbal, consider working on your solving approach. May help boost your score a bit. Had a 6-hour student go from a V41 to a V45 in about 10 days, for example. Perhaps work with a study buddy with strong Verbal skills.

For Quant, it may be worth checking your error log to see if there are any slippery topics where you might be a bit hit or miss.

jeonacivil · Answer

Thank you Experts for your great advice. Today was D-Day and guess what?! Somehow I was able to pull off a 750 (Q48/V44)! Not bad for 5 weeks of prep time, I guess.

First of all, I'd like to thank you all for this forum. It is such a great resource. Given the time constraint, as part of my prep, I was only able to skim through the OG questions (17%Q/6%V), sit for 4 PEs (including 1 diagnostic), and review the attempted OG/PE questions on GMATClub. Oh, plus I was able to watch ~10  GMATNinja  videos which were an immense help (V35 to V44).

Now, I wanted to get your thoughts on whether I should spend a few more weeks preparing and give a second shot at GMAT (for 750+), maybe mid-Dec? Or do you think, 750 will suffice? Targeting US Top 10 schools for R2 Jan 2023. I do realize this might be a question for a different forum but figured I'll try here first. Thanks!

bb   ScottTargetTestPrep   MartyTargetTestPrep

bb · Answer

Oh my word. Congratulations crazy person ! 😂😂😂 awesome job!

I think 750 will be solid. There are very few reasons to retake that high of a score. Most of them are not very compelling so I would instead suggest that you focus on your applications. it would be a much better use of your time.

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi jeonacivil,

A 750/Q48 is an outstanding Score - and with it, you can comfortably apply to ANY Business Schools that interest you. As such, a retest is not necessary. Now that you have an Official GMAT Score for your applications, I want to reiterate that 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 (and the more time that you have to act on that advice, the better). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

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

Congrats again on all of your success so far!

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi jeonacivil,

I tend to agree with BB that 700 is amazing GMAT score and that you likely do not have to retake. However, if you have a burning desire to do so, I certainly would not stop you. In any case, congrats on a great score!

GMATNinja · Answer

Sorry for being late to the party, but I just wanted to say congratulations! A 750 is freaking amazing, and I'm honored that we could play a little role in your studies.

I agree with the rest of the crew here: you can absolutely apply to any program with this score, and given the time of year, it's almost certainly better to spend your time on applications than on a retake. If you're convinced that you have specific ways to improve without much additional studying -- if, for example, you think that you can improve your quant time management, or you think you'll perform better with a 750 in your pocket -- then you could do a "no-pressure" retake, without much more studying. But applications strike me as far more worthy of your time.

Congratulations again, and let us know where you land for b-school!

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi  jeonacivil

750 is a solid score. Many Congratulations to you! I don't see any major reason to retake as such. Instead, you should spend time on building a compelling application to get through.

All the very best!

Feel free to reach out in case you need any help with it. Would be happy to help!

SOS! 6 days to D-Day, Help!

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