Feeling stuck after 6 months of prep / Low score plateau

Question

Hi GMAT warriors and experts,

I’m reaching out to share my GMAT journey so far, mainly because I’m feeling stuck, and I believe others here may have faced similar challenges. I’d really appreciate any advice, tips, or motivation.

About me:  I’m an engineer by background and currently work in tech sales. I’ve been studying for the GMAT FE for around 6 months using the e-GMAT platform*. I started with a cold mock that placed me just below the 500 mark. Now, after months of consistent effort, my mock scores are  still in the low 500s . There’s been improvement, but not nearly enough, especially considering how much time and energy I’ve invested... Other than full mocks, I also do section mocks (a different setion every day), but the scores are not really consistent, so that leaves room to self-doubt issues.
But my biggest issue is definitely,  time management . I can’t seem to finish any of the sections properly. I almost always have to guess the last 2–4 questions due to time pressure, which obviously kills my score. Here’s a breakdown:

Verbal:  I usually don’t have time to read the last RC passage. I also noticed I often spend too long deciding between two seemingly reasonable answer choices. I understand the logic behind questions, but it takes me extra time to eliminate the wrong option with full confidence. And if I try to do quicker, I usually end up falling into traps. 
  Quant:  Despite my engineering background, I struggle with pacing. I can solve most questions when untimed, but under test conditions, I often give up mid-calculation because I realize I’m falling behind. How can I build the intuition to solve more efficiently, especially on questions that require strategic reasoning rather than plug-and-play formulas? 
  DI:  This is my strongest section. I’m relatively confident here, though I still make occasional mistakes in DS, which I’m actively working on.

With my test date approaching, I’m now getting anxious. I’ve been doing mock after mock, but my score seems stuck. I’m worried I’m just repeating the same mistakes instead of actually improving.

How can I improve pacing, especially in Quant and RC? 
 Should I stop doing mocks for a while and shift focus? If so, to what?

*Side note: while I appreciate the depth of e-GMAT, I feel like the platform’s linear learning structure doesn’t fully align with how I learn best. I respond better to a spiral learning approach — first building a broad understanding of all topics, then diving deeper in cycles. That hasn’t been easy to implement with the course structure, since it dives deep into each topic one by one, and you end up having the full picture only in the end of each section.

Thanks so much to anyone who reads this. I know many of you have been through the grind, and hearing your strategies or success stories could make a big difference for me right now.
All the best!

sb995 · Answer

In the same boat. I'm trying to step away from the online courses as you're right in that they're not helpful for everyone. Instead trying to take a step back and work on fundamentals / basics through Manhattan, YouTube videos, and the GMAT club book. If you think of any others please let me know!

Ayeka · Answer

You should revise the basics. You can use Manhattan books for CR and try to read articles or solve atleast 2 RC's a day. For RC, you can watch some YT videos about different strategies you can use to reach the right answer. Firstly, focus on getting the answers correct, once your accuracy gets better then focus on pacing. 
For quant, you can try taking GMAT CLUB sectional mocks or taking times quizzes of 21 or more quesions. Also, if you feel a question is too difficult and you feel it's gonna take 3 or more minutes, then guess that question and move forward. If you have time left after completing the section you can come back again at that question. 
Hope it helps!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

One thing that may help a bit is deeply reviewing Quant questions you already get correct or consider easy. Any time you save on them will give you more time for questions you find a bit challenging. There's a specific question I've done with students which isn't hard per se from a conceptual pov but may still take roughly 3:30 (gmatclub stats). It's possible, however, to significantly cut that down depending on how you approach it.

Try working with a study buddy who is great at Quant or RC. Even if you only do a few sessons with each other, it may add a fresh perspective to your prep. You could offer to help with DI.

How to score high on the GMAT. Why solving approach is important.

Try working with a study buddy who is great at Quant or RC. Even if you only do a few sessons with each other, it may add a fresh perspective to your prep. You could offer to help with DI.

How to score high on the GMAT. Why solving approach is important.

chrisgg · Answer

Thank you, Ayeka! But when I practice untimed questions, my accuracy is pretty good. Somehow, my struggle is to start solving the question the right way, instead of finding it out too late. Maybe I need to control my overthinking better.

chrisgg · Answer

That's a very good ideia! Thank you, GmatKnightTutor! Will do it

MartyMurray · Answer

What are your accuracies for medium and hard Quant, Verbal, and Data Insights questions when you do them untimed?

chrisgg · Answer

Hi Marty,
Lately, my untimed accuracy has been something like this: Quant: 80-90%, Verbal: 85-90%, DI: 90-95%

I can tell the lower accuracies happen when I face hard probability/arrangements-related* or laborious algebra questions for Quant, long RC passages related to politics/humanities** for Verbal, and hard DS questions for DI.

*These are topics that I feel I need more clarity on and am working on improving my skills. Still, I feel like solving my time management issue would minimize the entire problem and pave the way for a more efficient approach on this little refinement afterwards.
**Here, I'm reading some articles from The Economist on these topics to get more familiar with it.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi chrisgg,

At this point, I do think it's a good call to stop taking practice exams, so you can focus on improving your overall GMAT skills. A good way to do that is with topical practice.

Let's use quant as an example. Let’s say 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, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly.

For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

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, verbal, and DI topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

MartyMurray · Answer

Often, shooting for higher accuracy solves timing issues as well because many of the same skills that support accuracy support speed.

So, strengthening your skills in those weaker topics could help you solve the timing issues.

The above accuracies you listed, on what questions are they? OG questions? What difficulty levels?

chrisgg · Answer

Thank you for the reply, Marty.

Those accuracies come from e-GMAT question bank, on medium/high levels.

Since I created this post, I was actually able to significantly raise my Verbal and DI scores on section mocks to a point very close to my targets. Quant is where I still need a greater improvement. Time still plays a huge barrier to me. I need to revise my problem solving processes somehow and find more efficient ways to do it.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

When reviewing, for example after a practice set, looking up the gmatclub threads of those questions you found a bit time-consuming may help a bit. There may be some solutions posted you find you can leverage for future questions. If on a mock you feel it takes you a bit of time to warm up with Quant, perhaps doing a few questions beforehand helps a little as well.

How to get better at GMAT Quant. Look for the correct answer choice - not the exact answer.

MartyMurray · Answer

Getting your Quant accuracies to 90%+ for medium and 85%+ for hard could be a good step toward increasing your speed and accuracy on the Quant section.

Then, to speed up further, you can focus on developing skill in coming up with efficient paths to answers.

Here's a simple example:

(10 + 2x)(100 - 5x) = 1360

In such a case, you'd want it to jump out at you that you could divide the first factor by 2, the second factor by 5, and 1360 by 10 to get the easier to handle following equation:

(5 + x)(20 - x) = 136

There are so many ways to be more efficient in answering Quant questions, and actively developing skill in finding them is a key aspect of GMAT prep.

chrisgg · Answer

Perhaps I'm not that far behind, actually... I took my first Official Mock today and managed to score in the 600s, jumping 70 points from the last Sigma-X Mock I took. Maybe it's true that Sigma-X adds unnecessary difficulty to their mocks. I'll stick with the Official ones from now on.

I had time issues with Verbal and DI (still did fairly good), and not with Quant, but that's because I rushed. That rush made my accuracy drop significantly, putting my Quant performance at a much lower grade when compared to the other sections.

Thank you both MartyMurray and GmatKnightTutor! I'll put those pieces of advice in practice to improve my overall score.

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