Vague Mock Results

Hi Ashish,

I have exhausted all my study material and I have revised each and every topic. This makes me clueless what should be my way forward. If you could guide me through it.

Regards,
Dheeraj.

Hi Dheeraj,

Since you scored 520 and 540 on your two official practice exams, I think that your current score is around 520/540. If your score goal is closer to 650+, then you may consider pushing back your GMAT, giving yourself more time to study, and then taking your GMAT once you are truly ready to do so.

Hi Scott,

I guess I just have to do that. Should I focus on my concepts once again or solve some difficult questions while analyzing my mistakes. Could you shed some light on it.

Regards,
Dheeraj

Hi Dheeraj, what study material have you been using?

Hi Ashish,

I have referred to the Manhattan GMAT Books & solved OG questions. For more difficult quant questions I tried solving questions from CAT Books and eventually got a 50% of them correct. I then purchased Veritas Mocks which gave me 7 Mock papers and I consistently scored a 650 & highest being 680. While in the GMAT Official Mocks, though I had the same number of questions incorrect compared to Veritas, I scored a 540 & 550. And post which I am just trying to understand what should I do next.
Should I refer to some different material this time ?

Regards,
Dheeraj.

Hi Dheeraj,

To start, the scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize. Since that algorithm is proprietary, no GMAT company has an exact match for it, thus CAT scores can vary a bit based on the 'biases' involved in their respective designs. The most realistic CATs available are the 6 from GMAC, but the CATs from Kaplan, MGMAT and Veritas are all 'close enough' to the real thing that they will provide you with a relatively realistic score assessment (assuming that you correctly take the CAT in a realistic fashion).

There are a variety of factors that can influence YOUR performance on a Test (including the time that you start the Exam, how well-rested you are, the order in which you take the sections, how realistic the testing environment is, etc.), so you have to consider how well you are accounting for those variables.

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:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) Have you used any other study materials besides the books that you listed?
3) On what 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)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

Hi Dheeraj,

Since your baseline score is around 520/540, I’d actually follow a study plan that allows you to learn GMAT quant and verbal from the ground up. In other words, follow a study plan that allows you to learn each GMAT quant and verbal topic individually and then practice each topic until you’ve gained mastery. Also, you may find it helpful to read the following article:

The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT

Hi Dheeraj,

I think it is not vague. Your gmat preptests scored 520 and 540. So you are likely to score between 490 and 570 in the real test. After all, let us know your final real gmat score.

Good lixk

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