GMAT score of 510 in first attempt of GMAT

Question

Hi All,

I am highly disappointed while writing this. After studying for around 2 months, especially last month with a lot of focus, my first gmat attempt yielded me a score of 510 (Quant-42, Verbal-20). For my preparation, I solved all questions from OG2016 for all topics though could not finish DS. I read the manhattan books, took the gmat prep exam pack 1. Practiced 404 questions from there. I gave my first gmat prep test which gave me score of 540 which left me disheartened. I studied and reattempted the gmat prep exam 1 (questions were new), and got a score of 440 which left me shattered. After another week of studying, i gave my official gmat exam which gave me a score of 510. WIth these scores, I am not getting anywhere. I have studied all concepts but do not know where am I going. I am planning a retake in September. Please let me know how to prepare my schedule as I really need to study hard.

Any help would be much appreciated.

shashankism · Answer

Hello  prathi123 ,

i understand your pain regarding scores. You have got a very less score but you should not be disheartened about it. You should get motivated and try to get a better score above 700 which is easily available if take the right approach.
Firstly, if you were getting just 510 and 440 in the 2 official test , you should not have taken the exam and rescheduled to get a better score after few months.

As per your statement you have solved OG and read Manhattan strategy guides. So I think you have done much work already and this much preparation is enough to fetch you a score in the range of 720 - 780.

The problem with your preparation according (this is just my assumption) is probably 
1. you haven't solved the questions considering the time for each questions. You need to maintain your accuracy within time frame for each question. It is very important to solve each question within time frame. GMATClub has a very good feature of timer and it can be used to solve even OG questions and other questions posted daily to solve and practice within time limit.
2. Why didn't you solved DS questions fully from OG. If you would have solved OG questions, you could have got better score in QA in the range of 48-51. 
3. Again you have planned your exam in September may be to catch the deadlines of the B-school. This is really a wrong approach to take exam when you are not fully prepared just to meet the deadline of the application. Ultimately if you don't get a score, you will not apply or will waste money on applications and will not get any call.
4. After the first disastrous score you what should have done. 
a. You should have talked to some good friend of yours to get motivation (A friend should be one who knows your full potential).
b. You should have made a list of mistakes which, according to you , is the reason behind your low score, For e.g. QA (Not practiced DS question. Not practiced using timer, Not solved OG problems myself and instead just went through solution), VA: was not able to understand CR and SC concepts.
c. Then you should have started targeting those mistakes for continuous 2 months without any expectation. The present motive of yours should have been to improve ur QA and VA ability and not to a big GMAT score.
d. Next step was to take mock and then make a reality check. If you have improved, there is a potential of improvement. If you have not improved. no point of taking another test just leave the exam and do something else in life. Why to waste time if you can't improve anything in 2 months of dedicated studying. But I am sure you would have improved. Everyone does if he/she has a desire to beat the odds.
e. Now you should have studied for one more month to improve the left weak areas. 
f. This was the right time to take another mock. And if you would have got a good score, this was the right time to schedule your test. Schedule a date one month from this date. 
g. Now brush up your concepts and solve questions with timer for next 30 days. 20 ques QA (PS and VA) 20 ques VA (CR, SC, RC) daily. 
h. Go for test and I m sure you are above 750....

Try this approach and no one will stop you from getting a top score in GMAT..

pratpat1 · Answer

Hi,

I too need advice from someone on how to go ahead with my preparation and when to take the GMAT exam. 
I have been preparing for a few months and dedicated full 10 days to my preparation. My score in last few attempts are:
1. Kaplan 1st mock test - 620
2. Kaplan 2nd moc test - 560
3. GMAT prep test2 last version - 530
4. Online app Ready4gmat: latest score 620
5. GMAT prep test 1 new version - 510

I am really confused what to do. I was bit confident about my GMAT exam but my recent score of 510 has made me hesitant to take my actual exam which is on 12th Aug. Should I postpone the exam? or should I dedicate remaining days completely into GMAT exam preparation, hoping to achieve more than 680.

I scored around 76 % in engineering(EXTC), 7.7 in PG diploma in Banking and Finance. 5 + years of experience in banking sector including top private bank and PSB.
Please, someone, guide me about this.

Thanks in advance.

shashankism · Answer

pratpat1 First always provide breakup of QA vs VA with your OA score of mocks. How can I analyse your score when I don't know if you are weak in VA or QA. (QA can be improved in 1 month but VA will take some time. There is no Harry potter's magic wand which will improve your score instantly.) Now coming to your score, its bad really bad. If your GMAT prep tests is 510 and 530, you are going to land somewhere between 490 to 570. No use of even thinking to take exam So my next question is why 12th august ? Who told you take exam on 12th august when you are no where getting your dream score of 680. Please reschedule your test to some other date may be dec or jan ( I don't know the exact rules fo rescheduling and I am not going to waste my time reading it for you. ) My next question about your dream score 680. Friend you are taking GMAT exam to get into a good college. Be realistic and try to get a better score. Who the hell thinks of getting a score of 680 . Make a bigger dream somewhere near 740. So atleast you get somewhere 700+. Now coming to your questions. Yes, you should do both a. Postpone your exam b. Dedicate the remaining time completely into GMAT preparation. By this I mean, you will have to dedicate your time from today onwards to study and think about getting a good GMAT score. You can't improve if you don't study. You will have to study a lot, practice a lot and get involved fully to get a good score. So make a motive to get a score above 740 and dedicate your time for 3-4 months and then take your date. My next suggestion is don't waste the precious GMAT prep tests like this. GMAT prep tests are precious resources which shows you your score even before taking your real exam. SO use it wisely. Rest is upto you . Thanks. Also don't forget to read the answer which I gave to prathi123 in my previous post, just above your post. It will help you to plan your study.. Feel free to ask more questions but logical questions only because I have also very little time and I understand the value of my time.

pratpat1 · Answer

Thanks for your guidance.
My score is V 17 and Q44. I m scoring poor in verbal and I need to improve it. 
My apprehension is that I will miss the deadline for applying into colleges, and yes, this does not make sense if i do not score good in GMAT exam.
Agreed, with this score I have to take the test post intense study and good GMAT mock test score. 
Now, I have to postpone my dream of doing MBA by one year as I think most of the deadlines would have crossed.
Any reply is welcome.

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shashankism · Answer

pratpat1 Missing deadlines is way better than applying with a low score, waste your money and get 0 calls.. It will be a waste of money and will be highly demotivating for you.. My Take : 1. Postpone your exam. 2. Dream big. 760 3. Take 3 months time. and then take exam. 4. Get a good score & apply next year. 5. Get calls from all colleges to which you apply. 5. Convert the colleges & get a scholarship.. Full paisa wasool and lots of motivation for your future with a good score, good college, good scholarship and good job. And a lots of appreciation from your GF/wife and parents.

enjoy..Kudos always appreciated.

ENEM · Answer

Hi prathi123 and pratpat1 , You understand your content fairly well I believe, considering your prep time and score. You aren't scoring as much as expected, maybe because of a lack of timed practice and some essential strategies required to excel on the test. prathi123 don't take it to heart, with the right direction you can score a 700+, just give it time and a lot of practice till everything becomes a muscle memory! I think you should try empowergmat's 3 day trial course, it will be of help to you. Check their video on triage and general testing strategy. Also don't forget to check lesson videos on topics that are a challenge to you. Clearly quant is your pratpat1 strength and you are certainly a potential q51 scorer, so make sure you get it

As for verbal, building verbal skills takes time... again check empower and also check gmatninja's expert posts https://gmatclub.com/forum/experts-topi ... 41894.html Also explore gmatclub, check stories of how students with very low verbal scores have worked on improving their score...i personally love this guy's debrief https://gmatclub.com/forum/740-q50-v40- ... 03593.html . PS. apart from official practice tests and official content stick to gmatclub quant cats/manhattan/veritas cats for simulation/ and only and only official material for verbal practice...in case you run out of verbal material(which is rare)- you can use lsat for reading comprehension

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi prathi123,

The problem you're describing actually happens to many Test Takers who use a "book heavy" study approach. Even the best books are limited in what they can teach you; they also can't force you to approach questions in a certain way and their explanations are often one-sided. To make a big improvement, you'll have to change your tactics. This will likely mean investing in some new Computer-based resources and learning (and practicing) new tactics.

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) What was your study routine for the last 2 months? How many hours did you study each week?
2) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?

Goals:
3) What is your goal score?
4) Do you have your next GMAT scheduled yet (and if so, then what date is it?)?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

Thankfully, the GMAT is a consistent, predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

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

shashankism · Answer

Yes these questions are very important to determine the future pathway...  prathi123  waiting for your response..

prathi123 · Answer

Hi, honestly with all the focus, I only studied in the month of june. I did study in the month of may as well but not wholeheartedly. Also i gave a free mgmatmock the very first time in april. I had scored a 580 with VA-30, Quant - 41. In the month of may I mainly completed egmat verbal course and solved OG SC questions and simultaneously finishing up Manhattan study guides for quant. In the month of june, i got an interview call for SPJIMR PGPM programme and started preparing for the same devoting all the time to interview prep. Interview went very well. Once I came back, I gave a mock (gmat prep exam pack 1) and got a score of 540 which disheartened me. I started studying all over again, devoting 2-2.5 hours each weekday since I am working and studying the whole weekends. When I gave another mock (retake of the previous exam with very few repeat questions) I landed up at 440, with both verbal and quat around 28-29, at that time I had lost all hope. This was 1 week prior to my official gmat exam. Then I just revised concepts because it was too late for me to schedule a retake and left witha bit of apprehension for my actual exam. I started with verbal and got stuck with the very first SC question and then it strated throwing me easy_ medium questions. Atlas I got Va-20, quant-42

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prathi123 · Answer

Adding to the above, till date I am not confident of getting all CR and SC questions right. I have solved the 404 exam pack as well but till date I get stuck in all types of SC/CR questions going back and forth between the answer choice and the question which is wrong. Please advise me how to go about my study

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prathi123 · Answer

I am only planning to apply to Indian B schools right now. ISB is my dream college and I have applied for round one and scheduled the exam in October

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prathi123 · Answer

My next GMAT exam is on October 7. To get into ISB, I need to target atleast a 700 which seems like a far fetched dream right now

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shashankism · Answer

prathi123 
1. Your story does reflect your potential to score above 700 easily. Its just you will have to start fresh and target a better score.

2. You got stuck in very first SC question. You will have to practice a lot to not repeat such mistake again.

3. "till date I am not confident of getting all CR and SC questions right" : I would suggest you to read manhattan strategy guides again in a very calm manner understanding each concept. It will help you to learn the concept and then you will start getting correct answers. Don't hurry while reading concepts. If you start reading 1 guide in a day skimming the concepts, it will not help you much. Do a thorough study of the concept in this guide and then solve OG again. You will end up with VA 40+. I am damn sure.

4. "My next GMAT exam is on October 7. To get into ISB, I need to target atleast a 700 which seems like a far fetched dream right now". You have a fairly good amount of time till october 7 , if you want to apply for ISB. SO be calm start studying calmly and make daily and weekly plans.. It is very important. I also wasted some time in this month from 1st July to 15th July. But regaind and doing good now. So basically you have to recover from depression as well as the work load at your office and try harder to utilise your time in a disciplined way .. Hope that helps..

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi prathi123,

Raising a 510 to a 700+ will take some serious work - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. All of that training will take time - likely at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study. An October 7th Test Date gives you less than 3 months though - so you would have to be really 'efficient' with how you use your available study time going forward (assuming that you won't accept anything less than a 700).

Given what you've described about your studies so far, we cannot assume that "your way" of studying for the GMAT will lead to a 190+ point improvement. Thus, you will have to change how you study for the GMAT. Given your needs - and timeframe - you would likely benefit a great deal from investing in a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

shashankism · Answer

prathi123  Hey, its more than a month!
How's your preparation going on .. Any improvement ?

prathi123 · Answer

Hi Shashank! I have focused entirely on verbal since my exam got over and yes I am feeling confident about SC. I am doing CR. But please suggest some good resources to practice for quant

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shashankism · Answer

That's great, I am also trying a lot to improve my verbals esp. SC, though I am also feeling the heat but trying hard to get a good score.. 
I think first solve some questions on GMAT Club and then Solve OG & Verbal review questions. Meanwhile keep solving questions on GMAT Club too..

For CR you can solve CR Power score.. So these books are sufficient to get a good score

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