Advice To Reach a 550+ In 2 Weeks?

Question

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I took the GMAT last week and received a 510. My school requires a 550+ to get into its masters program.

I have two weeks until I retake the test to improve my score. I received a 510 with around 15-20 hours of studying. I was using the Kaplan book to study, mainly just going through the practice problems. I have since decided to quit my current part-time job so I have time to study while still attending university. I plan on studying 6 hours a day 7 days week.

My previous GMAT score involved 47th percentile verbal, and 26th percentile quantitative. Obviously my math needs a lot of work. The thing I struggle with the most seems to be problems that involve tons of variables. I haven't done any math like this since high school so I'm pretty rusty.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a strategy to study. Maybe some other material to look at possibly that will help me understand the material that's tested more, and possibly when/if to take practice tests. My Kaplan book came with 6 free tests. I know there a lots of plans out there, but honestly I'm not sure which ones are the best for my current situation. I would love to get around a 600 on the next test, but I'm sure that's going to be incredibly difficult.

Thanks for any advice/feedback you guys can give me!

Edit: Also, I should probably say that my actual time taking the test wasn't that stressful. I felt I had enough time for most questions. I'm more concerned about just improving my overall ability on the questions. I know some of the guides say to focus on getting into the mindset for the test, but honestly it wasn't that bad taking it.

nishantd88 · Answer

Considering the short timeframe you have, there's not an awful lot that you can possibly do. Since you have already invested in the Kaplan material, I'd say stick to that. Take one of the free official mocks and see where you stand. You can then analyze your performance and see where you are falling back the most and then channel your preparation accordingly. At the end of week 1, you can take the second official mock and see how much ground you have made and what more still needs to be covered.

In terms of material, go through the theory in Kaplan and practice the problems. Look at the solutions carefully to figure out what mistakes you are making on a regular basis and then you can be more conscious while approaching problems.

rbsusa · Answer

Whats your quant and verbal splits? if you have less score in verbal then join egmat live course. they have 100% money back guaranty if you wont improve as compared to your 1st gmat score.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Bancroftx,

With a 510, you're closer to a 550+ than you probably realize (and studying for 40+ hours in each of the next 2 weeks is NOT necessary). To hit that score level, you don't have to correctly answer ANY questions that you think are too hard or too weird, but you do have to keep the little mistakes to a minimum.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could clarify a few things that you've mentioned and provide a bit more information on how your timeline and goals:

1) Did you take any practice CAT tests before taking the GMAT? And if you did, then how did you score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) When you say that the School "requires" a 550+ to get in, does that mean that if you scored 550 you would be guaranteed entry (or is the 550 the minimum you need just to apply - meaning that you might actually need to score higher to receive an invite)?
3) What is the application deadline for this Program?
4) Are you planning to apply to any other Programs?

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

Bancroftx · Answer

I took a practice test after maybe 5 hours of studying total. I got a 480 on that. My quantittive was around the same I scored on the actual, a 25th percentile. My verbal was lower than what I got on the actual, around the 36th percentile or something. After maybe 15 or so more hours, I took the actual exam and got a 510.

The program requires a 550 for entry, and I don't think it needs to be higher. It's literally just a state university. I asked about getting in, and they were like "Nope too low sorry, you can do MBA though." I'm personally trying to get into a Masters of Accountancy Program.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and just need to be submitted a few weeks before the semester starts. However, I need to pass this soon to gain admission that way classes don't fill up. I'm also shooting for the summer semester.

I'm not planning on applying to anything else. I just want to get into this program.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Bancroftx,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, your initial CAT score - and Official Score - show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 500 +/- a few points). Thus, we can likely use the data from that CAT to better define what you should work on in the next couple of weeks.

"Review" is an exceptionally important part of the GMAT training process; your ability to define WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to defining the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix'). While a full CAT Analyzer or Mistake Tracker would provide a lot more information, there are some basic questions that you should be able to answer (and the more EXACT you can be with your answers, the better):

After reviewing each section of this first CAT, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?

With just 2 weeks of potential study time remaining, you won't have time to properly cover every subject that appears on the GMAT. However, we CAN focus on the 'big point' categories; honing certain skills should be enough to pick up all of the points that you're looking for (and potentially more).

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

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