Quant: (Urgent) 42 to 47/48 in 2 weeks?!

Question

Hi all

I am determined to get my quant score up over the next two weeks. Has anyone experienced a rapid shift in scores? If so, what was your method?

I have opted to take about 5 days off from work to focus purely on quant. I feel like there aren't specific topics that I am particularly struggling with -- it's uniform across the board. I get the topics on a surface level but sometimes application can be tricky for me. Any advice on how to proceed? Is practice the best route?

AjiteshArun · Answer

It's not normally easy to move from 43% to 61/67% in just 2 weeks. That said, there are a few things you should focus on: (a) minimizing the number of silly mistakes you make, (b) ensuring that you have  a good time management strategy  in place, and (c) continuing to work on the "big" topics (Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry). It would, of course, help if you are already aware of your weaknesses in quant (otherwise, you should analyze your practice tests/questions). You should also plan for a second attempt in case it becomes necessary.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi futureceo2014,

You ask a broad question - and the answer will depend on a variety of factors, including how well you know the content (the various formulas/rules/patterns) that appears in the Quant section, your knowledge and use of Tactics, your organization/note-taking, etc. While it's certainly possible that you could improve in just 2 weeks, if you're "stuck" in a particular mindset about the Quant section, then it would likely take longer than that to consistently score at the Q48+ level.

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?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

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

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi futureceo2014,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. The good news is that a Q42 is not a bad starting point. At the same time, as I’m sure you are aware, you will need to put in a lot of effort and time to improve to a Q47+. Thus, you probably will need to push your test back to a later date, and take the test only once you are hitting your score goal on practice exams. That being said, I’m happy to provide some advice on how to improve your GMAT score.
 
It's possible to score a Q42 without fully understanding some topics or refining certain skills. However, to score a Q47+, your preparation is going to have to be more complete. So, to increase your quant score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. When you do dozens of questions of the same type one after the other, you learn just what it takes to get questions of that type correct consistently. If you aren't getting close to 90 percent of the questions of a certain type correct, go back and seek to better understand how that type of question works, and then do more questions of that type until you get to around at least 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.
 
For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. As you practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why you got it wrong. 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 efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.
 
Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and types of questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.
 
So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.
 
In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .
 
You also may find my article about
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

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