Low Score in GMAT Practice Exam

Question

Hi Friends,

Today I gave my first Official Gmat Practice Test.
I scored only 540.
Q38 (16 Correct)
V25 (23 Correct)

In other Unofficial Exams like Manhattan my score was 580.
What are my odds for scoring 730+ after 1 month practice?

Also, Should I spend more time on review and error logs?
Currently I practice 70 questions per day (Q+V) and review them the same day quickly and I don't have an error log

Am I doing something totally wrong?

vamshikaithi · Answer

Hi irazer, Practicing questions doesn't help. There's no think you have to do before practicing questions. That is learning the concepts and learning the right methods to solve questions. Without that, no matter how many questions you solve, you will be stuck at the same score. I was in the same situation a few months ago but I scored a 570 on my actual GMAT. After that, I worked on the process, learnt the right methods and strategies to solve questions and then gave the test. I eventually scored 720 on GMAT. In fact, I made a detailed debrief of my journey of my GMAT prep. You can go through it. Debrief of my journey from 570 to 720 https://gmatclub.com/forum/my-journey-f ... l#p2648110

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi irazer,

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 2 CAT score results show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 560 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes.

Defining WHY you're getting questions wrong is essential to planning out the areas that you need to work on (and the specific things that you need to 'fix') during this next phase of your studies. As such, I'd like to know a bit more about this CAT. While a full 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 recent 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?

Statistically-speaking, raising a 560 to the point that you can consistently score 730+ will likely require at least another 3 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. 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

plaverbach · Answer

You might do so in 1 month, but you would be a big outlier. If I were to guess, I would say 6 months plus

Posted from my mobile device

irazer · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
Yes, 70% errors were because of silly mistakes
2) Because there was some math/verbal that you just could not remember how to do?
No, most of them I could figure out.
3) Because the question was too hard?
No, I have been scoring 43-44 in GMATClub Tests 
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?
No, I finished the section 5 minutes earlier
5) How many Verbal questions did you 'narrow down to 2 choices' but still get wrong?
About 20% of the questions.

What surprised me is that after getting 23 questions correct in Verbal, the score was V25.
Does this mean that I need at least 34+ questions correct?

MathRevolution · Answer

Hello Irazer,

GMAT club is one of the great platforms to get information about the GMAT official test, Study plan, Section wise instructions, and many more.

Your current GMAT Practice test score is shaky. You can schedule a Free counseling(https://calendly.com/mathrevolution/1-on-1-session) session for 20 mins with one of our experts to have detailed advice on your current study plans.

A couple of things that can be a noticeable barrier to your scores would be some or all of the below.

• Lack of basic math skills
• Not detailed knowledge of GMAT Math pattern and Question types
• Inefficiency by using time-consuming Conventional method to tackle DS and PS questions still
• No expert support (maybe) who can tutor, analyze, and guide you during your learning
• Lack of many updated questions and practice in the recent exam trend
• Not well aligned with time to solve questions.

Precisely, there has to be one end-to-end solution encompassing all the points mentioned above. We also want to understand your approach to solving PS and DS questions. In next week, you can try our free diagnostic test https://www.mathrevolution.com/diagnostic/dtExamMember and receive a comprehensive study guide by topic. This test will clearly help you understand your weak areas.

The diagnostic test report will give us detailed insight into various topics and your performance. After an in-depth analysis, we will draw out the category of the topics in which you are already better and those where you need more improvement. Also, we will be able to compare your performance while solving the PS and DS questions.

Also, make a note of various possible combinations to achieve a score of 700 or 700+. The possible scores will help you track your performance after taking the mock or practice test. It will also help you maintain balance in both the sections, and you will always be in a great position to allot the study hours to a specific area accordingly.

The possible score combinations for 700 or 700 +: Q should be Q 46, 47, 48, and V should be V38, 39, 40.

We recommend that you must learn the Variable Approach for solving DS questions and the IVY approach for solving PS questions in order to improve your accuracy and save time while solving the question types.

The most important thing for you will be learning and commanding the Variable Approach for DS questions and IVY Approach for PS questions. These approaches are the robust self-designed time-saving techniques that will help you learn efficiently, thus raising your score in the quick nick of time.

Register with MathRevolution https://www.mathrevolution.com/member/signup to get access to our 7-day full on-demand course (27 topics, 490 subtopics, and 1,500 questions) for free trial lessons.

700+ level questions https://www.mathrevolution.com/gmat/questionbank are separately available, too. Start with the learning of the concepts. Make a habit of taking notes during the initial learning of the concepts.

After registering, you will have access to the practice section. Initially, try solving the DS and/or PS questions from very easy and easy category questions on the topic(s) you have learned. You may also connect with one of our experts to get one of the best tutoring supports, which will help understand the topic(s) and solve questions and learn how to manage time and accuracy.

Adding to the same, mastery of the Variable Approach to solve DS questions and the IVY approach to solve PS questions would add a feather to the cap. Below is the useful link we will recommend you to visit on GMAT club to experience the power of DS and IVY approaches.

Ultimate Q51 guide: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-ultimate ... l#p1613600

Breakdown of GMAT math questions and types: https://gmatclub.com/forum/overview-of- ... l#p1641411

Regular tests will reflect the positive change in the score, and hence, your confidence will boost up. Gradually, with the help of mock tests, you will be able to compete with time and hence will be able to learn time-management.

We appreciate your time and patience in reading this reply.

Should you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]

Success is within your reach.
Good luck!

Punit Joshi
Math Revolution Team

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi irazer,

The scoring algorithm on the Official GMAT is far more complicated than most people realize - and it takes into account more than just the number of correct answers. Based on your analysis, you likely have the knowledge to earn a higher Score than you have been earning, but 'your way' of approaching the actual Exam leaves you open to making little mistakes. By extension, you may have developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits'). The type of Score that you are interested in requires a high level of 'precision', but if you've been scoring in the mid-500s to high-500s on all of your CATs/mocks, we have no idea how well you will perform once the Test adapts to you and gives you tougher overall prompts to work through.

In an earlier post, you stated that you planning to apply by January 10th, but based on what we have discussed so far, you will likely need more time than you have currently allotted to get to the point that you can consistently score 730+. While I understand that you really want to apply to School at that time, if you ultimately "need" a 730 (or higher) to get into your first-choice School, then THAT Score Goal has to come first - and you should push back your Test Date and application plans.

Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement and the type of GMAT Score that you would likely need. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

1) For the School(s) that you are applying to, what are the application deadlines AFTER the January deadlines?
2) Assuming another 3 months of study are needed, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

GMATWhizTeam · Answer

Hi irazer,

Do not get disappointed. One thing you need to keep in mind is practicing questions is not the right way to prepare for GMAT. There's a lot more you have to do before you dive into practicing questions. GMAT is a test of application of concepts. So, your preparation must focus mostly around application and methodologies.

Without learning the right methodology to solve questions, no matter how many questions you solve, you will most probably be repeating the same mistakes. Once you finish learning the concepts and methodologies, most of your learning happens during your analysis of solutions. Practicing questions without proper analysis of solutions doesn't fetch you results. So, you have to make sure to use the right resource which can provide you with detailed solutions.

The path ahead: 
I would suggest you to stop practicing questions for a few days. Focus more of the process. Identify your weak areas. Analyze all the mocks and quizzes you have taken till now and work on those weak areas. This is the right way of learning. Once you are confident about the methodology, you can start taking quizzes and mocks.

This is a very generic solution I gave you. I would like to know a few more details before suggesting you a proper study plan. It would be great if you can connect with me over a call and provide me the details so that I can understand your background better and provide you the suitable solution. You can get in touch with me using the below link.

Click here to schedule a call

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi irazer,

Unfortunately, improving to 730 in just one month is unlikely to happen. That said, the good news is that as long as you follow a structured study plan as well as a realistic timeline you CAN improve your GMAT score. Here is some more advice on how to do so.

To improve those skills, you need to follow a study plan that allows you to learn GMAT quant and verbal from the ground up. In other words, follow a study plan in which you individually learn each topic, starting with the foundations and progressing to more advanced concepts. Let me expand on this idea further.

If you are learning about Number Properties, you should develop as much conceptual knowledge about Number Properties as possible. In other words, your goal will be to completely understand properties of factorials, perfect squares, quadratic patterns, LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, and remainders, to name a few concepts. After carefully reviewing the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions, practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties. 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 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. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

When you are working on learning to answer questions of a particular type, start off taking your time, and then seek to speed up as you get more comfortable answering questions of that type. As you do such practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why. 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, types that you would rather not see, and types 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.

Follow a similar routine for verbal. For example, let’s say you start by learning about Critical Reasoning. Your first goal is to fully master the individual topics: Strengthen the Argument, Weaken The Argument, Resolve the Paradox, etc. As you learn about each question type, do focused practice, so that you can track your skill in answering each type. If, for example, you get a weakening question wrong, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize the specific question type? Were you doing too much analysis in your head? Did you skip over a keyword in an answer choice? You must thoroughly analyze your mistakes and seek to turn weaknesses into strengths by focusing on the question types you dread seeing and the questions you take a long time to answer correctly.

When practicing Reading Comprehension, you need to develop a reading strategy that is both efficient and thorough. Reading too fast and not understanding what you have read are equally as harmful as reading too slow and using up too much time. When attacking Reading Comprehension passages, you must have one clear goal in mind: to understand the context of what you are reading. However, you must do so efficiently, so you need to avoid getting bogged down in the details of each paragraph and instead focus on understanding the main point of each paragraph. That being said, do not fall into the trap of thinking that you can just read the intro and the conclusion and thereby comprehend the main idea of a paragraph. As you read a paragraph, consider how the context of the paragraph relates to previous paragraphs, so you can continue developing your overall understanding of the passage. Furthermore, as you practice Reading Comprehension, focus on the exact types of questions with which you struggle: Find the Main Idea, Inference, Author’s Tone, etc. As with Critical Reasoning, analyze your incorrect Reading Comprehension answers to better determine why you tend to get a particular question type wrong, and then improve upon your weaknesses. Keep in mind that GMAT Reading Comprehension passages are not meant to be easy to read. So, to better prepare yourself to analyze such passages, read magazines with similar content and style, such as the New York Times, Scientific American, and Smithsonian. 
 
Sentence Correction is a bit of a different animal compared to Reading Comprehension and Critical Reasoning. There are three aspects to getting correct answers to GMAT Sentence Correction questions: what you know, such as grammar rules, what you see, such as violations of grammar rules and the logic of sentence structure, and what you do, such as carefully considering each answer choice in the context of the non-underlined portion of the sentence. To drive up your Sentence Correction score, you likely will have to work on all three of those aspects. Furthermore, the likely reason that your Sentence Correction performance has not improved is that you have not been working on all three of those aspects.

Regarding what you know, first and foremost, you MUST know your grammar rules. Let's be clear, though: GMAT Sentence Correction is not really a test of knowledge of grammar rules. The reason for learning the grammar rules is so that you can determine what sentences convey and whether sentences are well-constructed. In fact, in many cases, incorrect answers to Sentence Correction questions are grammatically flawless. Thus, often your task is to use your knowledge of grammar rules to determine which answer choice creates the most logical sentence meaning and structure.
 
This determination of whether sentences are well-constructed and logical is the second aspect of finding correct answers to Sentence Correction questions, what you see. Likely, the main reason that Sentence Correction has not "clicked" for you is that you have not put enough work into developing your skill in seeing what is going on in the various versions of the sentence that the answer choices create. To develop this skill, you probably have to slow way down. You won't develop this skill by spending less than two minutes per question. For a while, anyway, you have to spend time with each question, maybe even ten or fifteen minutes on one question sometimes, analyzing every answer choice until you see the details that you have to see in order to choose the correct answer. As you go through the answer choices, consider the meaning conveyed by each version of the sentence. Does the meaning make sense? Even if you can tell what the version is SUPPOSED to convey, does the version really convey that meaning? Is there a verb to go with the subject? Do all pronouns clearly refer to nouns? By slowing way down and looking for these details, you learn to see what you have to see in order to clearly understand which answer to a Sentence Correction question is correct.
 
There is only one correct answer to any Sentence Correction question, there are clear reasons why that choice is correct and the others are not, and none of those reasons are that the correct version simply "sounds right." In fact, the correct version often sounds a little off at first. That correct answers may sound a little off is not surprising. If the correct answers were always the ones that sounded right, then most people most of the time would get Sentence Correction questions correct, without really knowing why the wrong answers were wrong and the correct answers were correct. So, you have to go beyond choosing what "sounds right" and learn to clearly see the logical reasons why one choice is better than all of the others.
 
As for the third aspect of getting Sentence Correction questions correct, what you do, the main thing you have to do is be very careful. You have to make sure that you are truly considering the structures of sentences and the meanings conveyed rather than allowing yourself to be tricked into choosing trap answers that sound right but don't convey logical meanings. You also have to make sure that you put some real energy into finding the correct answers. Finding the correct answer to a Sentence Correction question may take bouncing from choice to choice until you start to see the differences that make all choices wrong except for one. Often, when you first look at the choices in a Sentence Correction question, only one or two seem obviously incorrect. Getting the right answers takes a certain work ethic. You have to take the time to see the differences between answers and to figure out the precise reasons that one choice is correct.
 
To improve what you do when you answer Sentence Correction questions, seek to become aware of how you are going about answering them. Are you being careful and looking for logic and details, or are you quickly eliminating choices that sound a little off, and then choosing the best of the rest? If you choose an incorrect answer, consider what you did to arrive at that answer and what you could do differently to arrive at correct answers more consistently. Furthermore, see how many questions you can get correct in a row as you practice. If you break your streak by missing one, consider what you could do differently to extend your streak.

As with your Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension regimens, after learning a particular Sentence Correction topic, engage in focused practice with 30 questions or more that involve that topic. As your skills improve, you will want to practice with questions that test you on skills from multiple Sentence Correction topics.

In order to follow the path described above, you may need some new quant and verbal materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses . You also may find it helpful to read the following articles about 
 How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT  and  The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions. Good luck!

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