Retaking the exam-Advice needed

Question

Hello everyone,

I recently took the GMAT Focus Official Exam and scored 665:
- Quant: 82, 76th
- Verbal: 84, 91st
- Data Insights: 83, 96th

Quant is my strong suit by far, and on all 4 official practice exams I took, I did not score below 87-88 with most of my mistakes due lack of attention. Verbal is my weaker spot, but with concentrated training on CR mainly, I was able to get 84 which is consistent with my practice exams. Data Insights has been more or less stable at 83-84.

My practice exams were 650 (1st time, no studying), 695, 675, 735.
I was betting on high Quant and Data Insights as in practice questions I generally did more than well, but bombed the Quant for no apparent reason. The questions's wording was twisted, and the questions generally needed more time. As for Data Insights, I am not able to improve it past the 83-84 score range.

I'm thinking of retaking the exam in a month's time, but can only study for the 2 weeks preceding it. I'm still waiting for my official score report.

Any advice on how to take it forward from here would be very appreciated:
- How to find out what went wrong?
- If the issue is lack of understanding in specific topics, how to remedy that?
- How should I organize my schedule with the timing constraint?
- Any overall tips for all 3 sections

Thank you!

arnoldmatt · Answer

Congrats on a strong score, Emilio! Two weeks is tight, but doable. Since Verbal seems okay, focus on Quant. Manhattan GMAT's Quant question bank is great for targeted practice. For timing, try the GMAT official online question bank under timed conditions. Remember, consistent practice is like turning a  glass door knobs  - it might take a few tries, but eventually, you'll unlock success! Best of luck!

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi EmilioHSW,

The 'problem' with a score like 665 (and 735 on your final practice test), is that you're unlikely to have any major weaknesses. Even your official score report will give you only limited information, and only about one test. If you haven't already identified any weaknesses, you should continue working on all 3 sections and take a few more full-length practice tests.

All the best for the retake.

bb · Answer

Hi. Congrats on your score!

The Quant score has been unpredictable lately (only quant it seems) so I feel you can retake in 2 weeks and see if you can be more methodical and careful on quant so you don’t have careless mistakes.

We had the same pattern observed in the past - people would retake without studying much (just review to stay fresh) and get a meaningfully higher score.

So.... I would suggest to make sure you keep reviewing material, and doing practice sets in Quant, Verbal and DI. Do not take your V and DI scores for granted. But I think you can try again in 16 days instead of 30.... Unless you know some specific area you need to cover or study.

PS. Your biggest risk is dropping V and DI scores. Make sure to keep those up.

BB.

Posted from my mobile device

EmilioHSW · Answer

Thanks for the advice guys!

I'm actually travelling the next 2 weeks and won't be able to get some practice through.
Another thing, which is a situation I've experienced only in my third practice test and the official exam: When going through the quant section, I felt overwhelmed by most questions, they felt longer to solve and the questions weren't worded easily. However, when I switched to Verbal and DI, the flow was regular and smooth, so I can't really say its test anxiety, I felt pretty confident leading up to the exam. As for any other quant questions and practice exams I worked on, it was the total opposite. I felt completely in control and even finished ahead by a couple of minutes. If anyone has experienced this or might know the cause, feel free to share!

Regarding weaknesses:
- Quant: nothing major, a very little number of combination questions if any.
- Verbal: I am overall weaker in verbal despite reading a lot, it is something that followed me since my SAT days. Now i've worked on some strategies for CR especially (Manhattan prep), which helped me make more informed decisions and stabilize my score.
- DI: Nothing major either.

While I believe I can max out QUANT, it feels like I've reached a plateau in Verbal and DI (similar scores across all practice exams and official exam), and it would be much more beneficial for me to aim high on all 3 then to try and max out Quant.
My study material so far has been (1month 1 week):
- GMAT Ninja Full Videos
- Manhattan prep 6th for CR only
- OG guide questions

Another's thing that's been pestering me is that I am not sure if I am missing some strategies for the three sections, or just need to practice more, so if anyone has additional material or recommendation, I'd highly appreciate it!

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

If you think your fundamentals are solid, consider working on your solving approach. May help boost your score a bit. Perhaps include working with a study buddy. If you can find someone who is really strong on Verbal who needs help with an area you're strong on, that could be a good fit. There's a study buddy thread on gmatclub you could check out/sign up to.

5 Verbal tips

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi EmilioHSW,

That's a good idea, but you may not be too far from a perfect quant score (check the number of mistakes on your ESR).

Also, there are some posts on GMAT Club about how section order could help test takers get a higher score, but I think there's no one answer there. That is, focus on your skills; you're most likely not missing any tricks/strategies.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi EmilioHSW,

So, the good news is that you are in a pretty nice spot!
That said, you do need to continue to find your holes and fix those to help improve your score. Thus, engaging in topical practice is a great way to do so. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly. For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

EmilioHSW · Answer

Hey guys!

Just wanted to provide you with an update. I took the test yesterday and scored a 695 (Q85,V85,DI84) which I'm relatively happy about. Thank you for the help and advice, I'm grateful!
On a side note, in the Quant section, I only had 1 question wrong and it was the final one, aside from that i changed one question from incorrect to correct. Is it normal for the score to tank so much or should I contact GMAC about it?

Thanks again!

bb · Answer

Congratulations on the retake! 695 is awesome - 98th percentile and the old 750. Anything specific you did or did not do? Did you feel the test went differently? P.S. Unfortunately Quant scoring has been odd and it is possible to get an even lower score with 1 wrong in Q. Check this topic: https://gmatclub.com/forum/horrible-gma ... 34958.html

EmilioHSW · Answer

Thanks!
Honnestly not really, I felt like once again the Quant was much more challenging and vicious (the exact word I'd qualify it as) than the mocks. The really frustrating thing is the final question was within reach. But I spent some time on other hard questions since to that point everything was correct, so to go and get an easy but timely question at the end is such a sucker punch. Do you think there's any way to appeal for it? I'm really bummed out as for 20 seconds more it would have been a 735, but I can't also speak in hypotheticals ^^'.

bb · Answer

You definitely should let them know your piece of mind. Unlikely anything will come out of it. If you had Q90 (5 more points), you would have gotten 33 or so points more which would be 725'ish type of a range, so your calculation is spot on but it is really really hard to nail every single quant question just becuase it is so hard to keep the attention and not make any careless mistakes.

EmilioHSW · Answer

How should I go about contacting them?

Also, do you think a message of the sort is adequate?

"Hello!
I just received my official score report and wanted to inquire about my score. In the Quant section, I answered 20/21 questions correctly, except for the final one, which resulted in a Q85. I simply wanted to double check if the scoring was accurate, as it seems quite harsh.

Thank you for understanding!"

bb · Answer

I think that makes sense. No reason to beat around the bush - this is direct and professional. Very good!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Great job with the retake! I agree that it probably won't help to reach out to the folks at GMAC. The good news is that 695 is awesome, so you are pretty set with your GMAT.

nosaj · Answer

- How to find out what went wrong? Seems like quant silly mistakes is a potential area to work on, I've been following @GMATNinja's study plan and its completely changed my awareness of silly mistakes. Suggest, looking at your % of silly mistakes in practice sets going forward and eradicate silly mistakes completely to get the quant score you know you can achieve.

- If the issue is lack of understanding in specific topics, how to remedy that? From a verbal / DI perspective, I think it is worth practice specific question types and going through the relevant theory (e.g. I found that I did not understand correlation as efficiently as I needed for chart interpretation, so I studied that)

- How should I organize my schedule with the timing constraint? I would suggest flashcards or finding some way to do a practice set each day even if you're travelling. Then hitting the books hard when you're back.

- Any overall tips for all 3 sections? I recently changed my section order from Verbal to DI to Quant and I found this helped a lot because typically with Quant first, I would exert too much mental energy. Leaving quant last (which is must less ambiguous than verbal has helped a lot).

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