Need Advice on GMAT to cross 600+

Question

Hello Everyone,
Hope you are doing well. This is my first post here. A bit about myself:

Chemical Engineering graduate with a 3.3/4 CGPA from a reputed university in Pakistan.
4+ years of work experience in the Upstream Oil & Gas sector (BP and PPL) as a Drilling Engineer with high degree of responsibility. Received two promotions and currently managing a team of over 20 technical hands to execute field drilling operations.

Now anyone from the drilling industry would understand that the work is rotation based. I work for 3 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. And my 3 weeks at the well site are pretty consumed and hectic even if the operations are going normal Which is why I only get time to prepare for the GMAT during my off days (15-20 days). I have tried taking out some time for the preparation but its almost impossible to get undivided attention at rig site. 
Anyways, coming to the point. I arrived home on the 5th of Jan this month and registered for the GMAT straight away for the 28th of Jan giving myself just over 3 weeks for the preparation studying 5-6 Hrs daily. This will be my first attempt at the GMAT and I was tired of delaying the test again and again just for the sake of not having enough time to study due to work commitments. As far as my preparation goes:

Attempted GMATprep CAT 1 without prep and scored 490 (Q37 V21).  
I realized there was a lot of work to be done. I observed that my weaknesses were in DS, SC and somewhat in RC. I started working on the Quant side. Keeping my engineering background in mind i thought it would be easier to leverage through the Quant section first. I worked on my Quant for the first 2 weeks. Completed all OG questions of DS and PS starting from the last (difficult ones). Re-attempted the wrong questions after a few days and reasoned myself on why they were wrong. Maintained an error log. Kept a record of the mistakes I made and on what ground. Read through and attempted Manhattan questions also. (Massively improved on mixture, ratios, Work Rate questions).

After 2 weeks of preparation, I attempted the Economist GMAT online full test and scored 560 (Q38 V29).  Still pretty disappointing since all my effort was on the Quant side and somehow verbal improved but there was 0 improvement on the Quant although I felt I did well on the Quant section. (Also this test seemed a bit easier than the GMATPrep). 
The last week of my preparation I am working on verbal section and have improved greatly on SC. I will give the 2nd GMATPrep test a day before the exam to see where I stand but I personally don't feel Ill be able to cross the 600 mark this time around and might have to retake the test after a month in March since I'll be heading back to the rig site on 30th Jan.

I have used the following material for my preparation:
OG 13 (Attempted all questions on Quant, 50% on Verbal)
Manhattan Quant guides (all 5)
E-gmat and Veritas prep videos for SC
E-gmat videos for RC and CR. 
Some online help at GMATclub
GMATPrep tests

Now I personally believe that my strategy is not correct towards the preparation because this score is pretty low than what I had in mind. I have been studying for 5-6 hours daily and do 40-50 OG questions daily. I mark the wrong ones and then check why it went wrong. I am maintaining an error log also and the questions I did wrong, I attempt again after a day or 2. (I noticed that out of 10 wrong questions that I did wrong, the number reduced to 4-5) but my scores on CAT indicate otherwise.

I would really appreciate if somehow could suggest me the appropriate study material/books/guides and above all the strategy that I should use/focus on during my next 3 weeks (during which I will retake the exam) when I am back from field break as I have low expectations this time. Which particular resource material I can use to grasp on to the relevant content. It is really important that I cross that 600 mark and I feel I have the potential to do so in the exam.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Preferred Schools: Schulich, UBC, Alberta, Katz (Pittsburgh), Mays, Smeal, Oklahoma Price

TA89 · Answer

Hello Everyone,
Hope you are doing well. This is my first post here. A bit about myself:

Chemical Engineering graduate with a 3.3/4 CGPA from a reputed university in Pakistan.
4+ years of work experience in the Upstream Oil & Gas sector (BP and PPL) as a Drilling Engineer with high degree of responsibility. Received two promotions and currently managing a team of over 20 technical hands to execute field drilling operations.

Now anyone from the drilling industry would understand that the work is rotation based. I work for 3 weeks and then get 3 weeks off. And my 3 weeks at the well site are pretty consumed and hectic even if the operations are going normal Which is why I only get time to prepare for the GMAT during my off days (15-20 days). I have tried taking out some time for the preparation but its almost impossible to get undivided attention at rig site. 
Anyways, coming to the point. I arrived home on the 5th of Jan this month and registered for the GMAT straight away for the 28th of Jan giving myself just over 3 weeks for the preparation studying 5-6 Hrs daily. This will be my first attempt at the GMAT and I was tired of delaying the test again and again just for the sake of not having enough time to study due to work commitments. As far as my preparation goes:

Attempted GMATprep CAT 1 without prep and scored 490 (Q37 V21). 
I realized there was a lot of work to be done. I observed that my weaknesses were in DS, SC and somewhat in RC. I started working on the Quant side. Keeping my engineering background in mind i thought it would be easier to leverage through the Quant section first. I worked on my Quant for the first 2 weeks. Completed all OG questions of DS and PS starting from the last (difficult ones). Re-attempted the wrong questions after a few days and reasoned myself on why they were wrong. Maintained an error log. Kept a record of the mistakes I made and on what ground. Read through and attempted Manhattan questions also. (Massively improved on mixture, ratios, Work Rate questions).

After 2 weeks of preparation, I attempted the Economist GMAT online full test and scored 560 (Q38 V29). Still pretty disappointing since all my effort was on the Quant side and somehow verbal improved but there was 0 improvement on the Quant although I felt I did well on the Quant section. (Also this test seemed a bit easier than the GMATPrep). 
The last week of my preparation I am working on verbal section and have improved greatly on SC. I will give the 2nd GMATPrep test a day before the exam to see where I stand but I personally don't feel Ill be able to cross the 600 mark this time around and might have to retake the test after a month in March since I'll be heading back to the rig site on 30th Jan.

I have used the following material for my preparation:
OG 13 (Attempted all questions on Quant, 50% on Verbal)
Manhattan Quant guides (all 5)
E-gmat and Veritas prep videos for SC
E-gmat videos for RC and CR. 
Some online help at GMATclub
GMATPrep tests

Now I personally believe that my strategy is not correct towards the preparation because this score is pretty low than what I had in mind. I have been studying for 5-6 hours daily and do 40-50 OG questions daily. I mark the wrong ones and then check why it went wrong. I am maintaining an error log also and the questions I did wrong, I attempt again after a day or 2. (I noticed that out of 10 wrong questions that I did wrong, the number reduced to 4-5) but my scores on CAT indicate otherwise.

I would really appreciate if somehow could suggest me the appropriate study material/books/guides and above all the strategy that I should use/focus on during my next 3 weeks (during which I will retake the exam) when I am back from field break as I have low expectations this time. Which particular resource material I can use to grasp on to the relevant content. It is really important that I cross that 600 mark and I feel I have the potential to do so in the exam.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Preferred Schools: Schulich, UBC, Alberta, Katz (Pittsburgh), Mays, Smeal, Oklahoma Price

Ross2018 · Answer

I'm really similar to you would love to see the advice.

bb · Answer

Please do not doublepost

P.S. You can't post saying its my first post in 2 separate posts.... it is not accurate.

TA89 · Answer

I apologize for the repetition BB. I see that you have a 750 on the GMAT. Could you suggest a customized study plan or the most appropriate material that I could use during my 3 weeks to reach my target score. I know this may seem a very one dimensional query. Would love you hear your perspective.

BrazilianPhD · Answer

I suggest Manhattan books to learn concepts, OG to practice questions and later GMAT club for harder questions (700 level), and GMATprepnow to review and learn abot tricks, traps and strategies for GMAT taking. That's basically what I did.

TA89 · Answer

Just got done with the second GMATPrep test. Scored 530 (Q45 V20). Very much disappointed with the verbal score. I managed the time quite poorly as well. Happy to see the quant score improve.

Test is at 1:00 PM this Saturday. In the given situation i thinks its best to focus on the Quant now and focus on verbal before the next attempt.

ehsan090 · Answer

Talal you are still struggling or you are done with it. Please let me know we are on same boat what are your inteded schools?

TA89 · Answer

Hi,
I just came back from the test centre few hours ago. I am very disappointed with the score I achieved i.e 500 (Q38 V20). This wasn't a surprise as my score is similar to my CATs. I was however disappointed with the drop in Quant score. All these 3 weeks I studied for the Quant section and felt that I was improving also.

I wasn't very nervous during the exam but I found the test to be more difficult than the GMAT Prep and OG questions. The biggest mistake was that I managed my time very poorly which is why I did a lot of guess work. Somehow even question in the Quant popped out felt difficult, which is why I had to at time guess the answers to questions which I could have done if time wasn't an issue. But overall really disappointed since there is a lot more to be done here to get my target score.

I feel so frustrated on where am I going wrong in terms of my strategy. What strategy should I use to study? Should I time my practice questions? How to improve the verbal score? It just feels so difficult.

Anyways I will keep on studying until I at least get a 600. From the test centre I went straight to the a book store and got my self the Offical Quant and Verbal review along with the Kaplan book. Before this I had used OG, Manhattan guides (i think they are really really good). I will not settle for anything less than a 600. I maybe an overkill but its the minimum I need to get into my preferred schools.

Would someone please guide me what strategy should I use to study. What plan should I have in mind? Should I get any other additional help like a tutor or an e-gmat verbal module?

This is very painful as this score does not reflect my ability.

Ehsan: Preffered schools are Schulich, Alberta, UBC, Katz, Oklahoma Price, Smeal

ehsan090 · Answer

Talal  
Best of Luck
Please dont waste time on Kaplan it is crap atleast not worked for me neither in Verbal nor in Quant
Get the trial version of EGMAT. I am thinking to opt for it
OG is only for practice after your concepts get clear Manhattan is only good for Quant I didnot like or gain any benefit from its verbal

TA89 · Answer

Ehsan I have purchased the E-GMAT online verbal module. I have started preparing from it and the strategies seem to be really good. Check that. I'll reappear for the test once my SC is rock solid and the Verbal percentile crosses 35. I have learned that the SC affects the overall score the most.

ehsan090 · Answer

Mate best of Luck. I am also going to get EGMAT too in a a couple of days though I need an over all improvement hopefully will be appearing by end of March

TA89 · Answer

Hi,

I tried a timed full GRE exam (Princeton review) and scored a 308 (Q165, V143). The math seems way to easy and I doubt it's that easy on the actual test. I cant seem to make up my mind which test to go for. Should I stick with the GMAT? Really confused here.

ehsan090 · Answer

Hi,

I tried a timed full GRE exam (Princeton review) and scored a 308 (Q165, V143). The math seems way to easy and I doubt it's that easy on the actual test. I cant seem to make up my mind which test to go for. Should I stick with the GMAT? Really confused here.

GMAT has little advantage over GRE and yes your observation is right difficulty level of GRE is less as compared to GMAT
Please inbox me I will connect you with a guy who is attempting GRE for his PhD. He can give you his expert opinion since his MS is also from US

sananoor · Answer

Hi Guys,

I have been in this journey since last 3 years and lots of my close friends got admission in top 20 B schools. I believe GMAT has more scope than GRE.
for gmat exam, One need focus, determination and a proper strategy. You guys should know what are your weak areas and use best source available. I can see people using lots of resources and still cant get more than 600. I got quant 47 only because i practiced from good sources and i wasnt able to score well in verbal just because i havnt practiced much. This year my 4 friends joined top 4 B schools because they were focused and determined.

Need Advice on GMAT to cross 600+

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