Got 720 in First GMATPrep Exam..Need help to make it 750

Question

Hi,

I recently took the GMATPrep CAT and scored 720 (Q50 V38). This was my first GMATPRep test after studying for 10 weeks. During these 10 weeks I have covered Princeton books (Verbal and math workout), Kaplan verbal and maths books, Kaplan 800, Manhattan all Strategy guides and Powerscore CR bible. Also, I am almost done with the GMAT Official Guide Review 2017. I also took one Manhattan CAT and one Veritas CAT during 7th and 8th week of my prep and scored 660 on both.

Could an expert please show me the way towards 750? I need some improvement in Verbal. The verbal on GMATPrep really gave me a hard time and i can see that it can go terribly wrong during the actual exam. I also noticed that the verbal questions on the exam were totally different and much harder than those on various books. Therefore, I am not sure how to move forward with practicing verbal as I have already exhausted 80% of my main OG.

I am planning to take the GMAT 4 weeks from now and need 3-4 points increase in verbal. I am pretty good with CR but average with RC and SC. Also, initial questions in verbal took most of my time and I ended up guessing the 4th RC in the exam (All 4 wrong in a row)

Please help me putting up a strategy for the next 4 weeks including but not limited to which practice material to target.

Also a one liner on how to increase quant score from 50 to 51. When i reviewed the incorrect quant questions, they were all wrong because of silly mistakes

Thanks in advance..!!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi JackReacher,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, I have a few questions about how you took this CAT:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at home?
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT?
4) Did you do ANYTHING during this CAT that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take this CAT before? Had you seen any of the questions before?

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

JackReacher · Answer

Hi Rich,

Thank you for taking the time. Please see below the responses to your questions -

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)? --  YES 
2) Did you take it at home? --  YES 
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as when you plan to take your Official GMAT? --  YES 
4) Did you do ANYTHING during this CAT that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? --  NO. The conditions mimic the actual Exam conditions during all my CATs except for the location. 
5) Did you ever take this CAT before? Had you seen any of the questions before? --  No. All questions were new to me

egmat · Answer

JackReacher – Congratulations on 720. You know how to get to your goal – improve your ability is verbal. Here is how I would do the same:

1. Get the ESR: Get your ESR and look for sectional percentiles. Take a look at the section(s) in which you need to improve the most and focus your energy there.
2. Get a prep/practice recourse: You would need fresh questions. Try out our Verbal Scholaranium platform. Its GMATClub’s highest rated assessment platform. Click hereto take an ability quiz.

Attend a free SC Webinar this weekend: Want to learn how to ace GMAT SC by leveraging meaning and logic - register for the free webinar this weekend at the link below:

https://goo.gl/sZxbZA

-Rajat Sadana

JackReacher · Answer

Hi  egmat ,

Thank you for the reply. I have registered for the webinar today and I will also take the verbal ability quiz today. Could you please shed more light on following points which would help me laying out a strategy for the next 4 weeks

1) When should i take my second gmatprep exam? I don't want to waste it by taking it too soon. I am planning my GMAT 4 weeks from now.

2) Should I go for gmatclub tests to keep the edge in quant? How is the verbal section on these tests? Are verbal questions similar to the ones asked in the actual gmat?

3) For SC, should i only do more official questions now or should i keep them for last 2 weeks of my preparation. Also, what other source would you recommend for the same?

I have heard from people that during the last month of your prep, you should only practice with Official questions. But I know there are not enough left for me to do. Shouid I redo the SC and CR questions from OG Review guide or do the fresh ones from other source (and which source)

Thank you very much.

JackReacher · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC

I also want to know your take on this. Could you please help?

Thanks,
Manish

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi JackReacher,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your practice scores can become - and that's potentially happened here. Taking a CAT at home is NOT realistic; on Test Day, you have to get cleaned up, travel to the Test Facility and take your GMAT in a strange location with potential distractions. As such, you should take your future CATs someplace other than your home. Beyond that point, with a 720, you don't have any big 'weak spots', so you really have to 'nitpick' WHY you're getting questions wrong. For example, how often do you get a question wrong because of a silly/little mistake? In the Verbal section, how often do you 'narrow the answers down to 2 choices' but still get the question wrong? Points can be won and lost on the GMAT rather easily, so you cannot afford to miss out on any 'gettable' questions.

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

JackReacher · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC

Thank you for your valuable inputs. I have one more question -

As I am about to complete my OG, what other source would you recommend for practicing verbal? I am planning to get the Question Pack1 but that won't be enough for 4 weeks.

I am planning to do more and more problems during this time frame. Am i better off redoing problems from OG than doing problems from other source which possibly have non GMAT like problems?

Regards,

Rohit6 · Answer

Hi Buddy, Congrats for 720. It's a gr8 score. My analysis is that you're doing a lot of materials but not absorbing any of them. To see consistent improvement you need to choose one instructor and build your strategy based on that. Every prep. company has there own methodology, you just need to follow and master one. For SC I would highly recommend e-gmat. I went from 30-40 %ile to almost 90-100 %ile just by doing e-gmat. For quant, I went from Q49 to Q50/51 and I think in quant you should breakdown topic wise. Identify the topics you r weak in and study/practice them. I took e-gmat too for quant and it served me well. I think if you just improve SC you should be able to get 2-4 points improvement in verbal. It should take you 2-3 weeks time. If you still feel you need more practice you can take official questions pack and test packs. Also consider taking scholaranium, that's an amazing resource and helped me a lot. Remember, the saying "Practice makes a man perfect"? It is only half true; Practice only makes it "permanent"; It's "right" practice that makes a man perfect. All the best :thumbup:

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi JackReacher,

You have to be care about confusing "quantity" of study with "quality" of study. Simply working through lots of additional practice questions - using the same methods that you used before - will probably not lead to the improvement that you're looking for. At your current scoring level, you're clearly a strong critical thinker, but you're still making certain mistakes that are costing you points. I mentioned in an earlier post that you need to define WHY you're getting questions wrong and that is still the case. The Verbal section of the GMAT is just as consistent and predictable as the Quant section is - including the types of wrong answers that appear. It's possible that you're 'falling for' certain types of wrong answers without even realizing it, so working through that type of analysis might be worthwhile.

As far as new practice materials are concerned, for additional Official materials, you could try the Verbal-only OG. The main OG swaps new questions in with every iteration, so if you go back to a slightly older version (the OG13, for example), you then would likely come across a bunch of questions that you had not seen before). You have to be careful about doing too much 'book work' though - as that's not a realistic way to practice. There are plenty of reputable practice materials online, so you should research the options. Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know.

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

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