Need help... I dont know what to do...

Question

Hi Guys,

It seems that I am having a hard time preparing for the GMAT. My first score was 220 but over 50 hours of studying I am up to 320. It seems that I would need around 200 hours plus to achieve my goal of 600. I have been using Magoosh and GMAT club tests to study. I don't know what to do... Should I switch to the GRE or should I purchase more study materials

Thanks,

DM

SSM700plus · Answer

Hi Dragonmaster248 Switching to GRE may not solve your problem or may not help you to get a great score either. However, the decision to switch to GRE lies with you. If you are making up your mind to prepare for GMAT. Please use this link to prepare a study plan and follow it strictly. https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-self-pr ... tml?f=menu You can also use this forum. It has variety of questions from various sources. Plus experts are always available to answer to your queries. You can make use below link and explore the options that you receive here - VERBAL - https://gmatclub.com/forum/verbal-11/?fl=menu quantitative - https://gmatclub.com/forum/quantitative-7/?fl=menu The improvement that you need may take sometime but definitely it is worth spending the time for such improvement. GMAT tests actual skill that is needed for getting an admit into B-Schools. Hope this helps

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

I'm glad you reached out and I'm happy to help! To help me provide some more detailed advice can you answer the following questions?

1)How many times have you taken the actual GMAT? Please list the dates on which you’ve taken the GMAT, the total scores, the quant, verbal, and IR scores, as well as how you were feeling while taking the tests. Can you please email me the Enhanced Score Reports from any GMATs you’ve taken in the last four months? Even if you’ve canceled the score, you can still order the Enhanced Score Report. If you’ve only taken one GMAT, even if it was more than four months ago, please send me that Enhanced Score Report. 
 
2) How many practice GMAT tests did you take? Please list the dates on which you’ve taken any practice GMATs, the total scores, the quant, verbal, and IR scores, as well as how you were feeling while taking the tests. Also, please tell me where these tests came from (ex: mba.com).
 
3) Please describe how you studied and what materials you used. How many hours a day did you study and for how many months?
 
4) If you did not hit your target GMAT score in a previous attempt, can you pinpoint why? What was missing?
 
5) To what programs will you be applying? What are the deadlines for these programs?
 
6) By when would you LIKE to take the GMAT? By when MUST you take the GMAT?
 
7) How many hours a day, on average, can you study between now and your next GMAT?
 
8) Have you ever had accommodations on any test? For example, extra time, a private room, or extra breaks? Do you have any medical diagnoses that could impact your studying or GMAT performance, such as ADHD, generalized anxiety, depression, or learning disabilities?
 
9) In your opinion, how prepared were you for the GMAT? It's important that you answer this question as objectively as possible.
 
10) Is there anything else that I should know? Anything else you’d like to tell me?

Let's do this!!

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi DM, You should dedicate around 4 months to improve your score. It's a good thing you have taken your GMAT Mock. You now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for 4 months, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation. In order to make an informed decision I would highly encourage you to go to their websites and try on their free trial and decide for yourself which one do you like better. You can try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, ExamPal and Optimus Prep as they have great reviews on GMATCLUB. Also for verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas. You can also try out the MGMAT guides they are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. MGMAT foundation of GMAT Quant anf foundation of GMAT verbal will particularly help you solidify your base. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. Please Note, that you should only do GMATCLUB tests once you have covered the base and looking to further enhance your concepts as GMATCLUB tests are a bit more difficult than the actual GMAT. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. I would also encourage you to purchase the latest version of OG and the verbal review for some great additional practice. Here is a link that will help you with your decision. https://gmatclub.com/forum/best-gmat-ve ... ml?fl=menu Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs. Hope this helps. All the best.

pushpitkc · Answer

Hey  Dragonmaster248

Welcome to GMATClub!

The reason you are making a mess is you seem to have started working on
problems before you have completed a thorough revision of the concepts. 
GMAT is more about the application of the concepts. You must work on the
concepts and then subsequently work on some questions. The GMAT Club
tests are filled with very high-quality questions and will not help a great deal
unless and until you are convenient with concepts and scoring around Q40.

You must focus on understanding why you are making these mistakes and if
the reason for that is concept deficiency, you will need to restart work on the
concepts. It makes absolutely no sense to work on practice questions before
you are reasonably familiar with the concepts. The Manhattan strategy guides
are a good source to build the concepts and mastering these books should be
your first aim.

Hope this help you!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Dragonmaster248,

After taking each CAT, it's important to do a full review of your performance (with the goal of defining WHY you got questions wrong). While a full Mistake Tracker would provide more detail, there are some basic questions that you should look to answer after you take each CAT (and the more specific you can be with your answers, the better).

After reviewing each section of your most 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) In the Verbal section, how many questions did you "narrow down to 2 choices" but still get wrong?

Once we have a better understanding of why you're getting questions wrong, we can put together the proper Study Plan to help you improve.

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

Dragonmaster248 · Answer

Thank you guys for all the tips. I am planning to take everything slow and read each question twice

MathRevolution · Answer

Hi Dragonmaster248,

You can surely improve your score to 600! No need to switch to GRE!
Since we are specialized in math, we can give you advice on math only. You seem to be very frustrated with your scores after studying long hours. It is clear that your math basics are weak. To better help you specifically, please send below to us via [email protected]
- Your math score.
- No. of hours you spent for math
- Try to take "Diagnostic Test" after registering for our site (www.mathrevolution.com). This test itselt can provide you with customized and comprehensive guidance of your next steps.

You may access to our Free Resources such as 4-hour video lesson and Mock Test, too.
In addition, please refer to our GMAT Club posts to find more about our strategies: Link
If you have any further question, you can always reach out to us at [email protected]

Best regards,
Jin
Math Revolution

egmat · Answer

Hi  Dragonmaster248 , 
  
First of all, from your message, 2 things are pretty clear: 
1. A score of 220 clearly indicates that you lack the foundation for both Quant and Verbal. 
2. 100 points improvement in 50 hours is a good start. Keeping the same pace, you can improve to a 600 score in another 150 hours given that you use the right resources which help build your skills and foundation. 
  
Learn how Bruno improved by almost 200 points from a 540 to 730 in 1 month. He focused on "building his core skills" and "logical approach" to solve questions.   Click here   to view his video interview. 
  
 GRE vs GMAT  You'll have to consider the following factors before switching to GRE. 
 • GRE makes sense for people who are strong in Verbal but weak in Quant (GRE quant is relatively easier than GMAT quant). Given your GMAT score, you're weak in both Quant and Verbal. 
• Business schools are concerned about the quant score as GRE quant is on the easier side. Given the   standard deviation of 67.4   between GMAT and the predicted GRE score, you'll have to get an extremely high Quant score. 
• Not sure if you are considering a scholarship, but most schools consider GMAT scores to award a scholarship. I have not seen data where many students who have taken the GRE have been awarded a scholarship. 
• GRE verbal includes a section on vocabulary based whereas GMAT Verbal is more about logic and meaning. There is very little Vocabulary in GMAT Verbal. So, there is a lot of mugging up in case GRE Verbal, and you may take more time to score well in GRE Verbal. Also, these 50 hours will go for a toss if you switch to GRE.  
 
While improving on the GMAT requires time, there is ample evidence of students who have gone from low starting Quant and Verbal scores to acing the GMAT. 
 o Guillermo improved from a Q38 (36 percentile) to Q50 (86 percentile). Learn how he strategically planned his preparation.   Click here   to watch his interview. Read his amazing   GMAT Club debrief here  . 
o Richa improved from V16 (15 percentile) to V39 (89 percentile).    Click here   to learn how she achieved this feat.  
  
 Recommendation Given your case, I would suggest that look to build your skills and foundation to get a good score in the GMAT. Be it GRE or GMAT, one still needs to put in the hard work to improve to a decent score. Given that one can improve in GMAT if you follow a logical approach, I would suggest that you stick to GMAT since you've already invested a considerable amount of time and got the respective improvement as well. 
  
 Attend the free webinars on CR and Algebra to learn a structured approach towards GMAT We are conducting free webinars on CR and Algebra this weekend to help students like you with strategies to ace the respective sub-sections of GMAT
1.   Click here   to register for CR Webinar
2.   Click here  to register for Algebra Webinar

Regards,
Aditee

Sajjad1994 · Answer

You should better to focus a solid study plan with good strategies, here i have a study plan which may benefit you

Best Books

For Concept Learning

Manhattan Quant Guides
Manhattan Verbal Guides
For CR: The Powerscore GMAT Critical Reasoning Bible
For RC: Aristotle RC Grail

For Practice

The Official Guide for GMAT 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review 2015-18
The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal Review 2015-18

Best Courses (Budget)

1. Empower GMAT
2. Math Revolution (Only Math)
3. E-GMAT (Only Verbal)

You can start with Quant or Verbal which suits you. If you have started with Quant then Start with the Arithmetic but if started with verbal then start first with Sentence correction. One month for learning Quant concepts and one month for practicing question and same practice for Verbal. During you Practicing question don't forget to make an error log to track your weak areas after practice. Once you know your weak areas revise your Concepts related to those areas and do some more Practice. 6-8 CATs are enough for practice the real tests. Make your Stamina for sitting 3 hours in the test and don't study more than 2 hours in one sit and 4 hours per day

Top CATs for Practice

1. Official GMAC CATs
2. Manhattan CATs
3. Kaplan CATs
4. GMAT Club Quant CATs

Good Luck

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