Got a score of 320 on Gmat Prep. Extremely disappointed. Suggestions ?

Question

Totally disappointed by getting a score of 320 on my first Gmat prep test. But I want to study hard to get to a score of 700 for my dream B-schools. Can anyone suggest me something? I am afraid of maths and too weak in it.

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi Prasannathawait. Welcome to GMATCLUB. You should dedicate around 4+ months to improve your score. It's a good thing you have given your GMAT Mocks. You now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. You need to work on solidifying your base and clearing your concepts. 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 try out free access to EmpowerGMAT, Magoosh 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 use MGMAT guides for your preparation. MGMAT guides are phenomenal and cover the entire syllabus really well. 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. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have a 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 GMATPREP QP 1 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.

souvonik2k · Answer

Hi
Please don't be disappointed by your first mock test, since you are just starting your prep. It just shows that you have to work hard on both Quant and Verbal. I would suggest to study from the MGMAT guides. They are comprehensive and cover the entire syllabus of the Gmat. Then you can start solving questions from the OG in a timed manner. Analyze each question thoroughly and if any doubt you can search the question in the forum. You will surely find detailed explanation for each question. Then appear for another Gmatprep test and check your progress. Hope it helps.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Prasannathawait,

Many Test Takers are unhappy with their initial practice scores, but you really shouldn't be. It's just a measure of your skills right now - and now that we have a sense of those skills, we can put together the proper study plan for you. Raising a 320 to a 700+ will be a challenging task - and you will 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.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on your timeline and your goals:

1) What study materials are you currently using?
2) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

egmat · Answer

Hi Prasannathawait , Do not be too disappointed as this is just the first test. I am glad to see that you are willing to study hard to reach your target score. Your current score in mock test suggests that you need to study all the concepts tested in GMAT from scratch and in a structured manner. I would recommend that you check out the article on Personalized Study Plan to create a study plan to reach your target score. I invite you to attend CR and Algebra free webinars that we are conducting this weekend. Register using the below links to reserve your spot. - CR Webinar - Algebra Webinar Please feel free to reach out to us at support@e-gmat.com for any GMAT related queries. Regards, Aditee

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Prasannathawait,

First off, stay strong!! Many GMAT students have started in your shoes and gone on to crush the GMAT, and I’m happy to help get you on the right path.

So, we can agree that a score of 320 is an indication that you lack the GMAT quant fundamentals necessary for a high score. To improve those skills you need to a) give yourself plenty of time to study and b) follow a linear study plan that allows you to begin with the foundations of GMAT quant and progress to more advanced topics.

For example, 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.

So, work on accuracy and generally finding correct answers, work on specific weaker areas one by one to make them strong areas, and when you take a practice GMAT or the real thing, take all the time per question available to do your absolute best to get right answers consistently. The GMAT is essentially a game of seeing how many right answers you can get in the time allotted. Approach the test with that conception in mind, and focus intently on the question in front of you with one goal in mind: getting a CORRECT answer.

In order to follow the path described above, you may consider using an online self-study course, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant courses .
 
You also may find it helpful to read my article about  how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

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