Constant GMAT scores inspite of 1 month of practice

Question

I started with reading and solving the Manhattan prep Guides and scored an average of 580 on the mocks.
Then I started doing the OG advance and other OG guides. 
I recently gave a mock and still scored 590. 
Please help me to understand where I am lacking and how can I improve as my GMAT is scheduled in another 3 weeks.

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SiddharthGulati98 · Answer

I think you should analyse the mocks, and target the questions that you are getting wrong. If you are getting Number Systems questions wrong, but all Geometry questions right, then you just focus on fixing the Number Systems questions first. Analyse what went wrong in the mocks, practice those concepts, do questions for those concepts with a timer (keep increasing question difficulty).

warrior1991 · Answer

Well, you should spend a whole day analysing the test.

1. Check the questions where you got the answers incorrect. See what went wrong? What was your approach? How is it different from the one which leads to correct answer?
2. Select topics you think you still need to work on.
3. Start learning concepts and solve from low to high level.

As you build up, keep revising the older topics that you have already covered.

Give a test when you feel you are doing better than last time.

I hope you see an improvement.

GMATaxe001 · Answer

Hi, get some coaching. TTP.is good for quant and for verbal u cam go for gmatintensive or egmat. Also, dont waste OG questions. They are tkk valuable

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kishita,

From what you've described, your studies so far have been "book heavy"; unfortunately, many GMATers who study in that way end up getting 'stuck' at a particular score level. Even the best books are limited in what they can teach you; they also can't force you to approach questions in a certain way and their explanations are often one-sided. If you have been scoring in the high-500s on your CATs/mocks for some time, then it's possible that you have gotten stuck as well. By extension, if your goal is to score at a much higher level, you would likely find it beneficial to invest in some new, non-book study materials for this next phase of your studies.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

kishita · Answer

In quant, I generally make silly errors which I don't the second time I do them without a timer. 
For the verbal section, I don't really understand how I can improve the problem of not understanding question or not applying the correct logic.

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kishita · Answer

I did do that. But I am still not seeing any improvement. I guess I don't know how to work on the errors that I make. 
What is really effecting the score is the verbal section. Any suggestions on how to improve the logic applied to those questions

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kishita · Answer

Is coaching a good option at this point of time?

SiddharthGulati98 · Answer

List down the topics that you are making silly errors in in the Quant section. Clear all concepts for those topics and practice questions for them with timer. Do not move on till you are comfortable with the topics under timer.

For Verbal, see which type of questions you are getting wrong. 
For eg, in my case, almost always i used to get comparison questions in SC and assumption questions in CR wrong. Target just the questions you are getting wrong, clear the concepts, practice with timer, then give another mock.

kishita · Answer

1) It's been a month since I started the prep. I study 45 hours a week
2) I have given the Manhattan mocks 
3) I took mocks from june 5/6/2021 to 2/7/2021 with an approximate break of 1-2 weeks in each mock. 
4) My goal score is 720+
5) Just After getting my GMAT results

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EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi kishita,

Many GMATers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores, so if you've been studying for just 1 month, then that would help to explain why you are not scoring a lot higher yet.

In addition, you have to be careful about confusing "quantity" of study with "quality" of study. I've never asked anyone to study 40+ hours a week - and while it's great that you might have the available time to study that much, with that number of study hours, you would run the risk of 'burning out' before Test Day (and that is something that we want to avoid). If you are going to try to study that much, then I suggest that you take one hour "off" for every two hours of study. For example, you could study for 2 hours, then stop for an hour, then study for another 2 hours, then take an hour off, etc.

Statistically-speaking, raising a 590 to the point that you can consistently score 720+ will likely require that you commit to at least another 2 - 2.5 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll 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. While I understand that you might really want to take the GMAT in 3 weeks, if you ultimately "need" a 720+ to apply, then THAT Score Goal has to come first - and you might want to consider pushing back your Test Date.

1) What Schools are you planning to apply to? Are you planning to apply for Round 1 or Round 2 later on this year?
2) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)? The specific Scores matter (especially if there are patterns in your performances after 1 month of study).

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

EducationAisle · Answer

I would  not  think so, unless you are  flexible  on postponing your exam; I think it is not feasible to see any significant improvement (by joining coaching) within 3 weeks.

IanStewart · Answer

This is nonsense. Literally every mathematician you've ever heard of learned math from books. Books are not "limited in what they can teach."

Test-takers should be indifferent to medium. What should matter to test takers is whether they understand what they're learning. It doesn't matter if they're learning from a book, or from a video, or from a private tutor, or from a mobile phone app. What matters is how clearly explained the content is.

To the original poster - I'm not sure how you've assessed yourself, but if you're comparing scores on tests from different companies, or if you're comparing scores on company tests and on official tests, you might be comparing apples and oranges. The official tests produce reliable scores. Other tests only sometimes do. So I'm not precisely sure what level you're at now, but if you were trying to improve from roughly a 600 score to a 700+ score, you'll need to make quite a bit of progress, and ordinarily I'd expect that to take six weeks or more. If you can engage a good tutor, then you'll normally make the fastest progress that way, but because you not only need to learn new things, but you also need to practice them, there's a limit to how much you can accomplish in only three weeks. It's probably not realistic to hope that even the best tutoring will raise a 590 score to a 720 in three weeks, except in certain unusual situations where a test taker has only a few important weaknesses that are very easy to address.

It does sound like you're studying too much. There's a limit to how much we can learn in a day, and we need mental breaks to process what we've taken in. It doesn't sound like you're giving yourself those breaks, which means your study schedule might actually be counterproductive. Everyone is different, so there's no study schedule that's ideal for everyone, but if you're not making progress studying as aggressively as you are now, you might consider trying something else -- try instead to get just a couple of hours of high-quality study per day, and give yourself breaks to keep your mind fresh. And if you'll be working on Verbal, probably the most important thing to do is to study primarily or exclusively from official questions. There is often a huge difference in quality between official and unofficial questions in Verbal, and you'll be seeing high-quality official questions on test day, so those are the questions to prepare for. Good luck!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi kishita,

Based on everything you've said, my concern is that you are trying to improve from 590 to 720+ in just 3 weeks. If possible, I recommend pushing out your GMAT, giving yourself more time to study, and taking it once you are truly ready to do so. If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out. In the meantime, here is a helpful article:

How to Learn More, Learn Faster, and Retain More Knowledge While Preparing for the GMAT

carouselambra · Answer

I would highly recommend TTP for both Quant and Verbal. Being a fellow at TTP myself, can definitely vouch for an improvement. Been through the same experience as yours hence the mutual feeling. Give their 5 day free trail, a try

For Verbal, in case you need more help, do reach out to me! Cheers.

SiddharthGulati98 · Answer

I was scoring a 510 in my mocks back in Feb. I gave my GMAT yesterday and got a 700 (Q49 V37).

My advice is , do not rush through the process. The content I used :

Quant :
All 5 Manhattan guides
Entire OG
700+ questions pdf
Solutions to tough questions from Buneal’s posts
All maths questions with timer

Verbal :
SC - eGMAT course , all eGMAT questions, OG and Verbal Review all questions 
CR - Power Score CR bible + all questions from OG and VR
RC - Just practice. All questions from OG and VR. 2 mins to read a 25-30 line RC, 3 mins to read 45-50 line RC. 1 min per question.

Mocks - 
Experts global ( could give only 8 of the 15 tests )
GMAT Prep 1-6

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kishita · Answer

The major problem I am facing is the time issue. I gave the Kaplan free mock recently and scored a 660 on it. I am not sure if it inflated my score or the MGMATs deflated my score, but I figured out the major problem I faced was that of time. Please suggest how to improve time in both quant and verbal sections

kishita · Answer

CONGRATULATIONS and thank you for such an elaborate description of your plan. What I discovered meanwhile is that the major problem I am facing is time management. I gave the Kaplan free mock recently and scored a 660 on it. I am not sure if it inflated my score or the MGMATs deflated my score, but I figured out the major problem I faced was that of time. Please suggest how to improve time in both quant and verbal sections

SiddharthGulati98 · Answer

For time management, practical EVERYTHING you do with a timer. Practice all OG questions from the online. Wiley portal that comes with the OG.

Practice everything according to the following time constraints :

SC - 1-1.5 mins per question. You should be able to do the easy one in 40-45 seconds. 
CR - not more than 2-2:15mins per question
RC - 2 mins to read a 25-30 line passage. 3 mins for a 45-50 line passage. 1 min per question 
Quant - 2 mins per question.

Now please beware of these timings. This is the AVERAGE time per question. So in quant if you do 5 questions, the time split could look like -

Question 1 - 2 mins
Question 2 - 1 min 10 seconds 
Question 3 - 1 min 30 seconds 
Question 4 - 3 mins
Question 5 - 2 mins 20 seconds

Total = 10 mins for 5 questions.

This applies to verbal too. When you do questions, never time individual questions. Try to complete a set of questions in the expectation time limit. For eg- SC was my strong point and i always attempted to do 20 questions in 25 mins. (Less than 1.5 mins per question) . This gave me more breathing space for CRs which took more time.

In mock test, i followed the following approach to manage my time :

Quant 2 mins per question.

On the note pad, I would note down the following timings to keep me on track

6 questions- 50 mins left
11 questions- 40 mins left
16 questions- 30 mins left
21 questions- 20 mins left 
26 questions- 10 mins left
31 questions- finish

Total - 62 mins

For verbal i divided the entire 36 questions into 4 parts :

Q1 to 9 - 15 mins
Q10 to 18 - 16 mins
Q19 to 27 - 17 mins
Q28 to 36 - 17 mins

Total - 65 mins

I normally gave the initial questions less time because the SC there are pretty easy and can be done in less than a minute. So i told myself that i need to do the first 9 questions faster so that i have more time for the questions in the end which tend to be tougher.

This method worked pretty well for me. Hope this helps.

Feel free to reach out for anything else!

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ReedArnoldMPREP · Answer

You should NOT do the Advanced OG until you're scoring above a quant 45 regularly (for quant) and above a 38 regularly (for verbal). There is no point to this--you're missing *easier* questions to result in a 580, not *harder* questions.

The GMAT is not a 'trivia test,' I'm afraid. It's not flash-card-able. (Flashcards are one of several good study tools, to be clear, but not nearly *enough*).

It's a 'how you think' test and less a 'what you know' test (see: "The Perfect DS question" in my signature).

You're trying to change a lifetime of 'how you think,' to get from a mid 500s to a 700s. To be clear, *this can be done*, but I virtually never see it done in fewer than three months. I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but they are just that... exceptions. And many of them had *timing* issues that can be more quickly corrected.

The most successful studiers are those who stick with it and who don't expect fast results, who study for process and strategy, who analyze questions deeply. It takes time and can be very frustrating. But stick with it and it can be very rewarding as well.

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