[Please help] I got 535 focus today. Need retake in 1 month. I'm lost!

Question

Dear experts & friends,

I'm so sad & lost after my exam today. Your valuable advices would be a life-saving boat for me right now! Please help me!

Today, I have just taken my 2nd test (GMAT focus edition, my 1st one was classic)

Overall, I scored   535 (GMAT focus)  
Here is my breakdown:
    
   VERBAL   
   QUANT   
   DATA INSIGHT   
 
  My score today 
 78 
 78 
 74 
 
  My previous mockups 
 78-82 
 80-83 
 very fluctuate from 70-80

Review about my test today: 
 Verbal : I ran out of time, I got like 3 last questions chose randomly in the verbal section. I always struggle with time management at Verbal. especially CR, always take >2 min/ ques.

Quant : I'm quite shock with 78. Feeling during test, I feel like Quant section was easier/ more doable than those I've been practicing on Gmatclub & GMATprep, even there are a few questions I found very familar with GMATprep ones. But turn out, I got 78 only. This raise up a question in my mind that what did I do wrong, i'm starting to doubt myself if I saw the Quant in naive eyes, seeing it so doable but fell into their tricks? or maybe miscalculate. Since I always got 80 up from 4-5 times mock tests. This official score is a disaster to me.

DI : Definitely a challenge for me. I spent the least time practicing DI comapred to Verbal and Quant. I can understand why I got such low score. I'm also very struggled when studying DI, don't know where to start and definitely struggle with time management. 
 
 My aim is 615. I'm thinking to retake in 1 month.   
  Experts & friends!   
 
  Any advice on how should I structure the study plan in next 1 month?   
  I'm thinking, if one month is only enough time for me to work on my DI & reading comprehension?   But the Quant seems to be a big problem too.  
  Should I do another mock test, and continue to analyse my weakness and fix it?   
  Any chance I can request/ pay to get the details of my score from the test? I'm dying to see what did I do wrong   
 I feel so lost at the moment, I have been studying for a year now, almost everyday. I have done all OG and GMAT prep materials. 
 This experience has raise a lot of self-doubts for me. I honestly feel so stupid.

Thank you soooooo much!  
 Have a wonderful day!

Hoehenheim · Answer

Best thing you can do in a month would be the following:

Look up the ESR of the official tests. Check out videos on how to analyze the ESR. Do the same for all official mocks.

Quant: Focus on getting 100% accuracy on sub505 - 605 level questions. Focus more on areas where you lack by studying the ESR.

Verbal: Make a habit of reading easy-medium level passages, at least 5 a day. Move on to tougher ones after 10-15 days. But, make it a point to read every day.

DI: DI is the one where it will be easiest for you to make the most difference in your score. A score of 74 can be upgraded to 80 or more on DI by getting all the easy level questions of all the question types right. DI is the most forgiving section so it will be better to focus more on essential quant and verbal skills rather than trying to battle 705+ level questions.

Redo all OG questions. Plan, practice, analyze. 615+ is doable.

Best of luck!

Clover159 · Answer

Hi  Hoehenheim

Thanks for replying me!

I'm noted on your suggestion. May I ask. 
- Verbal: Indeed, my reading is so slow. I'll try to read everyday. Any website/ materials that you recommend to follow & read? 
- Verbal: For RC, do I to make up to 100% accurary on sub 600 to achieve V81? 
- Should I focus on test taking skill in this month? I'm think to purchase GMAT prep practice package, or GMATclub test package. Any that you recommend?

Hoehenheim · Answer

Sources can be varied. It doesn't really matter what it is as long as it is relevant. It is suggested to read Humanities/Sciences/Business passages from the economist or some journals. However to make up on speed, it'd be best to read what interests you for the first week (short stories, etc) and then eventually upgrade to such readings.

Rather than fixating on accuracy, focus more on reading and understanding the passages, check out GMAT Ninja courses for all respective sections of the exam. Only then move on to practicing OG passages.

Honestly, it'll be best to build up on concepts, in both quant and verbal, instead of practice tests. First two weeks focus only on upskilling and then move on to test taking strategies. Especially in verbal, no strategy shall help you get, say V83+, if it takes you a long time to read meaningfully.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Using question/time markers may help a bit with time management. If you find CR assumption questions a bit slippery, the negation technique may be helpful to learn. For RC, becoming familiar with how inference questions work coudl also be helpful.

5 Verbal tips

AjiteshArun · Answer

Hi Clover159,

The ESR for the new GMAT is free. You'll be able to access it on your mba.com account once the official score report is available.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Clover159,

A great way to move forward to find and fix your weak areas is with topical practice. Let's use quant as an example.

For example, let’s say you want to practice Number Properties. You can do so by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc.

After each problem set, it's crucial to delve into the questions you answered incorrectly. For instance, if you stumbled on a remainder question, take a moment to reflect. Was it a careless error? Did you fail to apply the remainder formula correctly? Was there a concept in the question that eluded you? This analysis is key to your learning process.

By carefully analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to fix your weaknesses efficiently and, in turn, improve your GRE quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant and verbal topics.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Good luck!

Clover159 · Answer

Thanks everyone for your great advices <3

[Please help] I got 535 focus today. Need retake in 1 month. I'm lost!

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

	VERBAL	QUANT	DATA INSIGHT
My score today	78	78	74
My previous mockups	78-82	80-83	very fluctuate from 70-80