Just scored a 600, how do i improve to 700 in one month?

Question

Hi Guys!

First time posting on here. I took the GMAT today and scored a 600. 36 Quant, 35 verbal and 7 on IR.

This was my second time taking the GMAT. On my first try, I went into it cold without any studying just to see how I would do and scored a 550- 29 Quant, 38 Verbal, 2 on IR.

For today's exam, I put in roughly a month of studying and it basically consisted of taking practice tests and reviewing the answers. I want to take the exam again in about a month or month and a half's time. I really want to break the 700 barrier this time.

Does anyone have any advice for me on how to improve 100 points or study methods/plans that they could recommend?

Thanks in advance.

akadiyan · Answer

HopelesslyGMAT

I am sorry to hear that the test day did not go as planned. You might need a change of scenary when it comes to your preparation. Since you like to appear again within a month or so , you could try a course that not only teaches the content but also teach you the strategy to how to attack GMAT exam.

You can try EmpowerGMAT course, they have amazing course. Please reach out to EMPOWERGMAT Rich for further information.

Did you try GMATClub Tests for quants? They are one of the hardest tests for quants and has been deemed essential if you want to score 49 and upwards.

All the best for your preparation.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi HopelesslyGMAT,

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. While you likely gained some general familiarity with the content through your first month of studies, your 2 Official Scores show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 580 +/- a few points). Raising a 600 to a 700+ will likely require at least another 2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make significant improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

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 how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What study materials have you used so far?
2) Which 'brands' of CATs have you used so far and how have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
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

anoop12113 · Answer

Hi EMPOWERGMAT,

I just read your post. I would like to inform you that I recently sat for my GMAT and scored a 610 (Q-44 & V-31). That said, I could not complete my Quant test and had to randomly mark my last 5 questions as I ran out of time. My target is 680-720 and I intend to give the test again in next 40 days. My target schools are Said, Judge & IIM (Bangalore). The study material that I followed was - OG, Jamboree Education and E-gmat.

Can you please advise me on how to improve?

Thanks
Anoop

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Anoop,

I've sent you a PM with some additional questions. 
 
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

" it basically consisted of taking practice tests and reviewing the answers."

Were these Official Mocks?

Toffelfabriken · Answer

There's your first mistake. I can guarantee you that the GMAT is not one of those exams that you can brute-force by simply doing lots of practice-questions. The reason for this is that in order to solve the GMAT questions accurately and in less than 2 minutes, you have to know the fundamentals really well, and learn different strategies that make you more efficient. These are not learned through practice questions. If you ignore learning proper strategies, then your performance will quickly reach a plateau, and you'll find it difficult to improve your score.

For example, the Manhattan books are commonly used by GMAT test-takers, and teaches quite a few good strategies. You may also want to check out some of these books on  quant  and  verbal . Also, please don't start with the Official Guide. It does not teach you any strategies.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi HopelesslyGMAT,

600 is not a bad start. To improve your GMAT score to a higher level, you need to go through GMAT quant and verbal carefully to find your exact weaknesses, fill gaps in your knowledge, and strengthen your skills. The overall process will be to learn all about how to answer question types with which you currently aren't very comfortable, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving up your score point by point. For example, if you find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, then carefully review the conceptual underpinnings of how to answer Number Properties questions and practice by answering 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. 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. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see, types that you would rather not see, and types that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

You can work on verbal in a similar manner. Let’s say you are reviewing Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you practice a large number of Critical Reasoning questions: Strengthen and Weaken the Argument, Resolve the Paradox, find the Conclusion, Must be True, etc. As you go through the questions, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get correct. If you missed a Weaken question, ask yourself why. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not recognize what the question was asking? Did you skip over a key detail in an answer choice? Getting GMAT verbal questions right is a matter of what you know, what you see, and what you do. So, any time that you don't get one right, you can seek to identify what you had to know to get the right answer, what you had to see that you didn't see, and what you could have done differently to arrive at the correct answer.

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 need some new verbal and quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the  best quant  and  verbal courses .

You also may find my article with more information regarding
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT  helpful.

Feel free to reach out with any further questions.

Good luck!

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

Just scored a 600, how do i improve to 700 in one month?

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