HOW CAN I GO FROM 680 TO 750?

Question

First of all, I’d like to thank GMAT Club for being such a great resource of anything GMAT. The amount of guidance/prep material on, and general helpfulness of, the website is incredible.

GMAT RESULT:
I took the GMAT a few days ago and scored 680 (Q44/V39/IR8). I started with Verbal, then Math, etc. I did not pace myself well in the Verbal section and sped through around 10 questions. I did ok on pacing in the quant section but knew I was seeing questions a bit easier than I had expected to see. The IR and essay sections are not of a concern to me - pretty comfortable.

MY PREP:
I have taken 2 MGMAT practice tests with ~650 on both. I have taken 8 GMAC practice tests with scores ranging from 650-730, with the most recent one being 680 (amazing predictor huh...). Notably, my Q scores were consistently ~47 on the GMAC tests but the real one was lower... I had gone through the MGMAT books and mobile Veritas prep videos over the past 3 months.

What can I do now to improve my score to ~750? I plan on taking it again in around 2 weeks. I am willing to hire a tutor or go any route necessary. Pretty disappointed...

I did not sleep extremely well, but generally don’t the night before something like this. Should I get an enhanced score report and thoroughly analyze my results, then plan a course of action? Any advice is much appreciated.

GyMrAT · Answer

Firstly, Congratulations!! 680 is not a bad score!

I have not taken the GMAT yet, so it may seem like i am shooting from the hip, however i tried putting myself in the same situation & imagined what steps i would take to reach 750.

- An ESR is an absolute must, you need to thoroughly analyze your test day performance. ESR will provide you a correct picture of timing strategy & your test taking behavior during various sections of the test.

- To get a 750, i believe a complete mastery over Easy & Medium level questions in both Quant & verbal is a necessity.

- A 750+, means a Q49+ & a V42+, you need to consistently hit these score ranges in your practice tests

- Q49+ means you are comfortable with all concepts tested on the GMAT.

- Q49+ means when you look at a 700 level problem, you know its solvable even before you start solving it. This will come only with practice of consistently nailing 700 level questions, barring a few exceptions.

- Q49+ means you confidently solve Below 600 & 650-700 level questions, without having to re check your answer.

- Q49+ means you know when to move on, if stuck, you should guess & forget about the question. You should never let your current question be affected by previous questions. Live in the present moment on the test.

- Q49+ means no careless errors, you read the question in a slow & deliberate manner & note down all that is given & never rush through the question.

- V42+ means you almost all questions in SC in 40-50 secs, except a few & almost all questions in CR in below 60 secs, except a few.

- V42+ means on RC you can read and figure out the structure of a passage in below 4-5 mins for long passages & in around 2 mins for short passages.

I would also suggest search for re take strategies of successful members on the forum. You can also read the debriefs of 99 percentile scorers here  https://gmatclub.com/forum/99-ile-clubbers-add-your-name-to-the-list-77041.html

That is all i can think of.

All the Best!!

Cheers!
GyM

billionaire · Answer

Hi newjerzkidd Kid from New Jersey.

Congrats on you very good score of 680 (Q44/V39/IR8) ! Since you have taken 2 MGMAT, I suppose you have access to all 6 of them, so take them all in next weeks. You should go through all your GMAC tests and materials and pay attention to your error log. Redo all the questions you made mistake on, multiple times. You did all Manhattan books, thats fine, you are set on theory and strategies, if you feel you need to refresh some concepts on particular topics while doing practice go for it. Of course you should get enhanced report from GMAC, it will tell you all you need to know and where to strike the most. You will understand why and how you scored like you did. If you still feel you need even more mocks, purchase GMAT Club tests. Now you really don't need 750 for any school on Earth to get in

Read my previous post regarding this, with research : https://gmatclub.com/forum/is-730-on-gm ... l#p2094455 720-730 will be just fine for any top school, of course 750 doesn't hurt if you manage to score, but don't pressure yourself. Sleep is very important for retention memory and concentration. Try to sleep 9h every day next two weeks and night before the test, go to bed early. Also, do not prep last day, it does more harm than good, do something fun and relax. You don't need a tutor, honestly, but if you ever decide to go that path for some reason, I would look at Manhattan. Good luck, happy prep !

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi newjerzkidd,

First off, a 680 is a strong score (it's right around the 85th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. The Q44 won't 'impress' anyone though - and it might be seen as a 'red flag' at certain Programs, so the goal of retesting (and scoring higher in the Quant section) makes a certain amount of sense.

GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CATs function, a number of your CAT score results - and your Official result - show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 680 +/- a few points). Raising a 680 to a 750+ will likely require at least another 1-2 months of consistent, guided study - and you'll have to make improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections. As such, you might need more time than you've allotted.

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) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?
3) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

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

newjerzkidd · Answer

Thanks so much for your advice Rich. Agree on the Q44, though it is lower than my consistent Q47 or so in mock exams.

I am taking the GMAT about 3 years before I plan to apply to schools. I went to a top 5 undergrad finance school, so I hope to attend an HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT or Booth. I understand that some may sound like stretches but these are the targets. I can dedicate as much time as necessary per day as I just left my job — I just need a structured study schedule or program.

Let me know what you think.

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi newjerzkidd,

Banking a high GMAT Score now - years before you'll actually be applying to Business School - is a smart move. To earn a 750+ Score, you're going to have to be really disciplined about your prep going forward - as that type of Score Goal is not an outcome that can be 'rushed.'

You mentioned that you took 8 GMAC practice CATs, but there are only 6 available, so I have to assume that you took at least one of them repeatedly (or took some in both the original format and current/shorter format). In the broader sense, I'd like to know more about how you took ALL of your CATS:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as when you took your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Had you seen any of the questions BEFORE (re: on a prior CAT, in an online forum or in a practice set)?

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

newjerzkidd · Answer

Hi Rich,

Apologies - I took 6 GMAC practice CATs. Below are the scores and dates of all of my practice exams. I actually took a Veritas one as well.

MGMAT:
3/24: 630 (39/37)
4/7: 630 (41/35)
4/21: 650 (42/37)

VERITAS:
5/5: 650 (44/35)

GMAC:
5/18: 730 (47/42)
6/4: 640 (47/32) -- took the Q and V separately. Was not in the right headspace taking the V.
6/9: 730 (47/42)
6/23: 680 (44/38)
6/30: 650 (47/32) -- switched to now start from V to Q rather than Q to V. 
7/9: 680 (48/35)

1. I took the latter half of my exams with the essay and IR.
2. I took them all in a library.
3. Generally around the same time.
4. Yes, I would sometimes pause. When I first started prep, I would split up the V and Q.
5. I have not taken any more than once.

What is my best path forward, in your opinion? I would ideally like to enroll in some sort of 2 week advanced crash course.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi newjerzkidd,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more your practice scores can vary. Based on all of the data that you've provided, I don't think that a 'crash course' would help you to achieve your Score Goal. There are likely some 'process' issues with how you're approaching the Overall Exam that will take time to 'fix' - and if you continue to respond to the Exam "your way", then you will almost certainly continue to see the same general variations in your Scores (and like continue to Score in the mid-600s to high-600s).

If you have not already done so, then you might choose to purchase the Enhanced Score Report. While the ESR doesn't provide a lot of information, there are usually a few data points that we can use to define what went wrong (and what you should work on to score higher). If you purchase the ESR, then I'll be happy to analyze it for you.

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi newjerzkidd,

I’m glad you reached out and I’m happy to help.

The good news is that 680 is not a bad starting point. At the same time, as I’m sure you are aware, you will need to put in a lot of effort and time to improve to a 750 GMAT score. Thus, probably, you will need to push your test back to a later date and take the test only once you are hitting your score goal on practice exams. That being said, I’m happy to provide some advice on how to improve your GMAT score.

It's possible to score 680 without fully understanding some topics or refining certain skills. In order for you to score 750, your preparation is going to have to be more complete. So, to increase your quant and verbal scores to higher levels, you have 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 find weaker areas, learn all about how to answer questions of types that you aren't that comfortable with now, and do dozens of practice questions category by category, basically driving your score up point by point.

For example, if you were to find that you are not strong in answering Number Properties questions, you would 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. 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 you got it wrong. 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 willbe 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 and types that you would rather not see and that there are types questions that take you 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 currently take you 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, make some more areas stronger.

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 you didn't get it right.
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, if anything, you would have needed to know in order 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.

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 the 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 at least around 90 percent accuracy in your training. If you get 100 percent of some sets correct, even better.

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 it helpful to read my article for more information regarding 
 how to score a 700+ on the GMAT .

Feel free to reach out wtih any questions.

egmat · Answer

Hi  newjerzkidd ,

680 is a great score to improve upon. Your score indicated fairly good hold over concepts and their application on GMAT like questions. The most efficient way forward for you would be to plug your weaknesses. You may follow the below steps to plug the weaknesses: 
 1. Evaluate topic level weaknesses by taking   Ability Quizzes  
2. Isolate weak topics (Go to Skill data sections)
3. Improve upon them
 
Akshay improved from a 700 to 750 with 10 days of dedicated preparation.   Click here   to watch his video interview and learn how he achieved this.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Aditee

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