Need suggestions for a 600 !!

Question

Studied for almost 6-7 months.Initial Score was 320 and today I have scored an abysmal 500. Need to stretch it to 600.

Really don't know what should I do next !!!! 
I know there are souls out here who have overcomed in the best possible way from this type of situation. Suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks good people.

Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi sadikabid27,

I’m sorry to hear about how things went with your GMAT, and I'm happy to help get you on the right track. However, before providing specific advice, I’d like to learn some more about your situation with the GMAT. I have some questions:

1) How many times have you taken the actual GMAT? Please list the dates on which you’ve taken the GMAT, the total scores, and the quant, verbal, and IR scores, as well as how you were feeling while taking the tests. Can you please include the Enhanced Score Reports from any GMATs you’ve taken in the last four months? Even if you’ve canceled the score, you can still order the Enhanced Score Report.
 
2) How many practice GMAT tests did you take? Please list the dates on which you’ve taken any practice GMATs, the total scores, and the quant, verbal, and IR scores, as well as how you were feeling while taking the tests. Also, please tell me where these tests came from (ex: mba.com).
 
3) Please describe how you studied. How many hours a day did you study and for how many months?
 
4) To what programs will you be applying? What are the deadlines for these programs?
 
5) By when would you LIKE to take the GMAT? By when MUST you take the GMAT?
 
6) How many hours a day, on average, can you study between now and your next GMAT?
 
7) In your opinion, how prepared were you for the GMAT? It's important that you answer this question as objectively as possible.
 
8) Is there anything else that I should know? Anything else you’d like to tell me?
 
Thanks!

sadikabid27 · Answer

Hello  ScottTargetTestPrep ,

Thanks for your response. Here are the answers to your questions.

(1+2). I took 2 full-length GMAC practice tests (without IR) and didn't take any official actual test yet. My first practice test was taken about 7 months ago and I scored 320 (V13 and Q24). I appeared in 2nd official practice test on 25th July 2018 and result was 500 (Q33 V28). I felt questions were out of my league, time was running out, all in all, I was freaking out because I knew the answers were wrong.

3. I have been studying for it for the last 8 months rigorously. Left the job for it and trying to give it my full time. I am not theory reading type of a guy but I believe in practice. Therefore, I started with OG and gradually learned the theories through practice. Used expert's (like you) articles, comments in the GMAT club to build up my basic and solving offical questions. Gmat math book for quant and did a bit of Manhattan series as well.

4. I will be applying for next year's master's programs.

5. If everything goes well by next month hopefully.

6. I can give my full time that is close to 7-8 hours daily for GMAT study.

7. In my opinion, I was fully prepared for the gmat. Did OG two times, practiced a hell lot of questions. Analysed those and tried to figure out my problems and solve.

8. When I take any OG question I don't feel they are up to gmat prep level because when I was taking practice test I found those questions pretty hard to even understand let alone solve. I don't actually know how actual test's questions are going to be but if they are anything like the GMAT prep practice tests questions then, I think I need more focused practice based on the GMAT prep software questions.

Thanks for your reading, if you need anything more please feel free to ask.

egmat · Answer

Hi  sadikabid27 ,

Do not be disheartened. You have improved by 180 points already and with the right approach, I think it would not be difficult for you to reach your target score of 600 as well. For scoring well in GMAT you must first understand that GMAT is a test of logic. Tips and tricks may fail you on the test day but if you follow a structured approach that is reliable and repeatable you can improve your scores in an efficient manner.

• Chintan gave too many mocks in his first attempt and ended up getting only a 630. In his second attempt, he realized his mistake, followed a methodical approach, got his fundamentals strong and improved to a 710.   Click here   to read his de-brief.

• Murali (740) started his GMAT journey only by practicing questions from OG. Soon realized that it requires a methodical approach to ace GMAT.   Click here   to read his amazing debrief.

• Askul improved from 520 (Q44 V17) to 710 (Q48 V40). He leveraged the live session and mastered our "3-step" process in SC and "Pre-thinking" process in CR to improve.   Click here   to read his inspiring GMAT journey.

• Richa followed a methodical approach and improved from 470 to 720 (V16 to V39).   Click here   to learn how she achieved this feat.

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Regards,
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ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Sadikabid27,

Thank you for the detailed response.

First, let's be clear. While you have yet to hit your score goal, you have made some good progress in going from scoring 320 on your first practice test to scoring 500 on the most recent one.

That having been said, since you have prepared for quite some time and yet have not hit your score goal, you really need to look at HOW you have been preparing and potentially make some changes. In your previous study routine, it appears that you did not fully master GMAT quant and verbal prior to practicing OG questions and taking practice exams, and thus your score has stagnated. So, moving forward, you are going to need a plan that allows you to learn linearly. In other words, you need a plan that involves attaining mastery of one topic prior to moving on to the next. In using such an approach, for each topic, you would begin with the foundations and progress toward more advanced concepts.

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, you will want to practice by answering 50 or more questions just from number properties. As you practice, do a thorough analysis of each question that you don't get right. If you get 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 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.

For verbal, follow a similar routine. Let’s say you are learning about Critical Reasoning. Be sure that you first learn the necessary concepts of Critical Reasoning questions and then 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, 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.

Consider just how much more effective this approach would be than an approach that simply involves answering OG questions and seeking to learn from your mistakes.

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

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 types of questions 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. The same goes for verbal.

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 .

Feel free to reach out with further questions.

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