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09 Dec 2020, 15:28
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Hey!
I'm joining the team of disappointed test takers who got a score that nowhere resembles what they had been scoring on their GMACPrep Tests.
A little bit more on my study process and what results I have had so far so I can get better advice.
I have not been working on a quant field or using quant frequently in the last couple of years but did have quant heavy courses during College (6yrs ago) and had an average performance on them at a rigorous Economics program.
I started prepping for the GMAT full force in June, for three weeks during that month I would work around 3-5 hours daily on solving questions and problems. I had a base line of 580: V38 Q38. I also took an in person one week course for the GMAT to refresh the basics. I had originally scheduled the test for July but after taking a GMACPrep test some days before I felt my preparedness tanking so I pushed the date to early September since I had some other things in life going on. From July to September I started a new job and would squeeze 2 to 3 hours daily after work to go through more material. I completed Manhattan Preps Foundations of Math since I felt that it was most likely that my Math bases were not strong enough and worked through additional OG questions. I worked thoroughly through the Foundations of Math book taking enough time to understand the concepts and then work through all of the drills.
My first attempt to take the test was scheduled for September 16th, my last score had been 660 on a GMACPractice Test Q44 and V38, so while I wasn't expecting an impressive score I thought I'd get something to get started with. I started the test and a couple of minutes afterwards the fire alarm rang and they asked us all to leave the building. Needless to say, I was not allowed to restart the test and if I were to continue they would not give me extra time to make up for the time lost. More than 10 minutes for quant had already passed so they offered to cancel my exam and reimburse the money, I took up their offer. I was bummed, I was mentally ready to take it and now I just felt lost. There were no more available dates that month so I couldn't even book it for the next weeks.
I decided to get back to studying and reattempt it on October when I sat for my first online test. I didn't feel in top shape but knew time was ticking and I at least needed to have a score and overcome my fear of just sitting for the exam. When the results came in I got a 620 Q40 and V35. I was stunned at the Verbal, but since I lost my connection during the online test in the middle of that section and panicked because I didn't know what to do I took it for what it was. Test stress. Without much time to waste I decided to retake in November 23th and kept studying to improve both Quant and Verbal, but putting most time to Quant. Then my test got cancelled by the test center one week before the actual date due to Covid so I hurried to rebook at another center for Dec 8th.
After my first online test I continued studying. I reworked through the Math Foundations book, built my error log and worked through all of the OG questions. I also started studying full-time three weeks before the test. I worked through the Advanced Quant (Manhattan) and felt myself getting much better at Quant and started scoring 46 and 47 in my practice tests. My Verbal also improved although I didn’t work too much on it and I was getting from 41 to 44 consistently. The week before my test I retook three of the GMAT practice tests and scored 740, 730 and 710. With Quant at 45 and Verbal at 44 in average. I had been retaking the practice tests to improve my times which were lagging.
I felt ready to sit for the exam again. I felt the nerves taking over the day before, I started feeling sick as if I had caught a cold. I knew these symptoms from college where I would get cold like symptoms if I was close to a deadline or had a test coming up. I ignored it, did some light reviewing over some final quant concepts and went to bed extra early to get over the cold symptoms.
Test day
I had my test scheduled for 11am, woke up at around 7:30, had breakfast did some quant questions to warm up and made my way to the test center. I started with Verbal and even though it felt like it was a little difficult I felt confident things were going well. I took the pause and then started quant and my brain just froze. I started working through the first questions and I just couldn’t get my mind off the clock and wondering if I had already spent too much time. I guessed some to win back time and then started feeling like the questions were to easy and so I panicked again. I did finish just in time but had the absolute feeling that my quant would be terrible. And oh it was: I was devastated when a 620 flashed on the screen, I couldn’t even believe that my score didn’t go up even a bit and my quant just got worse. I had a V40 and a Q35. I had never ever had such a low quant score.
Any good advice to get my Quant to 45 in 20 days?
I need to apply Round 2 and since I’m currently not working can put all of the time towards improving that score. The rest of my application is shaping up well and I think that even with a 690 I would fare pretty well. I’m a Mexican female with a Public Policy Undergrad. I worked as a consultant in international public policy and then pivoted to Fintech where I have launched and worked as Operations Manager for a Startup. I recently also received a full scholarship for a Women Emerging Leaders program at London School of Economics.
I just need to get a decent GMAT score
help! I have considered private tutoring to get there.
Posted from my mobile device
I'm joining the team of disappointed test takers who got a score that nowhere resembles what they had been scoring on their GMACPrep Tests.
A little bit more on my study process and what results I have had so far so I can get better advice.
I have not been working on a quant field or using quant frequently in the last couple of years but did have quant heavy courses during College (6yrs ago) and had an average performance on them at a rigorous Economics program.
I started prepping for the GMAT full force in June, for three weeks during that month I would work around 3-5 hours daily on solving questions and problems. I had a base line of 580: V38 Q38. I also took an in person one week course for the GMAT to refresh the basics. I had originally scheduled the test for July but after taking a GMACPrep test some days before I felt my preparedness tanking so I pushed the date to early September since I had some other things in life going on. From July to September I started a new job and would squeeze 2 to 3 hours daily after work to go through more material. I completed Manhattan Preps Foundations of Math since I felt that it was most likely that my Math bases were not strong enough and worked through additional OG questions. I worked thoroughly through the Foundations of Math book taking enough time to understand the concepts and then work through all of the drills.
My first attempt to take the test was scheduled for September 16th, my last score had been 660 on a GMACPractice Test Q44 and V38, so while I wasn't expecting an impressive score I thought I'd get something to get started with. I started the test and a couple of minutes afterwards the fire alarm rang and they asked us all to leave the building. Needless to say, I was not allowed to restart the test and if I were to continue they would not give me extra time to make up for the time lost. More than 10 minutes for quant had already passed so they offered to cancel my exam and reimburse the money, I took up their offer. I was bummed, I was mentally ready to take it and now I just felt lost. There were no more available dates that month so I couldn't even book it for the next weeks.
I decided to get back to studying and reattempt it on October when I sat for my first online test. I didn't feel in top shape but knew time was ticking and I at least needed to have a score and overcome my fear of just sitting for the exam. When the results came in I got a 620 Q40 and V35. I was stunned at the Verbal, but since I lost my connection during the online test in the middle of that section and panicked because I didn't know what to do I took it for what it was. Test stress. Without much time to waste I decided to retake in November 23th and kept studying to improve both Quant and Verbal, but putting most time to Quant. Then my test got cancelled by the test center one week before the actual date due to Covid so I hurried to rebook at another center for Dec 8th.
After my first online test I continued studying. I reworked through the Math Foundations book, built my error log and worked through all of the OG questions. I also started studying full-time three weeks before the test. I worked through the Advanced Quant (Manhattan) and felt myself getting much better at Quant and started scoring 46 and 47 in my practice tests. My Verbal also improved although I didn’t work too much on it and I was getting from 41 to 44 consistently. The week before my test I retook three of the GMAT practice tests and scored 740, 730 and 710. With Quant at 45 and Verbal at 44 in average. I had been retaking the practice tests to improve my times which were lagging.
I felt ready to sit for the exam again. I felt the nerves taking over the day before, I started feeling sick as if I had caught a cold. I knew these symptoms from college where I would get cold like symptoms if I was close to a deadline or had a test coming up. I ignored it, did some light reviewing over some final quant concepts and went to bed extra early to get over the cold symptoms.
Test day
I had my test scheduled for 11am, woke up at around 7:30, had breakfast did some quant questions to warm up and made my way to the test center. I started with Verbal and even though it felt like it was a little difficult I felt confident things were going well. I took the pause and then started quant and my brain just froze. I started working through the first questions and I just couldn’t get my mind off the clock and wondering if I had already spent too much time. I guessed some to win back time and then started feeling like the questions were to easy and so I panicked again. I did finish just in time but had the absolute feeling that my quant would be terrible. And oh it was: I was devastated when a 620 flashed on the screen, I couldn’t even believe that my score didn’t go up even a bit and my quant just got worse. I had a V40 and a Q35. I had never ever had such a low quant score.
Any good advice to get my Quant to 45 in 20 days?
I need to apply Round 2 and since I’m currently not working can put all of the time towards improving that score. The rest of my application is shaping up well and I think that even with a 690 I would fare pretty well. I’m a Mexican female with a Public Policy Undergrad. I worked as a consultant in international public policy and then pivoted to Fintech where I have launched and worked as Operations Manager for a Startup. I recently also received a full scholarship for a Women Emerging Leaders program at London School of Economics.
I just need to get a decent GMAT score
help! I have considered private tutoring to get there. Posted from my mobile device
11 Dec 2020, 09:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello, Laur1n1. Thank you for posting such a thorough report of your preparation process. That is a very respectable Verbal score, but you are right, the Quant score is dragging you down. For the next 10 days or so, I would split my time between practicing Quant questions through the Practice Question Banks on this site and reviewing questions you miss to get to the bottom of what is causing you to miss them. If you have exhausted your OG, you can search for questions tagged "GMAT Club Exams." They are high-quality questions that you will be able to look on with fresh eyes.
My guess is that your biggest issue lies in a misplaced emphasis on upper-level questions when you should probably be spending more time ensuring that your performance on Easy and Medium questions is in top shape. I typically set a benchmark of 90 percent for Easy questions (according to official designation, although sub-600-level is a decent approximation) and 80 percent for Medium questions before my students can even touch Hard questions. The GMAT™ is an exam that punishes lower-level mistakes more than it rewards correct answers to harder questions. I have examined too many ESRs to suggest otherwise.
So, in the beginning of your new study period, I would devote equal time to practicing and reviewing questions. If you need to brush up on fundamentals, you can always look back to the OG or your Manhattan Prep materials, but you can also check out the loads of resources right here, on GMAT Club. (Check the signature of any post by Bunuel: there are two separate mega-threads to help students improve their conceptual understanding, topic by topic.) After the first 10 days, when you should be hitting your benchmarks for accuracy across Easy and Medium questions, you can flip the switch and dedicate more time to review. Yes, that is right: spend less time working through more and more questions, and spend more time instead on getting to the bottom of questions you have already seen. It is this review process that students often ignore, and their scores stagnate because of it.
I hope that helps. It should be enough to get you started anyway. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
- Andrew
My guess is that your biggest issue lies in a misplaced emphasis on upper-level questions when you should probably be spending more time ensuring that your performance on Easy and Medium questions is in top shape. I typically set a benchmark of 90 percent for Easy questions (according to official designation, although sub-600-level is a decent approximation) and 80 percent for Medium questions before my students can even touch Hard questions. The GMAT™ is an exam that punishes lower-level mistakes more than it rewards correct answers to harder questions. I have examined too many ESRs to suggest otherwise.
So, in the beginning of your new study period, I would devote equal time to practicing and reviewing questions. If you need to brush up on fundamentals, you can always look back to the OG or your Manhattan Prep materials, but you can also check out the loads of resources right here, on GMAT Club. (Check the signature of any post by Bunuel: there are two separate mega-threads to help students improve their conceptual understanding, topic by topic.) After the first 10 days, when you should be hitting your benchmarks for accuracy across Easy and Medium questions, you can flip the switch and dedicate more time to review. Yes, that is right: spend less time working through more and more questions, and spend more time instead on getting to the bottom of questions you have already seen. It is this review process that students often ignore, and their scores stagnate because of it.
I hope that helps. It should be enough to get you started anyway. If you have further questions, feel free to ask.
- Andrew
11 Dec 2020, 10:24
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Laur1n1,
I'm sorry to hear how things went with the GMAT. To improve your quant score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant 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 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.
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 quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant courses.
You also may find it helpful to read this article about how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.
Please reach out with any further questions.
Let’s do this!!
I'm sorry to hear how things went with the GMAT. To improve your quant score to a higher level, you have to go through GMAT quant 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 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.
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 quant materials, so take a look at the GMAT Club reviews for the best quant courses.
You also may find it helpful to read this article about how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.
Please reach out with any further questions.
Let’s do this!!
