Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Apr 2601:30 AM EDT
-02:30 AM EDT
Learn how Keshav, a Chartered Accountant, scored an impressive 705 on GMAT in just 30 days with GMATWhiz's expert guidance. In this video, he shares preparation tips and strategies that worked for him, including the mock, time management, and more.
Apr 2610:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
The Target Test Prep course represents a quantum leap forward in GMAT preparation, a radical reinterpretation of the way that students should study. Try before you buy with a 5-day, full-access trial of the course for FREE!
Apr 2512:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
At one point, she believed GMAT wasn’t for her. After scoring 595, self-doubt crept in and she questioned her potential. But instead of quitting, she made the right strategic changes. The result? A remarkable comeback to 695. Check out how Saakshi did it.
Apr 2711:00 AM EDT
-12:00 PM EDT
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors
Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
May 0111:00 AM PDT
-12:00 PM PDT
Free- full-length test + 15 concept videos + 150+ short videos + study plan!
28 Dec 2024, 15:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
Background:
Computer Science and Math student with a 4.0 and good communication skills. I started thinking of an MBA somewhere down the line and decided in October to take the GMAT. I used Magoosh's free practice test to gauge my cold skills. Got A 545 with Q78 V79 DI75. I realized a couple of things during the test:
1. My fundamentals were still strong as I am still in school
2. I needed to get familiar with the questions GMAT asks, especially data insights.
My goal score is 755+. I am a pretty good test taker—at least, I thought I was. The last exam of this kind I took was the SAT. I scored 1500 without outside tutoring, so I knew that my target GMAT score was within reach with reasonable effort, as I am intrinsically motivated and disciplined.
I created a 12-week study plan using resources from all over, painstakingly mastering all the skills and seeing improvement. I purchased the OG Plan and completed all three sections, creating custom practice tests. As measured by the OG online bank, my accuracy for data insights was 80%, and for quantitative and verbal, about 88% each. This is factoring in my improvement over time as well.
I would take practice tests intermittently.
Here are the dates I took them in a distraction-free environment and whiteboard and my corresponding score:
Official Practice Test 1: 12/11/2024- Q74 V85 DI74 Total 575
I decided to refocus on fundamentals and take the next one a month later.
Official Practice Test 2: 16/12/2024- Q87 V85 DI80 Total 685
Clear improvement. I was so happy.
Then things took a slightly negative turn.
Official Practice Test 3: 18/12/2024- Q82 V83 DI78 Total 625
This discouraged me. I decided to use TTP free trial to do deep study of DI, which was a good help.
Official Practice Test 4: 20/12/2024- Q80 V89 DI80 Total 655
At this point, I saw the pattern. I reliably aced the verbal question. It came very easily and quickly to me. The biggest mistakes with quantitative were simple mistakes: missing a two somewhere and forgetting to add. I would get all the hard questions in my practice and only fail the easy ones. DI was also affected by data sufficiency, which feels like quant. I would get near perfect scores on MSR, Graphs, Tables, and Two-Part Analysis, but Math Related DS brought me down. I researched avoiding simple math mistakes: meditation, calming down, keeping a clear mind etc.
I took the next one.
Official Practice Test 5: 23/12/2024- Q83 V82 DI80 Total 695
I started feeling better.
I repeated Practice 4, and it had all the new questions.
Official Practice Test 4: 25/12/2024- Q88 V90 DI80 Total 725
This was feeling more like what I wanted.
I did Practice Test 6 two days before my exam.
Official Practice Test 6: 20/12/2024- Q89 V87 DI83 Total 735
My exam was scheduled for today, the 28th, at a test center, and I was anxious but confident. I did feel stressed. I did too many practice tests leading up to my exam, probably to my detriment.
But I rested the day before my exam and brushed up with cheat sheets.
My exam was for this afternoon, so I solved six medium and hard verbal questions after getting ready and having breakfast. I got all of them. I did 8 quant questions, 2 easy, 3 medium, 3 hard. As can be guessed, I failed one question. The easy one. I tried not to psyche myself out.
I got to the testing center early, checked in, and sat for my exam. My chosen order was Quant->DI->Verbal. Started with quant. I solved it, picked an answer, and moved on. Then I realised. I did not multiply by 2. I knew I got the question wrong. And now I started panicking because I could not go back. I breathed and tried moving on, but it kept nagging at me. But from experience, I knew I was cooked. This same thing happened again. I made a mistake I realised only after moving on.
My second blunder happened at the halfway point. In my panic, I spent 10 minutes on one question when it would have been faster to plug in the answer choices and get the answer. This was devastating. I barely finished the quant with time to change the answers I knew were wrong. But the damage was done.
I sat dazed, and the computer automatically put me on a break. I skipped the break. In hindsight, this was another mistake. I should have taken time to recenter myself before the rest. A strong DI and Verbal would have still allowed me a 90th percentile overall score. But I was already in panic mode. I did the DI it was going reasonably well until one question that I spent 6 minutes on. Again. I could have moved on. This was costly. I rushed the last four questions in DI and could not click next on the last question before the timer ran out. My blood ran cold. I left one unanswered question. At this point, I was about to get up and walk out. But I decided to keep my cool. I was hit with comprehension passage after passage, and I tried my best. But my focus was gone. I waddled through the rest and finished just in time.
On the next screen, my failure stared back at me. Q76 D70 V86. 555. Barely above my first practice score. I should have taken time after that quant and turned things around, I know. I should not have spent 10 minutes on a question in quant. But failing that easy question at the very beginning of the exam broke my concentration.
3 months of prep. All I have to show for it is a 555. I am dejected and distraught. Any advice will help. Should I give up? Am I not as good as I thought? I feel like a failure and that I have wasted resources. What next?
Computer Science and Math student with a 4.0 and good communication skills. I started thinking of an MBA somewhere down the line and decided in October to take the GMAT. I used Magoosh's free practice test to gauge my cold skills. Got A 545 with Q78 V79 DI75. I realized a couple of things during the test:
1. My fundamentals were still strong as I am still in school
2. I needed to get familiar with the questions GMAT asks, especially data insights.
My goal score is 755+. I am a pretty good test taker—at least, I thought I was. The last exam of this kind I took was the SAT. I scored 1500 without outside tutoring, so I knew that my target GMAT score was within reach with reasonable effort, as I am intrinsically motivated and disciplined.
I created a 12-week study plan using resources from all over, painstakingly mastering all the skills and seeing improvement. I purchased the OG Plan and completed all three sections, creating custom practice tests. As measured by the OG online bank, my accuracy for data insights was 80%, and for quantitative and verbal, about 88% each. This is factoring in my improvement over time as well.
I would take practice tests intermittently.
Here are the dates I took them in a distraction-free environment and whiteboard and my corresponding score:
Official Practice Test 1: 12/11/2024- Q74 V85 DI74 Total 575
I decided to refocus on fundamentals and take the next one a month later.
Official Practice Test 2: 16/12/2024- Q87 V85 DI80 Total 685
Clear improvement. I was so happy.
Then things took a slightly negative turn.
Official Practice Test 3: 18/12/2024- Q82 V83 DI78 Total 625
This discouraged me. I decided to use TTP free trial to do deep study of DI, which was a good help.
Official Practice Test 4: 20/12/2024- Q80 V89 DI80 Total 655
At this point, I saw the pattern. I reliably aced the verbal question. It came very easily and quickly to me. The biggest mistakes with quantitative were simple mistakes: missing a two somewhere and forgetting to add. I would get all the hard questions in my practice and only fail the easy ones. DI was also affected by data sufficiency, which feels like quant. I would get near perfect scores on MSR, Graphs, Tables, and Two-Part Analysis, but Math Related DS brought me down. I researched avoiding simple math mistakes: meditation, calming down, keeping a clear mind etc.
I took the next one.
Official Practice Test 5: 23/12/2024- Q83 V82 DI80 Total 695
I started feeling better.
I repeated Practice 4, and it had all the new questions.
Official Practice Test 4: 25/12/2024- Q88 V90 DI80 Total 725
This was feeling more like what I wanted.
I did Practice Test 6 two days before my exam.
Official Practice Test 6: 20/12/2024- Q89 V87 DI83 Total 735
My exam was scheduled for today, the 28th, at a test center, and I was anxious but confident. I did feel stressed. I did too many practice tests leading up to my exam, probably to my detriment.
But I rested the day before my exam and brushed up with cheat sheets.
My exam was for this afternoon, so I solved six medium and hard verbal questions after getting ready and having breakfast. I got all of them. I did 8 quant questions, 2 easy, 3 medium, 3 hard. As can be guessed, I failed one question. The easy one. I tried not to psyche myself out.
I got to the testing center early, checked in, and sat for my exam. My chosen order was Quant->DI->Verbal. Started with quant. I solved it, picked an answer, and moved on. Then I realised. I did not multiply by 2. I knew I got the question wrong. And now I started panicking because I could not go back. I breathed and tried moving on, but it kept nagging at me. But from experience, I knew I was cooked. This same thing happened again. I made a mistake I realised only after moving on.
My second blunder happened at the halfway point. In my panic, I spent 10 minutes on one question when it would have been faster to plug in the answer choices and get the answer. This was devastating. I barely finished the quant with time to change the answers I knew were wrong. But the damage was done.
I sat dazed, and the computer automatically put me on a break. I skipped the break. In hindsight, this was another mistake. I should have taken time to recenter myself before the rest. A strong DI and Verbal would have still allowed me a 90th percentile overall score. But I was already in panic mode. I did the DI it was going reasonably well until one question that I spent 6 minutes on. Again. I could have moved on. This was costly. I rushed the last four questions in DI and could not click next on the last question before the timer ran out. My blood ran cold. I left one unanswered question. At this point, I was about to get up and walk out. But I decided to keep my cool. I was hit with comprehension passage after passage, and I tried my best. But my focus was gone. I waddled through the rest and finished just in time.
On the next screen, my failure stared back at me. Q76 D70 V86. 555. Barely above my first practice score. I should have taken time after that quant and turned things around, I know. I should not have spent 10 minutes on a question in quant. But failing that easy question at the very beginning of the exam broke my concentration.
3 months of prep. All I have to show for it is a 555. I am dejected and distraught. Any advice will help. Should I give up? Am I not as good as I thought? I feel like a failure and that I have wasted resources. What next?
30 Dec 2024, 08:57
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi oala,
While I know things seem pretty bad right now, I can say that you are not alone. Many students put in serious study time for the GMAT; for one reason or another, things don't always turn out how they need to on test day. It's possible you just had a bad day, nerves go to you, or you made many careless mistakes.
In any case, topical practice is a great way to move forward with your prep. 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 GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Good luck!
While I know things seem pretty bad right now, I can say that you are not alone. Many students put in serious study time for the GMAT; for one reason or another, things don't always turn out how they need to on test day. It's possible you just had a bad day, nerves go to you, or you made many careless mistakes.
In any case, topical practice is a great way to move forward with your prep. 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 GMAT quant skills. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant, verbal, and DI topics.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Good luck!
31 Dec 2024, 08:53
Kudos
Bookmarks
Need to use the Forum Quiz, and take sectional and topic-wise tests to gauge the strengths and weaknesses.
All the Best.
All the Best.
