Where to go from here? 650 on first attempt to 620 on second. Aiming f

Question

Recently took the exam for a second time and scored a poor 620 (41Q/35V) which is disheartening to say the least. I took the first one about 3 months ago and scored a 650 (42Q/38V). After the first exam I used TTP and was scoring 47-48Q on the official mock exams. The week before the second exam I scored a 47Q/40V on the 6th official practice so I was feeling pretty good. During the exam, I felt confident. The first time I took the exam, timing was a huge pressure but this time I felt good with my pacing. I plan on ordering the ESR but sort of at a loss right now. Seeing the score drop and one point drop in quant has floored me. Any advice on next steps? Thanks for reading.

Leadership · Answer

Hi, Welcome to GMATclub and it's sad to hear that you score dropped after 3 months of re-study. The score of of Q41 hints that you lack some of the fundamentals and concepts and there is a need to go through all once again. This score can be the reason of making consecutive incorrect answers within first 1-2 sets. After that computer do not give you level up questions and you end up with a bad score. The good thing is that you have a good Verbal score

Now, relax and take off a day or 2. You must re-visit all the basic concepts again thoroughly and slowly. Do some practice questions after every 1-2 concepts. Take as much as time you need but try to do best and correctly. Take the things slowly and move up. Make an error log. If you are unable to study by yourself and you have left with TTP subscription, use it. Take the help of ScottTargetTestPrep . I am sure, he will help you. Once you are finished with concepts, do practice with mixed type and level of questions. In case you need further help, feel free to write.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi, DelvinGomes.

I’m sorry to hear how things went with your GMAT.

I know that you've been speaking with Jeff regarding your plan moving forward. So, to reiterate, since you've been scoring Q47+ on your official practice exams, and completed the TTP course, you are certainly capable of scoring 47+ on your actual GMAT. Just make sure to follow the short term study plan that was sent over, and I think you'll be in a great spot for test day.

If you need anything further, feel free to reach out to myself or Jeff directly.

Let's do this!!

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi DelvinGomes, Welcome to GMATCLUB. It's a good thing that you given a GMAT. You now know your weaknesses and can work on them. If you are willing to study dedicatedly for that period, you are sure to achieve your goal. I think you need to solidify you base and adopt a proper technique to answer the questions. I believe you may benefit from taking a GMATPREP course. If you are willing, there are some great GMAT prep companies that can help you with your preparation. TTP is a great course and should help you learn the concepts and solidify your base for Quant. I must add that if you are particularly looking to discover and improve on your weak areas in Quant; a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to do that. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them. If you are looking for a good course in verbal, I would highly encourage you to consider e-gmat verbal online or the e-gmat verbal live course. They are both amazing courses especially designed for non-natives. They offer almost 25% of their courses for free so you can try out their free trial to decide which one you want to go for. Plus the e-gmat Scholaranium which is included in both the courses is one of the best verbal practice tools in the market. You can easily track your progress in that you can identify your strengths and analyze and improve on your weak areas. Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas. Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practice tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that. I would also encourage you to purchase Official GMAT practice Question form mba.com for some great additional practice. Lastly, you can check out a very interesting article by Mike McGarry from Magoosh detailing a 3 month study plan https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-g ... -students/. You will find it very helpful as it gives out a study plan as per your needs. Hope this helps. All the best.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi DelvinGomes,

First off, your prior 650 is a solid Score, so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

The Q42 might be seen as a 'red flag' at certain Programs though - so retesting with the goal of scoring higher in the Quant section makes sense. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. By extension, your 2 Official Scores are rather similar - and they show that you essentially performed the same each time (about 640 +/- a few points). You handle certain aspects of the GMAT consistently well, but you also make certain consistent mistakes.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long did you study before each of your 2 GMATs? How many hours do you typically study each week?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) On what dates did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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 on Test Day (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

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Where to go from here? 650 on first attempt to 620 on second. Aiming f

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