GMAT 700 Q48/V38 - Retake Strategy

[Kai-HsinW606]

Hi!
Can you please give me some advice on how I can study in the next 6 weeks to improve on my 700 score. I'm aiming for a 730+.
I have purchased the enhanced score report:
Quant 48 (74th percentile)
PS 62nd percentile
DS 86th percentile
Arithmetic 77th percentile
Alg/Geo 64th percentile

Time management
Overall: 2.01 min
PS 2.31 min
DS 2.05min
Arithmetic 2.15min
Alg/geo: 2.26 min

Verbal V38 (85th percentile)
CR: 96th percentile
RC: 91st Percentile
SC: 59th percentile

Time Management
Overall: 1.78min
CR: 1.94min
RC 1.84min
SC 1.65min

Can you please advise on:
1.Do the percentiles for subsections represent simply how many questions I got right or does it take into account my performance matched up against other test takers?
2.For quant there is a significant difference between PS and DS percentiles. How can I go about improving PS? What does it mean when a student is seemingly much better at DS?
3.Are there timing issues for quant?
4.Verbal – obvious weakness is SC. Any words of advice for students who have a significant weakness in this area? I think as a native (well almost native, moved to an English speaking country as a child), I find it difficult to NOT rely on the ear so much.

Thanks in advance!

[StaceyKoprince]

First: have you spoken with an admissions consultant to find out whether a re-take is worth your time / likely to help you in admissions? Your overall score is very good. Your Q and V subscores are both above the "we want to see at least XX" range (for subscores).

Most schools (if not all) do not look at the GMAT and go, "Oh, you got a 730? We'll let you in then." The GMAT is more what we call a "threshold indicator." If you do well enough, then they know you can handle the work at b-school and they'll consider the rest of your application, but they're not going to make the decision based on the GMAT score. They're going to decide based on work experience, essays, recommendations, etc.

So I'd go make an appointment with an admissions consultant to discuss your full package and see what they think. MBA Mission is great and they offer free phone consultations - check out their website to see how to sign up.

PS 62nd percentile
DS 86th percentile

This tells me that you know the theory quite well but sometimes struggle when it comes to computation. Yes? So you need to work on how to use test-taking strategies more than trying to do textbook computation. If you have our books, look at the various Strategy chapters in each book and start practicing those techniques.

If not, here's a subset of some of those strategies:

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... er-part-1/

Overall: 2.01 min
PS 2.31 min
DS 2.05min

This seems wrong. The two subtimes are both higher than the average. Is there a typo here? Or did you not finish all of the questions? Can you double-check that data?

Do the percentiles for subsections represent simply how many questions I got right or does it take into account my performance matched up against other test takers?

No, they do not represent the # you got right. They reflect the difficulty level of what you got right - just as the real test is scored based on difficulty level of what you can do, not the percentage correct.

In other words, you were able to answer quite hard CR and RC questions correctly - yay! SC, however, is what brought your score down - you missed lower-level questions there (lower relative to CR and RC).

How have you studied for SC so far? When you get a question wrong in practice, what are the common reasons why? Didn't know a rule at all? Fell into a trap based on your ear? Thought you knew a certain rule but had it wrong? Etc.

You mention your ear. It's okay to use your ear when it's leading you to the right answer, but not when it's leading you astray, of course. So you need to pay extra attention whenever you choose (or eliminate) based on your ear and then find that you were wrong. You need to learn why the right one was right, of course - but you also need to figure out why you thought the right one was wrong (and learn that that thing is actually okay) and why you thought the wrong was right (and learn that that thing is actually wrong).

[Kai-HsinW606]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

I did talk to admission consultants and they've advised a retake. I have a lower GPA and I'm aiming for top 20 schools. I'm sure I can get a higher score as the 700 was my first test and small things might've affected my performance eg. how I lost a whole minute on quant because I thought the test centre would notify me of when my 8min was up!

It wasn't a typo and I didn't miss any questions...
Maybe I wasted money buying this test report haha


You're right I am slower and less confident with computation. I will revisit strategy sections of the MGMAT books.
I will go through the SC book again.

Thanks for the advice!

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for letting me know. I'd email them to point out the weirdness with the time and ask them what's up with that! If you want, you can also send your Enhanced Score Report to gmat@manhattanprep.com and ask them to forward it to me. I'll ask one of my contacts at GMAC about it because (since you told me you didn't leave any blank) I really can't come up with a reason why the overall average could be lower than the two sub-averages that collectively cover that overall average...