HOPE?

[justin.cthornton]

Greetings - I will be starting my 9 week course tomorrow but I am requesting guidance with my strategy.

A bit of background. Young male from Washington, D.C. received 600 on math portion of SAT I ( 70% range)and a 630 on Verbal (74% range) Business major undergrad (BC)

GMAT Practice Test

Q - 27 (20%)
V - 34 (72%)

Total - 520

* I know I can do better in math. I THINK I just need to refresh my knowledge of basic concepts of math and to LEARN the test. Verbal seems pretty much in line with what I would normally do (compared to SAT, if you can do that) BUT question to everyone is what are my odds for the math? 720 Goal.

Thanks for the help

[robertrdzak]

I know you want to make clarity out of a uncertain event but only you know what your true ability is. No one can tell you what your odds are just from a post. Personally, I think you will have a lot of work to do but it is absolutely possible. You will most likely have to study GMAT math for several months to nail the material but quant is an area which can be improved if you work on it. I actually went from a 33 practice Quant score to a 48 on the actual GMAT exam. It took me months of studying but I was actually getting 50Q on practice exams. Hard thing is that for a 720 you have to be excellent in both, not even a 34V 48Q would break you above 700+. Those kind of scores are extremely difficult to attain and will take an enormous amount of studying and effort to achieve and so most people dont have the time or tenacity to stick with it for so long. If it is what you want and you can work for it you can get up there though!!!

GOOD LUCK!

[justin.cthornton]

I was planning on taking the exam in February after finishing the class this December. What was your course of study? Any particular strategy in your studies? 3 hours a day? practice problems? or memorizing concepts?

Thanks!

[robertrdzak]

Course of study was to go over the MGMAT material and do math problems daily. I made multiplication flash cards to speed up minor calulations. Good news is Quant GMAT problems are limited in scope, this means you can master the material. There are templates MGMAT provides for each kind of problem. Learn those templates by heart! Re-read the MGMAT quant books over and over again. You will miss key areas on your first read you will catch in the second read through....do this till everything is familiar. for a 720 you cant be good or great....you have to be a Quant GMAT God.....

I made flash cards with problem areas and looked over them daily. I would review rules and do math problems every single day. 2 months before exam day I did nothing but work and study GMAT. I was putting in 3-4 hrs a weekday and 8+ hrs on weekends. It required a huge amount of dedication....

[StaceyKoprince]

Good discussion going on here. As robert is saying, a 720 score is really tough - very few people ever score that well. That doesn't mean you can't do it! But it will be a lot of work.

Did you take that practice test cold or had you already done some studying? Your quant score is obviously low, but that's not unusual when someone takes their first test cold. Your verbal score is a very good starting point if you're hoping to get 700+ eventually.

How did you do on math in high school and college? Did you get mostly As and maybe some Bs? That is, did you learn the material pretty well the first time around? Most of the stuff you'll study for the GMAT will be things you already learned in school, so your performance then can give you an idea of how easy (or hard) it might be this time around. (Especially because, again, your goal is very high.)

[justin.cthornton]

Stacey,

Thanks for your reply.

I took the exam cold with no studying. I actually really like numbers and in high school I was always in honors math. I didn't push myself to get into AP math (too much work at the time ...immature). Again, for the SAT I didn't prep for the exam (I should have) and scored in the high 70% for math and verbal. With that said I truly believe that if I study I should be able to raise my quant score.

Verbal test questions have always come naturally so I hope to improve to the high 80% range.

I just started my MGMAT course and already see a difference in approaching problems.

Thanks for your help.

[StaceyKoprince]

Good - you like math, you did well in high school, and you took the test cold. That bodes well for your chances. It's likely the case that your low starting quant score is due to the fact that it's just been a while, so now you just need to do the work to get back up to speed!

Let us know how it goes!