NEED A 40 POINT JUMP! TIPS PLEASE!!!

[kshitijg17]

HI everyone!

I gave the GMAT on 24th of JULY.. got a 700 Q(47) V(39) .. My GMAT PREP SCORE which I had given a week before the test was 710 ( V 48 , Q 40).. I cancelled as I am looking for a score above 740. I had put in 3 AND HALF MONTHS of non stop prep into this test , so am not really happy with the result.
In the week up to my test I had concentrated a lot on 700 PLUS QUESTIONS , especially in Quant as i wanted a 50. Despite that I messed up.
I have about 3 weeks till my next attempt. I gave the GMAT PILL mock two days ago and got a 690 Q46 V38. I am not sure if I am on the right track as my scoring hasn't improved after a week of preparation . The accuracy was 8 WRONG in quant and 9 in verbal on the GMAT PILL MOCK. I the first week of my prep for the retest I had concentrated on solving the OG 2016 VERBAL ( done about half) AND GMAT PREP questions ( FOR QUANT) from the forums.
I have not really done any OG material as I was concentrating more on the material given to me by my coaching center.
Any tips on achieving a 40 point jump in three weeks would be highly appreciated.

KSHITIJ GHILDIYAL

[StaceyKoprince]

Tip #1: Reinstate that score. Yes, I know it costs $100. Reinstate it.

You don't know that you will ever hit 740 and a 700 is still a great score. What if you go in next time and get a 680? I hope that doesn't happen, but better to be prepared for the worst. You want that 700 on your record.

Also, please give yourself credit for achieving that score. I know you want an even higher score, but please don't be unhappy with a 700 - only 10% of all test takers score that high! You did a great job!

Let's start here:

I am not sure if I am on the right track as my scoring hasn't improved after a week of preparation . The accuracy was 8 WRONG in quant and 9 in verbal on the GMAT PILL MOCK. I the first week of my prep for the retest I had concentrated on solving the OG 2016 VERBAL ( done about half) AND GMAT PREP questions ( FOR QUANT) from the forums.

The way in which you're writing about this tells me that we need to have a conversation about how the GMAT works and how best to study for it. Most scores don't change much in one week - that's pretty unusual. Next, the GMAT is not scored based on # correct, so that data does not actually tell me (or you!) anything about your performance. Finally, doing lots and lots of questions is a very inefficient way to get better at this exam.

First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Seriously, go read them right now and then come back here. Tell me how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Next, read the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered Guide (you've already got a free copy in your student center account - look under Resources & Downloads). Then tell me why I said that the # incorrect is not very useful in terms of gauging your performance.

So, going forward, you're going to need to spend more time analyzing problems to learn how to work more effectively and efficiently. You're also going to need to practice the executive reasoning mindset so that you are able to make great decisions about where to spend your time and mental energy and where NOT to. (There's a good chance you could pick up 10 to 20 of the 40 points you want just by recognizing the hardest questions and letting them go more quickly so that you have more time and energy to minimize careless mistakes on lower-level questions.)

You also may need some resources that teach you what you need to know for the test. Trying to derive all of the rules, formulas, and lessons just by doing lots of problems is, as I said earlier, inefficient. If you take one of our practice CATs, you can use the below article to analyze your results:

http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Then, you can figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do - including what resources you may need to buy (eg, you may discover that you need a book on Sentence Correction or you need better strategies for solving Word Problems, etc).

Come back here and tell us whatever you think; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the CAT analysis article. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

Any tips on achieving a 40 point jump in three weeks would be highly appreciated.

You've done extremely well to get to 700 with the approach that you've taken so far. Hopefully, it is also becoming clear that going from a great 700 to an outstanding 740 will mean a change in your approach / mindset towards this test. That change is likely to take longer than 3 weeks - FYI. I'm not saying that you shouldn't go for it - you might be able to make it happen - but most people would need something like 6 to 8 weeks. (And, of course, there's no guarantee that any particular length of time will ever be enough. Only 3% of test takers ever score 740 or higher!)

Okay, now go reinstate that score and then tell us what you think about all of the above!

[kshitijg17]

thankx for the reply maam!!

I cancelled as I'v bin told that nothing short of 740 is goong to make top B- schools even look at my applications. And well, one my fellow batch mates ( at the same coaching centre) cancelled a 720 and that the fact that 10 PERCENT people got better scores than me actually means that about thirty thousand test takers are better than me, so well.... It was a let down.
Yes, I will reinstate my score , and I have looked up the articles you have suggested me to read. In short , I have realised that I perhaps have a THE MORE THE PROBLEMS SOLVED, THE HIGHER THE SCORE syndrome, I have read so many articles on people having solved 1500 odd questions to get 750 plus that I though its the BEST way.
I had a 67 PERCENTILE on quant correspoding to a 47 score, I thought it was partly due to nerves, but also because I spent about 4 mins each on two question; that really put me in a fix at the end, and i guessed my second last question and effectively attempted 4 in the last two minutes. I am not really sure as to when to leave a question as I feel am almost there. ( I realize now that THAT FEELING is a sign to leave).
But then getting a 50 or 51 needs me to get atleast 85 percent accuracy by my reckoning, so I find it difficult to digest the fact that I might have let go of even one, I understand its mental block that I need to get over.
I have taken the ADVANCED STRATEGY GUIDE in the hope that it will help me in correcting my approach.

In VERBAL I plan to look up the CHALLENGE 100 and GMAT PREP for CR and GMAT PREP QUESTIONS FROM THE FORUMS HERE for SC, and LSAT RC .... basically because I found the OG materials a little too easy. And I feel I needed to improve my stamina for VERBAL.

I will take the MGMAT CAT within the next few days and analyse on the points you have mentioned. Thanks for the tips!

KSHITIJ GHILDIYAL

[StaceyKoprince]

The top two b-schools are generally considered to be Stanford and Harvard. Their average scores are around 720-730.

I'll pause for a moment while you remind yourself of the mathematical definition for average.



Next, b-schools aren't using the GMAT score as "the thing" that decides whether they let you in. It's one piece of the full application. Could Harvard and Stanford make up their classes only with people who scored 750+? Sure. But getting a great score on the GMAT doesn't mean that you're going to be a great business person. The schools care much more about your job experience, level of responsibility, recommendations, etc.

There is a very small subset of people who can do tons and tons of questions (and not much else) and score 750+. These are people like me, whose brains work the way the test-writers' brains work and who have always been good at any of these kinds of tests. When we're doing all those questions, we're not just doing them. We're analyzing the way that the questions were constructed to spot the traps, the shortcuts, the intricacies - and we're finding better (faster and more reliable) ways to solve. We can do this without much outside help because our brains are naturally in this hyper-analytical mode all the time (for everything! it can be exhausting, actually!). But we're a very small percentage of the population. Trying to mimic what we do doesn't work for most people, because most people's brains don't work this way.

I am not really sure as to when to leave a question as I feel am almost there. ( I realize now that THAT FEELING is a sign to leave).

Exactly. If you actually know what you're doing and you really are almost there, then you're not thinking anything at all except, "Okay, now I have to add 23 to both sides..." If you are thinking, "Hmm, I feel like I'm almost there," or "I should be able to figure this out," then you're done.

But then getting a 50 or 51 needs me to get atleast 85 percent accuracy

No. That's not how this test works. You will still get a surprisingly large number of questions wrong, even at 50 or 51! I have had multiple strong quant students give themselves 4 "bail immediately" questions in the quant section and still score 51. Sure, maybe they got lucky on one of those, but I guarantee you that they also missed other stuff elsewhere in the section, both problems they ultimately didn't know how to do and problems on which they made careless mistakes.

I'll also point out: if you don't know how to do something, then you don't know how to do it. Thinking, "But I need to get 85% accuracy" (or any particular percentage) is totally useless if you don't know how to do this problem right now. Actually, it's worse than useless - you stress yourself out, spending extra time when you should be bailing, increasing your anxiety, and using up precious mental energy.

Read this:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/07/ ... and-verbal

You're at the right level to benefit from the Advanced Quant guide, so good call there.

The GMATPrep question pack also has some good questions in it. If you look at the GMATPrep test questions posted here, then you'll be "spoiling" yourself for future tests on that software - so you may not want to look at those unless you've already seen them on your practice tests.

Good luck on your practice test!