Please help.. want to retake

[versatile801]

Hi,

I took my GMAT and scored 620 ( Q-45, V 30 ).

I started preparing around mid dec, i have a very demanding work schedule. I want to reach to the mark of 700+, please give your inputs. I will give some additional details

1) I am very weak at geometry and DS ( overall ) , and probably could not give enough time to prepare for geometry and co-ordinate geometry. ( unfortunately i got 3 Qs on co-ordinate geometry :( )
2) I am ok with PS except topics like combinations, probability, series etc.

My accuracy with OG - PS - Quant 2 is 70% Advanced Level and 80% for General level Q ( the bifurcation of general and advanced is as per the OG archer of manhattan )

My accuracy with OG - DS - Quant 2 is 65% for advanced Qs and 80% for general Qs ( bifrurcation of general and advanced as per OG archer of manhattan )

3) I am ok at SC except a few different types of Qs e.g. long sentences with modifiers etc., my accuracy at SC is 67% for SC in OG + Verbal 2.
4) My accuracy with CR ( OG + verbal 2 ) is around 65%.
5) My accuracy with RC is 60% only , my biggest weakness here is inference Qs with only 45% accuracy.

My scores for Mgmat ( 1 to 5 ) were from 620 to 640 ( Q 43/44 and V 28-32 ), my score with knewton ( 1-5 ) were from 560-590 ( v - 28-30, and Q 40-41).

In terms of resources, i used mgmat for conceptual understanding and tests, kaplan Q banks and grockit for practice, and obviously OG.

Please give me suggestions with respect to

1) Resources to tackle advanced level of Qs. ( i have bought advance quant from mgmat now )
2) How to plan for next two months, since i am planning to take my gmat by april end now
3) Any other observation, if you feel can give me better direction.
4) How to improve my weak areas specially geometry, combinations, proba etc. ( in terms of approach of study )
5) Inputs on what to do since i have utilized all OG resources, MGMAT tests and even kaplan Q bank :(

Please help, thanks in advance.

[pratik.munjal]

Well, as someone who took the GMAT twice, my suggestion is not retake it unless there is a big difference in your expectations. (E.g.-If you have scored 750+ in the practice tests and have scored 620, then you can appear for the test again. In your case, I see that the highest score was 640, so in a way you're not way too behind your own benchmark. My scores were 690 (Highest, in GMAT Prep) and 620 (in Manhattan)-actual test score was 570. In the second attempt the highest score was 730 (GMAT Prep) and 640 (Manhattan) and the actual score was 610).

But if the best score you ever got was lets say 650, then it might not be worth spending $250 again on the test. Perhaps the time and money could be better spent at applying to a wider range of universities, thereby ensuring that you get a few admits from which you can choose.

However, if you still think that you want to do it, then I think the best approach would not be to go all out--in fact, sometimes, less is more. Rather than practicing more questions, spend more time understanding how the question was solved.

Here is a link that you might want to see:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/710-gmatprep ... 93586.html

Check lunarpower's response (Ron).

You have the statistics in front of you. Now its your call. Whatever you choose, good luck with your effort.

[versatile801]

Thanks very much for your reply

I took gmat only once, and my problem is my work demanding work schedule with travel :(

I think i did not give enough justice when i appeared for gmat since i did not have much time.. e.g. i hardly studied geometry though it is my weakness, but since i had very limited time... i had to choose
i have an experience of 8 years.. so i needed 650+ for my target school... so i thought if i score 650+ , i will be through and will save one year :).

But now i have enough time since i have decided to delay , and apply in the first round for schools i wanna go.

So, i think with time and a bit relaxed work schedule.. i should give it a fight.. i am a sales guy.. and difficult to accept defeat :) , although stacey's post on " in it to win it " is 100% responsible for my score 620 , i was scoring only 560/570 in gmatprep.

by the way, thanks very much for your insight... and the link.

thanks for your time

[StaceyKoprince]

It's true that your real test score was in line with your practice test scores - but that doesn't mean you can't improve. It just means that you do have work to do in order to improve.

Note that you kind of crammed the first time around (you said you only started preparing 2 months ago - most people study for at least 3-4 months, especially if you're going for a 700+ score). Don't make the same mistake this time - take the time you need to get the score you want. That may happen in 2 more months, but it might take longer - don't decide right now and put an artificial deadline on it.

Your comments about your percentage accuracy tell me that you don't know enough about how the scoring works on this test - percentage correct from a CAT, all by itself, tells us almost nothing, and percentage correct in OG tells us even less. :)

Read the "Scoring" section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered Guide (in your student center) and also this Time Management article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

Next, we need to know your strengths and weaknesses according to data from a real CAT. Use this article to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back and share your analysis (not just the data - your actual analysis!) with us and we'll help you figure out what to put into place for a study plan.

Also, read this (and the additional articles linked in the below article):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Inputs on what to do since i have utilized all OG resources, MGMAT tests and even kaplan Q bank

You aren't done with those materials. You didn't learn what you needed to learn from them the first time around, so you're going to go back to them again. :)

When studying, do you analyze the questions in the way this article describes?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Here are some more examples:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/GMATprep-SC.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/CR-assumption.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

If you're not doing that level of analysis, go right back to OG and start doing this. Don't bother doing a bunch of new questions or CATs until you first learn the right way to study - otherwise, you'll be wasting your time!

Finally, you will likely get some good things out of the Advanced Quant book, but note that you also probably have timing problems to fix (everybody has timing problems) and you also likely have weaknesses that you'll need to fix from the regular strategy guides. Don't just concentrate on the Advanced stuff. (I'm not saying you were planning to do that - but a lot of people make that mistake.) If you make too many mistakes on easier problems, you'll never even be offered the advanced stuff!