GMAT 530 (Q36/V27) - what progress is possible in 31 days?

[a.halser]

Hello everybody,

I took the GMAT today and scores a 530 Q36V27. I'm not super disappointed, but I am not happy aswell. The program I want to apply for need at least a 500, with a score of 600 admission in guaranteed. So now, I am thinking about retaking or not. Admission deadline is July 1st, GMAT scores can be sent in till June 15th, so I still have the opportunity to take another GMAT.

My question is now, how much progress is possible in one month? I am working fulltime during, so study hours are limited aswell. My biggest problems are in quant number properties and word translations and in verbal especially reading comprehension.

Thanks for you help!



Cheers,

Andy

Here also the links to my last tests Q and V:
www.andreashalser.com/Q.xlsx
www.andreashalser.com/V.xlsx

[a.halser]

I just went over my verbal stats from the last test, see below:

300-500 SC RC CR
right 2/67% 1/100% 2/67%
wrong 1/33% 0/ 0% 1/33%

500-600 SC RC CR
right 3/50% 2/40% 3/75%
wrong 3/50% 3/60% 1/25%

600-700 SC RC CR
right 3/75% 1/20% 3/50%
wrong 1/25% 4/80% 3/50%

700-800 SC RC CR
right 0/0% 0/0% 0/0%
wrong 2/100% 1/100% 1/100%

My idea would be now to focus mostly on RC, read The Economist, read at least one GMAT fiction books, do at least one RC question set every day, ...! Also since my SC and CR skills are nearly identical, and it is said that you can improve more in SC in a shorter tim, I would focus more on SC.

Can anyone help here? Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Thanks a lot,

Andreas

[StaceyKoprince]

Let's see... so the big question is whether you can go from 530 to 600 in a month, right? That's possible, but not everyone would succeed. You'll have to work hard and there are no guarantees, of course. :)

So you'll have to decide whether you want to go for it. If you fall short, at least you'll know you tried!

In terms of coming up with a plan, you're on the right track as far as analyzing your results, but there's a lot more analysis to do. Percentage correct is only one part of the picture. Do the analysis described in this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and share your full analysis (not just the raw data - tell us what you think it means).

If you have ANY timing problems (and 98% of people do), read this and start doing what it says immediately:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

It takes a good 4-6 weeks to fix timing problems, so you have to start right away. Also read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

That article has links to a bunch of other articles - follow the links and read the articles.

It is true for a lot of people that SC is the easiest to improve, but not for everyone. Which do you like the best? Which seems easiest or most intuitive to you?

Also, here are some resources on various things you mentioned:

Number properties:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -gmatprep/

Within that article, there's a link to an article on word translations - so read that too.

RC:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... c-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... rehension/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/

RC questions:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... prehension
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/11/ ... il-problem
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm

[a.halser]

Hello Stacey,

whoa, that's a lot of information and every bit is very helpfull, thanks for that!

I've started analyzing my timing and have realized that I still have to progress in that area. How about timing a set of questions, e.g. 15 questions for 30 minutes? Is this good or do I really have to look at the stop watch for every single problem?

Regarding verbal, obviously SC is my best area and I like the topic quite a bit, on the other side I really hate RC. Having read your posts on CR the last few days, I think there's a lot of improvement possible, too.

I have done the analysis with percents correct/wrong for quant today, which was an eye opener aswell. The biggest problem areas here are Word Translation and Number Properties.

Thanks for your help, talk to you soon :)

Cheers,

Andreas

[StaceyKoprince]

Re: timing, there are multiple exercises you need to do. Sometimes you will be training yourself for every problem; sometimes you will be doing sets.

HOWEVER, while you still have timing problems, you should still time yourself for every problem in the set - but don't *look* at the timer while doing so. In other words, you won't know till you're done how good you were at using your time wisely - but when you're done, you will have the data to analyze your performance.

Make sense? :)

[a.halser]

Hey,

yes that makes sense. BUT what do I do with problems I don't have a solution for or don't know how to solve? Do I just skip that after 2 min then?

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

What would you have to do if it were really the test? You have to answer - you can't skip anything.

For quant, if you are really lost around the 1 minute mark, that's the point at which you say to yourself, "Okay, I'm going to have to guess. I can already tell that right now. So I'm going to spend a little time (up to 1 more minute) seeing if I can figure out some wrong answers, and then I'm going to guess and move on."

Don't spend more than 2 minutes on a problem like this. If you can't figure out how to eliminate wrong answers, just pick anything and move on.

AFTER, go back and figure out:
- Can I learn to do this correctly in 2 minutes?
- How should I have made an educated guess?
- At what point should I have know that, nope, this one was just too hard? Did I make the call at the appropriate time (not too fast - maybe I could have done it after all - but not too slow either, because I don't want to lose time on the problem)?

Get the idea? :)