Struggling to improve quant after extensive studying

[AlykhanK691]

Hi everyone -- Long-time lurker, first time poster -- thanks to everyone who contributes so much insight to this forum!

I've been studying for the GMAT since October 2014, but haven't seen much improvement in my quant proficiency. My target score is 700+ with at least 70th percentile in quant. I've learned a lot since I started my prep, but my quant scores don’t seem to budge. My prep has been:

Attempt 1 – Studied exclusively by doing questions from the OG and GMAC review books. This ended with an official score just short of my 700 target, but far from my quant target. Although I knew how to do specific types of questions well, I was sometimes stumped by fundamentals I definitely should have known (e.g., area of a trapezoid).

December 7, GMAT Prep 1: 620 (Q38, V38)
December 13, GMAT Prep 1: 700 (Q44, V41)
December 23, GMAT Prep 1: 700 (Q44, V41)
December 28, GMAT Prep 2: 700 (Q46, V40)
ACTUAL – December 30: 680 (Q40, V42)

Attempt 2 – To work on my theory, I went through all the MGMAT quant books cover to cover, did the end-of-chapter questions, and did the relevant OG questions. I also practiced with the OG, review books, and the GMAT Prep question pack. My official score dropped. This could have been for a ton of reasons. I scheduled an 8am test when I’m not a morning person, I had so much anxiety I could feel my heart racing, and I probably spent 4-6 minutes on the 6th question because I was convinced I needed to get the first 10 Q’s right to get a good score.

February-March: Reviewed MGMAT quant books
March 29, MGMAT 1: 530 (Q22, V42 -- timing)
March 30, MGMAT 2: 660 (Q42, V38)
April 2, MGMAT 3: 580 (Q40 V31)
April 4, GMAT Prep 1: 730 (Q47, V44)
April 7, GMAT Prep 2: 720 (Q44, V44)
April 11: GMAT Prep 3: 720 (Q45, V44)
April 12, GMAT Prep 1: Q44 (just did quant to practice timing)
April 14, GMAT Prep 2: Q46 (" ")
April 16, GMAT Prep 4: 720 (Q47, V42)
ACTUAL – April 18: 580 (I don’t remember the breakdown because I canceled the score immediately after seeing it)

Attempt 3 – Not knowing what else to do, I hired a tutor. We go through practice questions and he explains challenging concepts to me. He thinks my target score is within reach, but practice tests say otherwise. Most of my prep now involves doing practice tests, reviewing them for 3-4 days, and making and reviewing flashcards explaining questions I found challenging. I find most of my errors are related to applying concepts in questions that are not straightforward.

April 25, MGMAT 4: 560 (Q32, V35)
May 2, MGMAT 5: 580 (Q32. V38)
May 7, MGMAT 6: 630 (Q37, V38)
May 10, MGMAT 1A: 630 (Q44, V34)
May 15, MGMAT 2A: 650 (Q42, V37)
May 18, MGMAT 3A: 660 (Q43, V37)
May 22, MGMAT 4A: 620 (Q37, V37)
May 23, MGMAT 5A: 650 (Q37, V41 – wanted to do another test to try a new timing strategy -- it didn’t help)
ACTUAL - May 30: TBD

I’m going to do a GMAT Prep CAT later this week then decide whether I should reschedule the test. My concern with rescheduling is that I’ve already studied for so long, but my scores don’t seem to reflect the effort I’m putting in. I’m also feeling tired and burned out. I really want to put this part of the MBA application process behind me (applying round 1), but don’t want the GMAT to reflect poorly on my capabilities.

Any thoughts? Anecdotes? Suggestions? I'm really hoping I can update this post next Saturday with a success story!

[StaceyKoprince]

Welcome to the posting level.

First, a little info about scores vs. percentiles. "At least 70th percentile" in quant now translates to a score of at least 48. Percentiles change annually, as the pool of test takers shifts, and just 5 years ago, 70th percentile was something like 45 instead of 48.

The hard scores are tied to certain skill levels that don't change. Because the percentiles are fairly volatile on quant, schools are mostly using the hard scores to assess someone's preparation for b-school. (I suppose there are probably still some hold-outs that don't - those schools haven't actually educated themselves about what GMAT scoring means.)

Anyway, long story short, if you can score 45/46 or higher on quant, that's typically good enough for any school. (Of course, you still have to have good verbal and overall scores, too.)

I scheduled an 8am test when I’m not a morning person, I had so much anxiety I could feel my heart racing, and I probably spent 4-6 minutes on the 6th question because I was convinced I needed to get the first 10 Q’s right to get a good score.

Okay, so lessons learned. No more 8am tests. (I'm not a morning person either. My score would definitely drop at 8am!!) If you spent 4 to 6 minutes on one problem, you probably spent too much time on other problems, and that would seriously mess up your timing. (Which will then seriously mess up your score, of course.) And then there's the anxiety. That would've made it super hard to concentrate, making all of the other stuff even worse.

So. First, let's deal with that anxiety piece. Try this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/

Next, you said you were convinced you had to get the first 10 Qs right. Have you since learned that it's a myth that the earlier questions are worth more? It's a complete and total myth! You need to have steady performance across the entire section.

Also: think about how the test works - just think logically for a moment. What happens as you get questions right? Now, can you imagine what would happen after getting 10 questions in a row right? Or even just 5 or 6?

And now think practically for a moment. A question pops up that you don't know how to do. You spend 5 minutes on it instead of 2. None of that extra time is remotely useful if you don't know how to do the thing in the first place! Spending extra time on something you don't know how to do doesn't actually help you to know how to do it. You're just wasting time--AND ratcheting up your anxiety.

Okay, now I'm at your third attempt and see that your test is / was supposed to be today. What did you decide to do? Let me know. You had some good quant scores on your GMATPrep tests. As long as you also did the essay and IR sections on those (to fully mimic the mental stamina aspects of taking the test), then there's a good chance that you could see a mid-40s quant score on the real test, too. As long as we also take care of the anxiety issue - and the burnout issue.

If you take / are taking the test today, then I hope you get the score you want and this conversation is moot. If you postpone or don't get the score that you want today, let me know and we'll figure out where to go from here. (My first suggestion is going to be: you need a break of at least three days to get your brain back. Studying when you're mentally fatigued / burned out is a waste of time!)