stuck @680, 690, struggle to improve

[KathyL227]

Hi Stacey & Ron,

I've done GMAT four times by now. Each score I got is either 680 or 690. I need your advise to break through. My target is 740 - 760.

In those past four exams:
Q: 50 each time;
V - SC: 68th - 78th correct
In my mock tests, around 80th percent correct. I noticed that almost all the errors are not due to structural understanding, but small variances.
V - RC: 50th - 65th correct
In most of the mock test, I usually made one wrong (detail questions). Sometimes, questions of one argument were all incorrect.
V - CR: 13th - 75th correct: most unstable in real tests. Depends on the time I spent
This is my weakest part.

I still want to sit another one to make Round Two MBA application this year. I am longing for the suggestion to break through.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Kathy

[StaceyKoprince]

I know you want more, but first I want to congratulate you on getting to 690 - that's a great score.

My first question: why are you going for a 740-760?

The very very top schools (Stanford, Harvard) have averages of around 730, which means that you're comfortably in the running (as far as the GMAT is concerned) if you score in the 700-710 range. At that stage, if they're going to reject you, it's not going to be because of your GMAT score. So you don't actually have to beat the average to be in the running. (I keep saying "in the running" because your GMAT score isn't what will get you in. They use the GMAT more as a threshold indicator, to make sure you can handle the work in their program. More important factors - job experience / resume, leadership skills, recommendations, personal essays - determine whether you're actually accepted.)

Your quant score is almost maxed out already (the highest score is 51). Still, if you truly do want to hit 740+, you'll need to try to push that to 51, as every little bit helps.

On the verbal side, you didn't tell me your 2-digit scores; it would be helpful to know that.

Next, for the verbal data you did give: are these your percentile rankings from the Enhanced Score Report? If so, can you please group them by test and can you please also include the average timing by question type? (Again, test by test, separately.)

I'm not sure because you label them with "th" endings (which indicates percentile), but you also say "percent correct," which is not the same thing as percentile. *(more on this topic below)

If the numbers represent something else, can you please tell me what?

The one number that's jumping out at me is the 13 for CR. If these do represent percentiles, and if your overall scores are staying about the same, then you must have been at the top end of your ranges for SC and RC when you bottomed out on CR. It would be useful to know why your CR has fluctuated so much, and why your others went down when CR went up (so that your scores didn't improve).

When you give me your individual test score results, also tell me: how was your timing for that test? Did you run out of time and have to rush towards the end? Or did you rush from the beginning because you were nervous about time and end up finishing early? Etc. How was your mental stamina? Did you experience any of the common symptoms of mental fatigue? (Described in the article below.)
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... you-crazy/

Also, when CR performance went up, the others must have gone down. Had you been focusing entirely on CR because you knew it was weaker and then that impacted your performance on the other question types? Etc.

Next, in order to discuss a more in-depth plan about what you need to do to improve, read these:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MPrep CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; 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 last 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!)

Finally, I have to caution you about one thing: you're only allowed to take the GMAT 5 times in a calendar year. You mentioned that you've taken it 4 times - have those all been relatively recently? If so, then you just need to be aware that when you take it the 5th time, you will be locked out of taking it again until it has been one year from the date of the first time. If you have been rushing to re-take it every 16 or 20 days, then one of the things you may need to consider is that this rushing of the process isn't actually helping you to develop the skills that you need to lift your verbal score effectively.

I say all that knowing that you said you want to try to get in for round 2. Most US round 2 deadlines are in the first week of January, about 2 weeks from now. It would be extremely challenging for someone to move from 680-690 to 740-760 in two weeks. I know that's probably not what you want to hear. I do want to help you to set realistic expectations and deadlines for yourself.

*For future reference: Percentile is a measure of how well you did compared to everyone else who took the test in a general timeframe, typically a year to several years. For instance, if you scored in the 68th percentile, then you scored better than 68% of people taking the test. This measure is not in any way tied to the percentage of questions that you answered correctly. On the GMAT, most people answer about the same percentage of questions correctly, but they are separated out into percentile rankings based on the difficulty levels of the questions that they can (and cannot) answer correctly.