Going from a 41 to upper 40s on GMAT Quant

Any advice to get my quant to a 45+, I'm thinking about going through Manhattan GMAT again, I did Knewton (subscription expired), I am doing Magoosh. Is there anything else, I have Sackmann's book, but it is painful to get through.

 

You gotta get through sackmann's book as well as his 1,000 problem challenge set. For someone getting only 41 though, you probably need his 1,800 problems fundamental set. I know it sucks, but you gotta put in the effort to get 48+ quant. No pain, no glory.

 

Step 1: Go through your books to build up a knowledge base.

Step 2: Go through official problems and connect what you learned from the books with the materials. Develop a strategy to tackle each subset of question.

Step 3: Take practice test and examine the areas you are weak or slow in. Go back to Step 1 for those problem types.

Step 4: Profit!

 

You're scoring in the 41 there's no reason to study any of the advanced concepts, MGMT series should be enough. You need to focus on understanding and applying the basics consistently and efficiently; if you can do this effectively you'll probably find yourself 45-47 range. No need to study the advanced stuff if you can't do the basics b/c you won't see a 700-800 level question on a CAT unless you can solve the 500-600 and 600-700 level questions.

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Best Response

Hey futurectdoc,

My first GMAT try, I skimmed over OG, and managed to get a q39. For 3 months, from August to the end of October, I plowed through MGMAT's 8 volume set. When I got my MGMAT CAT results, I was quite upset. got a q40. Did another to see if it was a fluke, and no, q40.

Then a friend recommended me Sackmann's Total GMAT Math. I have been going through every chapter of this book until I absolutely understand how to do every single practice and challenge problem. It is extremely painful, but this book is amazing. Just two hours ago, I took another CAT, and lord behold, a q48 popped up on my screen. (And MGMAT CATs are notorious for being harder than the real GMAT when it comes to quant). It has been 3 weeks, 1 hour on weekdays, 10 hours on the weekend. Quant jump from 39 to 48.

As other people have said, no pain, no gain. But you're a smart guy, I'm sure if you pound Jeff's knowledge and tactics into your head, you'll crank out a q45+ easily.

TGM teaches you the basics, helps you practice, and challenges your understanding all in one sitting. Amazing book.

The 1000 and 1800 questions sets are extremely helpful as well, I have them in my possession so if you'd like, just PM me and i'll email them to you.

Good luck on your studies.

"Come at me, bro"- José de Palafox y Melci
 

I used the Manhattan GMAT guide books, which I thought provided a great refresher on the basics and also covered the more advanced concepts. I went through all the MGMAT guide books cover to cover and did all the quant practice problems in the OG 11, OG12, and the quant review books.

You can definitely improve on your quant score. I think I scored pretty horribly on the quant portion on the first practice exam I completed. I got a 48 on the actual GMAT - not great, but not horrible.

Make sure you're solid on the verbal portion. I think it's pretty tough to get in the top percentile range on quant since there are so many Chinese and Indian MBA candidates that take the exam. Once you're in a solid quant range, you can get more bang for your buck by nailing the verbal portion.

 

Manhattan GMAT is definitely a good start for the basics. Once you get those done, go through the OG12 (as mentioned by android). GMATclub and Beatthegmat are also great resources.

If you can get a 40+ in Verbal and 46+ in quant, you should be fine. Some native English speakers absolutely kill the verbal section and that will lift your overall score. That being said, most top schools like to see an 80%/80% percentile breakdown (or so I've heard). I think that splits to something like 45 or 46 in quant and like a 37/38 in verbal.

 

You'll need a 48 in Quant to get over the 80th percentile. If you're not naturally inclined to do well in math, you'll struggle to hit that mark. 80th percentile is the general requirement for the likes of Harvard/Stanford/Wharton, but as you move lower in tiers that "standard" is relaxed.

I too would recommend the Manhattan GMAT books. However, be SURE that you truly understand the underlying concepts for each of the problems that you do. It is not good enough to know how to solve them, you have to know why/how the method works. For some people, this isn't something that you can teach yourself. If this is the case for you, I'd recommend that you hire a personal tutor.

Your comment about "Winter Break" implies that you're still in school. If you aren't ready to take it again, by all means don't just take it because you ran out of time to study. You should have years before you apply, so don't rush it! Raising your math score from a 27 to a 48 will be extremely difficult, especially if you've already studied. That said -- it is certainly possible. Goodluck!

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HerSerendipity -- Yep. I know some folks who took the test very recently. A 47M will put you in the high 70s and a 48M will put you in the low 80s. It is amazing how a single point becomes worth 4-5 percentage points once you reach the 47-51 range. I suspect it will only go worse over time.

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It is my understanding that the new GMAT will be rolled out next summer (Julyish).

The GRE is new to the MBA world, so it is really hard to tell how the two tests will be viewed. I doubt anyone could give you a confident answer.

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Just keep on practicing...also prepping for the gmat too

btw...how long did it take you to complete the MGMAT (1-5)?

"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection demoralizes you"
 

Yeah, that's what I'm planning on doing.

To be honest, I cranked through those in about 3 days total. There a few cool, specific tips/shortcuts to learn in the books, but most of the material is quite general.

 
socman:

Yeah, that's what I'm planning on doing.

To be honest, I cranked through those in about 3 days total. There a few cool, specific tips/shortcuts to learn in the books, but most of the material is quite general.

Did you do the problems as well? I'm doing the problems from the original guide problems at the end of the book, still on the first M book :/

 

Yeah I did the problems as well. I actually did all of the OG book problems (maybe took me a week and a half or so) before starting the M books... probably shouldn't have done that looking back, but oh well...

 

Problem with the Quant approach is that Verbal has a disproportionately large effect on your GMAT score, so you might want to try to push it up as far as you can. Doubly true if your Quant score is already trending much higher than your Verbal score; that means that verbal's the low-hanging fruit, and it should be easier for you to push Verbal up by X points, instead of Quant.

 
Angus Macgyver:
Problem with the Quant approach is that Verbal has a disproportionately large effect on your GMAT score, so you might want to try to push it up as far as you can. Doubly true if your Quant score is already trending much higher than your Verbal score; that means that verbal's the low-hanging fruit, and it should be easier for you to push Verbal up by X points, instead of Quant.

How does verbal have a disproportional large effect on your score?

 
Angus Macgyver:
that means that verbal's the low-hanging fruit, .

cringe

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

I dont want to sound like a grade school teacher..

But I got my score from 600s to high 700s from:

  • remembering to double check CR, and SC questions (this was the biggest factor and you have to be extremely nit picky.
  • reading these questions out loud in my head
  • learning the Harmonic Average for the quant section, this saved me at least 2 minutes
 

So its this weekend. However, I am not 100% prepared for the exam (only seriously started a few days ago). There might still be a chance that I could break 700 if I get lucky, but I am really unsure. Do you think I should just cancel the exam and say bye bye to the 250 fee I paid? Any other ramifications for cancelling and not going other than the 250?

If I do go, and end up with a 600+, would that be a problem? Since I am pretty sure I will have to retake the exam (as the score this Saturday will not reflect my maximum ability in the test at all), should I just skip it altogether? Would the benefit of having experience the test once outweigh the fact that I might have a subpar score when I submit my b-school app?

 

Anyone have any quant improvement success stories?

I took the test a couple days ago and got a 740, but my Q/V split was pretty crappy -- Q42, V49. I didn't do much in the way of preparation, so I'm hoping a month in front of the MGMAT books will help me bring my quant score up to a more acceptable number.

The saddest thing about my low quant score: I majored in mechanical engineering.

 

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