Seeking GMAT Advice
Hello All,
I am currently studying for the GMAT. I took a GMAC practice test about a month ago and scored a 640 (38 Quant/39 Verbal). I've been working through the official guide for a few weeks and took a second test and got a 660 (40 Quant/40 Verbal). I am looking to improve my Quantitative score as it needs to be in the 60th percentile for the program I am applying for. Right now I am only in the 52nd percentile. Any advice as to how to improve/what materials to get? Thanks.
You should get the Manhattan Quant books. The official guide quant questions are ridiculously easy and don't really have any at the 700 level. With the Manhattan Quant books you get a much better grounding in the basics and also access to tougher questions through mock exams etc. I presume this is the same with other prep companies, I just personally used Manhattan so I can vouch for them being quite good.
Buzzer Noise Wrong. The OG questions are by far the closest thing you'll get to questions as they appear on the real test. Congrats if they're ridiculously easy and you can get all of them right you'll have no problem on the actual GMAT.
The Manhattan books are good, but the manhattan practice tests and practice problems(especially on the Manhattan CATs) are known to be much more difficult than what is actually on the test. No, they are not 700+ level problems, they are simply problems that require much more time and arithmetic and are not indicative of what one would see on the test. If the OP was scoring in the 90% percentile for math and wanted to ace the test, then these problems might be beneficial, but at this point they would just frustrate him.
OP, if you're struggling I would not start off by testing yourself on extremely hard MGMAT problems. Buy the MGMAT math guides, work through them, and make sure you can answer all the math question in the OG(maybe even buy the OG math supplement). Once you know the foundations for the math, the rest is just practicing problems until you can spot the tricks immediately.
I agree the about Manhattan Cat questions, both in that they are harder and that they require a lot more arithmetic. However you are simply incorrect if you think the OG gives you enough hard questions to score in the high 40's Q. It is good for giving you a indication of the mid level questions but I don't believe it in anyway prepares you for the 700 level. The Official GMAT Prep pack with extra mock test and questions is good, so is the GMAT club forum but using the OG alone is not going to be enough to get a strong Q score from my experience unless you are naturally very strong in Math.
It is a common mis-conception that the only way to a good quant score is by being able to crush brutally hard questions; however, this isn't true at all, especially considering that the OP is only trying to break the 60% percentile in math and not the 99%. If the OP knows the fundamentals in and out, can get all easy and medium questions without fail, and can make good guesses on some of the harder questions he'll absolutely be fine.
I'd agree that if you're going for a monster score you have to be able to do everything well, but the way the adaptive test is structured, those hard questions will count for less. If the OP is only trying to get past the 60% percent it doesn't make sense to tackle hard questions, when clearly he should be building his fundamental skills, which combined with the "easy questions" in the OG should be more than enough to get him to his goal.
I should probably pay more attention to the OP as I was mainly talking about maximizing your Q score rather than just breaking the 60th percentile. You may be correct in saying that he doesn't need to know the hard questions to get to past the 60% mark,however keep in mind the 60th percentile is now 45. I am not an expert on the exam by any means but to score a 45 I would assume (Happy to be corrected here) that you will need to be comfortable answering at least some of the more difficult questions presented. Obviously if the OP is still strugging on the OG there is no need to source harder material until he has a grasp of the basics but if he can get through them easily and is still seeing poor mock scores then I suggest he uses either Manhattan or other prep books.
Ut illo a doloremque dolore quo eum quaerat. Qui asperiores voluptas ipsam perspiciatis. Dolor non quia veniam corrupti.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Architecto unde eum harum quaerat dolores ab. Assumenda quae libero quia neque nisi. Qui alias similique corrupti dolor commodi. Dolores fuga occaecati architecto qui recusandae cum officiis. Dolor recusandae eveniet nam voluptas consequatur. Nulla qui consequatur voluptatem suscipit eos.
Sit mollitia labore porro nostrum nostrum. Vitae sint quo ex voluptates. Ut excepturi debitis voluptas eum soluta incidunt commodi. Magnam voluptatum sit itaque ut non fugit.
Aut architecto laudantium maiores. Sit quia labore commodi omnis dolor. Exercitationem non accusantium sint placeat voluptatum non. Minus distinctio dignissimos nemo. Exercitationem ullam veritatis sint repudiandae repellat esse. Autem porro ad perferendis fugiat libero saepe. Occaecati voluptatem dolorem rerum sed modi.