Hi there fellow monkeys, I have been a long time lurker here, only recently started posting and was wondering if I could get some input from you guys regarding my struggles with GMAT.
I am trying to apply to M7 schools this coming fall and have taken the GMAT three times, I am an international who studied undergrad in US and work in Big 4 consultancy in Eastern Europe. My first attempt was more of an feeling out process, to see how the exam was, how would I do and what my weaknesses would be. I only practiced around 70-90 questions in problem solving before going in. Surprisingly I got 700 (Q45, V41) which might have done more harm than good afterwards. I took it 2 more times, concentrated on problem areas such as data sufficiency and critical reasoning but both times I got lower scores, 690 on the next attempt and 640 yesterday (Q36 V40, competely bombed problem solving and sentence correction). So I wanted to ask you guys with a little than a month left until the deadlines, what would you recommend as an optimal strategy. I have gmatpill membership, should I buckle down and just do the practice question until I know every possible approach, should I go back and re-read the basics (did it once, but apparently did not help) I have read several stories here about people's journey to 750-770 but they were more long-term and they didn't quite have the quant struggles I do.
I think I can fit in 2 more exams before deadlines. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Do you have your score reports for the GMATS you took? It'd be helpful for you to see what concepts/types of problems you were getting wrong.
Hi Thanks for the response. Yes I purchased ESRs for the first 700 and last 640 scores. In the first test I my main weaknesses were critical reasoning and data sufficiency, mainly geometry and algebra, exponents. I tried to focus exclusively on these areas to push my score over that sweet 720-730 range but the test yesterday killed me. For this test I did really well on data sufficiency, score equivalent of 50 but bombed problem solving (32) and probably did it early on because I far into the test I kept getting easy questions. On the verbal side I got worse in reading comprehension and sentence correction, aced critical reasoning. When I do the mocks I consistently score in 96%-99% in verbal, but can't even reach 45 in quant. Its frustrating for me because I am not that weak in quant in other areas of life (work, CFA exams, Classes). Any advice or experience sharing will be appreciated,
I feel you man, quant is my weakness as well. I've just been going through GMATClub resources and doing as many practice problems, reviewing my error log, etc.
I hope you cancelled your final score.
As I used to tell my students when I tutored, the GMAT requires you to be a jack of all trades and master of some. If you have a glaring weakness, it will overcome a lot of good in your approach. But you don't have to be an expert everywhere.
The good news is, quant and sentence correction are both areas where you can usually study your way to some score improvement (RC and CR are much harder).
A few tips: Purchase the manhattan sentence correction book and veritas prep or manhattan quant books. Manhattan's sentence correction is best in the market. Forget the really advanced stuff towards the back - know your basic rules down cold, and learn how to read a long sentence in whole and in parts to find the exceptions to those rules. For quant, you should not try to learn every possible approach. You don't have time. You should have your formulas memorized, but you can skip combinatorics if its not clicking. Focus on reviewing your problems that you are getting wrong, or that you got right by accident. Try to read the answer explanation and then come back in 5 minutes and solve the problem again. If you still don't get it, repeat. Too many people just check if they got it right or wrong and move on; they don't reinforce their learning. Don't focus on super advanced math problems. They are usually just combinations of less complex problems. If you're doing longhand calculations, you're probably doing the problem wrong. The GMAT is designed to simplify mental math. Know the shortcuts (units digits, etc - things like 33x13 ca be expressed as 10x30 plus 3x10 help). Have an approach to cover the areas that you're weakest, but spend 20% of your time reviewing the other practice areas so you don't slip.
Hope this helps.
gmatquantum.com was my secret weapon for quant, can't recommend it enough.
What did you like about it?
I took the paid course but even if you decide not to, the free video explanations for all OG problems are amazing. Personally, I really like seeing someone write out problem solutions and do them in http://gmatquantum.com/2018-gmat-videos
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