I just Beat The GMAT!

Hi everyone,

I finally took the GMAT today after a few months prep and scored a 650. It was bittersweet because I hoped for a score above 700, but 650 was in line (but on the low side) with my GMAT Prep scores. My breakdown was Q40(56%) and V39(87%) 650(79%). I am going to retake in six weeks, so I can improve my Quant. My quant ability is not as bad as my score; I was definitely a little shell-shocked and it really affected my timing. Can anyone recommend the best way to improve Quant? Off the top of my head, I am considering purchasing the Manhattan OG guide.

I started studying a few months ago with the Princeton Review book, went through the Veritas course and then did most of the 700 questions from BTG and made note cards all along the way. Honestly, the BTG questions are a really good resource. Although I froze a little on the actual test, they are a great way to improve timing and are an accurate representation of harder level questions on the test. I've written a review on Veritas, so I won't go more in to that topic but I think it was a good course.

I think if I retook it tomorrow I could definitely pull at least a 670, but I need something to guarantee I will get over the 700 wall. I'll be happy to answer any questions or help anyone if I can.

It is a pretty cool score and the Verbal is right there!

It would be good to get a sense of your back ground - are you a science vs arts major or are / were you in the financial sector....

If you are a science guy (which I am) the best thing to do would be read the concepts given in the OG and whatever you need details on or do not understand read from books like MGMAT etc.) and then use OG questions, Grockit and the 300 tough questions on BTG to practice tough quant questions.

However if you are an arts guy, well then I would recommend reading debriefs of people who have splits like Q:V::47:45, 48:46 .....essentially these are folks strong in verbal and worked on their Quant so I am assuming have a closer link to arts aka verbal vs Quant.

Hope this was helpful

Thanks for the encouraging words, mj. My background is an intel analyst for the Air Force. My job was heavily language focused, but I've always felt comfortable with math. My Quant score was a lot lower than I expected. I've already ordered the MGMAT OG companion and I'm going to plow through that for the next month. Thanks again.

Take a look at Grockit, which has a big pool of decent quant questions. Try practicing solving the questions in 1 minute or less.

Thanks, UW. How is your studying going?

bmorgan,
The good news is that it is easier to improve Quant skills as compared to verbal skills in a short span of time such as like 1-2 months. All you need is little more practise
Keep the momemtum going, concentrate on the approach when you solve each question and try to learn new things with each question. I think you just need to work a little more on the verbal section.
You are almost there!!! Keep going..
All the best.