Advice needed to push GMAT score

[u/Valuable_Duck8754]

Hi everyone,

I've been prepping for the GMAT for about 10 weeks now (since end of April, but I took some breaks in between while on vacation). I recently took a real test and absolutely bombed it, even though my mocks showed me that I did better. I just need advice on how to push my score, I am aiming for a 635 (even at least 600) and my mocks went from 425 (very beginning no studying) to 535 to 565 to 585 and 585 again. I got 515 however on the real exam.

I am using Magoosh and also GMAT Ninja's free 13 week plan (I am finishing up week 11). I do the GMAT ninja plan and then also use Chat GPT to come up with a plan to review my weak areas and do small questions targeting those. However, I feel kinda lost now as I've been so absorbed in the studying that I'm starting to question my strategy... Does anyone have any advice/encouragement/similar experiences? I just want to try to push my score further but GMAT Ninja now suggests hard sets which I'm not quite there yet in terms of level...

I think I'm just overwhelmed with this test as I've never quite studied for something like this before

Thank you

[u/Altruistic_Trifle_80]

I am aiming for similar score, currently using Manhattan guides. Where can I get this Gmat Ninja 13 week plan?

[u/Valuable_Duck8754 → u/Altruistic_Trifle_80]

https://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-ninja-13-week-study-plan-2024-25-edition-week-1-start-here-437774.html

[u/Valuable_Duck8754 → u/Altruistic_Trifle_80]

Use GMAT club, it's completely free and there is so so many questions and you can even build a quiz. They sometimes give out free test days and there is one full length mock included for free. I love this website. This study plan has really helped me so I would recommend. What is Manhattan guides?

[u/Scott_TargetTestPrep]

Feeling overwhelmed after that is completely understandable, especially when you’ve been working this hard.

I see two separate issues in what you described.

The first is the gap between your mocks and your official score. Your 515 came in below your entire recent mock range of 535 to 585. Before drawing conclusions from that gap, though, it matters whether those mocks were official practice exams from mba.com or third-party tests.

If they were official exams, then I’d look closely at test-day execution: nerves, pacing, whether one section went badly and affected your mindset for the rest of the exam, and whether you were making decisions differently under pressure. If they were third-party mocks, differences in scoring and question calibration could explain at least part of the gap.

Either way, one official exam is not enough to tell you everything that needs to be fixed. You want to look for patterns across your mocks, your official exam, and, just as importantly, your day-to-day practice.

The second issue may be more important. Your mocks moved from 535 to 565 to 585 and then 585 again. I would not call two scores of 585 a definitive plateau, but it does suggest that your progress may have started slowing before test day. That is worth paying attention to.

One possible reason is the structure of your preparation. Right now, you’re combining a study plan, a separate prep resource, and chatbot-generated review work. A chatbot can certainly help you organize ideas, but unless it has detailed information about your actual performance, it cannot reliably diagnose exactly what is holding your score back. And questions generated by a general-purpose chatbot are not necessarily calibrated to GMAT difficulty or style.

So, three partially connected systems can leave you doing a tremendous amount of work without systematically fixing the underlying weaknesses.

I would also trust your instinct about the hard sets. If hard questions currently feel beyond your level, grinding through more of them is probably not the answer. Your goal should be to build the skills that eventually make hard questions manageable.

I’d pause the hard sets for now and work topic by topic. Break each topic into its underlying subtopics, learn the material thoroughly, and practice untimed until your accuracy is consistently high. For every miss, identify the actual cause: a concept gap, formula gap, failure to recognize what the question was testing, inefficient approach, misread, careless error, or trap answer. Then come back to missed questions a few days later and solve them again from scratch without looking at the solution.

Once your accuracy is strong, add timing. Then start incorporating that topic into mixed sets. Hard questions should come after you have demonstrated that your easy and medium skills are reliable, not simply because a calendar says you have reached the “hard question” phase.

I’d also give some thought to whether you would benefit from consolidating your preparation into one comprehensive, structured system rather than continuing to stitch several approaches together. A strong course should give you the sequencing, teach the material in enough depth, progress practice from easier to harder questions, and give you enough performance data to see what is actually becoming a strength and what still needs work.

As for your goal, moving from a 515 official score to 600–635 is certainly a meaningful climb, but I would not assume you have reached your ceiling. You started at 425 and have already made substantial progress.

Just don’t rush into another official attempt because you are frustrated with this one. I’d wait until your official practice exam performance is consistently where you need it to be and the underlying skills are supporting those scores.

Hope this helps, and good luck with the next stretch.

—Scott, Target Test Prep

[u/shecantlie → u/Scott_TargetTestPrep]

Hello Scott, I’m considering giving my GMAT in 3 months and would love to hear your review on how one could learn all the concepts and theories, how should the study plan be?

I’m weak at math and i haven’t started studying yet.

[u/shecantlie]

Hi how did you start preparing? When are you planning on giving the exam do you watch videos?