TL;DR: 1+ year of prep, thousands of questions, a tutor, error logs, and my accuracy and mocks haven’t moved (stuck at ~515). Grinding questions clearly isn’t working for me. How did you actually improve when doing more problems stopped helping? What did you change in how you studied?

I'll try to keep this simple. I started prepping for the GMAT in June 2025 using TTP. It seemed like a great option given I had absolutely no basics or fundamentals (didn't pay attention in high school at all). Over the summer I completed the Quant and DI parts of the course and took my first mock in September 2025 (official mock 1). The result was abysmal in terms of my goals but I think it would’ve been a good improvement had I taken a diagnostic: 525 (Q78, V79, DI71).

I bought one more month of TTP, worked through the problems, and then used GMAT Club and Magoosh as question banks from Sept 2025 to January 2026. Solving problems led absolutely nowhere, so I took a break. Nothing I tried brought my accuracy up, though I admit I barely used an error log back then.

In June 2026 I decided to do this properly and started working with a tutor. All summer I studied ~2 hrs a day and more on weekends, while working on a startup abroad. We had three sessions a week, solved problems together, and I reviewed my error log much more often. I felt pretty good, especially in August when my Quant confidence went up. Then I retook official mock 1 in early September 2026: 495 (Q75, V80, DI69). I took it again a few days later and got 545, but I think that was familiarity with the questions.

In Sept 2026 I cut the tutor to once a week and started grinding GMAT Club, hoping volume would fix accuracy. It didn't. About 1,700 questions later (mostly 555–605 and 605–655), my accuracy hasn't moved. In mid-October I switched to a more structured routine:

• Quant: 10 medium questions from one topic, then review every mistake
• Verbal: 2 RC + 8 CR at medium, then review
• DI: 10 medium questions, then review
• A timed hour for pacing (or I would do the streaks method)

Official mock 2 a few days ago (end of Oct): 515 (Q76, V80, DI71).

Where I actually stand (from my error log and the mock):

• Accuracy is ~70% on 555–605 PS and ~66% on 555–605 DS, and it's been flat for two months.
• On the mock, DS went 2/8 and CR 2/9. The last 8 Verbal questions went 2/8 and I guessed the last 2 DI (pacing).
• RC is decent (9/10 in the middle of the Verbal section). Inequalities, probability and sets are mostly fine.
• Recurring mistakes: losing track of the base in percents/ratios (e.g., the total changes and I keep using the old one), calling DS statements insufficient when one is enough (C/E instead of A/B/D), and doing CR by gut feel without a clear method.
• I can build streaks on easy and medium questions
• No matter what I do, things just don’t click. I’m not becoming smarter at all. Although I know the plugging in, backsolving, and similar strategies, I can’t reason through the problems, I always try to work it out with formulas and whatnot. The whole things makes me feel like the most stupid person in the world and I don’t know if I’ll be able to overcome this.

Goal: Test date is Nov 30. I need 585+. I can postpone and take it in the first few months of 2027 as I aim for R3 MiMs and deferred MBAs (would definitely need to postpone for deferred MBAs as I’d require a much higher score). I currently study full time for this test.

My philosophy is that once you believe and work hard, you can achieve anything you want. Nevertheless, this test is breaking me and I don’t know what to do anymore.

My questions:

1. If you plateaued around 500–550 and broke through, what actually changed?
2. Is it worth switching to a structured course? If so, which one?
3. I feel like once I figure out how to improve and set up a system for it, it should be doable. The thing is, I feel totally stupid and no matter what I try, the improvement just doesn’t happen. For those who have been in the same spot, how did you make the improvement happen?
4. How do you turn reviewing a mistake into something that sticks, so you don’t make the same type of mistake again?

Wrote 90% of the text, but especially the stats are polished by Claude as I use it for analysis.  

Thanks for reading!

Hi i prepared full time with a good prep teacher. I am genuienly so disappointed. I have another 30 days after which i am thinking of reattempting and targetting 685+

What do i do? Where am i going wrong?. Now the next 30 days i will be studying with work. So i will get 2 hr a day and only the weekends.

What can i do?

Edit: i dont think i have a concept problem. I have a pacing and accuracy issue.

Edit: i scored 525 in my first attempt

If anyone who can help with gmat strategy please please help

Target is 675+

If you can solve a quant question only when you've seen almost the same one before, you've learned techniques for question types, not how to understand what a problem describes. That's why "I'm bad at quant" isn't a verdict on your ability. It describes what you've been doing, and it changes when you change how you learn.

Many students prepare by collecting question types. One student told me that in school, his way of preparing for math exams was to solve the last 20 years of papers to cover every pattern. On the GMAT, he could solve questions that looked familiar, but "when I see something new, my approach starts off from a very hesitant place."

Math is a way of representing something real: quantities changing, rates, parts of a whole. When you learn only the technique for each question type, you work with the symbols without connecting them to what they represent. So when a question changes slightly, the technique no longer fits, and you have nothing else to work from.

Take a question about two pipes filling a tank, one in 3 hours and the other in 6. If you've learned the formula, you write 1/3 + 1/6. If you understand the situation, you picture that in one hour, the first pipe fills a third of the tank and the second fills a sixth. Now change the question: one pipe drains the tank, or starts an hour late. The formula doesn't tell you what to do, but the picture does: if the second pipe drains, it takes away a sixth of the tank each hour instead of adding one, and if the first pipe starts an hour late, only the second pipe works during that first hour.

After enough unfamiliar questions leave them stuck, many students conclude, "I'm bad at quant." One of my students had worked with two other teachers and was on the verge of believing she could never learn quant. When we went back to understanding what each problem described, she found quant was within her reach, and eventually she started enjoying it.

If you keep looking for easy fixes, like more techniques and more question types, your quant will stay where it is. If you learn to understand what each problem describes, it will improve.

When you solve your next quant question:

1. Describe in plain words what's happening in the problem.
2. For each variable, ask what it represents, not just what to do with it.
3. After solving, check whether your answer makes sense in that situation.

Quant feels manageable when solving questions without a timer, but the accuracy drops quite a bit when trying to solve them within the actual time limit. Sometimes the question itself isn't even that difficult, just takes too long to figure out the right approach.

For people who faced this during GMAT prep, what helped you improve your speed without making silly mistakes? Is it mostly about practising more questions or learning different ways to solve the same problem?

Hi guys,

I need a gmatclub or access to any sectional test for a quant sectional before i take a full mock. In dire need of helpp

Would love to know from someone who used the official gmat practice exams to prep and after taking the actual exam, would you say the practice questions were close to the actual questions in the gmat?

I don’t know how the scoring worked in my favour I had 10 wrong in verbal 5 in quant and 6 in DI

I just can not study for the GMAT exhausted at the end of the day with work I am just finding it hard to be motivated but I just really know this isn’t the attitude of someone who gets into an m7. Anyone else felt similarly what did you do? Seriously. And what would you recommend to I spend thousands on test prep is that really where this ends? I worry with this I really haven’t put my all on studying myself but it’s really tough. I’ve tried ttp and magoosh fyi.

Writing this because I’m in shock. I don’t have the screenshot to show my breakdown just yet. But I have been using ttp and gmat club to prep for this exam and I was expecting a 595 today. But when I submitted I got a 525. So disheartening and outrageous. Especially since I paid $1400 for ttp for the course and live classes. And I could have put that money to a better prep course. I also don’t understand how a score can tank that badly. I’m going to have to retake which I already knew but I was planning to have gotten a decent score now. And obviously my score is atrocious. I felt so good leaving each section and got that in return. Not sure what to do now. Just wanted to vent

What are the best gmat resources or if there is a free course?

Hey r/gmat. I scored 625 (Q81, DI80, V82) after three months of preparation alongside a full-time job. My scores in the official mocks ranged from 675 to 715, so the actual result was quite disappointing. I was planning to apply to ISB in Round 2 but am unsure whether I can improve my score before the deadline while also working on my application in parallel. Additional context below:

I self-prepped while solving questions consistently from gmatclub.

My section sequence was Quant - DI - Verbal

Sectional breakdown of the exam:

1.Quant : This was my worst Quant attempt ever. I struggled with the first three questions, which I felt were on the harder side (two of them turned out to be incorrect as well), and that completely threw off my rhythm and I ended up getting 3 more wrong (1 or 2 being quite simple ones which I should have got correct)

2.DI : I felt this section went well, especially considering how poorly I had performed in Quant, but the score doesn’t seem to reflect that. I got 6 questions wrong, with the non-math questions being a key area for me to reflect on and improve

3.Verbal : I didn’t have high expectations for this section, as Verbal has always been inconsistent for me. Some days I perform really well, while on others, I struggle quite a bit

What I need guidance on:

1. For quant - should I double down on my efforts and solve hard questions for specific topics?

2.For verbal - How can I become more consistent in this section? My performance is relatively stable in RC, but CR is unpredictable. Sometimes I get most questions right, while on other days, it feels like nothing is working. How can I build a more consistent approach to solving CR questions?

3.Considering my present scenario, would 1 month of prep be enough to get a good score and apply for R2 of ISB or should I take my time and apply for R3?

I’m getting significantly higher scores on the official mocks vs the GMAT club tests (50+ point difference…). Which one is reliable from a test day readiness perspective? Nervous about going in for the actual test and not ending up with a good score. Would it be more advisable to master the gmat club tests and then take the actual exam? Or should I just go for it?

i’m preparing for the GMAT and do really well with body doubling, anyone preparing for it in Riyadh and up for being a study buddy?

Today after 6+ months of prep and after going from an Official Mock score of 555 to 655, i finally tanked my real test score at 575. So basically my real improvement was always worth just 20 points. Don't know whether to cry or laugh at this performance.

The main problem I was always facing and that I could never figure out till date is pacing. There was never a single mock test where I didn't have to blind guess on at least the last 6 questions in Verbal and last 5 questions in DI. No matter how good I am at solving all the questions untimed, with the timer ticking the best I could ever do was to reach the 18th question in verbal by the time just 1.5 minutes are left or on the 16th question in DI by the time 1.5 minutes are left.

I'm just too slow for the test. I understand that the basic skill being tested in GMAT is not just "What" you can solve but also "How fast" you can solve. Now after 6 months of grinding with a full time toxic job and roller coaster of life's other problems, it just feels like I'm not built for this test.

I have achieved 100% accuracy in Quant untimed, 85+ in verbal and DI but of what use?

At this point I don't even know what I can consider an accurate predictor of my real test performance because I was getting 655 in both attempts of Official Mock 5 (without repeated questions) that I took last.

My mock scores till date in two attempts:

Mock 1 - (555, 555)

Mock 2 - (695, 645)

Mock 3 - (615, 615)

Mock 4 - (575, 575) (Actually predicted right)

Mock 5 - (655, 655)

Also, doesn't it seem a bit strange that in 4 out of the 5 mocks I got the exact aame scores in both the attempts that I gave?!

Looking for advice on how to proceed now. Any help appreciated 🙏🏻

Just took the GMAT and finished at a 715 (V84, Q90, DI82), first attempt. Writing up what actually worked, since my prep was on and off over about a year and some of it might help someone who's strong in one section and stuck in another.

Quick background. Quant was always my comfortable side and verbal was a mess. My first full mock last November came in somewhere in the mid 630s, with verbal clearly the problem and Data Insights a coin flip depending on the day. I started with the official books, but they didn't really lay out step-by-step ways to attack a question, and that's how I learn best. So I moved to prep materials that did, and worked through the verbal and DI lessons from January to May, fitting it around work. I didn't revisit quant content much because my fundamentals were already there.

Quant (swinging in the 80s, then a 90)

I didn't keep an error log for quant because it was my best section. Big mistake. My timed quant sections started bouncing anywhere between 80 and 90 and I couldn't tell why. Eventually I sat down, went back through several sections at once, and wrote down every question I'd missed. Wait a second, five questions of the same type, all wrong because of the same wording. Prime number questions and range questions where I'd skip past a small word kept showing up, and "must be true" questions were in there four separate times.

Once I saw that, I slowed down on those phrasings and did extra targeted practice on those types. The swings stopped and I got a 90 on test day. The annoying part is that if I'd logged after every section instead of in one big batch, I'd have made far fewer repeat mistakes.

What my error log ended up looking like, because this changed everything for me:

- A failure type for each miss instead of writing "silly error." I had someone more experienced go through my log with me early on, and a lot of my "silly" mistakes turned out to have an actual pattern.

- Short entries. Mine got so long I stopped reading it, so I collapsed it into the failure type and what I'd do differently next time.

- A confidence column. I marked how sure I felt on each question. In quant I was usually sure and still wrong, which meant small fixes. In verbal I was unsure on almost everything, and that told me where the real work was.

Data Insights

DI ended up fine but it took some fixing. Data sufficiency was hit or miss because my process could get too long. Two-part analysis had a lot of reading up front, but at some point I realized those questions aren't trying to trick you the way verbal does. So I'd skim, then either write equations if it was quant-flavored or run the same negation approach I used in CR if it was verbal-flavored. Verbal-type DI questions I used to guess on started coming fairly quickly once CR clicked.

After that it was mostly a timing problem. What helped:

- Graphs and tables were naturally fast for me, so I let those buy time for the slower stuff.

- Multi-source reasoning was the killer. In some mocks one set ate eight or nine minutes and I rushed everything after it. I capped it at roughly six minutes, then bookmarked and moved on.

- On test day I was unsure on two of the three MSR questions, bookmarked them, finished the rest, and came back with a few minutes to change my answers.

Critical Reasoning

CR was my lowest area for the longest time. I'd read the argument half paying attention, go straight to the answers, and pick whatever felt right. When it came down to two choices I picked the wrong one a lot, mostly out of doubt. Doing the lessons helped a bit, but nothing in my education had asked me to think like this, so I just did a lot of official-style practice questions with explanations.

The switch was realizing CR is basically a quant problem written in words. Before checking the options I'd figure out what I was looking for, meaning the conclusion and what it rests on, then think about how I'd negate it. Suddenly it felt like math, which I'm comfortable with. Assumption questions took me the longest. Patterns from older questions helped, but applying an old pattern in a rush often got me burned by one word, so reading carefully and sticking to the process mattered more than speed. Verbal went from the mid 70s in May to 84 on test day.

Section order

Quant, then verbal, then the break, then DI. I used the same order from my very first mock and never changed it. Starting with quant warmed me up and gave me confidence for verbal. By the time DI came around I'd already done a mix of both kinds of thinking.

Mock tests

My full mocks went roughly mid 630s, mid 670s, mid 680s, low 720s, then 715 on the real thing. There are only six official mocks, so I saved them and did timed sections back to back in between. After every mock I redid the error log and drilled whatever was failing. From May on I did a full mock about every two weeks.

About a week out, after doing sections every single day, my CR dipped and I kind of panicked. I hadn't even booked the test. Instead of cramming, I took two or three days completely off, saw friends, just worked. Did one last mock four or five days before, then took the final two to three days off. The only thing I looked at was my error log, lightly, on the morning of the exam.

Wrap-up

There's no shortcut. Put in the hours, and review your mistakes so they don't happen twice. Test day itself felt like any other practice day once the online check-in bumps were sorted, and since it was my first attempt I wasn't chasing a number.

Happy to answer any questions.

This is my personal experience. Your mileage may vary.

This is a bit of a vent but I'm also genuinely looking for advice, so bear with me.

Quick background. I come from a high finance background, been in private equity for almost 6 years now, including about a year of international experience. Bachelor's and Master's were both in accounting and finance, GPA 3.83 and 4.0/4.0. So I'm not someone who struggles with numbers or exams in general.

My attempts so far:

- June 2024: 535

- June 2025: 585

- July 2026: 575

- Oct 2026 (last week): 575, Q75 V80 DI80

So two 575s three months apart, and my best is still the 585 from last year.

After July I went all in. Hired a private tutor, tracked every single set I did, and between August and October alone I did around 4,500 questions in 75 days. That's roughly 60 a day. I was putting in 4 to 5 hours on working weekdays and full days on weekends. Tutor sheets at the 90th and 99th percentile level, OG practice questions, GMAT Club sectionals, 9 full length mocks. I have honestly never studied this hard for anything in my life.

And the mocks went well. Like, really well. My first two officials in this phase were 695 and 675, then I hit 765 and 745 on fresh attempts, and 755 and 735 on retakes. Sectionals mostly in the 85 to 90 range.

Then exam day. 575 again.

Every single time it's the same story. At home I'm fine. The second I sit down at the test center something just switches off. I start rushing, second guessing, 2 minutes feels like 30 seconds, and all three sections fall apart together.

It gets physical too. Somewhere in the middle of the exam my throat goes completely dry and I start coughing, and you can't drink water during the sections, so I just sit there trying to hold it in while the clock runs. Once that starts my focus is gone and I'm basically fighting my own body for the rest of the section. None of this ever happens at home.

It's honestly not a content issue at this point, I know the material.

On the brighter side I've received GMAT waivers from 5 or 6 schools. But I'm not very hopeful about actually converting those, and even less hopeful about scholarships without a score.

So now I'm stuck between three options:

1. One last attempt, but GMAT Online from home since that's where I actually perform

2. Try the Executive Assessment instead (shorter, online, a few attempts allowed)

3. Stop testing completely and go all in on the waiver applications

A few things I'd love to hear from people here:

Has anyone had this kind of gap between mocks and the real thing and actually closed it? What worked for you? or did switching from the test center to online make a real difference?

If you got in through a waiver, how did it go with admits and scholarships?

Also anyone use the EA for a full time MBA?

I've been at this for about 10 months straight and I'm pretty exhausted. Any honest input would really help.

Hi everyone,

I recently scored 665 on the actual GMAT Focus after around 6 months of on-and-off preparation, (~3.5–4 months of serious prep).

My target is 695+, and I’m looking for advice on when to retake and how to approach my preparation.

Mock scores (chronological order): 655 → 655 → 695 → 765 → 695 → 535 (External) → 695 (External) → 625 (External) → Actual GMAT: 665 (Q83, V82, D84)

Preparation so far:

- Completed close to 2,100 questions on GMAT Club, primarily from the OG, GMAT Classic, and GMAT Focus question banks.
- Used all my official practice exams.
- Maintained an error log during my preparation.

My questions:

1. Should I start preparing for a retake immediately while my preparation is still relatively fresh, or take a 2-month break due to a critical professional engagement and resume afterward?

2. What preparation strategy would you recommend to improve from 665 to 695+? Given my variable mock scores, the volume of questions already completed, and the fact that I’ve exhausted all official mocks, how should I approach my next attempt?

Would especially appreciate insights from people who scored 695+ and GMAT tutors.

Also, would be great to connect with fellow front-end consultants at Big 4 or MBB who have managed GMAT preparation alongside demanding client engagements.

Thanks in advance!

If you hold back a question because it seems too basic, the doubt stays with you, and so do the mistakes it causes. A basic question isn't a stupid one. Whether you ask someone or work it out yourself, pursue it instead of dismissing it as trivial.

In a session, a student once said to me, "I have a question. I know it's a stupid question, but I wanted to ask it."

I asked him, "How can a question be stupid?"

"I mean it's very basic."

"The question could be basic," I said, "but how can it be stupid? A basic question tells me where you are. Then I have two choices: I can call you stupid, or I can help you. Calling you stupid wouldn't help you, so it would be the stupid choice. I don't judge you or your questions, not because it's the morally right thing to do, but because it's the sensible thing to do."

Many students feel tense after a mistake or before a question, worried that I'm judging them. Often, they expect me to judge them because they're judging themselves. They call their doubts stupid, or not worth asking, and that's the same unhelpful choice: calling your doubt stupid doesn't help you close it.

If you have a doubt, it marks a real gap in your understanding, and that gap is exactly what you're preparing to fix.

The same applies when there's no one to ask. During practice, a small doubt comes up: why this step works, or why an option is wrong. It's easy to tell yourself it's trivial and move on, but a doubt you dismiss stays as a gap.

Basic doubts can also be the most costly ones to leave unresolved, because a lot of what you learn later rests on them. You work around the gap, and the mistakes keep coming without your knowing why.

The next time you think, "This is probably a stupid question" or "This is too small to bother with":

1. If someone can help, ask. Leave out the apology. "I have a question about this" is enough.

2. If no one can, pursue it yourself: go back to the concept, look at a similar question, or work through it until it's clear.

3. If you can't resolve it now, write it down so it doesn't disappear, and come back to it or ask when you can.

I want to know whether we can cancel our GMAT scores after a poor attempt? I am planning to apply to INSEAD and I just took my GMAT exam and it was not a very good attempt. Since INSEAD asks you to list all your GMAT/ GRE scores, I don't want to share this one as I don't know how this will be perceived. I have two questions based on this situation:

1) Can I canel this GMAT score as it as not been 72 hours yet since I took the exam
2) If I don't cancel and don't report all my GMAT attempts to INSEAD, will that be taken negatively?

Thanks for your advice and suggestions! ✨

Hi all,

Aiming to take my official GMAT around the 15th of Dec.

Till now:

- 42% of the TTTP course (OnDemandd)

I haven't done any official mocks yet, not used GMAT Club either.

I can put myself full time, for the coming 6/7 weeks. Aiming for atleast 655 (Applying to MiM's in France).

1- How should I plan my mocks? (ex. 1 every week?)
2-Should I combine TTTP with GMATclub?

Any tip is very much appreciated. Either way I am planning to take my first mock this, to see where I am at. Will share my score once finished.

TIA

This is just a complaint, but does anyone else feel this way? Been studying for the GMAT for about 1 month and I feel the questions are worded in the most confusing way possible. Often, simply understanding what the question is asking is harder than actually answering the question.

was getting consistent Q81-82 in gmatclub sectionals but got Q78 in official mock 3, where am I lacking? Ik my concepts are solid, I am able to solve the gestion when i am reviewing.
I struggle to contemplate what the question actually is.
What do I do?
I know my concepts are solid, but what do I do with this.
Aiming at least Q83

Quant
Verbal
Di
I have attached the graph here
Any suggestion to improvefrom 415 to 700 plus in a m

Has anyone tried GMAT Point, I am not doing so well in quant and on this sub, people say to ge the easier questions correct rather than going to hard questions, but I feel like I am behind in concepts/foundations, and they are advertising 134 concept videos. Is this much different that egmat, or some of the other major brands.