How I Got a 770 Score on the GMAT

In this video, Magoosh GMAT expert, Erika, shares 4 study strategies that helped her score a 770 on the GMAT. Follow along to learn some tips on how to improve your GMAT score!
00:00 - Erika introduces herself and her test prep background
00:35 - Understand how the test is scored
02:15 - Know where to focus
03:18 - Never made a mistake more than once
04:36 - Study consistently
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[@d.v4500]

Guys how difficult is to get a 650 score?

[@erikatyler-john2005]

Hey D. V! A 650 is a 73rd %ile, so that means you need to score better than 73% of other test takers. It also means that you need to be getting questions with difficulties in the 500s and low 600s pretty consistently correct. But how difficult that's going to be *totally depends on you*. If you're scoring in the 600s already, a 650 is likely pretty achievable with consistent study targeted at your weaknesses. If you're scoring lower, you'll probably need a longer timeline to build up your content knowledge and work on your testing strategy. Happy to provide more specific guidance if you want to share more about your personal GMAT background!

[@nehaagarwal7653]

@@erikatyler-john2005 How to identify the questions to be in the 500s or 600s or 700s.

[@erikatyler-john2005]

@@nehaagarwal7653 , great question! The easiest option is to use material that indicates the difficulty of questions. A lot of material (like official practice questions and the questions in Magoosh GMAT) will tell you if a question is "easy", "medium", or "hard" - so it doesn't give you the exact level, but you can at least get an idea of where you need to focus your energy.

[@aryanmalik7386]

@@erikatyler-john2005 Hey Erika I have posted a question on work experience please answer that and I have 1-2 more questions as well so is there any way you can answer that also like where do I ask them

[@cesare2340]

Hi erica, wow. I did my first gmat test 2 weeks ago, after 3 weeks of studying and I got 760. I think that THIS is the real skill if you want to get a high score in the quant section: being able to understand in 15 seconds if a question will take too long to answer and skip it. I did it for 3 hard questions and saved a lot of time for the others, still getting a 51/51

[@Selahhhhhhhhhhh]

Oh wow can you explain this a bit more? It's okay to skip questions? I kept reading that you're not supposed to skip any at all.

[@cesare2340]

@@Selahhhhhhhhhhh I don't think so, at least for my personal experience. In the quant is possible that you'll find a couple of questions that are really too long to do, even if you know the process to solve them, it would take 3-4 mins to find the exact answer. Moreover, it is likely that after you start doing it you'll find out that you don't know how to continue and you will then have Lost 2-3 mins and guessed the question, like you should have done from the beginning. As I wrote previously, I got 51/51 and I still guessed 3 difficult question after 15 sec that I read them. So I gained 4/5 minutes for the remaining questions

[@pauline9324]

@cesare2340 Hello, I am trying to have the same results and your study technique seems to be very productive. Could you please tell me which material you used to have this result ? Thanks very much 🙏

[@cesare2340]

@@pauline9324 hi Pauline. I just bought the main Gmat book (the big one with 1000 exercises) and the two smaller ones (with 300 exercises for verbal and 300 for quant). Personally I just used the code and did them online to save time. Did all of them doing 20/30 exercises in blocks just to practice also the length. After each "block" I reviewed the wrong ones and wrote down the solution on a paper. After finishing all 1600 exercises I re-did the one I got wrong (maybe like 400-500 of them). After that I re did the ones I got wrong also the second time (like 100 of them) and then just reviewed this ones I got wrong 3 times. The last week I did 4 practice tests (2 free and 2 extra bought). I hope to be helpful in some way!

[@behzodzikriyayev1423]

@@cesare2340 can you tell me about these book?

[@kalleelarosa]

Great video Erika, this is such valuable advice! Strategically letting go of very hard/time consuming questions is one of the main strategies I used to push my score above 700.

[@jessicawansoprano]

Studying consistently can be challenging, I'm glad that Magoosh has study schedules!

[@juancarloscevallos3899]

I'm impressed by your level of speaking fluency and clarity, congratulations!!! May I ask something ? . Which is the most practical way to detect if a question will take too long to be answered? Are there any hacks or shortcuts to know this? Thanks!

[@aseemkumar9193]

Really great video. Understood some deep insights of GMAT that is needed for a test taker. Thanks for making such a valuable video. Keep inspiring us.

[@hoozanpirozmand7051]

Thank you Erica... Youe videos, as always, are so helpful ❤️

[@learningdesignstudios]

This is the first video I ever saw in relation to GMAT and I find it mindblowing for someone is planning to start the preparation. Scrolled down and realized the channel is posting videos from 11 years with single focus on GMAT. Will be checking out other videos in future, all the best team and thank you Erika!

[@MagooshGMAT]

Awesome, welcome to the channel! We hope it's helped you as much as it has the students before you :)

[@amritak4211]

"Perfection is not required for a perfect score" "Every time you make the same mistake, you make it more likely that you're going to build this bad habit" SO HELPFUL!

[@onkarsawantbhosle3146]

Erica from PrepScholar. Nice to see her here.

[@MagooshGMAT]

We're glad to have her here as well :)

[@kevinrocci3793]

GMAT scoring is so hard to understand. I think that'd be a great video! :)

[@YourBabyPotato]

Yes Erika, i would love a video on verbal sectional scoring. Please

[@erikatyler-john2005]

Great to know! Thanks, Sanskaar!

[@ARM26878]

@@erikatyler-john2005 Did u happen to make that video on how verbal is scored differently than quant section? Thanks

[@edward_williams8958]

Hey Erica thank you for your invaluable advice ❤️❤️❤️

[@MagooshGMAT]

You're very welcome! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment :) I think these are some really helpful videos!

[@leonidas759]

Is there a video with more information on the strategy of how to let difficult questions go?

[@jainamvora6811]

Thanks Erika and the Magoosh team behind this insightful video. I would love to know more on point of Never making mistake more than once. What was the approach? Is it using an error log or writing down notes for every single error on the Excel? Curious to know how a test taker can live up to such a high standard?

[@erikatyler-john2005]

Great timing, Jainam! We just posted a video on this topic last week - you can check it out here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/npPScquVrtOEe5I

[@jainamvora6811]

@@erikatyler-john2005 Thats amazing! Thanks a ton

[@arnab2312]

I was just practicing from Magoosh when this video showed up. Please put up videos of Erika on SC and CR particularly.

[@erikatyler-john2005]

You're definitely not the only one requesting Verbal videos, so hopefully we'll get some up soon! Thanks, Arnab!

[@arnab2312]

@@erikatyler-john2005 Thanks a ton :-)

[@hbakereph]

It's nice to know you can intentionally guess on a few and still get a top score 😅

[@ananyadas2042]

On an average how many questions can you miss (combining both hard and medium level) to get a 730+?

[@rajeshsajja6022]

This single video is better than some entire coaching institutes' routine preparation plans

[@toyosioyebanji1241]

How do you know the questions in the 500 and 700

[@akshat2610]

This went over my head

[@MagooshGMAT]

Keep working at it!

[@saumya_42]

I'm new to this but what does missing a question mean? Like leaving a question without selecting an option? Or just selecting a random option and move on?

[@erikatyler-john2005]

Great question, Saumya! This is confusing for a lot of new test takers. There's actually no way of "skipping" a question without putting in an answer on the GMAT - you *must* select an answer in order to move onto the next question. So "missing" a question means selecting the wrong answer, either because you made a mistake or because you're guessing to save on time. Worth noting that "guessing" doesn't necessarily mean selecting a random option! You can often do some process of elimination first to narrow down your options before selecting an answer, which raises your likelihood of getting the problem right by chance. That said, a random guess is still better than sitting on a problem for way too long. Hope that helps!

[@saumya_42]

@@erikatyler-john2005 Yes, it does! Thank you so much for explaining this. Much appreciated!!

[@adultshark166]

Harvard: We want you to have around 700+ on GMAT Me: I identify as a 800 GMAT scorer Checkmate

[@MagooshGMAT]

🙌

[@user-bp8ph7fl4b]

Hiii magoosh. I'm a beginner for GMAT , can you send any videos to start my preparation.

[@MagooshGMAT]

Hi! You can start by watching this kzbin.info/www/bejne/roCWipR4bNeWaJY and this blog post magoosh.com/gmat/how-to-prepare-for-gmat/. Hope this helps!

[@pranayjakkula7783]

Hey Erika, What should be the verbal and quant scores to get a 750 in 2021? Could you guys kindly make a video on GMAT score pattern?

[@MagooshGMAT]

Hey there! I think this blog post is what you are looking for: magoosh.com/gmat/gmat-score-calculator/ But GMAT scoring is very complex and opaque! So I wouldn't worry too much about it. From the chart, though, you can see that there are many ways to get a 750, including around Q49 V43. Hope that helps!

[@MagooshGMAT]

We will also definite consider a video on this, since it's so complicated :)

[@zeynand4039]

How do you know at what level the gmat question is? Where do I find 500 level questions, 600 level questions, 700qs?

[@MagooshGMAT]

Hi Zeyna, it's very hard to tell the precise level of a question! GMAT scoring is notoriously opaque and complicated. That said, this article might help! magoosh.com/gmat/is-this-a-700-level-gmat-question/

[@dhruvsharma5175]

can u please make a video about section video on the gmat?

[@MagooshGMAT]

Indeed, more will be coming!

[@danielmoore9214]

I am totally new to GMAT and educated in the UK (law) what would you suggest for a beginner please ?

[@MagooshGMAT]

Check out our helpful article What is the GMAT: Everything You Need to Know--magoosh.com/gmat/gmat-101/. And, be sure to check out our GMAT study plans, which take you through everything you need for the test-- gmat.magoosh.com/plans. 😃

[@yashvardhansingh9486]

When you say 'miss questions', you mean afford to get them wrong? Can someone please clarify?

[@jabhatta]

Hi Erica - just curious, how would you tackle a problem like this one Technically, "quicksand" is the term for sand that is so saturated with water as to acquire a liquid's character. (A) that is so saturated with water as to acquire a liquid's character (B) that is so saturated with water that it acquires the character of a liquid (C) that is saturated with water enough to acquire liquid characteristics (D) saturated enough with water so as to acquire the character of a liquid (E) saturated with water so much as to acquire a liquid character

[@erikatyler-john2005]

Hey Jaideep! This is a tough one. A lot of folks are going to approach this one pretty idiomatically, but I'm not a fan of idioms (and GMAC has been pretty inconsistent with "so that" vs. "so as to"), so I prefer a more meaning-based approach. I think the explanation closest to the one I would give is this one by EmpowerGMATVerbal in this GMAT Club thread: gmatclub.com/forum/technically-quicksand-is-the-term-for-sand-that-is-so-saturated-wit-268593.html#p2255594

[@rfctdg9988]

Who are you?

[@jyotithakur8437]

B

[@Gogetaover90000]

C?

[@rice-ut8bm]

B

[@millicentnyagaka637]

Hi Erika, I'm really confused on how getting half of the questions right and half of them wrong can guarantee you a top score on GMAT

[@MagooshGMAT]

Hi Millicent! If you get more than half of the questions right, then the GMAT will start to give you harder and harder problems, until each one is extremely difficult. It will only decrease the difficulty when you start to get less than 50% correct. Your score, then, is the level of difficulty of the questions you get right half the time. If you get a very high score, then you will get more than half of the section correct, since it will take a few questions for the system to hone in on your ability level. But eventually you will get half right and half wrong, and then the system will know your score. The only exception would be if you are like a top 1% scorer, in which case you might get more than half correct even of the hardest questions possible! The scoring can be quite confusing, but luckily you aren't required to understand it :) Your job now is to learn as much as you can, and your only task on the test is to do your best and get as many right as you can!

[@millicentnyagaka637]

Thank you so much

[@molly_percocet4207]

Is it better to skip a question or to give an incorrect answer?

[@mbaman7363]

thanks mam. can you please take a SC session on comparison & parallelism?

[@erikatyler-john2005]

One of my favorite topics! We'll add it to the list. :)

[@mbaman7363]

@@erikatyler-john2005 thank you so much mam. I tried to follow your tips, am getting 80% accuracy in SC for the GMATClub tests in 500 level. But for 700+ it drops to 50% :( shall I start from the basics? Just 2 weeks since I started my preparation.

[@erikatyler-john2005]

​@@mbaman7363 Alright, a couple thoughts here. First, when it comes to SC, you'll get more mileage out of focusing on the 500 and 600 level questions you're missing than doing a bunch of 700+ level questions. Second, make sure you're focusing on the Verbal question type you're performing worst on - your performance on a single Verbal question type affects your difficulty across the whole section, so you should prioritize studying the question type you miss the most on a full-length practice test. If that's SC, keep doing what you're doing! If it's RC or CR, consider emphasizing those questions instead, again focusing on the lowest difficulty questions you're missing.

[@mbaman7363]

thanks for your help mam. It's very much appreciated! I, focussing only on the 700+ was a faulty strategy. Although it works for me in Quant, this does not suffice in the Verbal esp the SC section.

[@Nick-hl2rr]

What is the reality I get accepted to a university MBA program with a couple C's on my transcripts but a 700+ GMAT?

[@MagooshGMAT]

It really depends on the program! Try looking at the average GPA and test scores for each program to see how it compares to yours.

[@shivamsinghal4848]

What is the difference between To be and as big as in the last official example of killer whale ??

[@MagooshGMAT]

Sorry, I'm not sure what question you're asking about 😬

[@shivamsinghal4848]

@@MagooshGMAT I think I wanted to ask this question in GMATNinja video. Posted at wrong place 😑😑

[@eatsleep8688]

build regularity

[@MagooshGMAT]

👍

[@francoisbessing]

Understood. So the GMAT is the real world Kobiyashi Maru.

[@MagooshGMAT]

🤣 It can feel that way but it can be won!

[@nickgood3998]

Taking a test only test your ability to take test.

[@MagooshGMAT]

Pretty much!

[@hashemamer9179]

What a cutie!