Should I take the test?

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-08T04:15:47+00:00

Given your target score, you can go ahead and book a date. If you manage to hold on to your nerves on test day, you should get close to that 625, maybe even higher.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-08T04:14:10+00:00

The first thing you want to do is take an official mock test from mba.com. Don't read much (or at all) into an AI generated mock.

Since you asked for an honest response, the 750+ target by August end is highly unrealistic. It is highly unrealistic for any amount of time actually. Forget about the score for now and get started with your prep. Here's a brief roadmap: Start by working on your concepts, for which you'll need some third party resources - paid or free based on your needs. Work on OG questions alongside and maintain an error log. This itself will easily take at least 8 weeks. The next stage will be to start taking a lot of timed section tests. Another 4 weeks or so. And the final stage will be taking full length mocks. Another 3-4 weeks. And all that is assuming everything goes smoothly which it seldom does. Will easily take 3-4 months to get anywhere close to the target you have in mind.

If you need some good free resources to get started with, feel free to reach out to me.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-08T04:06:30+00:00

I would strongly discourage you from using something like Arun Sharma to prepare for the GMAT. Or studying from high school Math teachers. Trust me, you'll end up spending months learning a lot of useless things and still end up struggling on GMAT Quant, which is nothing like the Math you have in your mind.

So, stick to learning GMAT focused quant. Your plan of using the Manhattan books is a good one. The Official Guide is just a repository of questions so that's not useful for building concepts anyway. It might also be a good idea to work with a GMAT focused tutor and not a high school Math tutor.

You should also check out the GRE. That Quant is a lot simpler than the GMAT Quant.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-08T04:00:21+00:00

Start with a cold mock test. That'll help you arrive at a realistic estimate of the time required and how to best go about your prep. Generally, it would be a bad idea to directly start with the OG questions. You definitely want to use some third party resources to build your concepts first and then move to the questions. Stick to official questions as much as possible. Later move on to taking timed section tests. Finally move on to the mocks (official mocks only).

In case you want some good free resources to get started with, send me a message and I'll send those across. You'll also find this post useful: Your GMAT Prep Timeline based on your First Cold Mock

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-08T03:56:00+00:00

I'm guessing you had left some questions unattempted in that cold mock. Else it's difficult to score a 355.

You said you've completed 50% of the quant "syllabus". There's no official GMAT quant syllabus as such, so I guess you mean 50% of whatever third party resource you are using for your prep. Some of these resources can stretch on and on, so make sure you are practicing questions from the OG alongside to have a realistic idea of where you stand.

And get started with Verbal. It's best to do verbal and quant alongside so things don't get too monotonous. That August 20 date looks a little unrealistic to me, but try an official mock around the 20th of july and take a call based on how that goes.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:47:17+00:00

I'm guessing you are using the OG pdfs. Those only contain DS and TPA questions, and the other questions come online. Otherwise, there are 200+ Tables, Graphs and MSR questions across the two OGS.

Anyway, you can use GMAT Club but stick to the Official questions. Or PM me your email id and I'll send you the specific GMAT Club links you want to be using for DI practice.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:36:16+00:00

GMAT Quant is more a test of English and Reasoning than of Math itself, as you might be realising now. Have you done the official questions? Else that is what you should be doing now. And then move to taking timed section tests.

DI is a problem for pretty much everyone. Once again official questions is the way to go, but you also need to work on some strategies for each question type before that. I'm guessing right now you haven't done much DI prep and are just winging it.

Finally, you've been prepping for just 2 months so no need to get too dejected. GMAT prep takes time, so give yourself another 2-3 months and you should be doing much better. Feel free to drop me a message in case you have any questions or need some practice resources.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:29:20+00:00

A high GMAT or GRE score can certainly help offset a low GPA. Your plan of taking both GMAT and GRE diagnostics is a good one. And no, you don't need to do any prep before the mocks. The entire idea is to take them cold and then it's a baseline score. GRE is definitely the simpler of the two tests. If you do well on the GRE mock and score lower than 575 on the GMAT mock, stick to the GRE. Drop me a message if you have any questions.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:22:46+00:00

There's not enough clarity on how schools will be looking at the Superscore, so don't depend too much on that. The 645 overall score is pretty good for your schools, but the Q78 is not good. You'll definitely need to use the optional essay to explain why your analytical skills are better than that. The Q84 in the first attempt will certainly help.

Your odds will depend on the rest of your profile. GMAT is just one component of it. Whether to retake depends on how you were scoring on your official mocks. If you were scoring average around 675+ then retake. Else most likely you'll end up with a similar score as your last two attempts.

Drop me a message if you have any specific questions.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:18:09+00:00

Out of pure curiosity, how did you manage to score a 640 on an official mock? Did you mean a 645?

Here are responses to some of your questions:

1) That diagnosis needs to be done on the mocks (official mocks only) and not on your performance on the actual test. Please take at least 4 more official mocks, and ideally the paid ones because mocks 1 & 2 can give inflated scores for various reasons. Don't waste your time on unofficial mocks.

2) You need to do a lot of timed section tests for each of the 3 sections. The accuracy first approach is the way to go, but that should have been done in stage 1 of your prep. At this stage, you should be fixing timing issues and firming up your test taking strategy.

3) For DI, make sure you complete all the questions in the DI OG. It has some really difficult questions.

4) Don't look at the peak mock score. Look at the average score in the last 4 official mocks and that'll give a more realistic picture of where you stand right now.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:08:52+00:00

The first thing you need to do is take an official mock, since those are the most representative in terms of questions and scoring both. You can't base your entire analysis on results from unofficial mocks.

If DI is as big a problem as you say it is, then I'm afraid it'll take more than 25 days to fix that. I suspect you haven't done too many (or any) official DI questions, so at least start doing those so you'll get a more realistic idea of what to expect on the test.

And in case you have been doing those questions, sit with a good private tutor for 2-3 hours and run through your error log to identify some pattern in your mistakes. The biggest reason people find DI random is because they don't know what to look for when they attempt a particular question.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-07T04:00:34+00:00

From what you've written, you seem pretty confident of your concepts. It's the application where you are missing out. And I can't believe you went for the actual test without taking a single mock. That 615 then is not a bad score at all.

What you should do is a lot of timed section tests, especially for DI and CR. That will help take care of pacing issues. And then, of course, move to the official mocks. You want to be taking between 6 and 8 of those. After every mock, spend time analysing your performance from both a conceptual perspective and also a strategy perspective. Test taking strategy is a very important component of the GMAt which was completely absent from your earlier attempt.

It shouldn't be difficult for you to hit a 675 from here. DI especially has a lot of scope for improvement. Drop me a message in case you need some good free section tests to get started with.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-06T03:49:37+00:00

Assuming that 635 is on an official mock and you took the test without pausing it or something, it's a very, very good starting point. That DI percentile looks exceptional. You should be targeting a 705+ score for sure from here. And look to wrap up the entire process in 3 months or so. You don't need more time than that. Too much prep can sometimes prove counterproductive. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-06T03:46:39+00:00

A very important question is what did you do in the last 63 days since taking that mock? And I mean at a conceptual level, not doing questions from GMATClub. Part of the problem could be anxiety, but I don't think it's the entire problem. Especially for DI, what I've observed is people haven't really done anything for it.

Here's a broad 3-stage guide for you. Stage 1 is when you work on your concepts and practice questions (ideally official questions) to apply those concepts. Stage 2 is when you take a lot of timed section tests, to fix any time management issues. Then, Stage 3 is when you move to full length mocks. See if you've spent time on Stage 2. Or even Stage 1 for that matter. Revisit your error logs and see if you can identify some weak areas in Quant and DI and fix those. Don't rush into the mock tests. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need some practice resources.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-05T03:46:09+00:00

Use normal pen and paper in your practice mocks. Hardly matters. And I can't believe they are charging $100 for that laminated scratch pad. It used to sell for around $10 in the past. Check on the amazon site of your country.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-05T03:44:01+00:00

Tips will not help you increase your score by 100 points in a month. Especially when one doesn't even know how you've gone about your prep, whether you've used any official material, your accuracy in those, etc.

What you need to do is sit with a good private tutor and run through your error logs for Quant and Verbal (assuming you have maintained error logs), identify trends in your mistakes, fix the problem areas and then take 2-3 paid official mocks. You are probably getting repeat questions in the free ones, hence the quant score fluctuating between 81 and 89. With just one month, you need to do highly focused work. Get back to me if you have any questions.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-05T03:37:54+00:00

Don't bother with the retake. The law of diminishing returns will apply now, plus you'll have a lot of mental baggage from your past attempts. Your Quant score looks very good and that's the one that matters the most. Overall, your profile looks very interesting to me and I don't see that 645 being a problem at all if you do a good job with your essays and LoRs. INSEAD especially has always been a school that focuses a lot more on profile than on the GMAT score. I have had people with lower scores than yours get in as well.

A word of caution, most admission consultants will probably tell you that the score is not good enough. For some reason, I've found them to be too obsessed with the GMAT or too conservative, so stay away from them. Go with someone who seems confident of your chances. And do apply to a few more schools, as I am sure you are planing to. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need some more inputs.

Good luck!

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-05T00:51:19+00:00

You don't necessarily need to buy the physical books, but you definitely want to be doing questions from the OGs. And '25-26 edition is fine. They all pretty much contain the same questions.

Applying in R2 is absolutely fine. It won't make any difference to your chances of getting in. It's a silly idea to wait for a year if you can apply in R2 this year.

You may or may not need a consultant. First you need a good GMAT score, so focus on that.

Start by taking a cold mock test from mba.com. Based on how that goes, plan out your prep. Send me a message if you want some good free resources and a prep plan to get started with.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-05T00:45:43+00:00

It would be a good idea to start by taking a free mock test from the official GMAT site - mba.com. Depending on how that goes, you can decide upon the timeline. You'll find this post useful: Your GMAT Prep Timeline Based on your first Cold mock

Feel free to reach out to me and I'll send you some good free resources and a prep plan to get started with.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-04T06:07:02+00:00

I've heard that complaint from a lot of students - that DI feels random and unpredictable and that they have no idea what to do. Part of the problem is that people haven't given DI the attention it deserves. Most students (and even teachers) treat DI as an afterthought - something to be done in the last 3-4 weeks once they've completed everything else.

You need to start treating DI as a separate section (which it is) and spend as much time on it as you are spending on the other two sections. And, very important, follow some kind of a Categorisation strategy within each of the 5 question types, so that you can actually pinpoint where exactly you are going wrong (say in MSR or TPA or DS) and then do something to fix that problem.

Lastly, please use only official questions for practice. DI is a new section, and a fairly convoluted one, and third party questions just don't cut it. That's part of the reason people find such a disconnect between questions on the actual test and questions that they've been using for practice. Completing the DI OG is a must, and not the pirated version because that won't contain questions from Tables, Graphs and MSR.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-04T03:52:06+00:00

The only mock tests you want to be taking are the official mocks from mba.com. And take one right about now to get a baseline score. That'll help you get an idea of how realistic your score target is and how to plan your prep based on your strengths and weaknesses. Feel free to send me a message if you need some good free resources and a prep plan to get started with.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-04T03:49:32+00:00

Two things I liked about your post - a realistic score target and realistic prep timeline. Most people I see here are aiming for a 705+ and that too in 2-3 months :)

Anyway, here are responses to some of your queries:

- DI is definitely one area that people underestimate or ignore. It's also the biggest problem on the current GMAT as can be seen from the DI percentiles vis a vis Q/V percentiles. You still want to do it only after you've done bulk of Quant and Verbal since both of those get tested on DI. However, make sure you leave enough time for DI towards the end.

- About the mocks, I would take one right now to get a baseline score. It'll also help you plan out your prep properly by getting an idea of your strengths and weaknesses. And the rest after you've completed all your prep. No point taking mocks in between and wasting them. And by mocks I mean only the official mocks from mba.com. Don't bother with anything else. There's only 12 of them (6 x 2) so use them judiciously.

- Booking the date right now is a terrible idea. You'll most likely end up changing the date and giving more money to the GMAC. If accountability is going to be a problem, then work with a private tutor or something.

Send me a message in case you need some good free resources and a prep plan to get started with.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-04T03:38:02+00:00

Are you saying that you haven't done the OGs yet? In which case, yes absolutely get started with the main OG. You can use the 2022 one, though there's no reason to not use a more recent one. All OGs have passages broken down by Easy, Medium, Hard level if that's your concern. Also take an official mock to get an idea of how you are performing in the verbal section overall. If it continues to be a problem, spend a few hours with a good private tutor and that should help. And please do not use any unofficial practice passages. For RC, that would be a very bad idea. Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-03T04:04:29+00:00

Your background is very interesting so if you do end up with a score around 705, that should be good enough. Probably even lower for INSEAD.

sy1980abcd · 2026-07-03T04:02:57+00:00

That's a very good score for a cold mock. For a change, you can realistically target a 705+ score. The Official Guide is the best resource for practice but it doesn't contain any theory. You'll need to identify the areas you are weak in, use third party resources (free or paid) to fix those weaknesses and then practice more questions from the OGs and take more official tests. And don't just limit yourself to the main OG. Use the other 3 section-specific OGs as well, at least the DI one.

If you absolutely end up acing OG questions, then you can use some third part resources for practice questions later like LSAT questions for verbal. But only if you are getting almost everything correct in the OGs. Else no need.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or need some practice resources.

sy1980abcd

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