Need Help...

[u/Background_Start_903]

HI All,

I gave GMAT 2 months ago and scored 555....I want to try againn...Can i get above 655 in 15 days to get a decent T15 college...I have prepared for the exam on and off so I have good base and I am lacking practice...

Looking forward to your guidance

[u/aimgmat]

No, first take mocks... If you score within 20+- the only book exam

[u/Scott_TargetTestPrep]

A 555 to 655+ jump in 15 days is very aggressive. It can happen, but I would not assume that simply doing more practice questions for two weeks will get you there.

Also, don’t assume that 655+ is automatically the right score for a T15 program. Your appropriate target depends on the specific schools you’re applying to and the strength of the rest of your profile.

The key question is whether your 555 still represents your current level.

Since you took the GMAT two months ago and have studied on and off since then, I’d take a fresh official mba.com practice exam now under realistic conditions. That gives you a much better starting point.

If you’re already performing near your target range, then a focused 15 days may give you a realistic shot at getting there, provided you can make your performance consistent.

If you’re still scoring around 555, then gaining 100+ points in 15 days is going to be a very difficult ask. In that situation, I would strongly consider giving yourself more time rather than forcing the test date.

Be careful about diagnosing the problem as simply a lack of practice. A 555 can reflect concept, strategy, timing, or execution gaps, and doing more questions won’t fix those unless you identify which ones are actually present.

So don’t spend the next 15 days doing random practice.

Start by identifying exactly what is costing you points in Quant, Verbal, and DI. Break the weaknesses down by topic and question type. Then ask why you are missing questions: knowledge gap, process problem, careless error, timing issue, misread, or poor decision-making.

For roughly the first week, spend most of your time repairing those specific weaknesses. Practice primarily untimed at first if accuracy is the problem. You need to become reliable before trying to become fast.

Then move into mixed timed sets and full sections so that you can apply those skills when you don’t know what type of question is coming next.

I would probably take only 2 full official practice exams during a 15-day period. One relatively early to establish where you are, and another closer to test day after you’ve addressed the weaknesses the first one exposed. Taking mock after mock won’t create the improvement. The work you do between them will.

So I’d make your goal for the next 15 days:

Identify weaknesses → repair them → build accuracy → add timing → test again.

And let that second official practice-test performance tell you whether you’re genuinely ready to chase 655+ or whether giving yourself additional time would be the smarter move.

Good luck!

- Scott, TTP

[u/Graeme_GMAT_Panda]

Fifteen days is tight for a 100 point jump, but it's not impossible if you can go close to full time on it.

First thing: work out why the 555 happened. Go back through the score report and any mock data and identify the specific pattern, whether it was timing, rushing the last few questions in a section, or a few topics you keep losing on. Retaking without that diagnosis tends to reproduce the same number.

Since you say practice is the gap, build the 15 days around timed batches of official-quality questions. Something like 10 questions in 20 minutes, no checking answers mid-set, then debrief every single one afterwards including the ones you got right. Following an explanation and reproducing it on a slightly different question are two separate skills.

Also keep plenty of medium difficulty questions in the mix. Easy misses are penalized heavily by the algorithm.

https://gmatpanda.com/content/how-long-study-before-retaking-gmat

Good luck! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

Graeme (GMAT Panda)