420 on first try then 410 on the second try!

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420 on first try then 410 on the second try!

by jmucha » Mon Oct 10, 2011 2:33 am
The first time I took the exam I was working full time and barely had time to study. I gave myself one month. I was extremely disappointed but from what I read before it takes a lot more than one month. Especially considering I haven't done ANY math since high school. I'm looking to apply to a few Cal State Universities. In fact, I had applied to one already. So I decided to try again. This time I gave myself one month again and I studied full-time. Yet my score is worse! You can imagine how discouraged I was. I want to try again. One more time, third time's the charm right? Well, now I'm just trying to decide what I should do differently. I think my issues were mostly with data sufficiency questions and timing with problem-solving. I thought I had verbal down but I need to seriously work on that too. I've read that I need to do the OG over and over again. I can do that.

Does anyone have any recommendations for what books I should get, and how I figure out the strategies in the verbal sections.

Feeling extremely low but this time I've got to really focus. Any recommendations would be so great right now.

Thank you.

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by Hayek33 » Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:04 am
Hello, I am sorry to hear that your second score was not more in line with your expectations. I think we could help out much more if we know what materials you used, which practice cats, and what your score/split was. That way more specific comments can be made.

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by Avinash_Tyagi » Tue Oct 11, 2011 9:42 pm
What is your target socre, how much time are you willing to spend preparing, and what sources are you planning to use?

I would say for every 100 points you want to gain, you probably need about one and a half months of prep, with about 20 hours of study a week.

I would go with Knewton, the MGMAT 8 guides and the Powerscore SC and CR books as well the the OG and the two OG supplement (Quant and verbal) books as your resources for prepping.

First focus on getting the basic concepts down, once you do, take a practice test and gauge your weak points, then practice working on those sections and your timing