GMAT Strategy

Hey all,

6 days to go, and took my second practice test today. Proud to say I got a 730 (Q49, V41), seeing some definite improvement in Sentence Correction and math.

Here's my breakdown:


"¢ Math: 49 (27 correct, 10 incorrect)
o PS: 17 / 19
o DS: 10 / 18
"¢ Verbal: 41 (31 correct, 10 incorrect)
o SC: 13 / 18
o CR: 6 / 10
o RC: 12 / 13

(Side note: Seems weird I get the same number incorrect on both, but Verbal is so much lower??)

My goal is 770+, which would involve bumping up DS, SC, and CR. I think conceptually I'm there: just need to practice more problems in OG for DS and SC like I have for PS, to expose myself to various conceptual quirks as well as practicing under timed conditions. As for CR, I think I'm rusty...I got only 7 incorrect out of the 120 some in OG , so I want to do some more practice problems to get back in the swing of that. Anyone know of free resources for more difficult CR problems?

All that aside, looking for feedback on how I plan to spend my last couple days. Here's what I'm thinking:

Thursday:
-20 DS problems (40 minutes)
-20 SC problems (35 minutes)
-Review Beat The GMAT for answers to specific questions (will post tonight)
-Review techniques for strength/assumption/weakness CR questions (seem to be a favorite on GMAT)
-20 CR problems (35 minutes)
Friday:
-20 DS problems (40 minutes)
-20 PS problems (40 minutes)
-20 SC problems (35 minutes)
-20 CR problems (35 minutes)
Saturday:
-20 DS problems (40 minutes)
-20 PS problems (40 minutes)
-20 SC problems (35 minutes)
-20 CR problems (35 minutes)
-Should be out of OG practice problems at this point, but should have a good feel now for doing blocks of problems under timed conditions.
-Begin re-solving all the DS/PS/CR/SC problems I got incorrect, or took too long to solve.

Sunday:
-Redo all the DS/CR/SC/PS problems I got incorrect, or took too long to solve.
-Any that I got incorrect again, do a third time!

Monday: Browse various challenging problems I've successfully solved, make a list of all the topics I've learned to re-inforce confidence, play video games, relax!

Tuesday: Beat the GMAT!

hey cbenk121,

looking at your test score and prep plan I must say you will sure beat the GMAT

One thing I noted was that you are keeping a lot of time for solving 20 SC problems, unless you are including the review time as well, 35 minutes is a bit relaxed i think.
I have come across many posts and even the MGMAT SC guide says that we should practice to keep the SC problems within one minute per question...and I have been practicing that a lot and I have come to believe that it is possible
and the time we save on SC is better utilised in the RC and tougher CRs

That would be my suggestion to you.

For some free practice of RC, CR and SC you may check this site
https://litesee.com/gmat.htm
Although it doesnt have the explanations, but the questions are good (but a bit tight on timing)

Your plan looks great...go beat the GMAT

Cheers,
Vivek

if you can get some, i'd take at least 2-3 more full length CATS during your last 6 days. i think your GMAT preptest scores show that you've pretty much mastered the concepts. i also had a 730 on my last full length test before the actual GMAT. i think the difference between this score and a 770+ comes down to a few things:

1) timing. not sure if you generally work fast or slow, but both of these are bad in terms of taking the GMAT. ideally, you'll want to pace yourself so that you finish each section with about 1 min left. the only way to address this timing issue is by taking many practice tests.

2) intangibles. taking a practice test in the comfort of your own home is one thing. taking it in a test center where it can be too hot/cold/loud/humid is another. you can't let the "little" things like this bother you on test day. drill into your head that these minor things will NOT bother you on test day

3) test day prep. i don't mean studying wise.. but some things that affect people on test day are: lack of sleep, anxiety (about what to tell friends/family if they do poorly, about whether they will get into their top schools, etc). you have to leave all that stuff on the sideline, and focus on getting enough sleep the night before, and then on gameday mentally preparing yourself to focus on the test, and nothing but the test. dont do any studying the day of.

if you can get your hands on the MGMAT tests (by buying one of their subject guides you get 6 full length CATS), i'd recommend this. their full length tests are a little harder than the GMAT Preptest IMO, but the practice is well worth it (dont focus on the scores you get, just focus on perfecting your timing skills). if you cant get the MGMAT books in time, you can still go on their website and take a free full length test. do this, and also try reinstalling the gmat preptest software so you can re-take the tests (i'm assuming you already took the gmat preptest twice). good luck

shadowsjc wrote:if you can get some, i'd take at least 2-3 more full length CATS during your last 6 days. i think your GMAT preptest scores show that you've pretty much mastered the concepts. i also had a 730 on my last full length test before the actual GMAT. i think the difference between this score and a 770+ comes down to a few things:

1) timing. not sure if you generally work fast or slow, but both of these are bad in terms of taking the GMAT. ideally, you'll want to pace yourself so that you finish each section with about 1 min left. the only way to address this timing issue is by taking many practice tests.

2) intangibles. taking a practice test in the comfort of your own home is one thing. taking it in a test center where it can be too hot/cold/loud/humid is another. you can't let the "little" things like this bother you on test day. drill into your head that these minor things will NOT bother you on test day

3) test day prep. i don't mean studying wise.. but some things that affect people on test day are: lack of sleep, anxiety (about what to tell friends/family if they do poorly, about whether they will get into their top schools, etc). you have to leave all that stuff on the sideline, and focus on getting enough sleep the night before, and then on gameday mentally preparing yourself to focus on the test, and nothing but the test. dont do any studying the day of.

if you can get your hands on the MGMAT tests (by buying one of their subject guides you get 6 full length CATS), i'd recommend this. their full length tests are a little harder than the GMAT Preptest IMO, but the practice is well worth it (dont focus on the scores you get, just focus on perfecting your timing skills). if you cant get the MGMAT books in time, you can still go on their website and take a free full length test. do this, and also try reinstalling the gmat preptest software so you can re-take the tests (i'm assuming you already took the gmat preptest twice). good luck

Thanks - I think it was testing environment that threw me for a loop, something about having the problem on a computer screen instead of paper...wasn't reading problems very carefully. Just did a bunch of DS questions in OG and my performance significantly improved by just reading more carefully. So, I'm going to do a CAT tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday.

Thanks as well vivekjaiswal...I'll shorten my SC time.