Advice needed.

anshul265 · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:20 am Post subject: Advice needed.

I have been preparing for gmat for a few months. Recently my scores have been in the range of 680-710, with 45-48 in quant and 34-38 in verbal.
Firstly, I would like to the standard of Mgmat tests. As in, Kaplan tests are supposed to be harder than the actual. Is the difficulty level of mgmat test similar to that of the real gmat test?
An imp flaw that I have noticed during my tests is, I am always short on time in quant section. Every time I finish the section by hurriedly marking atleast 4-5 last questions without even reading them. How can improve my speed?
In mgmat tests the difficulty level of the questions is shown during review. The first question is generally from the 500-600 range. As I keep doing the questions correct, it increases the range. So by the 3rd question I am in the 700-800 range. Now, it maintains the range at 700-800. If I get one wrong, it will again give me a question from the same range. Only if I go wrong with 2-3 questions in that range, it brings me down to 600-700 range. Again as soon as I get that right, it takes me back to the 700 range. The problem with this is, 80-90% of my test is from the 700 range. These questions are hard and wordy. On an avg they consume easily more that 2 mins. Is it very similar in the real gmat?
I have mostly given up on the Verbal section. SC is fine, CR is ok but RC is k!II!ng. I have tried different methods to do it, but just don't seem to improve. It all depends on the passage. If I am able to understand the passage, I get all questions right whereas, if the passage is complicated, I would get mostly all questions wrong. Can someone suggest what can I do about consistency?
Thanks.

mayonnai5e · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:03 pm Post subject:

You've asked many questions in one gigantic paragraph and that may be why you haven't had any responses yet. It's easier to follow along and easier to spot the questions if you break up what you are saying.

In any case, I'll try to answer your questions one by one, but forgive me if I miss some:
* Yes, I believe the MGMAT questions are similar to the real GMAT. I think it is one of the best cats out there.
* Speed improvements come from two things generally: practice and familiarity. Both work together to help your mind find the fastest solution path to the correct answer. Practice involves timing your practice sets. Familiarity involves learning the material and understanding all aspects of each topic.
* In the quant portion of the MGMAT cats, on average, the questions are very similar in style and difficulty to the ones you'll find on the real GMAT (you can compare them to the OG questions if you like); however, there are definitely some extremely long/wordy questions that you will never find on the real GMAT.
* If you are having problems understanding certain types of passages, you will probably benefit from reading more passages of that specific type. in order to acclimate yourself to such passages.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

anshul265 · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:21 pm Post subject:

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

I found few other similar topics and I think it is safe to assume that MGMAT results are fairly close to the real test.

Regarding RC, reading many comprehensions of the type I dislike might really help.

Thanks again.