Economist GMAT Free GMAT Test

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Economist GMAT Free GMAT Test

by ddg » Thu Jun 11, 2015 3:00 am
Hi, I would like to speak to any gmat guru about two queries that I've:

I gave the Economist Gmat Free Test: Q47 V33 giving me a score of 660
This is my second mock. I started preparing from March End with ocassional breaks in between due to work and Family concerns.

1st Mock: GMAT Club Tests: Q48 V27 giving me 620
2nd Mock: Economist Free Gmat test: Q47 V33 giving me 660

Although there is an improvement in score by 40 points, obviously I want to score > 700

My queries are:
a) How do I improve my gmat quant from 47 to around 50?
b) SC was a problem for me, I am slowly improving, I am not quite able to pin point my problems...if some one could help me here, I'd be highly obliged, Please please :-/
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by Rich@EconomistGMAT » Thu Jun 11, 2015 7:48 am
Hi ddg,

Before I advise you further, I'm curious to know more about the following:

1) What (if any) other materials have you used to prepare for the GMAT?
2) When are you applying for business school?

Of course, if you haven't already signed up, Economist GMAT Tutor is adaptive to your needs. Since you've already taken a practice exam in GMAT Tutor, upgrading to one of our paid courses would allow you to use your previous results to cater a study plan to your needs, focusing not only on concepts, but teaching you valuable test-taking skills that will help you improve in SC (or any other sections you might want to improve in as well).

Best,
Rich

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by [email protected] » Thu Jun 11, 2015 8:42 am
Hi ddg,

Have you taken any of the CATs available from www.mba.com? It's important to see how these two CAT results compare to an Official CAT result. You should also make sure to take the FULL CAT (including the Essay and IR sections), away from your home, and in a realistic and test-like fashion. That score result will provide important information about your overall strengths and weaknesses and what you should be focusing on.

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by ddg » Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:07 am
@RICH Sir: I am preparing using the OG 2015, although I am going to buy the OG 2016 soon. Also, I am using Magoosh and Manhattan GMAT Strategy Guides. I must also point out saying that I am still studying the guides for verbal. I have finished going through the concepts for Quant from the strategy guides. I plan on giving the GMAT on Aug 6th 2015

@RICH.C Sir: Thank you sir. I shall give one of the GMATPrep CATs as per your advice.

Also How should I practice for Quant and Verbal? First OG, then Mock CATs???

Thanks again!

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by [email protected] » Thu Jun 11, 2015 10:48 pm
Hi ddg,

I'm not convinced that either of your two practice Test scores is completely accurate, so I'm going to wait to offer any additional advice until we have a score from one of the FULL GMAT Prep CATs to review.

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by ddg » Fri Jun 12, 2015 4:37 am
@[email protected] Sir: I have given one of the GMAT PREP Exams that comes with the GMATPrep software. I also have the Question Bank provided additionally by GMAC.

I must say I was very disappointed with my Verbal Score. I got 570: Q46, V23 and IR score 8.0

Please do suggest what I could do to resolve this issue of SC, CR and RC. I'd be highly obliged.


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by [email protected] » Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:10 pm
Hi ddg,

Using this score as your 'baseline' score, a V23 means that you're missing out on points in all 3 major areas (SC, RC and CR). Before we talk about what you can do differently in that section, I'd like to know a bit more about how you've been studying so far:

1) How long have you been studying the Verbal section?
2) Did you finish this Verbal section early? Did you have to rush just to finish? If you rushed, then how many questions did you have to guess on? Did you leave any questions unanswered?

3) What type of 'steps' do you normally take when answer RC and CR questions?

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by ddg » Sat Jun 13, 2015 12:03 am
Respected Rich Sir,
I started my preparation for GMAT in last week of March 2015. I started with going through the Magoosh GMAT videos and reading the MGMAT Strategy guides and making notes.
This took me almost more than a month to complete. I finished in April 2015 practising questions in between from OG 2015.

My preparation for verbal started in mid-May. The first week of May I was busy as my sister got married during that time and I was busy due to the function. I must say I was confused how to initiate my preparation for verbal. And because of this, I studied different topics from here and there as follows:
I went through:
1. Magoosh first few videos- parts of speech, phrases and clauses (although I am a little dazed by the amount of topics)
2. MGMAT SC Guide- I read only the first 5 chapters and made at least 50% errors in the exercise following each chapter.

I am thoroughly confused about my prep and I have two queries:
1.How can I improve my Quant score from 46-47 to 50?
2.How do I go about my Verbal prep as in
a.How to study
b.Where to practice from

While solving CR questions: I try to figure out the core of the argument, i.e. premise and conclusion. Following this I look at the question whether it is a 'find the argument' or 'evaluate' question. Then I try eliminating the choices down to two choices. My problem is one of these choices end up being correct and I choose the wrong one out of the two. :(

While solving RC passages: I try to scan through the passage as fast as I can. I don't take notes. Sometimes I miss out some points. I then look at the question and try to determine what the question is asking. Again, here I face troubles of two types:
1. One is when the answer choices are very close in meaning and argument to each other; I've trouble choosing the right option.
2. If i end up narrowing down to two options: one of them turns right, I end up marking the wrong one.

While Solving SC questions:
1. I read the whole sentence once quickly.
2. I push out prep phrases to figure out whether it is a pronoun problem or a S-V agreement.
3. Idioms are a problem for sure. It is impossible to differ between 'such as' and 'like'
Basically I get some questions right and some wrong. Confused here about prep too. :(

While giving the exam, I finished the verbal section 5 minutes early, no rush. Rather I had to rush a little in the Quant section because of which I got an easy qn wrong in quant.

I plan taking the GMAT on 6th August 2015.

I thank you in advance for guiding me.
Regards,
Dhriti Dg (ddg)

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by [email protected] » Sat Jun 13, 2015 1:10 pm
Hi ddg,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful - it helps point out some obvious areas that you can work on, so I can offer some specific recommendations.

I do have a couple of questions though:
1) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
2) Do you know which Schools you plan to apply to?

With a score goal of 700+, you're going to have to make some big improvements to how you handle the Verbal section. In real basic terms, you are NOT approaching any of the major Verbal categories (SC, RC and CR) in a proper strategic way. We CAN teach you the proper tactics though - the issue will be how quickly you can adapt to these new tactics, change the way you "see" and react to the question types, and do the necessary work (on the PAD, taking notes) to get the correct answer.

You have about 2 months before your Test Date, which should be plenty of time, but you will have to do a lot of work (and you will still need to get in some Quant practice too). Given all of these variables, I recommend the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster Study Plan. Most of our clients finish that Plan in under 2 months, so it should fit your timeline nicely. Since your Quant scores are already so strong, you can skip around the Quant Modules as you like, but you should make sure to work through ALL of the Verbal and Tactical Modules. We have some free resources on our website (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an account.

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by ddg » Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:37 am
Respected Rich Sir,

Thank you so much! Sorry for my late reply. I was out of town.

Regards,
Ddg