GMAT in 6 days - How to improve Quant - please help

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Hi,

thank you very much for taking the time to read my post and help me. Please excuse my poor grammar and spelling, I am no english native.

I am a student from Germany and I will take the GMAT on next Thursday. I studied for about 6 weeks and need 650 points since I received a conditional offer from the London School of Economics. I can not expect to get a score above 700 right now since I did not prepare enough. I couldn't do more though since I broke my wrist early this year.

I have gone through all MGMAT guides, the OG 13 and the OG Math. I have also done about half of the available questions in Magoosh and I went through Flashcads that I downloaded.

I have practiced the verbal part but I haven t really studied it. The weakest end there is SC right now (I answer questions by feeling but I use the MGMAT "systems"..)
In the most recent MGMAT CATS I scored in the 81st -84th percentile int he verbal part which is fine for my (current) goal of at least 650

Accordingly my Quant was a lot weaker. Going through the test I often score in the 70th-75th percentile in the middle of the test. Then at some point I try to solve some hard questions and take almost 15 minutes for three questions. I often have a buffer from early questions but start to realize that time is running out. I catch up again but somehow constantly mess up the last couple of questions so that i end up in the 50percentile range (in early CATs even 45).
Another thing is that i constantly mess up some very easy questions (about 5+) which I easily get right before looking at the answers when i go through them.

My plan now is to go though all OG questions that I had wrong once more (OG Archer) and do at least two more CATs (the 5th MGMAT and the second GMAC test), maybe all three, before the test. I want to built some stamina and concentration which I lack at some point (I hope several red bull will help me at test day as well). I get tired towards the end of verbal. I even think of skipping IR since I totally messed that up (first try) today and LSE just wants me to get 650.
Here are the results of all CATs

GMAC 490 (before doing anything at all)
MGMAT 630 44 32 (after 2 weeks)
GMAC 590 (after 5weeks) - the first test again, messed up Quant ( haven't done any quant for several days)
MGMAT 610 41 33 (after 5weeks)
MGMAT 610 38 35 (after 5 weeks)
MGMAT 650 42 37 (after 6 weeks - today): even here in the middle of Quant i was at the 75th percentile for about 15 questions and then I messed several up taking 4+ min per question (2 wrong 1 right); I had to catch up then and messed 2-3 safe ones up. I still think I can improve on verbal a bit (often I get one RC text which I totally don t get in the required time, somehow I still pick the right answers there though; If the test was in German i feel like i would not get a single verbal question wrong but well..); For Quant the really is much to desire. I think I could improve a lot there. There are a lot of areas where I am not 100% sure.. I get the basics of course but once it gets harder I sometimes stumble. Another problem is that i don't plug in numbers often enough which is why I mess up the xyz% questions..

Do you have any tips for me for my preparation in the next couple of days? It is insanely important for me since I already have me Msc slot..

Best regards and thank you very much

Alexander

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by [email protected] » Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:05 pm
Hi Alexander,

I think that you've correctly assessed your situation. If you can keep the silly mistakes from happening, then you should be able to get the 650 that you're looking for. That score is still based on your ability to complete the entire exam and perform at a consistently solid level.

I'd suggest that you keep things "light" during this last week and mentally prepare yourself to bring your "A-game" on Test Day (make smart decisions and be prepared to EARN those points).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by Jim@StratusPrep » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:16 am
A very important thing: DO NOT take more than 3 minutes on any question! Stay strict with that rule.
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