How do i push beyond 700?

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How do i push beyond 700?

by ak69er » Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:36 am
Some Background info first:
Resources -
OG 12th Edition,
Kaplan 2010(Strategies,Practice and Review) and
Some other locally available material for initial refresher prep
Very recently got Manhattan Gmat's Advanced Quant Supplement [ To hike my Quant score :) ]

Scores -
GMAT Prep #1 : 700 (Q:47,V:39)
GMAT Prep #2 : 670 (Q:44,V:38)
Manhattan Gmat #1 : 700 (Q:47,V:38)

I've been hitting the 700 mark as you can see but I'm targeting the 99th percentile and need to kick things up a notch in both Quant and Verbal. My basics are sound in most areas and I'm working to identify my weaknesses. Any suggestions as to strategy i can employ to achieve this desperately needed boost to my scores. Also any resources you guys could recommend for my current scenario would be greatly appreciated.
PS: I've got my GMAT date fixed for 26th of March (3 weeks left and counting!)

Mucho Gratitude,
a worried GMATer

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by ak69er » Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:33 am
Umm hello? Anyone? Some help would be greatly appreciated!

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by therealtomrose » Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:14 am
As you have already discovered, churning (answering tons of problems) won't help very much in your situation. Instead I recommend detective work.

Get a spiral bound notebook. Start doing problems in sets of 10. Keep all paperwork labeled and catalogued in the notebook. After each set of 10 problems (~20 minutes) spend ~40 minutes reviewing the problems and record a note for each one about what you *should* have done differently.

Things you should be tracking for EVERY problem in this notebook:
(1) Your work
(2) Your choice
(3) The correct answer
(4) Your confidence when you answered on a scale of 1-10
(5) Your timing to the second
(6) Corrections if needed (in a 2nd color)
(7) Learnings if relevant (in a 3rd color)

You should review this notebook in its entirety DAILY.

Once you have broken the 700 barrier, there is unlikely to be low hanging fruit remaining. You'll need to find a rare nugget that can push you over the edge. Hence the aggressive documentation I suggest above: the best way to find those rare nuggets.
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-Tom Rose

MIT Sloan MBA, Class of 2011
The MBA Show: https://www.TheMBAShow.com

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by ak69er » Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:04 am
Thanks mate. Noted...managed to grab a couple of Spiral bounds from work last week so i guess that's one step down :)
Anyways, i do hope such a method pays off as I'm left with around 2.5 weeks now!