GMAT Strategy

Hi everyone,

So I took my second attempt this past weekend and had some success. I went from a 560 to a 640 in 8 weeks with a 2 week break and 6 weeks of review a few days a week. I actally took a practice exam every Saturday with a start time between 8-10am. I wore suit pants and a button down to be comfortable since its what I wear all week and Sundays.

I feel good about verbal and it was in line with my expectations. To improve my score I reviewed practice problems, read the Economist and Scientific American for the last 2 weeks, and read a nonficition book most nights before bed. I also read worked thought the verbal part of a Kaplan GMAT 800 book.

Focusing on Reading Comprehension and Sentance correction helped and Critical Reasoning fell into place for me. I overthought sentance correction in my early days as I did not go with the flow of the sentance.

What I could use on input on is Quant. I was doing well in my practice exams and got destroyed on the real thing. Timing was not an issue - I had 80 seconds left. I think it was simple mistakes that destroyed me. I do not know why but I can grasp the difficult concepts but on test day I will make careless errors all day.

Any pointers? And Also, should I retake? My target schools are all around 690-710 so I don't stand a chance with these offical scores. I am concerned I look like a fool already with the poor scores. I think an 80 point increase shows drive, but I should have been able to do that in a month, not 2. If I get Quant up I could break 700 but have I wasted too much time and effort in the eyes of the Admissions Committte?



Offical GMAT
7/29/14 560 4IR 38Q 28V


Kaplan

8/16/14 600 3IR 42Q 33V
8/24/14 680 5IR 49Q 35V
9/06/14 690 7IR 50Q 36V
9/13/14 670 6IR 49Q 38V Time Penalty on Quant
9/20/14 670 7IR 49Q 40V Time Penalty on Quant


GMAT 2

9/27/14 640 3IR 41Q 39V

-MG

Hello Rich,

Thank you for the quick response!

I did do the entire CAT including the essay during these 6 weeks. I had not previously done the essays on my Kaplan practice exams as I prepared for my 7/29/2014 attempt.

I had Kaplan reset old practice exams that I had taken earlier in the year. I did recognize a couple of questions from previous CATs so there was likely point inflation on the Quant side.

I do not plan on applying until Fall 2015 for a start date in Fall 2016. I plan on applying in Round 1 so I feel I have some time.

- MG