20 Days to Go (September 17). Best way to 700?

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I scheduled my GMAT for September 17 and have 20 days to go. I just finished the Manhattan GMAT Guided Self-Study and want advice on the best way to maximize my studying (I work Monday to Friday 8-5pm) in order to get at least a 700. Below are a few details:

In my diagnostic (Manhattan GMAT CAT Test 1), I got a 610, 33 Quant (39%-ile) and 40 Verbal (91%-ile). After about 3 weeks of studying (MGMAT self-prep course), I took the second CAT and got 620, 42 Quant (66%-ile), 33 Verbal (69%-ile).

I finished taking my third practice test over the weekend and got the below results:

Quant 42 66 %
Verbal 36 81 %
Total 640 80%

Compared to my previous results, this sort of the middle of the road I feel. My Quant improvement from the 1st test is still visible (39%-ile to 66%-ile) but there was no change from Test 2. The difference I did notice was I felt much more relaxed and less time-constrained than the first 2 tests. In CAT 2, there were moments when I was lagging behind and had to guess a few in the middle and towards the end. On CAT 3, on the other hand, I was consistent with the time and made it til the end with a few seconds to spare. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing? I had more time to answer questions but why didn't I get a higher score? Or did I get the timing down pat, all I have to do now is brush up on content?

As for the Verbal, the roller coaster continues. I had a 91%-ile in CAT 1, dropped to 69%-ile, and went up to 81%-ile. Whereas in the CAT 2 where I had a lot of time left and made some careless mistakes, in CAT 3 I felt like I was too careful and spent too much time on questions, especially in the beginning that I rushed towards the end. I want to bring this back to the 91%-ile level that I got in CAT 1 or even higher as I know I am stronger in Verbal than Quant and need an excellent Verbal score to offset an average Quant score. Am I too concerned with the Prep strategy than answering the question correctly and using my own intuition/stock knowledge?

What do you advise I should do now that the self-study program is over? How will I best prepare? I am aiming to get to a 700 or above and I believe I still can considering if I combine my highest Quant (42) and Verbal (40) in the 3 CAT tests, I would be at around a 680. What do I need to do to maximize my score and is it remotely feasible to get my ideal score given the time left?

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by Jim@StratusPrep » Fri Aug 31, 2012 8:09 am
You have to have the fundamentals down pat. Be honest with yourself and your holes. Learn any piece of information that you are missing. Also, you should focus more on your mean scores than your highest scores. Much more likely that your score will be in that ballpark.
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