GMAT Strategy

I have a bit of a problem here. I have been studying for the gmat for nearly 4.5 months now. Practice scores have been as follows:

First GMATPrep: 620 (don't recall breakdown)
MGMAT 1: 660 (45Q/35V)
MGMAT 2: 660 (45Q/35V)
GMAT Prep 2: 660 (45Q/35V)

Took the test. Score 640 (44Q/34V). I decided to focus on verbal since i felt comfortable with quant. I focused on CR the most. Ignored SC since my hit rate was good. Did RC here and there and didn't improve much. Did quant review once a week to keep fresh. Then took practice tests and my scores were all over the place.

Powerprep 1: 570 (don't recall breakdown)
MGMAT 3: 690 (49Q/36V)
GMATPrep 3: 610 (ran out of time in verbal and left two blank at the end)
GMATPrep 4: 720 (saw a couple of repeats)
GMATPrep 5: 740 (saw a lot of repeats)

2nd attempt: 600 (37Q/34V)

In between my last practice test and the actual test I was extremely distracted. Broke up with g/f, work, etc. I didn't study much the four or five days prior to the test. But something went seriously wrong. Could I have been that distracted that I just lost it on quant? I never got a quant score lower than this. And how did I get a lower score after 4.5 months of test prep than my first score going in cold?

I used OG11, the two supplemental guides, MGMAT SC and Kaplan 800.

My apps are due in January. I have to focus on these for the next four weeks and want to squeeze in some time to review. Once early December rolls around I am going to go at it again full force. Retake is during x-mas break so I will have some quality time to review and focus purely on this test.

Any helpful suggestions or thoughts? This completely sucks and having to work on apps and gmat studies simultaneously isn't going to be pleasant, but I need to get my score up to 700.

It looks like you were making good progress after the first test. However, the repeat GMATPrep test scores may have been a little inflated due to the repeats. Can you tell us the breakdown of the CATs after the first official GMAT?

On a different note is your emotional state and the increased pressure from having to study for the exam and work on your applications. I'm sorry to hear about your breakup. Most of us have been through that before, and it is usually a very hard time in our lives (it was for me that's for sure). If you really are extremely distracted like you say, it could very well have been the reason for your showing on the second GMAT. Add to that the pressure from work and apping and you will have a very hard time getting the score you deserve.

An important challenge of the GMAT is maintaining your focus and controlling your emotions and nerves. I would strongly consider postponing the application process until you feel more emotionally ready to man-up and really face this hurdle head-on. Give yourself some time off to relax and think things through. Ask yourself whether you think you are in a place where you can get the highest possible GMAT score you're capable of?

Yes, I was distracted, but I'm determined to get this done. It's nearly midnight at the office and I'm working on my apps right now. I know my last test was just a bad day. I am going to take a slight breather from the GMAT for a few days.

My last two breakdowns on GMATPrep were:

#4 (47Q/42V)
#5 (47Q/44V)

On #3 my quant was 45, but I don't recall my verbal and did not write it down. I also left two questions blank and wound up with a 610 so the score should have been slightly higher had I guessed.

The verbal scores on my last two exams were definitely inflated b/c I read the same reading comp passages (something about solar ponds) twice, but the funny thing was I got some of those questions wrong again. My weakness is really in verbal. The quant was definitely a fluke. I completely f'ed it up b/c I was distracted and nervous. I felt uneasy going in since I didn't brush up the few days prior to the test. My plan is to focus on my apps now and finish those in 4-5 weeks and then retake at the end of December. I've already finished two essays since Saturday and my recommendation letters are in the works so I'm good to go.

I will have the last week off from work in December and will have about 6 full days to focus on prepping. In the meantime, while I'm writing my apps I want to keep fresh on the concepts and then attack my weaknesses once my apps are complete. Do you have any suggestions on how best to do this? I've exhausted the OG materials. I need to get a 680 and I'll be good. This isn't like it's a stretch for me given my previous practice scores. I just need suggestions on how to get this done effectively.

The things I do screw me up sometimes in math are the following:

- rate problems
- statistics
- advanced algebra, especially when it's related to DS and word problems

verbal
- assumption and find the conclusion problems in CR
- RC - I spend too long on these b/c I take notes. this kills my timing and i am always rushing at the end. 3 minutes isn't enough for me so i need to figure out a way to speed this up.

To address those specific weaknesses this is what I recommend:

Quant weakness - For those specific topics I would look through the OG book and OG math review (if you have it) and find questions dealing with those topics. Take notes on questions that you find difficult in a separate quant log including lessons learned for each problem and review them daily by going through that log in your spare time. What I would look for are problems that concern a particular topic, but ask the question in different ways. For example for rate problems, if you see two PS rate (distance/time) problems that are similar just jot down notes for one, but if you see a DS rate (distance/time) problem then jot that down (because it asks the same underlying question, but in a different format). Then if you see a DS rate (work) probem, jot that down because work and distance/time are superficially different topics, but are actually both asking about rates. In other words, learn the many, many different ways that GMAC can ask you about rate problems to really understand the underlying concept. I found this strategy of studying to be very good because in the end, every question mapped to a "concept" and it helped me recognize it faster.

RC - Try doing RC without notes now. If you have been systematically reading passages and taking notes, your mind should be trained to think of RC passages in a certain way by now (it took me about 15 passages before I stopped taking notes). If you want to practice, use the RC1000 document and just read passages WITHOUT answering the questions. While you're reading, ask yourself: what are the importnat things being discussed? What things are MOST likely to be asked about? Those are general questions high-level questions, but you should mentally take notes now instead of physically. Then verify what the actual questions being asked are, but don't answer them. Are the important areas that you mentally marked the areas that were asked about in the questions? In other words, think like testwriter when you read the RC passages and anticipate the questions.

Try those two and see if they help you at all. Best of luck.

Here is what I learned after taking a breather from the test. I know my weaknesses....I've identified them in an earlier posting. What I did before the test was psyche my self out. Easy to medium level problems began to look difficult when they shouldn't have. I was panicking and not reading the questions thoroughly.

Given my time constraint, I've decided to do practice problems for an hour per day until I finish my apps up. Only 16-20 per day and I'm timing myself. I'm using Kaplan for math problems because I've found these to be the most challenging and despite what many people on this board say, Kaplan throws the toughest problem sets out there so it builds confidence when I'm able to get these correct.

My plan is to sign up for the Kaplan quiz builder which costs about $200 to design my own practice quizzes so I get a mixture of DS and PS problems. I'll spend about 3 hours or so on the weekends going through a full length quant quiz which should last about an hour and then review my errors and refer back to MGMAT books to review the concept thoroughly. It also doesn't hurt to google some of some these topics to get a better, more in depth understanding of certain concepts. My hit rate has been incredible lately...I've been getting nearly all of the problems correct in the quant. And this is because I've just used my own brain rather than trying to plug some "template" that I've learned through one of the many study guides I went through.

As for verbal, I have a pretty good understanding of SC. CR is something I'll need to work on once I wrap up my apps, but I'm starting to see the patterns in these nonsense questions. As for RC, I am a slow reader, but a good one. I've been reading articles from McKinsey Quarterly and the NY Times quickly. One read through and then I'll try to remember what I read by jotting down notes. Takes 15 minutes a day and that's all I can do at this point before I start taking a deeper dive after I wrap up my apps.

One piece of advice for you guys. There is such a thing as overstudying. I began to look at DS problems as if everyone was a trick problem. When you overstudy you may begin to second guess yourself and this is where I f'ed up.

I have nothing to lose when I retake my exam. But I'm not going to overstudy this time. Just keep my mind fresh on certain topics and then do some additional work to cover my weaknesses. My case is one where overstudying can screw you up. Trying to study for 2-4 hours per day on the weekdays and then even longer on the weekends was a bad approach. Quality is best here. When I took the first practice test cold I used my own noggin to do the math problems. I didn't even know the pythagorean theorem back then or the formula for the area of a circle and managed a 620 on GMAT Prep 1. So getting a 600 on the real test after 4.5 months of studying proved that I did not study in an effective manner.

Everyone needs to tailor their study routine according to what they believe is best suited for them. In all honesty, I wish I had taken my own advice and created my own study schedule rather than listening to some of the advice given on this site. I even started to work on practice AWAs prior to my exams, but didn't have time to even finish up one. I got 6.0 on both exams just using common sense since writing is something I do all the time anyway. I guess this is one example that proves that there are certain things people are strong at from the get go and there is no need to spend time overstudying to conform to a method that the status quo suggests is best. Sometimes you just have to do what is best for you.

Will keep you guys posted on my progress. Thanks for all of your feedback.

Will keep you informed of my progress.

Will keep you informed of my progress.