Test is in two days, just cracked 600.

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Test is in two days, just cracked 600.

by sdotgarcia » Thu Jul 24, 2014 11:14 am
A little background. Political Science Major from UC Davis, below 3.0 GPA. 2+ years work experience in the Public Sector and some legal experience. I want to change careers and work in Marketing. Goal GMAT score is above 700 to be competitive and offset my low GPA; goal school is Anderson. I took my first CAT to determine my floor and scored a 480. Started studying around mid April with a test date of June 30. Around mid May I decided I needed more time and rescheduled the test to July 26th. A little over a month before the test, I scored a 570 and felt confident with my studying and progress. I took the GMATPrep test for the first time earlier this month and scored a 530. Since then, my test scores have ranged between 530-580 before retaking the GMATPrep and scoring a 610, finally breaking the 600 mark.

I've seen the improvements and while hopeful, I know two days is not enough to see a drastic improvement. I feared my lack of a math background would be my biggest obstacle, but through my GMAT prep journey I've been able to see improvements with scores in the mid to late 30s and scores in the 40s twice, a Q42 when I scored a 570 on a Kaplan test and a Q46 on my most recent retake of the GMATPrep. I know with more time I can improve improve my concepts and hopefully keep my Quant score in the mid 40s. What has really been my downfall is my bad Verbal scores. I have only cracked the 30s once and while I started really hot in RC, I've seen my abilities in that part of the test get worse as I paid more attention to the other aspects of the test. SC is another area I thought I didn't need to address since I figured it would come along while I took more test and "figure it out" and notice the errors just on practicing questions. That was a dumb way to go about things..

So it's far too late to reschedule and I don't want to see $250 go to waste, I've come to accept that this will be one very expensive practice test, but a the very least I'll gain experience. The next two days I am going to work on the areas I'm strong at and game plan on when to move on in the areas I am weak at. My goal is to score above 600 this weekend. With that in mind, I believe I will need a new study plan and have contemplated the 60 day study guide to keep me focused for the next crack at the GMAT. I know the areas I am weak at are Number Properties, Sentence Correction, and deciphering word problems. Would anyone have suggestions on which route to take?

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by [email protected] » Thu Jul 24, 2014 8:49 pm
Hi sdotgarcia,

Your score results on this Official GMAT are important to know. While you can cancel your score, you still need to note the details of this Test. Make sure that you remember the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores so that we can get a sense of your current ability level. When you come back, we can put together a study plan.

Since your last practice CAT was a "retake" of an exam that you had already done, it's likely that that score was "inflated", since you would have seen some questions that you had already answered. Some of the tactics that you used will be applicable on Test Day though, so look for opportunities to use them.
Also, remember that the GMAT gives you the score that you earn - so be ready to do lots of work. Just about every question on that exam is based on some type of pattern, so when things look complex, take some notes and figure out as much as you can.

Try to stay calm. Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once, so there's no harm that will come as a result of this Test. Learn from the experience - it will make you stronger for your next attempt.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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