Hey guys, I've been studying for just over a month now and I just took my 3rd practice test this morning and got a 590 
. Far from my goal of 700+ and right where I started (590 on my diagnostic).
Here's my performance so far:
Kaplan Diagnostic (7/4/12): 590
Veritas Prep (8/4/12): 570
Princeton Review (8/18/12): 590 (Q43/V28)
What am I doing wrong? I started with the diagnostic and have been studying out of the Kaplan 2012-2013 Premier. Since then I've read through all of the strategies, and done most of the practice problems. Out of the practice problems that I have done, I've been getting a lot of them correct. The ones that I get wrong, I read the explanation and understand my errors. They really don't seem so hard when I'm studying, but when I take the tests they seem to get way harder. I did the entire math refresher section in the back and it seemed easy (I'm an engineer and so I was hoping to better at the math). I recently decided to go for the Kaplan 800 book and the Manhattan GMAT Advanced GMAT Quant book to try to expose myself to some harder questions. But looking back at my tests I keep getting tripped up by trick questions where I don't read the questions carefully enough or I just make dumb mistakes. The first two tests I failed to complete the Quant section and have since gotten better at the timing with the latest test. However, I thought that by finishing the quant section this time my score would have been better. I just feel like I'm studying and trying, but I'm going no where. I have downloaded the Beat The GMAT flashcards (which are awesome by the way!) and have been reviewing them as much as I can. I've also been reading the articles on this site and reading the postings to help my gmat strategy. This site has been great encouragement since my start, but this latest result is leaving me with feelings of hopelessness. I try to stay motivated everyday and to at least get in an hour or two during the week. It is getting hard with work starting to pick up (I just did 60hrs this week by Friday) and classes for my engineering management masters program are about to pick up again. Things are about to get really hectic for me and I'm wondering if I should just cancel my scheduled GMAT and forego pursuing an MBA all together. I could really use some words of encouragement and some tips to help me figure out what to do about my low scores...
. Far from my goal of 700+ and right where I started (590 on my diagnostic).Here's my performance so far:
Kaplan Diagnostic (7/4/12): 590
Veritas Prep (8/4/12): 570
Princeton Review (8/18/12): 590 (Q43/V28)
What am I doing wrong? I started with the diagnostic and have been studying out of the Kaplan 2012-2013 Premier. Since then I've read through all of the strategies, and done most of the practice problems. Out of the practice problems that I have done, I've been getting a lot of them correct. The ones that I get wrong, I read the explanation and understand my errors. They really don't seem so hard when I'm studying, but when I take the tests they seem to get way harder. I did the entire math refresher section in the back and it seemed easy (I'm an engineer and so I was hoping to better at the math). I recently decided to go for the Kaplan 800 book and the Manhattan GMAT Advanced GMAT Quant book to try to expose myself to some harder questions. But looking back at my tests I keep getting tripped up by trick questions where I don't read the questions carefully enough or I just make dumb mistakes. The first two tests I failed to complete the Quant section and have since gotten better at the timing with the latest test. However, I thought that by finishing the quant section this time my score would have been better. I just feel like I'm studying and trying, but I'm going no where. I have downloaded the Beat The GMAT flashcards (which are awesome by the way!) and have been reviewing them as much as I can. I've also been reading the articles on this site and reading the postings to help my gmat strategy. This site has been great encouragement since my start, but this latest result is leaving me with feelings of hopelessness. I try to stay motivated everyday and to at least get in an hour or two during the week. It is getting hard with work starting to pick up (I just did 60hrs this week by Friday) and classes for my engineering management masters program are about to pick up again. Things are about to get really hectic for me and I'm wondering if I should just cancel my scheduled GMAT and forego pursuing an MBA all together. I could really use some words of encouragement and some tips to help me figure out what to do about my low scores...
