GMAT Strategy

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone is doing good with their preps
Here's is what I have gone through till now.

CATs
I have completed the 6 MGMAT CATs and the scores are:
04/10 610 - 30v 45q
29/10 670 - 34v 47q
05/11 640 - 31v 47q
12/11 680 - 36v 47q
19/11 710 - 36v 51q
22/11 680 - 35v 47q

The one with 710 was a surprise to me
I got stuck with a couple of questions and guessed on them, and I got lucky that those were all correct guesses!

I have been struggling mainly with Number Properties in quants.
And in verbal, I have worked a lot on SC and it has consistently been above 75-80% in the last few tests and I'm feeling very confident about SC. But the reason for low Verbal scores has sometimes been CR sometimes RC, both changing places in every next test


Preps
Since this is my second GMAT attempt I have completed quite a few reference books on GMAT.
Here's all that I have done in my second round of preparation:
Powerscore LSAT LR Bible
MGMAT SC Guide (done it again after the first attempt)
Kaplan Verbal Workbook
MGMAT Quants guides
OG 10 - DS, CR, half of RC
OG11 - SC, PS
12 Sets of the 1000 Series SC, PS and DS each

I had done the following when preparing for GMAT the first time (took the first GMAT on 7th Sept. '09):
OG12 - twice end to end
OG11 - PS, DS, SC and CR
MGMAT SC Guide
Princeton Review Classroom Coaching
Princeton Review CATs


Current Plan
Complete OG12 once more by Saturday night.

GMATPrep 1 - 25/11/09
GMATPrep 2 - 28/11/09
(after resetting the previous two attempts)

Sunday - 29/11
Revise MGMAT SC Guide
Revise LSAT LR Bible
Redo wrong ones - PS/DS/SC/CR/RC from OG11 and OG12

Monday - 30/11
Redo wrong ones from the MGMAT CATs

Tuesday - 1/12
Solve the 99 700+ Quants problems
Revise all the other tougher problems and prepare pointers and learning lessons from all these

Wednesday - 2/12
Revisit the pointers and lessons learnt from tougher problems, revise the tricks and techniques about quants, revise all the formulas.
take another GMATPrep
Have a nice and calm sleep

Thursday - 3/12
Get up early, do some yoga and meditation...
GMAT Ver. 2.0


I would like to know how I can improve more on my preparation particularly on verbal RC and CR.
I really want to cross the 730 mark but, looking at my CAT scores, somehow I am not sure if it would be realistic to aim for that.

I will be updating this post everyday with my progress reports

All the best to all, (and to myself)
Vivek

Vivek the most underrated test performance enhancer is sleep. It sounds like you have a good schedule for material preparation, but don't forget to log a good 7-8 hours per night of decent sleep leading up to test day. Science has proven that sleep deprivation is the single largest contributor to performance degredation. Good luck.

Thanks Bryan,

You are right actually, I have marked my calendar everyday for the time I have to get up, but no time to go off to sleep.
Will keep that in my mind.

Cheers,
Vivek

Took the GMATPrep Test1 after resetting it and got a score of 740 - 51q, 39v.

The quants section was much easier than the MGMAT CATs, so I am now confused.
I was thinking that the quants in MGMAT is quite close to the actual GMAT...at least that's how I had felt during my first GMAT.

Can anyone throw some light on the average difficulty level of quants in GMATPrep vs. MGMAT CAT vs. Actual GMAT.

Surprised to see that I didn't get even a single RC incorrect
Got about 4 SCs wrong and 3 CRs wrong.

Overall I am happy with my result, a good morale booster when I have a week to go for the GMAT.
I will be doing the test result assessment today and after that I have to complete the remaining 100 OG12 PS questions.

Cheers,
Vivek

IMHO, GMATPrep is a lot easier than MGMAT (for Quant)

Yes Sreak, I noticed that...
but I am confused how it measures compared with the actual GMAT

BTW how's your prep going?
what do you think about my study regime...am i missing anything?


Thanks,
Vivek

I did not do anything yesterday
Had planned to work on the OG12 CR questions but couldn't work past 20 questions.

Went out with friends and had fun...it was gooood
but today morning I woke up and thought...OMG i have wasted one day!!

A couple of days back I got hold of all the four seasons of How I Met Your Mother and was so engrossed in it that I wasted two days watching season 1 and season 2....I must say Barney rocks!!
But after that I unplugged my hard disk and gave it to a friend...to stop myself from watching it!!

Well, now here I am...and I have to complete the OG12 CR today.
And then practice some DS questions in the night.

Hope everyone else is keeping on track...
All the best guys,
Vivek.

Again IMHO difficulty wise: GMATPrep < Actual GMAT < MGMAT .
I too felt that Actual GMAT was tougher than the GMATPrep but that feeling could be mainly due to exam day nerves.

My prep is going kinda ok...I have had few distractions and its just about a month to go now.
Took a GMATPrep # 1, 2nd attempt yesterday (after a gap of nearly 4 months) and scored 680 (Q48, V36).
I had seen a few repeats (3-4) in Quant and (2-3) in Verbal, but did not remember answers, so had to solve them
Biggest improvement that I possibly have made is in RC, scored all the RC questions correctly (13/13)
RC has been my weakest area, may be I made some progress there (??)

Your prep looks really solid. Only thing if I should point out is that, may be not such a good idea to do GMATPrep just a day before actual GMAT. But then just my personal opinion..

vivekjaiswal wrote:Yes Sreak, I noticed that...
but I am confused how it measures compared with the actual GMAT

BTW how's your prep going?
what do you think about my study regime...am i missing anything?


Thanks,
Vivek

Thanks Sreak for the suggestion, I was also thinking of moving that practice test to another day.

I just took GMATPrep2 and scored a 760 - 51q, 41v
The score is looking damn promising!

Such are the scores that make me feel: why wasn't this the actual GMAT!!?

I noticed that although the number of questions that I got wrong in this test is greater than the previous GMATPrep, the sectional score is higher; I managed to get all the questions right in the first 15-20 questions in both the section, which I think is the reason for this difference.

I will be doing the test assessment today and have planned to complete the last 100 questions of DS from OG12 today.

Going very much on track, I hope I could maintain this spirit on the G-Day.

Cheers,
Vivek.

It is getting tough to put myself to any more studies
I know the last few days are going to be the most important ones to define how confident i will feel on the test day, but somehow after my last GMAT Prep test, I don't feel like studying!!

I have been putting off revision of my notes and MGMAT CATs for around two days now...it is not a good sign, I should not relax just when I am hitting the final lap!

I have about 50 DS questions from OG12 and 50 SC question from OG10 which were supposed to be done as per my plan, but...
Also, I need to complete revising the MGMAT CATs and also the GMATPrep Test1 and 2.

I have to prepare notes from all these tests and use them as learning points...also revise some AWA notes and write essays to keep my tempo on for writing good essay

Just coming back and writing all this on the forum gives me a push to go back and start studying again...thanks to BTG for yet another reason-being a good listener

Off to my studies,
Vivek

Hi Vivek,

From your post, I know how anxious you would be at this moment (Maybe you are not anxious. i may be wrong). You would have got advices from many people in this forum. Never mind. I would like to give some pre-exam tips from my side. I guess your exam is on thursday. I i were you, i would follow this plan,
1. Today, Just review the wrong answers in the practice tests
2. Tomorrow, practice or review all other wrong answers in books.
3. Wednesday, spend 1-2 hours reviewing flashcards and formulae. Rest of the day, take rest and do some activity which will keep me cool. For me it's playstation games.

Most important of all is sleep. People say that if you get consecutive questions wrong or leave 1-2 questions blank in the test, there is a likely big decline in your percentile. But i believe that sleep deprivation is the major key factor in your percentile drop which will destroy entire test. So, just remember to take ample sleep from today.

Wish you good luck!

Thanks a lot papgust!!

I don't know if it is overwork or something...but right now I am feeling blank
Won't call it anxiousness though...

Thanks for the great advice, I had planned to take things the way you have outlined...but somehow I am not able to put myself to studies...and in fact for the last two days I have been sleeping like anything
I have slept so much that now I feel guilty of not studying and just sleeping all day and all night
But that has really helped me relax a lot (to an extent that I don't feel anything...no fear no anxiousness...just blank)

I hope all these are positive signs...I don't want to screw up my GMAT this time!!

Thanks again for your advice, it means a lot to me...and gives me a sense of accountability which pushes me to do as I have planned and as you point here

You are most welcome. You should feel happy that you are sleeping heavily. Your mind will be fresh on test day. You definitely shouldn't be feeling guilty for this. In my first attempt, the biggest problem i had is sleep deprivation which dropped my score heavily. I almost couldn't concentrate from the second half of quants. So, this is a disastrous factor if one doesn't keep this in mind.

Just watched the video of Rocky and Apollo training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoDKQYn-ANE

It has boosted my spirits to train myself better for the last fight called GMAT v2.0!!

Cheers,
Vivek

Guys,

I forgot to update...my GMAT is scheduled for tomorrow (not today as I had posted earlier) and I am clueless what to do today...
I have visited the test center...and have been watching how i met your mother since morning and now I am worried...

I took another GMATPrep yesterday and I scored a 740 (39v,50q) in it...it would be great if I could crack that score in the actual GMAT!!

Tell me...what should someone do on the last day before the test!!

Worried,
Vivek