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A Month to go to get 680+

Find out how Beat The GMAT members tackled GMAT test prep with positive results. Get tips on GMAT test prep materials, online courses, study tips, and more.
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A Month to go to get 680+

by s_karthik79 » Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:05 am
Fellow BTG Forum Members,

I have been preparing for the GMAT for almost 3 months and gave my GMAT on Monday. I scored a paltry 600 (q49, v24). This came as a shock as this was the first time in 7 attempts that I scored a verbal scaled score below v31. The GMAT scores from my practice tests so far are as follows.

GMATPrepCAT1 560 (q42 v21) ~ only Math and Verbal and no essays
GMATPrepCAT2 550 (q37 v27) ~ " " "
GMATPrepCAT 1 retake 640 (q47 v31) ~ " " "
GMATPrepCAT 2 retake 680 (q47 v36) ~ " " "
GMATPrepCAT 1 retake 730 (q49 v41) ~ " " "
GMATPrepCAT 2 retake 700 (q49 v37) ~ " " "
GMATPrepCAT 1 retake 650 (q47 v35) ~ Full GMAT test with Manhattan GMAT simulation pad without stopwatch
GMATPrepCAT 2 retake 680 (q49 v33) ~ Full GMAT test with Manhattan GMAT simulation pad without stopwatch
GMATPrepCAT 1 retake 650 (q49 v31) ~ Full GMAT test with Manhattan GMAT simulation pad without stopwatch
Then the actual score 600 (q49 v24)

So when I saw my actual score on Monday, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm aiming for a score 680+ as I feel this would be sufficient to get me into the Business School of my choice. My work experience is excellent (8 years) across 3 different industries so the only thing I feel that is stopping me is the GMAT.

A friend of mine who had taken the GMAT successfully advised me to keep retaking the GMATPrep CATs and as many questions from the official GMAT guides (11th, 12th edition and Verbal Review); hence the practice with GMATPrep CATs so far.

I want to take the GMAT in a month's time and I'm very determined to improve my score and finish this GMAT once and for all. I want advice from the forum members with regards to preparation for next month (4 weeks time).

I used the following preparation materials.
· GMAT Official Guides editions 11 and 12
· Verbal Review
· Kaplan GMAT 800
· Power Score Critical Reasoning
· Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction

· I found the questions in the GMATPrep and the actual exam harder than the questions in the books. For instance, I felt I had to practice from question 200 and 120 on Problem Solving and Data Sufficiency to find questions comparable to that of the actual exam.
· I also felt that the actual GMAT exam was harder than the GMATPrep software. I felt I was really struggling on the Math and had to randomly guess questions intermittently and the last two questions in the test. However, to my surprise and shock I scored well on the Math but very badly on the Verbal.

What other preparation material should I use to practice tough Math and Verbal questions?
In Math, so far to date, I've not been able to top q49 - data sufficiency inequality, weighted average and rate questions are my weaknesses; however, I realise that I really need to push up my verbal well beyond the early 30s. I generally find it difficult to gauge the difficulty level of questions in verbal whereas with Math I know when I come across a really difficult question.

I briefly tried practicing with the 4 Kaplan CATs on the 4 CDs and 2 Manhattan GMAT CATs. I found Kaplan CATs, particularly the Math test, are much stricter when it comes to marking. I also found the Manhattan GMAT CATs ridiculously difficult - I struggle from the 3rd question. Do you still think I should practice the Manhattan GMAT and Kaplan CATs? I didn't want to practice these 3 weeks close to the exam and dent my confidence but what do you think is the appropriate strategy?

I found this forum after some Googling. I would really appreciate your thoughts and feedback on the best way to go about my prep for the next month.

Cheers
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by kvcpk » Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:14 pm
Hi Karthik,

Sorry to hear that you were not able to reach your target score. Especially Verbal. A drop from 31 to 24 needs some serious thinking.
I see that you have already used Powerscore CR and MGMAT SC book. So, You must have missed out on enough practice or Didnt get hold of the concepts. I believe you would have missed to get hold of the concepts being tested.

After Lot of analysis, I recommend the following:
CR - Powerscore for theory and Veritas Prep for practice problems.
There are certain standard patterns found normally. Once you practice these patterns, the hit ratio increases.

RC - Veritas Prep book is good for theory and practice. You can try your hand on some LSAT passages also for more practice.
Only trick here is : PRACTICE. some of the CR approaches will help here. You can watch a couple of the Thursdays with Ron videos which discuss the main point and purpose questions. these will help.

Next comes the tricky section: SC

Reason I say its tricky is because, it takes constant & continuous practice to master. and once mastered, it can turn out to be easily high scoring section. If you dont master it, no matter how many tests we take, we cant find distinct improvement.

I started with some notes on Web and forums. As adviced by many, I bought the Manhattan GMAT SC book. This book is a very good one. But, I dont think it addresses naive readers precisely. I had troubles going through it because, loads of information is presented, leaving less scope to hold anything at the back of mind. I felt happy when I read the book. But I was unable to apply my learning at the right place. I think this is the exact point where MGMAT SC fails to make presence.

Then I was adviced by a fellow BTG member (gmatmachoman) to join e-GMAT.com
I joined for free and had a look at the free preview files. I was very much impressed by the illustrative way of learning with flash presentations all through the course. I was able to retain much information because the course is illustrative style. I was amazed to find all the concepts that I learnt till then in a single place. It took me 3 months to prepare some notes and I found all of it right there. So, without wasting much time I got the full access to the course.

Here is my analysis. The main Plus points of E-Gmat course:
1. The course provides a standard process to approach SC questions. I couldnt find such comprehensive approach in any other materials.
2. Amazingly quick responses to queries. There is a questions section for each of the subject modules. We can post the queries there. I posted around 20 till now, and for all of them I got response under 12 hours. I wonder in what timezone e-gmat works.
3. There are a set of application files which can be used for non-timed practice. these have a detailed explanation of the approach that needs to be followed to attack SC.
4. There is a set of 200+ questions for timed practice. All new & fresh questions. Highly recommended for practice.
5. Concept Map - which shows the list of concepts you have mastered and which are yet to be mastered.
6. Very Crisp videos without loading too much information. Easy to access user interface.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need further information.

Cheers!!
"Once you start working on something,
don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it.
People who work sincerely are the happiest."
Chanakya quotes (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275BC)
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by Night reader » Tue Nov 02, 2010 11:56 pm
kvcpk, I completely agree with you about e-GMAT.

In fact, I fall behind the verbal shortly. The SC correct rate of mine was 73% for medium to hard staff, yet not 75%. I have purchased advanced grammar from Gmat Club for USD 9.99 and found this book as a good repetition of everything I know already. I say I know because the old format TOEFL str.&written expr scaled acore I had was 68 and ESL result is 95%. So I will refresh my grammar knowledge and turn to e-GMAT. Their 90% correct rate guarantee will work then for 90+, I hope so.

Hey Karthik, the Powerscore's CR bible is worthy only of its 2nd chapter. For CR I am looking to practice more with OG10 as the complimentary guide divides the questions into separate topic categories. You may criticize me, but I really believe that once a person gets hold of the concepts on argument structure, his/her score will depend on human logic - it is often inherited human element. So, if my IQ is average, I should score around 65-70% on CR and a bit more on RC that is 75%. I can top up SC. Basically 1-2 mistakes in SC, 4 mistakes in CR and 3 mistakes in RC should get GMAT Verbal score up to 37. If you approach Verbal this way, you need only concentration during exam. NO luck, no miracles with familiar RC topics and good/bad day for exam.
My knowledge frontiers came to evolve the GMATPill's methods - the credited study means to boost the Verbal competence. I really like their videos, especially for RC, CR and SC. You do check their study methods at https://www.gmatpill.com
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