PLEASE HELP: 2 weeks TOTAL to study, 9 days left!!

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Hi All -

I need your help!!

GOAL: 650+
Diagnostic Test: 530
TOTAL study time: 2 weeks
DAYS LEFT: 9!!!


Study material I have:
Manhattan GMAT - 5 quant
Manhattan GMAT - 3 verbal
OG - all 3, regular + quant + verbal

Since I don't have much time left to study, I wanted to know if any of you have any suggestions as to what I should focus on and what I should skip. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! (So far, I have been trying to follow the 2 week study plan under the "self study" tab above.)

My diagnostic test:

I ran out of time on quant and took the test VERY late at night, so possibly could have scored a little higher with better time management and early in the morning. Don't recall the raw scores - about the same in both.

Study plan thus far:

Quant:
So far I have reviewed the quant basics using the 5 Manhattan quant books, making flash cards and memorizing as much as I can. Due to long hours at work, I haven't had much time to practice problems. I have a pretty strong Math background, but the GMAT Math is kicking my behind. :-/

Verbal:
Going to start reviewing the 3 Manhattan books tonight and plan on finishing by Friday night (about 5 hours a night). Again, probably wont have time to do the problems, just skim over the basics as a refresher and pay close attention to problem solving strategies.

Practice:
I plan on doing practice problems all day Saturday and Sunday for both sections, and taking the second diagnostic test on Sunday evening. Mon and Tue night I plan on just reviewing my flash cards, BeatTheGMAT flash cards, and practicing problems in my weaker areas. On Wed, I plan on looking over AWA (i saw a template on here that I will stick to) and IR.

I would like to know what you guys think of my plan and if there is a different approach I should take to improve my score as much as possible.

Thanks in advance for your help.
WISH ME LUCK!
Last edited by Preeto123 on Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:56 pm
9 days isn't a lot of time to prepare, so I suggest that you first focus on concepts that have the greatest return on investment (ROI). These are concepts that are tested frequently and require the least amount of time to learn. In my opinion, these concepts are:
- Sentence Correction
- Data Sufficiency strategies
- Percent
- Integer Properties
- Powers/roots
- Algebra
- Geometry

I say all of this because I see a lot of students spending a lot of time agonizing over concepts like Probability and Counting, when these concepts are seldom tested.

Now CR and RC questions probably have the lowest ROI. I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare for them; I'm just saying that improvements take a long time, especially for non-native English speakers. For CR, be sure you understand the various question types.

Finally, try to take several official practice tests in order to perfect your time management skills and build your endurance.

Cheers,
Brent
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by Preeto123 » Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:41 am
Thank you Brent! Really appreciate your comments.

I started reviewing SC last night and plan on finishing it tonight. Since i have already covered the basics of all the quant topics you mentioned, I will just focus on practicing the problems in those sections.

I have not reviewed any of the advanced sections of the Manhattan books...should I go back and review those as well in the topics you listed?

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Wed Mar 20, 2013 6:50 am
I suggest that you let your practice tests guide your studies.
If you're still scoring under 600, then there's little benefit in studying advanced topics.
Analyze each practice test and try to identify weaknesses. Then work to strengthen those areas.

Cheers,
Bren
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by the nona » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:54 pm
I am in the same boat too . Took the GMAT last month with a 540 (28 V 36Q) and will retake on the 3rd of April aiming at a 640 . My main weaknesses are DS and CR , and I also score poorly in IR (average = 3).Any further advice , Brent? Thank you in advance .

P.S : I took the GMAT Preps during preparation for my first attempt scoring 510 and 450 .Today I took the 450 test scoring 570 (27 V 42 Q) .