GMAT Strategy

Hi Everyone,

First off I want to thank everyone for your help and support. Although I haven't posted before, I've been reading this forum since the beginning of my prep this summer.

I am hoping I could get some feedback on what to do after today. I took the GMAT today and completely bombed it-- 340 (14Q; 20V). After a few practice tests, I knew I still wasn't ready but didn't want to spend another $250 to reschedule (didn't know you had to schedule 7 days prior to the exam).

So here is my story: I started prepping over the summer but wasn't really focused since I had school and work. Moreover, I started to prep seriously about 2 months ago, but haven't seen significance increase in my scores.

5/8/2011 Kaplan Linear 1 450 24 27
6/5/2011 Kaplan CAT 1 450 30 22
6/6/2011 MGMAT 360 3 30
7/22/2011 MGMAT 330 3 24
10/9/2011 MGMAT 430 23 27
10/21/2011 MGMAT 410 24 21
10/22/2011 MGMAT 350 3 28
10/29/2011 MGMAT 520 33 29 -I got frustrated and used the pause button a lot
11/4/2011 MGMAT 510 37 23 -I got frustrated and used the pause button a lot
11/19/2011 GMAT PREP 320 3 27
12/3/2011 GMAT PREP 330 10 21

I purchased all the recommended books-- the OG, 8 MGMAT books, CR Bible, and Kaplan. I've gotten pretty good at the basic math concepts but still finding myself spending too much time on my calculations or trying to understand the actual problems. I have high hopes, but this is so demoralizing! I want to retake the exam next month before school resumes. Hence, I will spend ALL my winter break studying. Please help me! What should I do for the next 30 days? Can I score a 700 if I studied 5 hours each day for the next 30 days?

Thanks again for your help.

HI mustbeatgmat007

Looking at the date ranges of your mgmat and gmat prep exams, it seems you did not give enough time to review and analyze why you got the questions wrong. Prior to taking the prep exams, you need to ask yourself, why do you think you will better this time? This question has helped me in prepping for my prep tests. Like myself, it seems you got burnt out on you mgmat (10/29 and 11/4) exam. But you scored well those day? Can you think back and recall what worked that day and not the other days?

When you practice OG questions, do you time yourself?
Before i take any prep exam (not when I am learning a concept, but practicing what I have learned in a time constraint), I time each set of questions. For example, I would pick 10 random questions out of OG and try to do it in 20 minutes. This gave me a good sense of trying to solve questions within a restricted time frame and kind of forced me into try to make educated guesses when I am not able to get to an answer fast enough.

I think letting go is the toughest part, but it can be learned. I would say focus on what is it that might not be working. Look at it holistically. Are you putting too much pressure on yourself? Are you not practicing enough when you learn a new concept? Are you slowing down when you are learning? Are you able to let go when you can't solve something?

Part of taking GMAT is learning all of the above that I have just mentioned above. I am still working on those. After having read blogs of ppl who have beat the gmat, what I mentioned above seem to be common among them.

Good luck and share how you are doing.

Trinity

Thank you very much for the reply. "I think letting go is the toughest part, but it can be learned" - I have to learn that myself. I have been practising for GMAT for a few months. I have reviewed a some test prep materials and practised with questions in those materials. Currently I am going through OG question bank and timing my practise sessions. Although I can solve lots of questions in the middle level difficulty section in about 2 mins time, there are a few questions that tend to take a long time which drive up my total time taken for the set of questions.

The problem is I do not know what those time taking questions are before I attempt those questions. As you have mentioned it is not easy letting it go. I think I should probably stop spending more than 2.5 minutes if I am stuck in a question and maybe come back to it later and try solving it without time restraints and learn them.

I have found the time taking problems are that way because of several reasons: 1) silly careless mistakes by me (which I dont catch in the second, third or even fourth time while reviewing the questions under timed conditions - but catch them quickly after the session is over and review them)
2) The question involves several steps that would have taken a very long time - they are probably tough questions somehow ended in the medium level difficulty section.
3) I forgot some basics on a certain topic. No matter how many times I study certain topics, I tend to forget them after a while.

Inputs from others appreciated.

Ram.