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680 on first practice, need math help- taking in a week!

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680 on first practice, need math help- taking in a week!

by solidgk » Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:49 am
I haven't signed up yet, but want to take the GMAT sometime in the next 2 weeks. I just scored a 680 on the first GMATPrep test as a diagnostic. 44 math, 40 verbal. I finished verbal with plenty of time, but only got to question 30 of 37 for the math, so missed at least 7 from going too slowly.

For the schools I'm looking at I really need to be in the 85th percentile for math, which is 49 or so. I also wouldn't mind bumping up my verbal score! I'm especially weak at the sentence replacement.

I've seen the 2 week study method article, but don't fancy buying 5 different books. Is there a way I can buy less books (1-3) and use the next 2 weeks to increase my score to the required level?

Thank you for your help!
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 19, 2010 9:35 am
I would suggest getting the Manhattan GMAT number properties and Manhattan GMAT Word Translations if you only want to go through two books. Those will give you the most bang for your buck in my opinion.
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by solidgk » Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:01 am
Thanks for your help.

I got 7 wrong of the 31 math problems I did. 4 were Problem Solving, 3 were Data Sufficiency.

I got 12 of the verbal problems wrong. 7 Sentence Correction, 2 Reading Comprehension, and 3 Critical Reasoning.

So for math I need a solid review and PRACTICE to get my speed up.

For verbal I need SENTENCE CORRECTION and just more practice overall.

As such, I've ordered:

Official Guide
Kaplan Math Workbook
Manhattan Sentence Completion

Do you think these will serve me well, or do you think I'd be better off not getting the Kaplan Math Workbook and ordering the GMAT number properties and word translations from Manhattan instead? I suppose I could spring for 4 books...

Thanks again.
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 19, 2010 10:11 am
solidgk wrote:Thanks for your help.

I got 7 wrong of the 31 math problems I did. 4 were Problem Solving, 3 were Data Sufficiency.

I got 12 of the verbal problems wrong. 7 Sentence Correction, 2 Reading Comprehension, and 3 Critical Reasoning.

So for math I need a solid review and PRACTICE to get my speed up.

For verbal I need SENTENCE CORRECTION and just more practice overall.

As such, I've ordered:

Official Guide
Kaplan Math Workbook
Manhattan Sentence Completion

Do you think these will serve me well, or do you think I'd be better off not getting the Kaplan Math Workbook and ordering the GMAT number properties and word translations from Manhattan instead? I suppose I could spring for 4 books...

Thanks again.
I didn't use Kaplan's math workbook so I can't tell you. From what I've heard they don't cover Permutations and Combinations or Probablity, but other than that I think it is a solid book. If you only have two weeks you should probably just go with the books you have ordered. Those should suffice.
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by solidgk » Tue Jan 19, 2010 11:59 am
Well I can easily cancel the order, and the Kaplan Workbook may take too long to arrive anyway, so I may be forced to order a different book. Would the 2 recommended Manhattan books suffice?

Thanks
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:50 pm
solidgk wrote:Well I can easily cancel the order, and the Kaplan Workbook may take too long to arrive anyway, so I may be forced to order a different book. Would the 2 recommended Manhattan books suffice?

Thanks
My standard recommendation is to get all 5 of the Manhattan math books and go through all of them but with you only having two weeks, the two that I don't believe you can do without are the word translations and number properties. Definitely go through the number properties book and if you have time go through word translations.
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by solidgk » Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:55 am
Ok I'm back. I'm actually taking the GMAT on Thursday, and have been studying for 5 days or so. So far I've done the entire sentence correction book, almost all of the RC stuff from the OG, and the number properties book. I took a practice test again this morning:

Q44
V48
740

So my quantitative score has stayed the same. I really need to get it up to 48-49 to get into the programs I want. Any suggestions?

I only answered 33 of the quant problems, and got 8 of them wrong.

I have the Kaplan Math practice book and the MGMAT geometry and word translations.

Thanks
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by solidgk » Wed Apr 07, 2010 4:42 am
Today I took GMATPrep test 2 and got:

720
Q: 45
V: 44

How do people find their scores on these comparing with the actual test?

Thanks

My plan for today (exam is tomorrow) is to study the quant. areas that I've been missing most in (geometry, inequalities), do a lot of the OG DS and PS problems, go over sentence correction notecards a couple more times, and study some writing responses.

Thanks
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by GMATdawg » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:11 am
It depends. What kind of test did you take for your second attempt?
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by solidgk » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:23 am
They were all 3 official gmat tests from the webpage.

My OP was GMAT test 1, which I retook yesterday. And today I took GMAT 2.

Thanks
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by GMATdawg » Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:37 am
From what I've learned the GMATPrep test and scores are the best representation of the actual test. Although your retake of the 1st test might be slightly inflated (due to potential duplicate questions), your scores on the original 1 & 2 should be pretty close to what you can expect on the actual test.
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by akahuja143 » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:26 am
Gmat prep is closest to the actual test.. best of luck and let us know how you do tomorrow
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by solidgk » Wed Apr 07, 2010 10:30 am
Thanks for the support guys.

I have been going through the kaplan math book all day to drill the fundamentals, especially in my weaker areas. I'll be finished with it in an hour or so, and then I'll review the questions I missed on the test this morning. After this I'll go over a few OG problems, go over my SC notecards, and read a couple of writing samples for good measure!
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by akahuja143 » Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:00 pm
How was your Exam?
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by solidgk » Thu Jun 24, 2010 1:36 pm
I ended up getting a 670 on the real thing, so I was very disappointed! The first quant was very hard for me for some reason so I freaked out and ended up rushing through the rest of the quant section- finished it with 5-10 mins left! Basically I studied very intensely for a week and was so burned out come exam time that I rushed it and screwed it up. I will be taking again in the future, however, and WILL get over 750. I'll keep you all posted!
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