at 550(Q42,V25) in prep targetting 780 in 4 weeks

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nothinglessthan780: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:36 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Kenya

by nothinglessthan780 » Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:40 am

Just did my Powerprep Test 2 and got 550(Q42,V25) after scoring 500(Q42,V18) in Powerprep Test 1, 2 days ago. I am determined to reach 780(Q50,V48) in the next 4 weeks.
I have a timetable planning to practice and review the following:
OG 11 Quant and verbal questions
Kaplan CD Tests 1 to 4
GMAT Prep Tests 1 and 2 , at least 2times
First 500 SC,CR,RC questions from the 1000 series questions.

I intend to do the practice using techniques and strategies gathered from Kaplan Premier 2008 and Princeton Review 2008.

At the moment my main weakness is Verbal.I just dont seem to concentrate and not able to apply the strategies learnt to tackle CR and RC.As for quant, i seem to be making careless mistakes and also easily giving up on hard questions

Folks,please share your views on this strategy?

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:40 am

logitech: Legendary Member; Posts: 2134; Joined: Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:26 pmFollowed by: 25 members; Thanked: 237 times; GMAT Score:730

Re: at 550(Q42,V25) in prep targetting 780 in 4 weeks

by logitech » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:40 am

I have a timetable planning to practice and review the following:
OG 11 Quant and verbal questions = 600 questions
Kaplan CD Tests 1 to 4 = I dont know
GMAT Prep Tests 1 and 2 , at least 2times = This is a great idea
First 500 SC,CR,RC questions from the 1000 series questions. = 1500 questions

So you have 30 days

If you take 4 practice tests and study EVERY day:

you will have 26 days to deal with at least 2100 questions. 81 questions/day.

TOO MANY QUESTIONS! I would go with QUALITY over QUANTITY and truly analyze FEW questions than burn myself with thousands of questions.

My 2 cents..

LGTCH
---------------------
"DON'T LET ANYONE STEAL YOUR DREAM!"

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VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Thu Jan 01, 2009 12:21 pm

I agree with the above - anything over about 50 practice problems per day is too much, and will encourage you to sacrifice the analysis needed to learn from your practice. As said above: quality over quantity is the key.

I'd also recommend that you be a bit more conservative with your score goal. Keep in mind that I've been teaching GMAT classes for three years and I don't even score 780! Also keep in mind that 780 is well over 99th percentile, meaning that fewer than (I think, roughly) 1 in 1000 test-takers will score 780.

Setting high expectations is fine - but sometimes, such high expectations lead to increased pressure and frustration.

Good luck in your quest!

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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nothinglessthan780: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 30; Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2008 9:36 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Kenya

by nothinglessthan780 » Fri Jan 02, 2009 1:12 am

Thanks for sharing your views on the strategy.True True, I should concentrate on quality as opposed to quantity.I am just wondering how best to tackle Verbal...I just cant hack the verbal yet.I think all i need is more practice.Do you think the 1000 series will help? or should i just concentrate on the OG.My main problem in verbal is RC and CR.I dont seem to improve even after trying to apply the strategies/techniques in Kaplan,Princeton and BTG.

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VP_Jim: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1223; Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 3:29 pmFollowed by: 15 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 185 times

by VP_Jim » Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:48 am

My opinion is that the problems in the OG are enough. It takes work, time, and frustration to really understand the explanations to those problems and to relate them to the strategies you learned from your test prep guides. If you truly understand every problem in the OG, you will be very happy with your score.

A good estimate for whether you're spending enough time per problem while studying is that it should take you about two minutes to try to solve each problem, then AT LEAST another five minutes to read and digest the explanation. There are problems in the OG that I spent 30 minutes on before I really felt like I fully understood the problem and all its answer choices. Like I said, it takes a lot of work.

Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep

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