Need some expert advice Please help me out

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Hi,
I had started preparing for GMAT 4 months ago with immense dedication and a passion to crack it. I had an initial target of 750 and mind, and hell yeah! I still want to get there. I was regularly giving 3-4 hrs on my prep most of the days. I was preparing seriously despite going through a terrible brekup and a hell lot of work pressure!!
I had also given tests weekly to track my progress and worked on my mistakes. I have solved most of the questions thoroughly and learned the concepts. Following are the materials which I have used

OG 12(Math and Verbal)..Redid the questions that I got wrong twice
OG verbal review second edition
Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide
Kaplan 2010 Premier Edition
PowerScore CR Bible
Manhattan Word Problems and Manhattan Inequalities guides
Nova Math

When I say I have used those materials, I have made notes from them and also reviewed my notes periodically.Now Zeroing down to the problem.

My performance on the practice tests has been completely inconsistent. If I score well on quant I mess up with the verbal and vice versa. If I perform well on the verbal section on one practice test I mess up the verbal part on the next. This will of course be evident from my scores as you see

Date Test Quant Verbal Score
7-Jul Kaplan GMAT 36 34 560
5-Sep Knewton 43 37 640
29-Aug Kaplan GMAT 44 34 620
19-Sep Kaplan GMAT 40 32 610
26-Sep Kaplan GMAT 42 41 660
3-Oct Kaplan GMAT 37 24 550
10-Oct GMATPrep 50 31 670
17-Oct GMATPrep 49 27 640

The problem I faced on the last two practice tests (the GMAT Prep Ones) was that nerves took over me during the exam. I was immensely tensed in the verbal part.
It started like a chain reaction. I have some difficulty in comprehending CR and RC when I read through it the first time, So around the 6-7th question when I get the second CR and the first RC I spend a bit of extra time on it, and still if I don't understand/solve it I end up getting
Tensed. This Carries on like a Chain reaction, the tension keeps on increasing and I get most of the questions Wong (got 5 wrong in the first 10),4thQ (SC), 6thQ(SC), 8thQ(CR), 9thQ(RC), 10thQ(RC).This morale continues throughout the test and I end up getting 14-15 questions wrong .Of course I do understand that it is not about the number and that the test is adaptive. My morale is low and I feel like giving up and postponing the exam despite standing all the odds till now

I have 2 weeks or go for my exam and have taken an off from the office for two weeks, and was already not going to work from the last two weeks. In the coming two weeks I can dedicate 12 hrs per day. I can do anything to crack it, I Just want to get to 750.
Despite not even touching a 700 on the practice tests:(

I plane to redo the questions in OG 12, Verbal Review 2nd edition while revising Manhattan Sc guide. I also plan to give 4 more tests until my main test.

I need some serious advice and in immense need of some expert help. I would be grateful if someone can help me, by putting me on to the right path and help me achieve what I am desperate about.
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by Pratik Warrrior » Sun Oct 17, 2010 8:51 pm
Please excuse me for the typos,used the word spell check and changed everything as i was in a hangover due to yesterdays gmat prep result....

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by Pratik Warrrior » Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:58 am
Can someone please help me out?.14 days to go for my exam!!.......

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by vishalj » Tue Oct 19, 2010 11:39 pm
Let me start it by saying this : GMAT test is all about who is in control. If the test is controlling the situation, it is normal to get confused, bemused, and nervous. If you are in control, it is normal to get tired at the end of the test.

Now, as you know by now, there is no one-fit solutions for everyone. Here are my recommendations -

1. You have mentioned a couple of times that you have practiced thoroughly and made notes. Then I have two basic questions that can sum up your problems

a) are you completely clear with the basics of SC, CR, RC, DS and QA? For example, when you work on SC, can you clearly identify which is sentence structure, modifier, parallelism, comparison, verb tense, or subject-verb agreement error?

b) do you have a strategy to attack the questions? For example, when you see weakening CR question, what is your strategy? In my case, I try to find if this is a casual type question, then my strategy is to follow powerscore concept.

2. After you gave tests, did you analyze your weak area? For example, when I see "prepositional phrase" in the underlined SC question, I used to get little confused. Then I went through the concept of the prepositional phrase and learnd everything about it.

Now let me give a positive spin. You have done most of the work and practise a lot. Go back to your worksheet and identify the problem childs. Believe me, only you can judge yourself. Be critical.

Finally, if you think that you don't have time to cover the above items, I would recommend that take a break and start afresh. If this is your first attempt, then you can take test with the current preparation and gauge yourself. Let me know if you have any specific question.

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by uwhusky » Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:42 am
I'll be frank. If your goal is 750, you won't get there in the next 2 weeks. In fact, I have doubts that you'll reach 650...unless Ron becomes your personal tutor for the next 2 weeks.

So you should either reschedule or lower your goal...or hire Ron =).
Yep.

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by lunarpower » Thu Oct 28, 2010 4:40 am
hi --

i have to agree with uwhusky about the fact that the stated goal here isn't realistic; a gain of 100 points in two weeks is awfully unlikely to start with, but a gain of 100 points *in verbal*, in that short timeframe, is something that i don't think i've ever seen before.

still, here are a couple of things.

1)
new SC approach:
try this
https://www.beatthegmat.com/plz-advise-s ... tml#312681

2)
you say that you've been studying the books, but you haven't really said anything about how you have been studying the books.
you've listed a LOT of books, which makes me worry that you've just been doing problem after problem after problem, without spending much time for review.
remember, the problems themselves are not the point -- the point is what you can learn from those problems that could then be applied to later problems.
see here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/need-tips-fr ... tml#107595

good luck
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by Pratik Warrrior » Thu Oct 28, 2010 8:17 pm
Hi Vishal,uwhuskyl,
Thanks for replying back.

Ron,
Thanks for replying back and providing the links found them useful

But of course there is not much that i can do now,I have my exam on the 3rd of november.I have been analysing every wrong answer on my OG and verbal review for the past two weeks.Also started giving the MGMAT tests simultaneously.By
Far My Scores on the MGMAT are:

MGMAT1-670(q47,v34)
MGMAT-2 690(Q51,v34)
MGMAT -3 670(Q45 V36)
MGMAT - 4 700(Q47,V38)--This was yesterday 28-10-2010.........I Can never forget this date first time hit a score above 700.

i have last 5 days of my prep.Is there something i can do to ensure that i maintain that 38 in verbal.Time and again panic during the exam has been my greatest problem.I have already mentioned that on the test that i got a 640,i paniced terribly while taking the verbal part.Somehow i just want to get rid of this at least on the real test,Is there something i can do here ?

My Accuracy on the SC has improved and MGMAT analysis says my Avergae score of my Correct Sc answers is 720 and Average score of the Wrong ones is 750

Some Areas of improvement :
CR and RC have never been consistent on my exams.I always have a random pattern of errors.I guess this is due to lack of practise.Panic might as well be a reason for random errors but i am not sure.Reasons apart!!..Is there something i can do now?

RC has been my strength througout.Of late my accuracy has gone down in RC.

I have actuallly tried looking into the type of questions where i failed(RC &CR) and then studied accordingly,But it so happens that if i get a weaken/inference question wrong in this test and concentrate on the stratergies for them.In the next test i have an assumption/evaluate argument question type(which i had got right on the previous one)...saying me hello!! how could u miss me....

I plan to write 2 mote MGMAt CAT's.Whenever i write a test i also take the awa scetion and spend at least 2hrs/per section reviewing all the wrong answers.

Now that i just have 5 days for my exam.....Can i do some thing which can for sure increase my score a bit..I stress a bit....I just want to get up one last time, though i felt a bit devastated after reading RON's post(which i am sure is a fact) and just have 5 days to go:(

Thanks,
Pratik

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by lunarpower » Fri Oct 29, 2010 1:15 am
Pratik Warrrior wrote:Hi Vishal,uwhuskyl,
I have already mentioned that on the test that i got a 640,i paniced terribly while taking the verbal part.Somehow i just want to get rid of this at least on the real test,Is there something i can do here ?
it's unlikely that you'll completely be able to get rid of the sort of nerves that come up on a big exam.
a better bet is to try to reframe that feeling -- instead of thinking about that elevated mind state as "test anxiety", you can instead think of it as "the big game". in other words, people such as championship athletes, who undoubtedly feel the same sort of pressure before major competitions, have learned to harness it to their advantage rather than being paralyzed by it; it's really a matter of taking that elevated state -- which is in and of itself neutral -- and trying to frame it in a way that's positive.

can be tough to do, but not impossible (this is similar to the techniques used by actors to overcome stage fright, which affects even the A-listers).
Some Areas of improvement :
CR and RC have never been consistent on my exams.I always have a random pattern of errors.I guess this is due to lack of practise.Panic might as well be a reason for random errors but i am not sure.Reasons apart!!..Is there something i can do now?
can you articulate, sharply and fairly simply, the differences between the different critical reasoning question types? for instance, do you know what qualities are essential in correct answers to "draw the conclusion" problems? do you know what qualities (which are very different, by the way) are essential incorrect answers to strengthen/weaken problems?
I have actuallly tried looking into the type of questions where i failed(RC &CR) and then studied accordingly,But it so happens that if i get a weaken/inference question wrong in this test and concentrate on the stratergies for them.In the next test i have an assumption/evaluate argument question type(which i had got right on the previous one)...saying me hello!! how could u miss me....
same question as above -- do you think that you are sufficiently aware of the differences between the strategies for each of these types?
if not, then what this factor may reflect is that your thought process is being dominated by whichever problem type you've studied most recently. in other words, you may just be studying one type of problem and then unconsciously assuming that the strategies for that problem type apply to all problem types.
I plan to write 2 mote MGMAt CAT's.Whenever i write a test i also take the awa scetion and spend at least 2hrs/per section reviewing all the wrong answers.
on sentence correction, it's also equally important -- if not more important -- to go over the correct answer.
remember that everything in correct answers is correct -- so, if you see some sort of unusual-looking construction in a correct answer, you can note it for next time so that you don't eliminate it.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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by Pratik Warrrior » Fri Oct 29, 2010 3:02 am
Whoa!!.........that was probably the best i could get
Ron,
Probably You were right!!..I guess u were right in fishing this out!!

if not, then what this factor may reflect is that your thought process is being dominated by whichever problem type you've studied most recently. in other words, you may just be studying one type of problem and then unconsciously assuming that the strategies for that problem type apply to all problem types.

Thanks a Ton....I'll try applying these things in the last 5 days...Thanks again