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Strategy for Final 3 Weeks

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Strategy for Final 3 Weeks

by bml1105 » Sat May 17, 2014 12:58 pm
I'm at the three-week mark before D-Day. Does anyone have advice on whether I should focus more on the Quant section than the Verbal Section?

Below is a list of my practice GMAT scores, in order of oldest to most recent. All were taken under timed test conditions, and I did the AWA and IR section for each. My goal is a 700, but no tears will come with a 680.
  • Veritas - 590 (Q35/V36) - Quant 36 percentile, Verbal 79 percentile
    Kaplan - 600 (can't find breakdown) - Quant 57 percentile, Verbal 74 percentile
    Princeton - 610 (Q40/V34) - can't find percentile breakdown
    MGMAT - 640 (Q39/V38) - Quant 46 percentile, Verbal 84 percentile
I know scoring higher in the verbal section affects your score more, but I feel like my quant section is really low. I was thinking of applying a 2:1 method to my studies. 2 days of quant for every day of verbal. Or would my time be better spent trying to get over the 90 percentile for verbal? I know my weak points in both sections, specifically SC in verbal. I still plan on taking more practice tests, including the GMAT official tests.

Any advice on where I should focus the bulk of my time or if I should just split it evenly, would be greatly appreciated!
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by [email protected] » Sat May 17, 2014 1:51 pm
Hi bml1105,

Many Business Schools put an added emphasis on the Quant Scaled Score when reviewing an application. While you have an opportunity to pick up points in both the Quant and Verbal sections, you should be spending more time on Quant then on Verbal. Your idea to try a 2:1 breakdown between the two sounds fine, but you don't have stick to it on a day-by-day basis. You might find that doing some Quant and some Verbal each day will help your brain to "stretch" a bit between the two sections and reduce whatever stress you might be dealing with.

As far as the practice CATs are concerned, you should plan to take no more than 1 CAT/week.

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Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat May 17, 2014 2:00 pm
I agree with Rich.

Given your scores, you'll most likely see a greater return on investment (ROI) if you place a greater focus on math. On the math front, I suggest that you begin with the concepts that are tested frequently and require the least amount of time to learn. In my opinion, these concepts are:
- 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.

Also, be sure to take several official practice tests in order to perfect your time management skills and build your endurance. These practice tests will also help to identify any remaining topic-specific weaknesses.

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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