GMAT Strategy

Hello everyone,

I just discovered this forum a little while ago, lurked for a while but I'm in need of serious help. I've been prepping for the GMAT for about 4 months now, and no matter how I alter my studying strategy nothing seems to matter. I'm stuck getting 550's and scoring in the measly 57th-60th percentile range.

Preparation material:

- Kaplan GMAT Premier Program 2009 Edition + CD-Rom
- GMAT OG Review 11th edition
- GMAT OG Verbal Review 11th edition

I started preparing by doing all the background math, carefully reading through Kaplan's math review and doing the geometry/algebra/arithmetic/number properties problems. The CD-ROM that comes with the Kaplan book also has a number of timed tests for each section (25 minutes to finish roughly 16-20 problems depending on the section) and on these I am able to score quite well. I did these sections, as well as almost all of the problems from the Kaplan book.

My score on the first Kaplan CAT (they give you 4) was 540, broken down as:
- Math: 22 correct, 14 incorrect, scaled score: 29
- Verbal: 22 correct, 19 incorrect, scaled score: 31

However, my timing was pretty bad on that test, so I altered my studying and started doing 10 problems and giving myself 15 minutes to complete them. I was getting around 70% of the problems correct in this manner, plus getting my timing down.

I took the second Kaplan CAT, my score was 550 broken down as:
- Math: 18 correct, 17 incorrect, 2 not reached, scaled score: 28
- Verbal: 26 correct, 15 incorrect, scaled score: 33

At this point, I came across this forum, read what other people had done and altered my strategy again. I download the flash cards, really drilled most of the math rules in my head, and found a great approach to do RC questions. I also read how many people on here found the OG's extremely useful, so instead of doing Kaplan problems I figured I would hammer away at OG problems before doing another test. I once again gave myself 15 minutes to do 10 questions, and in this way I was scoring 70% correct on my quantitative, and around 85% on verbal (I also read that in the OG, the questions further into the book are more difficult, so I started at question 80).

I did a 3rd Kaplan CAT test this morning, and nothing changed. In fact, I backslid...my score was 540
- Math: 20 correct, 17 incorrect, scaled 28
- Verbal 20 correct, 21 incorrect, scaled 29.

When I time myself 15 minutes and do the questions out of the book, it seems I have a pretty good handle on the material, and when I do the individual section tests on the Kaplan CD-ROM I'm doing quite well. I used to struggle with the time during the CAT, but since I started doing 10 questions in 15 minute bursts this has largely improved and I didn't find myself too pressed for time (except for the last 3-4 questions on verbal). However, this has made no difference in my scores.

The areas in which I need improvement keep changing too. On my first Kaplan test, I got mostly geometry quant questions wrong, but on my second test it was algebra and word problems, and on my third test its word problems and data sufficiency. Same thing with verbal... my RC was initially a weak spot, then my SC was bad on the second test, and both SC and RC were low on my third test. It feels like no matter what I do or how I target my weaknesses, a new one will creep up on subsequent tests and tank my score all over again.

Has anyone else found that the Kaplan CD-ROM and book appear quite a bit easier than their practice CAT? Anyone else had this problem of simply not being able to improve? The first two tests I had a feeling did not go well, but I was sure that I had markedly improved on the third test and it was pretty crushing to see the score. At this point, I'm completely at my wits end and I have absolutely no idea what to do.

Your first mistake is only using Kaplan study materials. If you can afford it, get the Manhattan GMAT math guides and SC guide, and get the powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible. Go through all of that, it should take roughly 3 months. You should definitely get above 600, depending on how much time you spend per day, you can def crack 650.

osirus0830 wrote:Your first mistake is only using Kaplan study materials. If you can afford it, get the Manhattan GMAT math guides and SC guide, and get the powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible. Go through all of that, it should take roughly 3 months. You should definitely get above 600, depending on how much time you spend per day, you can def crack 650.

I used the OG materials as well.... would you say those are useless compared to Manhattan GMAT and Powerscore?

Also, I haven't written an actual GMAT exam (kind afraid of bombing it), but it seems most people here have... would you say that it helps to actually go and write the real thing as opposed to just doing practice tests?

kegz9 wrote:

osirus0830 wrote:Your first mistake is only using Kaplan study materials. If you can afford it, get the Manhattan GMAT math guides and SC guide, and get the powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible. Go through all of that, it should take roughly 3 months. You should definitely get above 600, depending on how much time you spend per day, you can def crack 650.

I used the OG materials as well.... would you say those are useless compared to Manhattan GMAT and Powerscore?

Also, I haven't written an actual GMAT exam (kind afraid of bombing it), but it seems most people here have... would you say that it helps to actually go and write the real thing as opposed to just doing practice tests?

You don't need to take the real thing until you're ready. Right now you know that you aren't ready. In regard to the official guides, those are good for practice, but the explanations are pretty poor. I would recommend getting the materials I suggested if you can afford them and after you have gone through those books, you will be ready.

I agree as well about the mgmat guides...I was making 550 until I started studying the guides now I'm at 600 and with more practice I hope to be at 650....
I think the reason why your weakeness on tests keeps changing is bc the material may not be solid to you so you need to get the basics down really well. The mgmat guides really help with this.