Help! 1 Week Left and Not Hitting the Mark!

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Help! 1 Week Left and Not Hitting the Mark!

by vince11 » Wed Nov 10, 2010 2:02 pm
Hello to all the BTG members. I have been following the community and members for some time now. I have been hanging in the background, quietly celebrating everyone's success and learning from mistakes/tips. I have finally decided to post because it is only 1 week until my exam and I am freaking out. Any help, advice or guidance would be appreciated more than I can explain in words!

I have been excited the last few months while preparing to take the GMAT and go back to school. This is a really monumental time for me because I am 27 now and have been trying to figure out my 'calling'/career path since I graduated from undergrad. Well, 2 months ago I finally figured it out! It just came to me one day and during that moment of clarity, I knew I had to go back to school to achieve my goal.

So, I started studying a few days later. I have made some progress, but I am short of hitting the mark. There is only one school that I am targeting. Average GMAT score at this school is 590-600. My undergrad institution and work experience are very strong, but GPA is below average. So, my last significant controllable is my GMAT score. My target score is 650+. This is much lower than many of you have achieved on the test, but it is all I really need to hit my goal...

Here are my practice scores thus far:

MBA.com GMAT CAT
9/6/10

Quantitative: Scaled Score = 35
Verbal: Scaled Score = 32

Total: 560


11/8/10

Quantitative: 42
Verbal: 33

Total: 610



MGMAT CAT 1:
11/9/10

Quantitative
35
Verbal
35
Total 590

MGMAT CAT 2:
11/10/10:

Quantitative
37
Verbal
35
Total 600

At this point, I am very worried I will not hit my goal of 650. Given that I have 1 week left to prepare, I would love to hear everyone's opinion on how I should focus my study's to get the most bang for my buck. I have read Powerscore CR Bible, MGMAT Number Properties, MGMAT Sentence Correction, and Cliff Math Review for Standardized tests. I have MGMAT RC but have not had time to read it. My thought is that I should review each problem I get incorrect on the practice CAT's until I understand the problem inside and out. I was planning to to take 1 CAT test per day up until 2 days before the test. I have the next week off from work to prepare, so time is not my concern.

Anybody have some ideas on how I can get a 50 point jump in my score within the next week? I have not seen that large of an increase in my CAT scores since I started studying 2 months ago and at this point, I am really concerned! Especially given the fact that my first CAT test was 'blind' and I had no idea what was on the test and have not taken a test since undergrad 5 years ago. Thank you so much for your insight and time. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Vince
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by Isaac@EconomistGMAT » Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:12 pm
Hi there,

Obviously you will not change any foundation matters with one week left.

I suggest reviewing technique heavily, doing 2 or 3 practice exams and, most importantly analyzing these.

Why most importantly?

Because at this point perhaps you can fix a few small matters that you see you are getting consistently wrong. Also, when doing analysis, think of the timing aspect. Do you manage to finish the exam or do you need to guess/are rushed in the last parts of the sections.

If you are rushed and/or need to guess (BTW- remember you need to finish the exam!) then you need to check from your past simulation exams whether certain questions types take longer or much longer than most. If yes, then you must decide: Do you try to improve, or eliminate, guess, and move on quickly so that you can dedicate a bit more time to other questions and to finishing the ones you can do in a cool minded manner. Obviously you should not be skipping 15 questions but if you see that 2 or 3 take up 12 -15 or 16 minutes, then definitely the best strategy is to not really attempt those if it will leave you more time for others especially those at the end. (a good way to check, apart from how long each question takes is to look at the last part of the exam to see your percentages there- if you have low percentages it means you are rushing most probably).

Therefore, practice, review, analyze!. I suggest you begin with timing analysis of past exams first and see whether this informs you a bit. Oh, and no work the night before the exam!

Good luck!
Isaac Bettan
Academic Director
Master GMAT
https://econgm.at/EconomistGMAT
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