Please help... so much confusion with varied scores

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I am so confused today... its really frustrating.

my scores of manhattan mock

mgmat 1 - 610
mgmat 2 - 640
mgamt 3 - 620
mgamt 4 - 620

(Quant consistently at 43/44 and verbal from 28-32)

Consistently, i have been scoring 600+ in mgmat for the last one month, now i took my gmatprep for the first time today. I took all above tests under strict timelines including breaks

I also wrote AWA and essay so as to mimic the official test in all above four tests.

Now comes the confusion , today i took gmatprep test and I scored 550 ( Q - 37, V - 27 ) , in case of Quant i have had 60% correct answers and in Verbal i had again 26 correct and 15 wrong answers in this test.

There is no possible way of analysing the gmatprep the way analysis is offered by mgmat in terms of difficulty wise Q / content wise etc.

in OG, I have an accuracy of 70 in SC ( under 1 min ) , 70% in CR ( under 2 mins ) and 45% in RC.

I have an accuracy of 75% in Quant of OG.

I have an accuracy of 70% in kaplan Q banks except RC.

Now, what do i infer ???????? am i ready for the gmat or not ??????? my target is 650 min

My gmat is scheduled on 17th Feb. , i am so confused and demotivated.
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by VivianKerr » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:47 pm
Hi there,

GMATPrep is often found to be more difficult than private company's tests. If you've got a 550 on GMATPrep 1, and the low 600's on MGMAT, but guess is your actual score if closer to the GMATPrep, maybe just under 600.

If you know you want a 650 minimum, then I think you want to practice until your score is closer to the high 600's to be safe. You can do it by Feb. 17th, but you'll need to put in more work.

I would back off pacing and re-examine your strategy. When you take more time, does your accuracy for each Question type significantly improve, or does it still linger around 70% SC, 70% CR, and 45% RC?

My guess is you don't have strategies that are working for you, based on the plateau of your four MGMAT practice tests. Ease up on timing and full-length tests, and keep your focus on (1) REVIEW and (2) STRATEGY.

Identify those weak content areas using an Error Log (you've got plenty to log now!), then "attack" your weaknesses on BTG, Grockit, using the OG, GMATClub, Purple Math, or any other supplemental books you may have.

Read up on strategy for the Verbal question types. Here's what I suggest:

RC
https://grockit.com/blog/gmat/category/g ... rehension/

SC
https://grockit.com/blog/gmat/2011/11/24 ... ror-on-sc/
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/11/ ... n-question

CR
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/11/ ... -questions

Good luck!
Vivian Kerr
GMAT Rockstar, Tutor
https://www.GMATrockstar.com
https://www.yelp.com/biz/gmat-rockstar-los-angeles

Former Kaplan and Grockit instructor, freelance GMAT content creator, now offering affordable, effective, Skype-tutoring for the GMAT at $150/hr. Contact: [email protected]

Thank you for all the "thanks" and "follows"! :-)

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by appking » Sun Jan 29, 2012 6:30 pm
Thanks very much vivian.

If i give more time to Qs, my accuracy improves, when i practice Qs for specific problem type, i reach to an accuracy of 75% to 80% ( the accuracy details i have given for OF is 1 month back statistics )

I am able to apply the strategy when i am practicing , but when i take full lenth test.. all my strategies go for a toss... i mean i have to rush for managing my time per Q.

my strategies for CR and RC were probably too lengthy, i have reduced it now to a very simple 3 step process to apply it faster.

In verbal , i feel exhausted with last 20 Q :(.

Please correct me for my approach.

For Verbal ( next 5 days )

1) To finalize 3 step strategy for CR/RC.
2) To revise my concepts for SC
3) Practice the Q in the set of 40Q ( cr+rc+sc ) everyday - at least one set.

For Quant - ( next 5 days )

1) Revise the fundamentals
2) work on strategies for DS.

Take full length test on 5th only, not before that.

Please suggest me any changes in the approach for the next 5 days, because unforunatly i can not change my gmat date now :(

thanks again for your time and suggestions

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by FutureWorks » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:10 am
Hi aspire2mba,

Firstly we would say that stay positive and such anxieties are common during exam preparation
time. Juggling between work and studies is tough so you need to define a significant time for your
GMAT preparation. Sometimes taking few days off work for preparing for the GMAT can help a
person tremendously. If you have time this may not be a bad idea. Take practise GMAT tests to see
how you are doing. If you cannot do that don't worry. What might work instead is to set aside 1-2 hours at night on weekdays and major part of your weekend to study and prepare for GMAT-in this case we will suggest a good 2-3 months preparation. However we recommend you to keep taking practise tests to gauge your performance. It will help you in identifying your weak areas and you can focus on them accordingly. You might be able to study more than the given hours and that would take you less than 2-3 months. It all depends on your potential really.

There are various ways you can use to practise for your GMAT. You might need to change your
practise style and try this combination to provide you flexibility and different styles to practise so it doesn't get monotonous.

It could be combination of-

1-Books- Books like- The Official Guide for GMAT Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Verbal
Review, The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review etc could be used.

2-Online Study Guide: Websites like Knewton, Grockit etc provide you with practise questions
online.

3-Smart phone applications- Kaplan, Veritas etc offer applications to prepare for GMAT on your
smart phones