GMAT Strategy

Hello,

I've been preparing for the gmat for about 2 month now. I took my first practice test yesterday (GMATPrep). I got 710...unfortunately I lost my break down (bummer) but I had made 7 errors in the verbal (1 RC, 1 CR, 5 SC) and 14 errors in Quant. Despite my best efforts I ran out of time in quant and where forced to just guess on the last 5 problems (all errors).

My goal is to score over 700 in GMAT. I'm planning to take the GMAT in the first week of July.

Several questions:
1. What do you think I should be doing till then?
2. Are the questions in GMATPrep easier than the actual GMAT?
3. Although I've been solving problems with a stop-watch, I'm still no where close to successfully managing my time on Quant...any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

To answer your questions:

1. Since you're already scoring in the range that you'd like, I'd recommend focusing on your weak areas (in verbal, it looks like you can improve your SC, and in quant, check to see if there are any particular areas you don't completely understand, such as probability or geometry). Don't neglect the other areas in the meantime, however! Also, if you haven't already gone through the OG, I'd suggest doing that as well if you want more practice problems.

2. The questions on the GMAT Prep should be fairly representative of the questions on the actual GMAT, but remember that, even on the actual exam, there is a +/- 30 point margin of error.

3. With your score, it looks like you're already doing a fairly good job on your quant section, even with your pacing issues. Honestly though, I believe guessing on the last few questions (not an insanely high number of them, of course) won't damage your score too much. That being said, a good way to improve on timing on quant is to improve on your mental math skills. However, don't try to go so fast so that you make silly mistakes.

Good luck!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions one-by-one. Really appreciate it. I'll follow your advice. I've gotten a book called secrets of mental math, I'm going through it. It is interesting and I think it will improve my speed.

You know, I think I am familiar with the content but I'm having difficulty recognizing some of the problems. Also I end up spending a lot of time on DS questions.

I have gone through OG 11 book. Next to OG 11, is there another source that is good for quant questions which are similar to the ones that show up in GMAT.

Thanks in advance.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions one-by-one. Really appreciate it. I'll follow your advice. I've gotten a book called secrets of mental math, I'm going through it. It is interesting and I think it will improve my speed.

You know, I think I am familiar with the content but I'm having difficulty recognizing some of the problems. Also I end up spending a lot of time on DS questions.

I have gone through OG 11 book. Next to OG 11, is there another source that is good for quant questions which are similar to the ones that show up in GMAT.

Thanks in advance.

I think I know the mental math book that you're talking about, and I agree, it seems pretty helpful and entertaining.

As for other math problems, definitely get the quant OG supplement - the "green book" - for more problems, if you haven't already done so.

You might try working problems in the OG-Quant book or the Kaplan Math Workbook.