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Should I give up? 6 months of study and jobless

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Should I give up? 6 months of study and jobless

by renetan » Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:07 pm
My situation is devastating, more than anyone else in this forum. I have quit my job and fully concentrate on GMAT for half a year and I am still stuck in 600. I can almost memorize any 500 questions like on poker cards. While I improve a little on verbal (consider I cheated because I know the right answer with my eyes closed), my quant deteriorated. What's going on?
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by [email protected] » Mon Jul 28, 2014 11:41 pm
Hi renetan,

I'd like to know more about what you've been doing over the last 6 months:

1) What resources have you been using to study (Courses, Books, etc.)?
2) What have you practice CAT scores been (include your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
4) What is your goal score?
5) What schools are you planning to apply to? And when?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by renetan » Tue Jul 29, 2014 5:14 pm
Hi Rich,

1) What resources have you been using to study (Courses, Books, etc.)?
MGMAT SC, Magoosh, PowerPrep, LSAT RC

2) What have you practice CAT scores been (include your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
It ranges from 500-700. 700 on Veritas and Kaplan; lower 600ish on GMAT Prep. I have been studying religiously everyday for 8 hours at least. I practice CATs in full and have never skipped a single section.

3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
As soon as I hit 700 on GMAT Prep.

4) What is your goal score?
Minimum 700

5) What schools are you planning to apply to? And when?
Next year. I have a list of schools.

Need help.
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by [email protected] » Tue Jul 29, 2014 10:47 pm
Hi renetan,

I need to know more about your practice CATs - when you took them and your exact Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections on each. Did you take any of these CATs repeatedly? If so, then which ones.

Also, I'm hoping that you can clear up something that you wrote in your original post:

"While I improve a little on verbal (consider I cheated because I know the right answer with my eyes closed), my quant deteriorated."

What does this mean? Please be as detailed and specific as possible with your explanation.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by renetan » Wed Jul 30, 2014 2:13 am
Here is my record:

Apr 18 - 540, Q36, V29 (MGMAT)
Jun 14 - 620, q41, v34 (MGMAT)
Jun 24 - 590, Q36, V34 (MGMAT)
Jun 22 - 610, Q44, V31 (Economist)
Jun 28 - 600, Q43, V30, (GMAT Prep)
July 8 - 580, Q37, V33 (MGMAT)
July 2 - 700, Q48, V38, (Verita)
July 16 - 590, Q44, V27, (GMAT Prep)
July 29 - 630, Q39, V38, (GMAT Prep)

I took GMAT Prep thrice. The estimated score above should be lower, considering that I remembered almost half of all the questions in GMAT Prep.

Materials:
Kaplan 2010
MGMAT SC
Powerprep for CR
Powerprep LSAT for RC


What I did:
I have overcome SC but still remains weak on CR and RC. I did LSAT RCs, some of which I don't manage to score well; I got 4 correct out of 7 questions. I read New York times everyday. Are the articles not relevant for GMAT?
For CR, I managed to overcome Assumption, Strengthen questions but not Evaluation and Inference. I tried variance method but I feel it is not useful.
For Quant, I have not overcome percents and inequalities. Now, my quant score has dropped tremendously, I seriously suspect I am not for GMAT?
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by [email protected] » Wed Jul 30, 2014 6:15 pm
HI renetan,

It sounds like you've attempted to study for the GMAT in a certain way and now you're stuck. If we ignore your later GMATPrep Scores (the CATs that you retook) and the 1 Veritas Score (which is an "outlier" and not in line with your other scores), then your current skill level is right around 600. Your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores are inconsistent, which means that while you might be comfortable with the basic content, you're not consistent with your approach to GMAT questions and you're making silly mistakes too often.

The good news is that all of these issues can be fixed. The bad news is that you have not been able to fix them working "your way", so you're going to have to invest some time, money and effort into learning new ways to approach the Test. I highly recommend that you look into the various GMAT Courses (live classes or self-study) and pick the one that best matches your personality and budget.

I have some additional suggestions, based on what you've done so far:

1) Don't retake a CAT that you've already taken. For a CAT score to be realistic, you have to take the ENTIRE CAT, do so under Test-like conditions and not see any questions that you've previously answered. Retaking a CAT often leads to an artificially "inflated" score that is not realistic.
2) Stick to GMAT materials. There has always been a debate as to whether other materials should be used (LSAT, GRE), but I focus on the reality of the exam - the questions that you will see on Test Day are GMAT questions. There are enough differences between LSAT CR/RC and GMAT CR/RC that you were learning ideas and focusing on concepts that you were not going to see on the GMAT.
3) You're going to take the GMAT on a computer, so much of your practice should be done on a computer. Doing too much book-work will not properly train you for the physical and psychological stresses of the actual GMAT.

Your journey is not over yet, so keep your head up. The truth is that you're not too far from your goal, but you have to acknowledge what hasn't worked and admit that you need consistent, expert guidance to help you hit your score goal.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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