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Yes I can! 600 to 700 in 3 months -- game planning! Help?

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Yes I can! 600 to 700 in 3 months -- game planning! Help?

by jasongmat2010 » Sun May 17, 2009 7:12 am
I am so tired of studying for the GMAT, but am going to give it one more try. I just took the exam this weekend and scored a 600. I am committed to re-testing in three months and will do WHATEVER it takes to break the 700 barrier. What do you think of this game plan?

How I prepared for the first exam (scoring the 600)?
I completed the Kaplan classroom course and all of the extra homework. My diagnostic score was 540. I took 6 Kaplan Cat exams with scores ranging from 540 to 620. In the two weeks leading up to the exam, I reviewed the GMAT Hacks Math and Verbal guides. And, in the final weekend before the exam, I completed the two GMAT Prep Cats scoring a 610 and 630. Again, my official score was a 600 -- 39Q and 34V.

My 600 GMAT experience
During the real exam, I was thrown off by some of the advanced geometry problems. This ate of some of my time early in the exam and made me feel rushed toward the end to finish. However, given my scoring pattern leading up to the exam, I think the offical GMAT score is fairly reflective of my current skill base and my nerves were not an issue.

Breaking the 700 Barrier
Improving 100 points may be a stretch, but I am going to give it my best effort to improve my score to increase my chances at Stanford, Columbia and Berkeley. I have a 3.75 undergraduate degree and four years of strategy consulting....I know I can do this -- if I follow the right plan. Below are my preliminary thoughts, what do you think? What can I do differently to be most effective with my time? I have 5-10 hours per week budgeted for GMAT work.

Month 1 Focus - MATH
1. Complete Manhattan GMAT Prep Geometry
2. Complete Manhattan GMAT Prep Equations, Inequalities and VIC's
3. Complete Princeton Review Math Workout for the GMAT

Month 2 & 3 Focus - OG Review (Both Math and Verbal)
1. Complete 10-20 OG guide questions / day (inside out/upside down)
2. Every other week take a time Manhattan Review Cat - review EVERY problem afterward
3. Re-take GMAT Prep Exams leading up to the re-take exam - review EVERY problem afterward (does anyone know where I can find explanations for these questions?)
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon May 25, 2009 10:20 am
Good for you - you sound really motivated! In your first month, you mention only Geometry and EIV as the two areas of content focus. If you're trying to jump from a 600 to a 700, you need to get better at everything (and, in particular, the things that are tested the most commonly - and geometry is not at the top of the "frequent topics" list).

I'd start by analyzing your strengths and weaknesses in great detail and using that analysis to drive your study. This is likely going to mean additional resources beyond the Geometry and EIV materials.

I'll tell you how to analyze using your most recent MGMAT test, since those are the tests I obviously know the best.

Assess timing. The instructions below focus on quant, but you can do the same thing on verbal - just substitute these timeframes: For SC, over 2min, under 30 sec; for CR, over 3min, under 1 min; for RC, over 5min and under 3min on first question (which includes readthrough), over 3min, under 1 min for other questions. Also, obviously, substitute "41" for "37."

1. On your last practice test, add up the number of questions on which you went over 3 min. Include in your count the number of those that you got right and the number wrong.
2. Divide the number of questions from #1 by 37. This is the percentage of total questions on which you spent way too much time.
3. Add up the total amount of time you spent on those 3+ min questions.
4. Divide the amount of time from #2 by 75. This is the percentage of your total time (75min) that you spent on the 3+ min questions.
5. Compare #2 and #4. What percentage of your total time are you spending compared to what those questions represent as a percentage of all 37 questions?
6. Add up the number of quant questions on which you spent 1min or less and you got wrong. These questions represent an additional potential cost for spending so much time on other questions, because when you go that quickly on a problem, you tend to make more mistakes. Maybe you could've gotten some of these right if you'd spent closer to the normal 2 minutes.

Also run the assessment reports and look for this data:
- areas on which you scored <50% correct
- areas on which you averaged >20sec above or >30 sec below what you were supposed to average
- areas on which there is >30sec (overall question categories) or >45sec (question subcategories) disparity in timing (in either direction) between the ones of that type that you got right and the ones that you got wrong
Also look at the question lists and review:
- problems on which you spent >30 sec above or >45sec below what you were supposed to on problems of that type
- problems below your level that you got wrong - eg, if you're currently scoring 650, look for problems in the 500-600 category

Pat yourself on the back for things on which you scored >50% correct (the higher, the better) and for things you answered correctly in the general timeframe you were supposed to spend. For things you answered correctly very quickly, do still pat yourself on the back, but know that doing something too fast increases the chances you'll make a careless mistake - so just be careful.

Note on some of the average timing data: if your timing got messed up in the section (eg, you spent too much time early on and had to rush later on), then your data will be skewed because you will have been forced to do questions towards the end much faster than you'd otherwise have done them (possibly to the point of making random guesses in a few seconds). If this happened in either section, you'll have to dive down into the data for individual problems rather than use the assessment reports to do the work for you, because the average timing may seem to be okay even though you had a bunch that were too long and a bunch that were too short.

If you'd like, once you've done this analysis, come back and tell us what you found. We can help you figure out what to do about it! :)
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Stacey Koprince
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon May 25, 2009 10:36 am
Oh, forgot to answer your question about GMATPrep. There are no official explanations for these, but you can search the forums here for specific question text or post questions if you don't find the problems already posted here. My company also hosts forums and we have two dedicated folders for GMATPrep (one quant, one verbal) - so you can also search or post there. (Generally a good idea to search first, because it can take a while to get an answer to a new post, and if the problem has already been discussed, you don't have to wait for an instructor to respond!)
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
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Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

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by 4score20 » Mon May 25, 2009 11:01 am
Your perseverance is great! You seem to be very disciplined and focused. It's probably a good idea to take one day off each week from studying. A fresh mind is a mind that thinks more clearly and more easily retains information.
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