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Its the week before GMAT, last minute strategies??

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Its the week before GMAT, last minute strategies??

by dubc1982 » Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:34 am
Hopoefully someone can provide an answer or point me to some good previous posts. Here is where I feel I stand now:

I will take the GMAT August 2nd and I took my second GMATPrep test this past Saturday. The practice test I took before this was GMATPrep 1.

GMAT Prep 1: 590
GMAT Prep 2: ??? (I accidentally clicked past the screen and the stupid program doesn't let you go back, so I missed my score, but I did see how many questions I got wrong. Overall, I got one question better than last time, 2 better in Quant. and 1 worse in Verbal). I'm assuming my score would therefore be around 600.

My weaknesses are most medium-difficult DS and in PS, probability, combination/permutation problems. I don't know why, but I continue to struggle with DS. I fully understand how to approach them and what I'm looking for, I just feel like I always miss something or misinterpret something.

In the Verbal section I'm comfortable with everything, just a matter of keeping my stamina up.

My timing in all sections is pretty good. In all of my practice tests I have never run out of time, however, this last practice test I rushed through the last 3 questions and got the last 5 wrong (they did seem pretty difficult though). I know I took too long on certain questions, which shouldn't happen again.

AWA is ok, I've written about 3 of each kind. When taking my practice tests, I felt comfortable in my approach, but my ideas could have been clearer. I use the format that most people seem to use and then add my own language to be creative.

Should I bother studying more for AWA? I think I can easily get above a 4, but there is no reason I shouldn't be able to get a 5. I know this doesn't impact your overall score too much, so I don't know if its a waste of time to focus on it when I'm struggling with DS. I may go over some notes this week.

So basically, how should I approach this final week? My plan right now is to continue to work in the OG, focusing on DS and doing some PS. I had been working on PS the past couple of weeks and was doing pretty well. I think I've plateaued in PS, so hopefully I can improve a little in DS this week.

Please help, I'm hoping to get a 630, but haven't scored above a 600 in practice tests. I know my conditions weren't ideal when taking practice tests, so I'm confident I'll be more focused on the real thing. Plus I feel I've learned from my mistakes. I've been reviewing all of my answers, right or wrong, however, sometimes weak explanations are provided and I'm still left scratching my head.

Sorry for the long post, but this is crunch time and I need any advice I can get. Thanks in advance.
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by VP_Jim » Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:28 pm
My advice for your final week of studying is... not to study! Okay, that might be a bit extreme: spend the next couple days reviewing your weakest areas and maybe taking one last practice test under real test conditions to practice your timing. After that, spend the day or two before the test relaxing, knowing that you've studied hard and will probably do well on the exam. It does no good to cram the day before - it will probably just tire and/or stress you out.

As for the AWA, have you ever have one graded before? If you've been getting 4 or above on them, no need to study. You might want to review your AWA template, it you have one, one last time before the exam just to make sure you have it down, but I wouldn't spend too much time on it.
Jim S. | GMAT Instructor | Veritas Prep
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by dubc1982 » Tue Jul 29, 2008 3:48 am
Great info., thanks a lot. I have not had an AWA graded, but after reading some that have been reviewed on here, I think the ones I've written should be at least a 4. I'm pretty comfortable with my template and know my approach for each one. I think it'll be a matter of how I feel about the topics and how I'm able to pick them apart. Thanks again.
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by robertpatrick » Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:45 am
I'm also T minus one week out, and what I'm doing since I haven't finished going through all the OG material yet, is doing 25 questions of each problem type per day.

I've read before that doing a high volume of questions isn't necessarily the best way to study, but somehow I think of it as exercising my verbal/math brain muscle so that it stays sharp, also I think it will help with my test anxiety the more question types that I'm familiar with, all in all I'll probably have put in 150 or so hours of study time, over the past month, for this first run.
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by AleksandrM » Tue Jul 29, 2008 9:55 am
I took my test on a Friday. I stopped studying on Wednesday before the test. Thursday, I just went to work, came home and relaxed with a book. The day of - my exam was at noon - I solved 10 PS and 10 DS problems. I also read a few articles from the Economist, all in order to "get the blood flowing."

I am taking my test again on the 8th of September. I am not going to warm up the way I did before my last exam. Instead, I found that the AWA section was plenty of warm up for me. It allowed me to settle into the exam, and got me focused. It also really relaxed me, as I feel right at home when writing analytical essays.

Otherwise, I suggest managing your body more than anything else. What I mean by that is:

-Use the bathroom before the exam, even if you don't have to; do so for the breaks as well.
-Make sure you have a bite to eat between sections. I don't suggest a big mac, but a protein bar would be great. But make sure you don't drink too much during the break, as you do not want to be analyzing your bladder rather than the problems during the test.
-Do not think about the last section once you are done with it. Instead, focus on the next section you are going to tackle.
-Finally, know where the test center is located. You do not want to get lost on the day of the exam and show up late.
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