Exam in 25 Days .....Please advise.

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Exam in 25 Days .....Please advise.

by geokid » Sun May 16, 2010 3:05 pm
I got a call from my boss today indicating that I will be traveling out of the country for one month starting June 24. I cancelled my exam appointment on May 07 in the last minute due to horrible scores on my prep tests 570 range.

My aim is to get somewhere in the 650 range. After spending sometime reflecting on my past performance and advise form wonderful folks here especially Osirus, Jerryragland, beatvit and Money9111 - I decided to get strong on my fundamentals, so I started reviewing basics from MGMAT NP, WT, SC, and Powerscore CR.

After this news from my boss, my booty is on fire! I do not want to extend this hellish feeling anymore beyond July and I dont think I can afford to loose anymore time :( I am afraid this travel gap will not help either. The only appointment I could find was on June 11 and everything else is booked or really early timing 8AM.

I am willing to put in anything in order to give it a best shot, here's my plan so far...could you please advise what can I do better and what should I concentrate more on? When I reviewed my test performances I could improve in all sections, verbal seems to be my stronghold with CR bleeding. My awa is alright, 5.5 in tests, so I am not worried about it at all.

PLAN:
May 17-23 - Finish reviewing all materials, make flash cards
May 23- June 10 - Test every 2 days, and review mistakes. Finish OG again, verbal and quant supplements, review material on need basis.

Timing:
My work schedule takes up 7AM-7PM almost all weekdays. I wake up at 4 and read till 6:30, get on the train for a 2 Hr journey to work. By the time I am back, it's almost 7 on most days. Again start at 8 and read late in the night. I am also planning on taking few days on if possible.

My biggest errors in math are - Problem solving, and unable to finish on time. Hopefully the fundamentals will improve my thinking ability and speed to some extent.

I have exhausted all tests... Kaplan, MGMAT, and GMATPrep. Any advise on new CATs I should look into? I feel I've lost my steam in math given I have not really practiced PS in a week.

Any advise will be greatly appreciated.
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by money9111 » Sun May 16, 2010 10:41 pm
Be careful about burning out... that happened to me towards the end of my studies.
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by geokid » Mon May 17, 2010 8:12 am
Thanks Money9111. Sadly, I have to say I feel underwater sometimes, but I have not given up yet!

Any suggestions on the prep strategy and additional CATs that I should consider? There seems to be no consensus on the quality of CATS available out there. MGMAT seems to be favored by many.

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by money9111 » Mon May 17, 2010 8:30 am
Well I'm trying to refrain from giving Strategy advice simply because I'm in no position to do so because what I did... did not work.

but in terms of CAT exams... have you taken the GMATprep cats yet?
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Mon May 17, 2010 9:05 am
I wouldn't do a practice test every other day. Do a practice test once a week. After each test, make a list of action items that you want to improve on for the week. For example, I just took a practice test Friday. My list of action items looks like this.

1) Figure out how to correctly choose the right answer with CR questions once you narrow it down to 2 answers.

2) Figure out how to consistently get Data Sufficiency Word Problems correct.

3) Figure out how to attack the Reading Comp Roman Numeral questions.

Do things like that and do not take a new CAT until you are comfortable with the action items you have created.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

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by geokid » Mon May 17, 2010 10:48 am
@ Money9111 - Yes, I took the GMATPrep and I scored in the 570-600 range consistently. If I remember correctly I scored Prep 1- 570 Prep 2 600 Retake 1 - 580. I don't remember the splits exactly. Also, please don't be too critical about yourself, I know how you prepared,and what you've put into it, results apart. Sometimes, we need some tad bit of luck along with hard work. Hopefully, you'll pull a fantastic score soon :)..

@ Osirus - Thanks for the advise. I usually look up explanations for all the errors I've done and understand the concepts. Honestly I have learned a great deal just by reviewing my errors. But, I like your strategy, going one step further to see how better can you do with guessing etc. I've done some decent reading in the past 2 weeks are so, I will retake a GMATPrep or PowerPrep ? test to see if I've improved at all or not and go from there.