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Just Finished A Prep Exam

by YipYip » Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:19 am
Hey,

I'm writing my GMAT at the end of November, and I've been studying since this September. I took an OG diagnostic exam and recently I took a GMAT Prep software practice test. (The first of two offered)

I scored:

V46 (99th percentile)

Q35 (36rd percentile)

IR 5 (52nd percentile) [I haven't practiced IR as much]

660 Overall (81st percentile)

Suffice to say, I'm very happy with the verbal score, looking to keep it at that level or even improve it if possible. However, my quant score is really dragging me down and I am not sure how to increase it.

Another thing is that I finished with a lot of time to spare - Around 14 min in both verbal and quant. I feel I should be slowing down a bit, to review my answers/review the questions.

If I could bump up my quant even by 3 or 4 points, it would make a huge difference. What should I be focusing on, and how should I plan ahead? I'm weakest in word problems. Also, is it too much to expect in with just a month left?

Thanks.
Last edited by YipYip on Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:17 am, edited 3 times in total.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Wed Oct 28, 2015 5:29 am
YipYip wrote: Another thing is that I finished with a lot of time to spare - Around 14 min in both verbal and quant. I feel I should be slowing down a bit, to review my answers/review the questions.

If I could bump up my quant even by 3 or 4 points, it would make a huge difference. What should I be focusing on, and how should I plan ahead? I'm weakest in word problems. Also, is it too much to expect in with just a month left?

Thanks.
It's possible that some good time management (i.e., finish with 30 seconds to spare and not 14 minutes) would go a long way to increasing your scores.

I suggest that you use the following Milestone Charts to keep you on track:
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These times are easily remembered so you can quickly jot them on your noteboard on test day.

This (and more) is covered in our free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

To improve your quantitative score, I believe that you should compartmentalize your learning and take the time to master each topic (e.g., percents, ratios, exponents, statistics, etc.). This means that, for each topic, you should:
1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
2) Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it

Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

To help you focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

Cheers,
Brent
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Oct 28, 2015 7:32 am
YipYip wrote:Hey,

I'm writing my GMAT at the end of November, and I've been studying since last September. I took an OG diagnostic exam and recently I took a GMAT Prep software practice test. (The first of two offered)

I scored:

V46 (99th percentile)

Q35 (36rd percentile)

IR 5 (52nd percentile) [I haven't practiced IR as much]

660 Overall (81st percentile)

Suffice to say, I'm very happy with the verbal score, looking to keep it at that level or even improve it if possible. However, my quant score is really dragging me down and I am not sure how to increase it.

Another thing is that I finished with a lot of time to spare - Around 14 min in both verbal and quant. I feel I should be slowing down a bit, to review my answers/review the questions.

If I could bump up my quant even by 3 or 4 points, it would make a huge difference. What should I be focusing on, and how should I plan ahead? I'm weakest in word problems. Also, is it too much to expect in with just a month left?

Thanks.
Going from a Q35 to a Q40+ in a month is very doable. You'll want to review your old practice test and identify what the main quant issues were. If the issues are strategic: doing algebra when you could have picked simple numbers, etc., that's an easy fix - make notes of what approaches may have been more beneficial, and then gear up to take another practice test. If you were making careless mistakes, simply slowing down and checking your work will give your score a substantial boost. If the problems are more fundamental, you'll need to do some drilling to make sure you have those core concepts down. I'd suggest working through the Question Pack: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ack-1.aspx

And for additional practice, here's our question bank:https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-question-bank/
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by [email protected] » Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:54 am
Hi YipYip,

In a prior post, you stated that any Score above 600 would probably be enough to help you get into one of your chosen Business Schools, so it certainly appears that you're in a good position (and with the remaining time before Test Day, you could easily pick up some points in the Quant section).

Your self-analysis is good too - you understand the major areas that you need to improve on (SLOW DOWN, take more notes, do more work on the pad).

1) What resources have you used besides the OG?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by YipYip » Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:38 am
The post should've said studying from this September, I've edited it accordingly! Sorry about that.

~

@Rich

Hello sir,

Yes - You're absolutely right! Although, it turns out that my GPA is a bit lower than what they usually expect, so I want to make up for it with a higher GMAT score. The course's average GMAT score is 650, so I am trying to see if I can hit 700 for that extra edge.

I've been using Manhattan's SC guide, a Verbal Review, Manhattan Geometry guide, (all 2-3 years old), questions from forums and prep sites online (This forum, Veritas Prep, GMAT Prep Now, Magoosh's blog, GMAT Club, etc) and some digital flashcard sets for idioms/properties/formulae.

Honestly, I thought that I would finish late or with no time to spare, and so I rushed a bit, especially with quant. I see now how that could have affected my score.

@Dave

Hello sir,

Your list covers all possible mistakes - I think in my case it's a bit of all three factors, unfortunately. I feel much stronger in certain topics than others and I've not had enough practice in a few topics. I shall check out the question pack, and go through the OG and the quant resources I have again. I have been using your site's question bank over the past month and I've found the questions very challenging and the explanations informative, especially for CR. The analytics are rather helpful in knowing where you stand, too. I shall continue working on those questions.

@Brent

Hello sir,

Let me first thank you for your video lessons - They helped me a lot, especially with number properties and geometry! What a coincidence - I just saw that very video a few days ago. While doing the quant section, my eyes darted up to the timer, but then I remembered your advice and waited for question five. Unfortunately it looks like I didn't stick to it for the entire section.

I will follow the list of steps you've given, so as to gain more confidence in the sections I feel unsure about. I think the second point is especially relevant, as it's easy to forget that knowing basic properties thoroughly can help you a lot with DS questions or significantly reduce the time taken for PS questions.

~

Thanks for the feedback,
YipYip
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