I would strongly suggest getting the MGMAT word translation guide. But, don't stop there. Get an old Algebra book at a library and practice as many word problems as possible. Don't get obsessed with this though (as I did) because it is still better to practice with word problems written for the GMAT. Practice all of the OG word problems from the orange and purple books. Then, go back and try to solve again the problems that you got wrong. Then, go back to all of the problems and read the OG approach to solving them. Give each one at least two reads.
As for careless mistakes, I just saw how much that is a pain in the ass. Do not be overconfident on any questions. I went into my practice CAT with waaaaayyy too much confidence where I decided that problems just bowed to my ABILITY to solve them rather than to my actually solving them. I decided that the following approach might work for me next weekend:
1. Read each problem quickly the first time and then re-read the important parts; for example, pay attention to whether it is asking for the amount used or the amount left after a certain amount has been used, whether it is asking for minutes, seconds, hours, ... etc.
2. While solving a problem, check your math. When you are in a rush you, at least I, tend to make stupid mistakes. For example, I solved 2 + 1/2 as 3/2 because I was too focused on getting the final answer, whereas the result is, of course, 5/2.
3. Realize that you might not get to all of the problems because of the time issue. Do not let it get you down. It is certainly true that you can get the first 3 questions wrong and still get a decent score. HOWEVER, it is not true that if you get 10 questions wrong on the first half of the test and then get only 2 wrong on the second, you will come out with a decent score. I believe that it is very important to minimize mistakes (at least this has been my experience) on the first 20 questions. Do not blow the last questions. But if you guess the last 5 and get them all wrong, you will still end up with a great score as long as you only got a few questions wrong here and there throughout the exam. Yes yes, I know it is more complicated than that, but I think it is more rewarding to be careful on the first half of the test. You can afford getting the last questions wrong and coming down from 680 to 670, versus not being careful enough on the earlier questions and ending up with a 620, even though you score the last 15 correctly.
This advice is more to myself than to you, wawatan, but I hope you find it useful.
