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15 days to GMAT, 700+? Tensed.

by sidrsharma » Sun Nov 09, 2014 9:20 am
Hi everyone,

I have been a silent lurker on the forum. I absolutely love it and all the answers and solutions.

I have my GMAT in exactly 15 days, i.e the 24th of November
I have been preparing for the last 2.5 months using the MGMAT Guides, The OG 13.

This is what my scoring history is:

12th September GMATPrep Exam 1 Q36 V23 500
13th October GMATPrep Exam 2 Q40 V26 550
25th October GMATPrep Exam 1 Q47 V28 610
4th November GMATPrep Exam 2 Q49 V36 700
8th November Veritas Free Test Q47 V34 660

Now I am aware that the scores are inflated for the prep 2nd attempts. Also, the Veritas test seemed easy, and the scoring quite chill.

I have the GMAT Prep 3 and 4 remaining which I plan to take on the 15th and the 19th respectively Q1)Should I take them earlier?

I have have the following resources:
GMAT Quant Review
GMAT Verbal Review
GMAT 404 Question pack
I am looking at solving the above over the next 10 days. (Till the 20th) Q2) Should that be a good thing to do?

I am taking a Manhattan Free Test tomorrow. Q3) Should I rather take a Kaplan or something else (Should be free)?

I am a little tensed about the exam now. Would love if anyone could guide me with the steps for the next 15 days.
Will I be able to touch the magic 7 figure?

Thanks in advance,
SS
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by [email protected] » Sun Nov 09, 2014 10:53 am
Hi sidrsharma,

Do you have the flexibility to push back your Test Date? I ask because I'm concerned about some of your scores. Since 2 of your 5 CAT results were based on re-takes, those 2 scores are likely "inflated" and do not provide an accurate assessment of your abilities. With your score goal (700+), we really need some viable data to assess your chances - and 15 days might not be enough time to assess, and fix, any problems in how you deal with a full CAT.

We need to see a score result that is based on a FULL CAT which you have not previously taken. You can choose whichever "brand" of CAT that you'd like (but the 2 remaining CATs from www.mba.com are arguably going to give you the most accurate evaluation). Once you have those scores, you should post back here. We'll then have a much better sense of what you should do in these last 2 weeks and if a reschedule is required.

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Nov 09, 2014 11:31 am
I typically suggest that students achieve their target score on at least 2 practices tests before they take the official test. Keep in mind that you can reschedule your test up 1 week before the test day.

If, however, you don't have any flexibility regarding rescheduling, then you have to make the best of the time constraints. I suggest that you first focus on concepts that have the greatest return on investment (ROI). These are concepts that are tested frequently and require the least amount of time to learn. In my opinion, these concepts are:
- Sentence Correction
- Data Sufficiency strategies
- Percent
- Integer Properties
- Powers/roots
- Algebra
- Geometry
As you can see, there's a big emphasis on math here. Your quant scores suggest that you're pretty strong in that area, so a focus on SC might be in order.

I should mention that CR and RC questions probably have the lowest ROI. I'm not saying that you shouldn't prepare for them; I'm just saying that improvement can take a long time. For CR, be sure you understand the various question types.

Over the next 15 days, take several official practice tests in order to perfect your time management skills and build your endurance. Remember that the GMAT is a test of your math and verbal skills AND it's a test of your test-taking skills.

Finally, As part of your preparation, work on adopting the proper mindset/attitude on test day. To this end, you may be interested in reading the following BTG articles:
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/06/ ... -destroyer
- https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/04/ ... n-the-gmat

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Brent
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by sidrsharma » Sun Nov 09, 2014 5:47 pm
Hi [email protected],

I have a work assignment from the 25th onwards, so 24th it is. I am a break for 15 days now, so going to be preparing full time here.
I am going to take the GMAT Prep 3 on the 11th November.. full length, under official test conditions.

Let me then post here that score and we'll have a better picture then.

Thanks a lot for your quick reply!

Best Regards,
SS
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by sidrsharma » Sun Nov 09, 2014 5:54 pm
Hi Brent@GMATPrepNow,

A reschedule seems highly unlikely.. unless I score extremely less on the next CAT I take (Which is tomorrow) - because then taking the test might not make sense.
AS per your suggestion.. and in fact i have followed this for the last 3-4 days, I shall focus on the various math concepts from the MGMAT Guides.

For CR well, I have gone through the CR MGMAT strategy guide two times over.. I understand the process and apply it too. I have been getting fairly decent results on that.

Thanks for those lovely articles, brent. I have read these before but i am going to read them again for some additional motivation.
I shall post my latest GMAT Prep3 score here, lets see how we can take it from there.

Thanks a lot for your quick response.

Regards,
SS
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by manyaabroadtpr » Mon Nov 10, 2014 8:48 am
Hi,

Your scores have been consistent, you may just have to work at optimising your score to make it reach to your ideal one. This can only happen by very closely analysing your mock tests. If you spend 2 hours on a mock test, make sure you spend 6 hours in analysing the same. Sit back and think what you could have done right to take your score up.

Apart from that in the last 15 days stay focussed and don't lose a sight of your goal. We are sure you will do well.

Wish you the best.

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by BestGMATEliza » Mon Nov 10, 2014 12:59 pm
I agree it is important to pinpoint your weaknesses by analyzing your mocks and what you got wrong. Another important step for breaking the 700 mark is practicing with the most difficult types of questions. To do this, you may want to look int o purchasing MGMAT advanced quant and.or Kaplan 800.
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by sidrsharma » Tue Nov 11, 2014 5:01 am
Hey guys,

I took the GMAT Prep 3 today - scored a 570. (IR 5/12, Q35, V34)
I am deeply disappointed and really don't understand what could be going wrong.
I was stumped with the Quant score - I have been doing pretty okay with my previous attempts. This one seemed a shocker!
I have taken screen shot of the Rights and Wrongs.. can someone tell me if it's possible to get a Q35 with the following?

Image

Thanks.

Regards,
SS
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by sidrsharma » Tue Nov 11, 2014 7:21 am
Hey [email protected] and BRENT@GMATPrepNow,

Your opinions on the above?

Also manyaabroadtpr, thanks for your input. I did spend about 5ish hours on the review today, got to understand more than a couple of things. Really helped!
BestGMATEliza, thanks for your input, I will get one of these real quick!

Thanks a ton in advance!
SS
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:10 am
sidrsharma wrote:Hey guys,

I took the GMAT Prep 3 today - scored a 570. (IR 5/12, Q35, V34)
I am deeply disappointed and really don't understand what could be going wrong.
I was stumped with the Quant score - I have been doing pretty okay with my previous attempts. This one seemed a shocker!
I have taken screen shot of the Rights and Wrongs.. can someone tell me if it's possible to get a Q35 with the following?

Image

Thanks.

Regards,
SS
Hey SS,

I'm not sure what you mean when you ask, "Can someone tell me if it's possible to get a Q35 with the following?" It sounds like Q35 is exactly what you got with those results.

If you're asking whether it's possible to answer 12 of the 37 quant questions incorrectly and get a quant score of 35, the answer is yes. Keep in mind that your scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the level of difficulty of the questions you answer correctly.

To illustrate this, I'll share an experiment I performed:

I took GMATPrep Practice Test #1 four times, and each time I answered every second question correctly (I did this for the quant section only)

Given that I correctly answered exactly half of the questions each time, you'd expect my quant scores to be roughly the same for all 4 tests.

My 4 scaled scores were: 19, 23, 26 and 42

This represents a percentile range from approximately 8th percentile to the 63rd percentile.

So, don't worry about how many questions you answered correctly. It has nothing to do with your score.

Aside: If you're interested, we have a free video explaining the GMAT scoring algorithm: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1251

Cheers,
Brent
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by sidrsharma » Tue Nov 11, 2014 8:20 am
Hey Brent@GMATPrepNow,

Thanks for your response - that automatically puts me in a really bad situation then! I scored a Q47 on the Veritas free test i took about 3 days back and I scored a Q36 two months back when I took my first mock to analyse my base score!! Trust me I have definitely done some killer quant since then.
I believe I can do much better than this.

Do you have any suggestions from here on?

Thanks,
SS
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Nov 11, 2014 9:39 am
Don't put too much emphasis on the results of one test. You may have just had an off day.
Take another practice soon a see how you do. Then, we'll take it from there.

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by [email protected] » Tue Nov 11, 2014 10:45 am
Hi SS,

The scoring algorithm for the Official GMAT (and the Official practice CATs) is far more complicated than most people realize. There are a variety of factors that determine your score on Test Day - one of which is the inclusion of "experimental" questions that do not count. They can show up at any time and you won't know if they're experimental or not.

When you reviewed this recent practice CAT, of the Quant questions that you got wrong, how many COULD you have gotten correct BUT didn't because you made a silly/minor mistake? THOSE are the issues that you need to fix. If you make too many little mistakes on Test Day, then the "damage" from those missed questions will keep you from scoring at the highest levels.

Since you've now scored in the 500s on 3 Official GMAT CATs (on the first attempt of each), then we have a certain amount of evidence that THIS is your current level of ability. You've previously explained why you don't want to push back your Test Date (which is fine) and there's nothing wrong with taking the GMAT as planned. It's important to remember that Business Schools don't care if you take the GMAT more than once - because at this point, I don't think that it's likely that you'll score 700+ on Test Day. You need more time, new tactics, more practice, etc. to get to that higher level.

With these last days, you should focus on eliminating as many silly/little mistakes as possible. It could be that you end up with just the right mix of material on Test Day that your score bumps up.

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by manyaabroadtpr » Thu Nov 13, 2014 10:31 pm
sidrsharma wrote:Hey [email protected] and BRENT@GMATPrepNow,

Your opinions on the above?

Also manyaabroadtpr, thanks for your input. I did spend about 5ish hours on the review today, got to understand more than a couple of things. Really helped!
BestGMATEliza, thanks for your input, I will get one of these real quick!

Thanks a ton in advance!
SS
We are glad we could be of help. You are close to your target score and heading in the right direction. Make sure that whatever you learn when you analyse your test in such detail, you apply the same in the next. Keep doing this and you will see your score being pushed to where you want.

Wish you the best.
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by sidrsharma » Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:11 am
Hi guys,

Just took the Manhattan Test 1 and scored a 600 (Q44, V30) :( (I didn't press Submit on the last question of Quant - though I did mark an option - but it still showed that I didn't answer - what could be the penalty for the same?)

This is 4 days after the GMAT prep3 in which I scored 570 (Q35V34) :( :(

My history of scores has been pretty inconsistent, this is slightly discomforting.
Did briefly check out the MGMAT analytics - there is some crazy detail there! Today shall be spent in reviewing the entire test - Finding strength and weakness areas and building a strategy for the next 10 days (Exam on 24th)

Your inputs on the same? [email protected], Brent@GMATPrepNow?

Also, @manyaabroadtpr - thanks for the same.

Regards,
SS
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