Manhatten CATs

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Manhatten CATs

by dumluck » Sun Apr 17, 2011 2:59 am
Hi All,
I've been studying now for the GMAT for four months and plan to take it on May 25th. Quant is my weak area so my study plan thus far has looked like this...

Jan: Kaplan Maths workbook
Feb-Apr: MGMAT Strategy Huide (only have Geometry (my strongest point), CR and RC to go)

I've been studying on average 20 hours a week. However I've recently started taking MGMAT Cats. My first was last week and I scored an embaressingly low 490 : Quant 30, Verbal 28. I worked hard during the week and was looking forward to taking a second one this weekend. I did and I scored an even worse 470: Quant 24, Verbal 31.

A couple of points to note. The first MGMAT Quant was much easier. (it could be that I got topics more akin to what I understood). The second was harder BUT I felt like I was doing better because of that. I was quite confident on the second and expecting a score in the region of 600.

There is no real pattern to the questions I'm getting wrong although Word Translations would probably eencapsulate quite a few of them.

My GMAT is May25th and my plan of action is as follows...

1. Finish the MGMAT strategy guides (I'm just going to run through Geometry, CR and RC as they are not my weak areas).
2. Review the answer explanations to all the questions I got wrong in the CATs.
3. Practise Questions
4. Do a CAT a week until the GMAT.

What I need to know is if it's even possible to drag my score up for 470 to a 600+ in that time frame and is the secret in doing OG questions?

Thanks a million,
D

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by nikhilsrl » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:43 am
Hi,

You have a pretty good plan out there.

1. I would like to say that analysing the CATs and working on your weak areas is very important.
2. Keep an error log and study it before taking each CAT. This way you will avoid making the same mistake.
3. Keep a note of all difficult questions you came across. In addition to the error log go through this before taking each CAT.
5. If you have not already taken the GMAT Prep (available at MBA.com) please make sure you take them before the actual CAT. They are the most representative of all practice CATs. Again dont forget the analysis part.
6. Try to work out as many practice questions as you can. You can be involved in couple of forums like beatthegmat. Try to help others solve questions, this way you will become very systematic yourself.
7. Dont miss any of the practice CATs from MGMAT, and don skip the AWAs.

I used to spent around 2 hours going through my notes and error log before each CAT. Followed the same process even on the day of actual GMAT test.

Hope this helps.

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 109
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 3:05 am
Thanked: 8 times
Followed by:7 members
GMAT Score:760

by nikhilsrl » Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:49 am
Hi,

You have a pretty good plan out there.

1. I would like to say that analysing the CATs and working on your weak areas is very important.
2. Keep an error log and study it before taking each CAT. This way you will avoid making the same mistake.
3. Keep a note of all difficult questions you came across. In addition to the error log go through this before taking each CAT.
5. If you have not already taken the GMAT Prep (available at MBA.com) please make sure you take them before the actual CAT. They are the most representative of all practice CATs. Again dont forget the analysis part.
6. Try to work out as many practice questions as you can. You can be involved in couple of forums like beatthegmat. Try to help others solve questions, this way you will become very systematic yourself.
7. Dont miss any of the practice CATs from MGMAT, and don skip the AWAs.

I used to spent around 2 hours going through my notes and error log before each CAT. Followed the same process even on the day of actual GMAT test.

Hope this helps.