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crackgmat007
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:57 pm
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- GMAT Score:690
I thought a brief background (ended up with a long one though) is necessary to get your thoughts.
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I am a non-native English speaker and do not have adequate math background. I lastly did math in my high school, which was more than a decade ago. But I have strong a academic background.
I started my GMAT prep late Feb of this year. I was really confused as to how to go about quant and verbal. I just picked up OG 11th Edition and worked out the diagnostic test. After a few problems, I realized my math concepts are rusted quite a bit and so is verbal.
I picked up ARCO Math for Smart Test takers to gain basic math concepts and then moved to OG 11th Edition. I made flash cards of key points.
With regards to verbal, I started off with OG 11th Edition and solved the questions. I figured that my grammar skills are not upto the mark. My CR & RC were ok though. I did not work on pace as I thought I need to figure out a strategy for each area first, although I was not sure whether my strategy will work.
After completing OG 11th Edition, I worked on Kaplan Premier Program 2009 Edition.
After this prep for few weeks, I took my first GMAT mock test on 3/15. I must say that I was not taking the exam so seriously until I saw the score. I got a score of 480 (Q35, V21). Most of the questions seemed familiar, but I didn’t quite remember the concepts. My pace was not upto the mark; I had 12 mins left for 14 verbal questions.
I developed an action plan to get comfortable with the concepts first and work on my pace later on.
I purchased MGMAT SC Guide, MGMAT CR & RC guide. The next 15 days, I focused on SC concepts, RC & CR question types, and how to approach RC. After gaining concepts in each topic, I went back to OG 11th Edition and solved the problems. My strike rate improved, although I see that there is room for improving my pace for RC. My strategy for verbal seems decent, but I need to practice a lot to implement the strategies and work on my pace, especially in RC.
I purchased GMAT Fix OG champion early April and completed the quant section OG 11th Edition last week. I gave some CAT practice tests (800 score, Crack GMAT). Here are the scores in each section:
- Quant – Ranges from 35 to 41. In each test there were atleast 9 to 12 errors, out of which 5 to 6 are careless errors. I kept an error log and updated my notes with new concepts I came across.
- Verbal – Ranges from 21 to 31. In each test, I have atleast 15 to 20 errors, out of which only few are careless errors. My SC is improving though.
On 4/25, I took a full length MGMAT online test and scored 580 (40Q, 31V). I was disappointed again. I was able to increase my score from 480 but not to a great extent. Quant questions were somewhat hard. Also, I paused the test few times, so 580 is little inflated.
My strategies are set for quant and verbal (got some tips and tricks from the forum; thanks to this great forum). I have little over 40 days to go for my Test day.
With this background and based on the the detail of my next steps (below), please suggest me whether my plan looks fine. Also, please let me know if this plan helps me get the magic score of 700+? I really want to crack GMAT with 700+, so any suggestions are welcome.
My next steps:
I am planning to work on the following:
1.OG 12th Edition
2.Kaplan 800
3.LSAT bible (not sure if it is necessary, given the time I have, pls advice!)
4.CAT tests – MGMAT: 5 online tests, Kaplan: 6 tests, and Power Prep: 1 test (2 per week from now)
5.GMAT 2nd mock test (few days before the test day)
6.OG 10th Edition for verbal
7.Misc practice questions – downloaded from the web; such as sets
During my practice, I am planning to work on the below:
1.Revise the concepts
2.Implement the strategies religiously
3.Focus on pace and maintain an error log to see where else I am missing
Also, I am struggling a little bit to figure out the best way to approach practicing quant and verbal. Is practicing topic by topic (Number properties, Rate-Work etc.) best or section by section (SC, RC..)? Just as an fyi, I do not have a busy schedule for the next one month and I can dedicate around 4 hours a day and may be 12 hours during the weekend.
Looking forward for a suggestions/feedback.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am a non-native English speaker and do not have adequate math background. I lastly did math in my high school, which was more than a decade ago. But I have strong a academic background.
I started my GMAT prep late Feb of this year. I was really confused as to how to go about quant and verbal. I just picked up OG 11th Edition and worked out the diagnostic test. After a few problems, I realized my math concepts are rusted quite a bit and so is verbal.
I picked up ARCO Math for Smart Test takers to gain basic math concepts and then moved to OG 11th Edition. I made flash cards of key points.
With regards to verbal, I started off with OG 11th Edition and solved the questions. I figured that my grammar skills are not upto the mark. My CR & RC were ok though. I did not work on pace as I thought I need to figure out a strategy for each area first, although I was not sure whether my strategy will work.
After completing OG 11th Edition, I worked on Kaplan Premier Program 2009 Edition.
After this prep for few weeks, I took my first GMAT mock test on 3/15. I must say that I was not taking the exam so seriously until I saw the score. I got a score of 480 (Q35, V21). Most of the questions seemed familiar, but I didn’t quite remember the concepts. My pace was not upto the mark; I had 12 mins left for 14 verbal questions.
I developed an action plan to get comfortable with the concepts first and work on my pace later on.
I purchased MGMAT SC Guide, MGMAT CR & RC guide. The next 15 days, I focused on SC concepts, RC & CR question types, and how to approach RC. After gaining concepts in each topic, I went back to OG 11th Edition and solved the problems. My strike rate improved, although I see that there is room for improving my pace for RC. My strategy for verbal seems decent, but I need to practice a lot to implement the strategies and work on my pace, especially in RC.
I purchased GMAT Fix OG champion early April and completed the quant section OG 11th Edition last week. I gave some CAT practice tests (800 score, Crack GMAT). Here are the scores in each section:
- Quant – Ranges from 35 to 41. In each test there were atleast 9 to 12 errors, out of which 5 to 6 are careless errors. I kept an error log and updated my notes with new concepts I came across.
- Verbal – Ranges from 21 to 31. In each test, I have atleast 15 to 20 errors, out of which only few are careless errors. My SC is improving though.
On 4/25, I took a full length MGMAT online test and scored 580 (40Q, 31V). I was disappointed again. I was able to increase my score from 480 but not to a great extent. Quant questions were somewhat hard. Also, I paused the test few times, so 580 is little inflated.
My strategies are set for quant and verbal (got some tips and tricks from the forum; thanks to this great forum). I have little over 40 days to go for my Test day.
With this background and based on the the detail of my next steps (below), please suggest me whether my plan looks fine. Also, please let me know if this plan helps me get the magic score of 700+? I really want to crack GMAT with 700+, so any suggestions are welcome.
My next steps:
I am planning to work on the following:
1.OG 12th Edition
2.Kaplan 800
3.LSAT bible (not sure if it is necessary, given the time I have, pls advice!)
4.CAT tests – MGMAT: 5 online tests, Kaplan: 6 tests, and Power Prep: 1 test (2 per week from now)
5.GMAT 2nd mock test (few days before the test day)
6.OG 10th Edition for verbal
7.Misc practice questions – downloaded from the web; such as sets
During my practice, I am planning to work on the below:
1.Revise the concepts
2.Implement the strategies religiously
3.Focus on pace and maintain an error log to see where else I am missing
Also, I am struggling a little bit to figure out the best way to approach practicing quant and verbal. Is practicing topic by topic (Number properties, Rate-Work etc.) best or section by section (SC, RC..)? Just as an fyi, I do not have a busy schedule for the next one month and I can dedicate around 4 hours a day and may be 12 hours during the weekend.
Looking forward for a suggestions/feedback.
You're training yourself in the wrong way if you use the pause button. You actually have to feel the pain of running out of time and see what that does to your score so that you're convinced that you have to fix your timing (which means letting some questions go).
. I never got such a score in my practice exams. I got 660 in GMATPrep test 2 that I gave a week before the test day. 
