Require guidance .. one month to go

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Require guidance .. one month to go

by koolk86 » Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:12 pm
Hi,

I am looking forward for some guidance. I have been preparing for GMAT since quite a long time say more than 6 months. Following are the materials i used for practice:

Quant:

Manhattan Guides for basics
Kalpan 800 for difficult sums
Kaplan Strategic Guide - Quant and Verbal
OG. 12

Verbal:

Manhattan SC
Powercore - CR bible
Kaplan 800
Kaplan Strategic Guide
OG 12
Verbal review 11th edition
Verbal workbook

I have been practising a lot and also doing additional questions from the online forums. However, when it comes to test taking, i am unable to elevate my score beyond 580.


Here is my break up of the mock tests score:

MCAT (Free) taken on 2/3/2010 Q: 45 , V: 29 total 600%

MCAT 1 taken on 9/3/2010 Q: 37, V: 33 total 580%

MCAT 2 taken on 15/3/2010 Q: 40, V: 29 total 570%

Had also taken GMAT Prep 1 and 2 but scored around 590 and 580%

I am planning to take my official test by end of April. What i am currently working on is analysing each of my past tests in detail as what went wrong and how should i not make same mistake again. My weaker areas are CR and RC for which i am working on it. But some how i fail to understand where am i going wrong since during my practice i am able to analyse the problem and solve it but during tests things just get messed. Its been too long since i started my GMAT practise. But i finally have decided to take my tests by end of April. I have also been working on time pacing but not getting desired results. Can someone please provide guidance ?? I aim for 650+ ????

Please help.
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by KapTeacherEli » Sat Mar 27, 2010 12:48 pm
If you're doing well in practice, but having trouble on practice tests, the most likely suspect is timing. Since timing can be a struggle, and tests are long and grueling, I'd recommend timed practice. Try 5 CR problems stricly limiting yourself to 10 minutes. Then try 10 in 20 minutes, and 15 in 30. This will get you a much better feel for the timing and the pressure of the real GMAT test, without eating up 3.5 hours of time per test.
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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by koolk86 » Sat Mar 27, 2010 8:53 pm
Thank you. Appreciate your inputs Eli,

Yes, i do work on my timings but face problems in handling time pacing for CR and Problem Solving. There is one question which i want to ask, Does all the problems in Quant require to be written down step by step on paper while giving tests to make sure i dont miss any important step or struggle with solution ??

Further, should i work on time pacing and then give practice tests or should i manage them together? Is it advisable to repeat the GMAT Prep tests again and again ??