Need Help - Used OG and Magoosh

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Need Help - Used OG and Magoosh

by kate15 » Mon May 27, 2013 5:27 am
Hello everyone,

First of all, I'd like to say thank you for this site. This site has been giving me the support and courage to keep going and not to give up.

I need help from the experts and I would really appreciate your comments.

Background:
- From NYC, 28 year old female. Working in Investment Mgt in a company. Graduated Cum Laude from undergrad.

I've been studying for 3 months now and postponed my GMAT once, originally for May but postponed to June 8th. Then when I took the GMAT mock test 4 days ago, I got a whopping 440. It increased from 410 when I first took it but still not enough :(

Things I did:

- I watched all the videos from Magoosh.
- Read RC Powerscore Bible
- I mastered SC
- Answered most of the 3 OG books while using MGMAT error log. I got a lot of questions wrong.
- Got frustrated so I went back to Magoosh and answered their practice questions. Answered 418 out of 465 questions in Math and answered 387 out of 391 questions in Verbal.
- I made detailed notes.
- Know all the formulas except RTD and sequence which still confuses me.

I think I understand most of the concepts but just have really bad test taking skills. I freak out whenever I do mock exams and forget everything I learned. This is also why I'm so scared of taking mocks :(

Please help!

Thank you!
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by AbhiJ » Mon May 27, 2013 9:17 am
You need to work your way to a high GMAT score. Consider it is constructing a building. First you lay the foundations, then walls, then the roof etc. You cannot jump the process.Would suggest you to get your hands dirty on 5 MGMAT Math Books and practice end to end. Then solve OG Quant. Repeat for each section for SC/CR/RC. Give a test. Identify your weakness and re-read the guides get additional practice/help etc. Give more tests. You are bound to improve.

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by kate15 » Tue May 28, 2013 5:33 am
Thank you for your response Abhij. I forgot to mention on my original post that I cancelled my June 8th exam. There's no way I'm sitting for the exam with my current mock exam score. I will just book it when I'm more comfortable.

I'm signed on to the Beat The GMAT 60-Day Study Guide. I promised myself that I will follow this religiously and will go through all the MGMAT books and homeworks. When you said "get your hands dirty" it woke me up and felt like I've been taking shortcuts.

Hopefully this works. Wish me luck!!

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by Mike@Magoosh » Tue May 28, 2013 10:40 am
Dear Kate,
I'll also share my two cents. :-)

First of all, you have studied a good deal of material. I'll suggest taking a look at this blog about levels of understanding:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/understand ... rformance/

It sounds as if one of the big challenges for you is the stress of the exam itself. Here's a series of articles about stress management:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/overcome-g ... y-breathe/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/beating-gmat-stress/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-gmat-b ... g-picture/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/

My friend, let me know if there is any way I can support you.

Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/

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by Milovan » Mon Oct 07, 2013 1:11 am
Hi Mike,

Although your post is two years old it was exactly the missing puzzle for my preparation for GMAT. One thing is practising examples and learning theory but completely different thing is when you are face to face with a problem set that you measure with stopwatch, or when you do practise tests.

In order to chace time I was running through questions neglecting very important pieces of information. What I figured out that it is not only from the pressure of the GMAT but also from the pressure from your day to day life. We all face a lot of stress in our lives. Stress than lowers your concentration and focus which are the most important for GMAT but as well for your life happiness.

GMAT will be beneficial not only for GMAT, MBA and proffesional carreer but also for approach to all stressfull things in my life. It is a journey, the most important is to learn to enjoy the ride :-)

Cheers
Milovan Arnaut