Need Improvement - 45 days

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Need Improvement - 45 days

by svishal1123 » Thu Jun 18, 2009 4:08 pm
Hi Friends,

First of all I would like to thank all the folks for continuously posting on this site and providing very valuable help to everyone. I am at a location where there are hardly any people preparing for competitive exams; this site is my only means of interaction with people who are aiming for GMAT.

Coming to the point now - I have my exam in 45 days from now. I am done with most of the theory. My target score is atleast 720. Till now I have given around 4 Kaplan tests-got 600 +- 20 and gave 1 Princeton test and got 640.

Yesterday, in the Princeton test, I had some disturbance of around 3-4 minutes while I was in verbal. Math - Right-34, Wrong-3; Verbal - Right 27, Wrong-12, Unanswered-2. Correct Answers in Verbal - SC-10/13, CR-8/12, RC-9/14.

I dont precisely remember the Kaplan details, but I need to work on my silly mistakes in Math and timing in verbal for sure. Currently, a RC takes around 10 minutes for me.

I took GMATPrep at the start of my preparation and got around 600. I know I have def improved after that. I have saved them for the last phase and will give them again(Am I doing right?). I am planning to buy the MGMAT tests as well.

I want to know, how else can I improve on my score. Also want to mention that it is very difficult for me to find more than 2 hours to study on a weekday.

Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Thu Jun 18, 2009 7:11 pm
With reading comprehension I am using MGMAT's guide it is really helpful and it really allows you to cut down on your time by not having to go back and read the passage multiple times. For Sentence Correction I am also using MGMAT, its a really thorough book. For Critical Reasoning, I am using PowerScore's LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible. I think the LSAT Logical Reasoning questions are more difficult so being able to answer those questions makes answering the Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT easy. Hope that helps

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by aj5105 » Fri Jun 19, 2009 9:08 am
Could you please share some strategies for RC?

Could you please explain how MGMAT's RC guide is helping you to cut down on your time by not having to go back and read the passage multiple times?
osirus0830 wrote:With reading comprehension I am using MGMAT's guide it is really helpful and it really allows you to cut down on your time by not having to go back and read the passage multiple times. For Sentence Correction I am also using MGMAT, its a really thorough book. For Critical Reasoning, I am using PowerScore's LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible. I think the LSAT Logical Reasoning questions are more difficult so being able to answer those questions makes answering the Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT easy. Hope that helps

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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Fri Jun 19, 2009 10:03 am
Basically with you make a very short outline. For instance, with the first paragraph you read that paragraph normally and you make a detailed out line about what the main idea is, and key thoughts, etc. With each paragraph after that though, you make short quick notes just highlighting key words. This way if you do get a question asking about a specific idea, with your outline you know exactly where it is in the text instead of having to try to reread the entire passage. Also, for the general questions about the main idea, you can probably go by just your outline and answer these questions correctly consistently.

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by svishal1123 » Fri Jun 19, 2009 12:24 pm
osirus0830 wrote:With reading comprehension I am using MGMAT's guide it is really helpful and it really allows you to cut down on your time by not having to go back and read the passage multiple times. For Sentence Correction I am also using MGMAT, its a really thorough book. For Critical Reasoning, I am using PowerScore's LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible. I think the LSAT Logical Reasoning questions are more difficult so being able to answer those questions makes answering the Critical Reasoning questions on the GMAT easy. Hope that helps
Thanks osirus0830.

Yes, this is one of my strategies. I am trying to bring down my RC time to 5 minutes for short/easy passages and 7 minutes for long/hard passages.

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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jun 25, 2009 2:13 pm
Received a PM asking me to respond.

The test is not scored based upon percentage correct, so I can't tell how you're doing in quant and verbal simply based upon the right/wrong numbers. Can you tell me the quant and verbal subscores for your two most recent tests?

For the different question types, are you struggling with content, technique, timing, or all of the above?

If content, what specifically is giving you the most trouble? (eg, in SC, modifiers and verbs) Include in this category the different types of questions for CR and RC (eg, find an assumption vs. weaken or inference vs. main idea).

On what types of questions or content areas are you struggling with technique or timing? (Technique is knowing how to identify / categorize a particular type of question and knowing what you're expected to do / answer as you move through the problem.)

Also give us any other detail you have noticed about your own strengths and weaknesses and the kinds of errors that you tend to make repeatedly.

Also, what resources have you been using so far to study (a) content (math and grammar rules), (b) technique (for the different kinds of questions, especially CR and RC)?

Finally, I assume you work on week-days - I wouldn't want you to study form more than 2 hours on those days anyway. Be very careful not to substitute quantity for quality - I'd MUCH rather have you do two hours of high quality study than 6 hours of lower-quality study.
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