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Practice tests - urgent assistance required.

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Practice tests - urgent assistance required.

by paranoidandroid » Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:23 am
Hello,
I have been preparing for GMAT for the past 3 months. My practice test pattern has been:

1. GMAT prep 1 :640
2. MGMAT 1: left in the middle
3. MGMAT 2: 640
4. MGMAT 3: 680
5. MGMAT 4: 690
A fortnight hiatus
6. GMAT prep 2: 750

After analysing my practice regime, my primary areas of concern seem to be:

1. Time management within Quant
2. Stupid mistakes.

I believe the way to improve upon both of em is to practice as much as possible until my test date, which is set for 6 weeks down the road. Unfortunately, I have a rather busy schedule at work to adhere to, and hence am only able to devote quality study time during weekends. (other than a sitting for an hour or so each day).
To this end, I require to take some CATs to adapt myself to the rigors of a 4 hour test, which brings us to the gist of this post.

I have only 2 MGMAT CATs required, which I need to use wisely...In addition to these, can you recommend me some decent CAT tests, allowing me the luxury of taking a test every weekend.

I have also enrolled myself for the BTG practice questions today...nonetheless...full format CATs is what I seek... to destroy. :)

Thanks in advance, comrades.
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by Brian@VeritasPrep » Wed Feb 23, 2011 12:38 pm
Hey paranoidandroid,

Man, that's a pretty apt user ID - you're hitting 750 on the official practice tests and you're requiring "urgent assistance"?

Kidding aside, I'll actually disagree with your assertion here:
I believe the way to improve upon both of em is to practice as much as possible until my test date
"Practice as much as possible", as counter-intuitive as it sounds, is almost a pretty lazy way to study. From what I've seen, that's what people do when they've kind of given up on thinking about the test but still want to feel deserving of success. What you really want to do is just what you did in creating this post - look for reasons that you're missing question or losing points and figure out how to attack them.

You mention time management - how do you improve on that?

-See if there are particular question types that are taking you too long
-Determine where you're losing time within problems; do you struggle to set up ratios quickly? Do you read each question once through before actually starting to work on it the second time? Do you do a lot of by-hand calculations when you could save time by checking the answer choices for easy plug-ins or number properties?
-Try drills that force you to think quickly - 10 questions in 15 minutes; 30 seconds for each question to get set up so that you force yourself to start problems faster; etc.

You also mention silly mistakes - do they:

-Happen more often on Data Sufficiency than on Problem Solving?
-Tend to happen for the same reason (answered the wrong question? Made assumptions about a variable?)?
-Occur with particular concept areas or calculation types (do you think too quickly when using geometry rules? Do you write 4s that look like 9s? Do you tend to foul up multiplication by 6 for some reason dating back to grade school?)?

Practice is a key component, but especially at the point you're at - scoring into the 700s and probably needing to solidify 2-3 things that have the potential to hold you back - you're probably going to be best served with some "tactical strikes" on particular problem areas, and then a practice test maybe once a week to practice that stamina and test experience you're looking for.


Keep in mind that the official GMAC tests have pretty deep question pools, so you can typically retake each one at least once without too much overlap. I'd definitely recommend doing that, and the community may have some additional suggestions for CAT access.


Most importantly, congratulations on getting yourself to this position - breaking 700 on those official practice tests is no easy task, so you've earned the right to be confident in these weeks leading up to the big day!
Brian Galvin
GMAT Instructor
Chief Academic Officer
Veritas Prep

Looking for GMAT practice questions? Try out the Veritas Prep Question Bank. Learn More.
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by paranoidandroid » Sat Feb 26, 2011 8:18 am
:) Thanks Brian.

Yes, albeit the solitary prep score reaches the GMAT stratosphere...it still remains solitary..and hence the persistence of paranoia...besides, I am a sucker for radiohead.

I found your response pretty refreshing.

QUOTE
From what I've seen, that's what people do when they've kind of given up on thinking about the test but still want to feel deserving of success.
UNQUOTE

It does indeed make sense, and hence I have ruminated upon your wayfinding queries.

Most of my issues arise due to incorrect interpretation of questions, or just plain old cross eyed affliction.
However, I have started narrowing down my mistakes to find any noticeable pattern...so far, I havn't been able to conclude anything other than loss of concentration and/or haste in solving the problems due to incorrect time management.

Regarding the time management, I have improved...by learning to treat questions on their merit. Need to solidify some concepts further...especially inequalities to solve em faster

So in addition to the clearer consciousness of my prep progress as outlined above, we both agree that I need to give CAT exams every weekend (my initial preference as well). To this end, I still have to stumble upon something good.

Thanks for the official prep re-take recommendation, Brian.

Has anyone used Gmatclub tests here? Was wondering whether I should sign up for them?

Would like to know your thoughts, comrades.
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