GMAT Strategy

Dear everyone,

First, I would like to apologize in advance since this post is long. However, I seriously and urgently need help to score a 700+ or a 750. Please bear with me.

I am in the middle of my GMAT preparation. I am an undergrad college junior and I initially have a goal of scoring a 750 or a 700+ in the GMAT. However, after taking my first GMATprep just now, I received a devastating score of a 480. My confidence was shattered. My hopes were undermined. My 480 score even initially prompted me to stop my MBA endeavor. Then, I remembered what most people in this blog say which is to never give up. I was also inspired by Eric’s quote that “people don’t fail, they just give up.” Given this, I am really not going to give up and I will still aim for a 750 or a 700+ but to do that I will need some advice from you guys. I know many people will consider my 750 or 700+ goal as unrealistic given I just scored a 480 but if I accept that, it would be tantamount to giving up. Therefore, I kindly urge you guys to please give me an encouraging solution and not a discouraging one.

Here is the backdrop of my preparation. I initially started preparing for the GMAT last February 21. Actually, I started studying around November and December but I only allocated 30 min. per day and I actually do not know what GMAT is all about in the first place. Then come January, I created a study plan based on Kaplan’s syllabus. Due to papers, exams, reports and the like, I was always sidetracked from my preparations. After all the requirements, I started to seriously prepare for the GMAT last Feb 21. I made a new study plan that combines Kaplan and Manhattan resources. Again, the same scenario happened. My school requirements interfered in my preparations. I was very inconsistent in my preparation. I did my best to still study despite the inconsistency and the overflowing requirements that I was receiving back then. I was unsuccessful. I thought to myself that I would come back studying very seriously (and this time consistently) during my summer vacation last March (I live in the Philippines so our summer vacation starts every end of March). Same thing happened. Instead of school requirements interfering, it is now family activities and other vacation activities that interfered in my progress. I was very frustrated at my inconsistency. I knew inconsistency was my problem. Because of my inconsistency, I ended up revising my study table for five times !!! I was really really disappointed and frustrated. Then, everything changed from April 3 to April 12. In that span of time, I was able to consistently study the OG. I studied and understood the last 30 to 50 questions (i.e. the “hard” questions) of each section of the GMAT and the OG. This raised the level of my confidence. But again, the inevitable came. I started my summer classes last April 13. Once again, I suffered 6 days of unproductivity. I was again frustrated and disappointed. By this time, I really wanted to know where I stand. So I thought I want to take a GMAT Prep to know where I stand so I can make a solid and consistent. Before taking the GMAT Prep, I know I was at a bad shape. I had 6 days of unproductivity. I had forgotten the things which I have studied because of my inconsistency. Even still, I knew that I was able to study a lot already. It’s just that I was inconsistent which is why I have forgotten what I have already studied. I was hoping that I would score at least 500+ because of the times of my unproductivity. However, I was very shocked to get a 480 in the end.

My self-assessment on the test is that I always had problems managing the time. I would always ran out of time and would end up guessing undeducatedly without elimination due to time constraints.

Here is my score:
Quant --> 29 (17 / 37)
Verbal --> 27 (19/41)

Here are my materials:
• Kaplan Premiere Program 2009
• OG (orange one)
• Manhattan turbocharge your GMAT
- Math study guide
- Math solution guide
• OG companion
- Haven’t studied yet
- Just ordered this yesterday
- Received great comments about this from Tedcornell’s posts

Here are the things that I have done so far:
• Finished the Manhattan math book study guide lessons and exercises
• Studied thoroughly and answered the last 30 – 50 items per section of the GMAT in OG (except DS)
• Studied verbal concepts (RC, CR, and SC) in Kaplan Premiere program 2009
• Did a practice in CR in Kaplan

I believe that if I were consistent enough and had the right material from the start, I would have scored a 600+ in my initial GMAT Prep. I think consistency is really my problem before.

My problem now is that I only have 39 days left before my actual GMAT exam (May 29, 2009). I bought the OG companion because I think it can significantly raise my quant scores with the many strategies and guessing techniques it has provided for each of the quant items in the OG. I also plan to “practice a lot with great quality” all my verbal skills (SC, CR and RC) using Kaplan’s CD ROM exercises and OG’s questions.

I plan to use the strategy of the guy who scored 790. This strategy employs one to study a section (preferably a math weakness like PS or DS) for 2 weeks. Then, the next week, study the next section (preferably a verbal weakness like CR, etc) while doing same problems of last week. I plan to this until May 29, 2009.

My question now are the following:
• I know it may sound unrealistic to jump from a 480 to a 750. Since most people tell that one can only increase his or her score of about 100 points and it can be lower if one is self-studying. I am self-studying. However, as mentioned, I am not quitting on my goal to score a 700+ or a 750. Do you have any advices as to how I can do that in 39 days?
• What strategy should I do?
• Do you recommend any additional materials which I should study?
• How can I solve my inconsistency which is deem is the culprit of my 480 massacre score?
• Should I reschedule my test date? I can only reschedule it up to June 9 since my regular semester (which is more stressful and more work loaded) will resume on June 10. I don’t know if this is advisable. I might end up in my usual inconsistency if I reschedule more than June 9.

I am willing to give myself 4 to 6 hours every day to study for the GMAT so I can get around 150 hours of study before my May 29 test day (which is almost the same as preparing for two months). I am even willing to just submit my application materials to IESE YTP next April instead of this May (since deadline is before May of graduating year). I am willing to spend a lot of time to study just for me to cross the 700+ margin. What should I do? I know I can do this. My inconsistency is really the problem. Please do not discourage me. I already was. I just gained some of my morale back after reflecting.

Thank you very much and God Bless,