OMG I DROPPED BY 70 POINTS! Please Help me!

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bond0007: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:59 am; Location: New York City; Thanked: 2 times

by bond0007 » Sun May 02, 2010 10:04 pm

Hi everyone, I'm sad to report that the MGMAT practice test slayed me.
My Background: I studied for about 2-3 months last year but stopped due to commitments at work. Now I am back studying again. I finish MGMAT classes next week. My Goal is to get a 680-700 score on the exam otherwise I will have no shot at a top 15 B-school

MGMAT Test 1 Jan '09 :440 (29Q 21V) (Last Year before studying)
MGMAT Test 2 March '09 600 (41Q 32V)
MGMAT Test 3 May 2 2010 530 (35Q 29V)

I feel horrible about dropping 70 points from a bit over a year ago, but I know my biggest weakness is time management. At one point I was 18 minutes behind on the verbal section and had to guess on the last 11 problems. It takes me 1.5 minutes to do Most SC, but I take around 3-4 on CR, and about 10 minutes on each Reading comp..
My biggest weakness today was the Reading Comp, As i got 4/12 correct (i had to guess on the last 2 passages since I had no time to read them)

As far As Quant, I'm generally ok with the material, but if I dont go over it I tend to forget it after a while. So when I took the test today, I didn't remember some of the stuff I studied 2 months ago (Mostly # properties, equations)

Now that I am finishing MGMAT courses next week, I would really appreciate it if any of you guys give me some advice going forward. I'm really desperate at this point to get a score in the high 600's

Here are some of my ideas:

*Go over each of the MGMAT guides at least once
*Verbal to Quant study ratio of 2:1
*Do every OG 11 quant problem 2-3 times each.
*Read Powerscore CR bible and Kaplan 800 (not sure if I need to do these as well as the MGMAT stuff)
*Skip a few problems in the middle of the test if I see im going too slow. So I wont have to guess on the last few

Thank you,
Paul

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Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sun May 02, 2010 10:04 pm

Osirus@VeritasPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1578; Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 8:02 amFollowed by: 34 members; Thanked: 128 times; GMAT Score:760

by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Mon May 03, 2010 8:50 am

Odds are, you have problems with timing because you don't know the material well enough. Try this drill. Do 20 random math problems, except rather than solving the problems completely, only give yourself 30 seconds to start the problem. Later go back and finish the problems. If you find that in the 30 seconds you couldn't properly set up the problem, your issue is that you don't know the content well enough. The test is really only difficult because of the time. You could get the score you want if it were untimed. Because of this, you need to make sure you can set up the problems and instantly know what type of problem it is as soon as you read it the first time. This will allow you to finish the test on time.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

Brandon Dorsey
GMAT Instructor
Veritas Prep

Buy any Veritas Prep book(s) and receive access to 5 Practice Cats for free! Learn More.

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bond0007: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:59 am; Location: New York City; Thanked: 2 times

by bond0007 » Mon May 03, 2010 11:08 am

osirus0830 wrote:Odds are, you have problems with timing because you don't know the material well enough. Try this drill. Do 20 random math problems, except rather than solving the problems completely, only give yourself 30 seconds to start the problem. Later go back and finish the problems. If you find that in the 30 seconds you couldn't properly set up the problem, your issue is that you don't know the content well enough. The test is really only difficult because of the time. You could get the score you want if it were untimed. Because of this, you need to make sure you can set up the problems and instantly know what type of problem it is as soon as you read it the first time. This will allow you to finish the test on time.

First of all, thank you for the response. I think you are right about not knowing the material well enough, in fact this is why I want to do each Quant OG problem 3 times (at different times) so I can be familiar with ANY kind of problem that will show up on the exam and know how to get started. My math timing however is a lot better than Verbal. I end up taking too many notes and still re-reading some CR/RC passages. For some reason last year, my best section was RC (12/14 correct mostly 600 level) and finished in under 8-9 minutes each, but this year it was the worst...

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bond0007: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:59 am; Location: New York City; Thanked: 2 times

by bond0007 » Sat May 08, 2010 8:46 pm

bump for more advice.

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bond0007: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 56; Joined: Wed Jan 07, 2009 10:59 am; Location: New York City; Thanked: 2 times

by bond0007 » Sun Jul 25, 2010 11:00 am

well it has been nearly 2.5 months since the last post, and I have felt so burned out that I havent touched a Gmat book since!

Today is my first day that I think I will once again pick up my Verbal study Guides and begin my studies once again.

Perhaps I will make keep updating this post to keep myself and any low scorers motivated as I once again begin to my battle with the Gmat

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