GMAT Strategy

Hello,

I've been studying for the GMAT since Mid-January. My schedule consists of 1 - 2 hours daily during the weekdays, and 3-5 hours daily during the weekends. I purchased the OG12 and Kaplan Premier 2010 live books.

I did my first Kaplan practice test exactly one month ago where I scored a 550, which I figured was decent considering my knowledge at the time. I then proceeded to write the GMAT Prep test 1, which from what I read was an easier exam, and I scored a 540 on that.

Now, I just completed my second Kaplan practice test and scored a 520! ugh...Is their any reason as to why my scores are progressively getting worse, or are they Kaplan tests that much harder. I can't afford to enroll into any of the Prep courses nor purchase more books as money is very tight.

The biggest issue I'm experiencing during the test is timing, especially in the verbal section. I'm usually down to the final 10 seconds when submitting my answers.

My goal is to get a 640, but the way things are looking now, I'll be lucky to get a 540.

Is their anyone with any advice for me? Am i panicking for no reason...as I've heard you can safely add a 100 pts to Kaplan tests, but that wouldnt explain my low GMAT Prep answer.

Anyone?

Anyone?

I Imagine others have been in this situation, and i can definitely say this is a huge stressor.

I found what has been said about the GMATPrep being the most accurate indicator to be true. So if you scored that in your GMATPrep, it is very likely you'll get that on the real thing (sorry I know that's not what you want to hear). In addition, I dont think you can ever 'safely add 100 points' to your practice score. That's just a bad idea to even think that way. You may score 100 points higher depending how well you perform under the gun, but I would never ever bank on such an idea. That's a recipe for disappointment. For me personally, in the back of my mind, I know I usually perform better under pressure, but I would never prepare under the assumption that trend would continue. If anything, I always would err on the side of caution, and judge my potential real score as being lower than a practice score ... If you're shooting for a 640, then you should be hitting that or very very close to it on practice runs.

My advice is to review how you're studying. Without knowing what you're doing exactly, I can only tell you my experience. In a broad sense, there are only two levels of preparing that you need to take. One is the content, the other is test taking. My approach was to treat them separately, with the test taking coming after I felt I had a decent grasp of the basics.

Do you feel you have a decent level of understanding of the principles that are tested (number properties, geometry etc..)? If yes, then it's just a matter of practicing test taking, which is the second step. If no, then you're trying to take practice tests without knowing the prinicples, which is going to lead to crappy scores, and varied ones at that, because your score may drop based on the types of questions you get on each trial. You may tested more on stuff you haven't studied on test 2 while test 1 may have had more things you're familar with. Until you covered all basis, then you may run into big fluctuations.

If you have the material down, then the second step is learning to apply what you learned into answering the test questions. My first practice exam was a 600 (this was after I felt I had learned the basics already). I just took a bunch of practice tests over a month period and tried to identify weaknesses, and was able to score in the high 600's , hitting 700 once in practice runs. I scored a 700 on the real thing, so I basically got my score up 100 points on practicing test taking alone.

Point is, if content is your problem, i'd focus on that instead of practice tests. I wouldn't be concerned with the score, because it's really an incomplete score as you haven't completed your studies. If you have content down, then it's a matter of taking more practice tests and trying to learn from them.

Do you suggest that I postpone my test as it is roughly 3 weeks away, and frankly the fact that I am scoring so low isn't helping either.

If anything, I would say my strengths is verbal (although my latest score doesn't reflect that) and my weakness is math (specifically data sufficiency).

The problem I'm having with the math is that the books I purchased don't help with my difficulties. For example, OG 12 just has questions and the explanations aren't that helpful either. But nonetheless, i'm hitting 60% on those questions under the same timing conditions. Kaplan, doesn't have enough questions and skips in-depth explanations on certain theories.

Are their other books that I can purchase that could help me out here, should I do more practice tests, do you think that will help?

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It's entirely up to you whether you should postpone. It depends on how much ground you can cover these next three weeks.

I used the MGMAT books, and I found them very helpful. I also tried to minimize the cost. I bought the 8 book set on Amazon for about 120 dollars. I figure I can re-sell them for at least half that price once I'm done (I may re-take to get my score higher, so I haven't sold them yet). That's a minimal expense once it's all said and done.

And more practice tests will only help if you have the concepts down. If you dont, then the practice tests won't do you much good.

I think I'll go over the math fundamentals taught in Kaplan premier guide (again), along with some free online guides this week. I'll do another GMAT Prep exam, if my scores don't improve then I'll look into postponing the exam.

If I take the gmat test and need to re-take afterwards, do I have to pay the $250 fee again? or is it free? I couldn't find this information on the gmat.com website.

Additionally, I've read good things about the manhattan number properties book, but the closest bookstores to where I live and work, don't have that book in stock and if I am to order online, it will take another 1-2 weeks.

What do you suggest?

It's $250 each time you take it .. it's $50 to postpone the exam.

As far as ordering books online and it taking a week or two, even if you ordered it and it got to your door right away, I dont think you have much 'learning' time given your time frame. If you're going to take it in three weeks, then you're probably best sticking with what you have and trying to master it.

jpjp wrote:It's $250 each time you take it .. it's $50 to postpone the exam.

As far as ordering books online and it taking a week or two, even if you ordered it and it got to your door right away, I dont think you have much 'learning' time given your time frame. If you're going to take it in three weeks, then you're probably best sticking with what you have and trying to master it.

An update:

Here I am studying for the GMAT, I've dedicated the past 3-4 months (roughly 15 hours/week) for this test, and no matter how many practice tests I do, I'm stuck in the same score range. I've gained knowledge relative to where I was before studying but considering the fact that my exam is 3 weeks away, I'm at a loss for words. I was originally scheduled to write the exam in April but postponed to May and now it seems like I just prolonged this agony for no good reason.

Here are my results (in sequential order):
Kaplan Diagnostic - 510
Kaplan Cat 1 - 550
Kaplan Cat 2 - 520
Gmat Prep 1 (first try) - 540
Gmat Prep 1 (second try) - 530

Now in between my first and second attempts at the GMAT prep Cat 1 test, I've dropped the Kaplan Live book and instead have taken up the Manhattan Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, Word Problems and other math books. While doing hte tests I'm very encouraged only to have the air taken out of my balloon upon seeing my score.

What do you guys suggest I do in the next few weeks to least bring this to a 580?

Spend more hours studying the books? I'm almost close to finishing the entire question base in the OG12 as well...so I'm running out of GMAT type questions.

Anyone? I don't have the money for a tutor so that's completely out of the question, but anything else?

I have taught 100s of students after they have taken a Kaplan GMAT course, most of them feel exactly how you do.

Because Kaplan does not score your tests accurately, Kaplan test are not any sort of indicator of how well you will perform on test day.

To avoid just ripping on Kaplan, there are some people who Kaplan is appropriate for, but it is safe to say the Kaplan style is not for everyone. IMHO, those people who seem to do well with Kaplan's materials are those who have a pretty strong academic background.

I would recommend the following.

Make the most of OG question, even if you have to repeat them. While doing OG questions I recommend the timed approach advocated by Eric, the founder of this site. In addition to just doing questions you should consider the following activities for questions you get wrong:

-Looking only at the correct answer section of the OG, not the solution section. Try to backsolve the problems knowing the correct solution.
-When backsolving try to determine the concept being tested in each question, and the techniques you use. If you are not seeing patterns in the question, you are not learning.
-If you can't backsolve the problems, look at the solutions. Copy down the approach they have used.
-If the OG approach doesn't make sense ask for help on a forum.
-When you have figured out a quant question that gave you trouble, write three similar quant questions of your own and work them out.
-When you have figured out a verbal question that gave you trouble, find three other verbal questions that test the same concept.

Don't focus on just doing questions. Focus on learning from the questions. For every question you get wrong you should plan on 15 to 20 minutes to review why you got that question wrong and to learn the concepts behind that question.

I know you said money is tight, but if you can spare an extra few bucks, I would get the Quantitative and Verbal supplements to the OG.

Keep me updated on how you get on.

Michael Birdsall wrote:I have taught 100s of students after they have taken a Kaplan GMAT course, most of them feel exactly how you do.

Because Kaplan does not score your tests accurately, Kaplan test are not any sort of indicator of how well you will perform on test day.

To avoid just ripping on Kaplan, there are some people who Kaplan is appropriate for, but it is safe to say the Kaplan style is not for everyone. IMHO, those people who seem to do well with Kaplan's materials are those who have a pretty strong academic background.

I would recommend the following.

Make the most of OG question, even if you have to repeat them. While doing OG questions I recommend the timed approach advocated by Eric, the founder of this site. In addition to just doing questions you should consider the following activities for questions you get wrong:

-Looking only at the correct answer section of the OG, not the solution section. Try to backsolve the problems knowing the correct solution.
-When backsolving try to determine the concept being tested in each question, and the techniques you use. If you are not seeing patterns in the question, you are not learning.
-If you can't backsolve the problems, look at the solutions. Copy down the approach they have used.
-If the OG approach doesn't make sense ask for help on a forum.
-When you have figured out a quant question that gave you trouble, write three similar quant questions of your own and work them out.
-When you have figured out a verbal question that gave you trouble, find three other verbal questions that test the same concept.

Don't focus on just doing questions. Focus on learning from the questions. For every question you get wrong you should plan on 15 to 20 minutes to review why you got that question wrong and to learn the concepts behind that question.

I know you said money is tight, but if you can spare an extra few bucks, I would get the Quantitative and Verbal supplements to the OG.

Keep me updated on how you get on.

So i completed my last GMAT Prep exam prior to my exam next week and scored a 510. Fantastic (sarcasm), my scores have progressively gotten worse since my first Kaplan exam. I think I'm spending too much time on my verbals, but what can I do now...I think I'm going to score low and that Grad school might not be in my cards.

I'm going to give you two pieces of advice in only one post!

1. Be Optimistic, Be Excited, Be Neutral/Focused... BUT ABSOLUTELY DO NOT walk in to that exam room thinking you're going to perform poorly. If you're taking that exam thinking about how terrible your score is going to be... then you are probably going to have your vision fulfilled.

2. How well do you review problems? Don't just finish the practice problems. Review them. Disect them. Don't just know the answer. Know the concepts. With your limited amount of time, you should be looking at the answers in the back of the OG book. You have the TEST WRITERS TELLING YOU HOW TO DO THE PROBLEMS AND WHAT THE SC RULES ARE! Quality of study, my friend. That is what is important. I don't care how many hours you put into studying. It's how you study, not how much, that is important. If you're worried about finishing on time... you should even be reviewing problems that you answered correctly if they took you an extend period of time to solve.

I'm going to jump in here and offer some advice. I was in your position and was scoring around where you are. This may have been said already but...

Your last 3 CAT exams are indicative of how you'll do on the real thing. If you're aiming for a 640 then yes post-pone the exam. Trust me, you won't surprise yourself with a 640 if you haven't been scoring in that range lately. I know from first hand experience just this past Saturday!

money9111 wrote:I'm going to jump in here and offer some advice. I was in your position and was scoring around where you are. This may have been said already but...

Your last 3 CAT exams are indicative of how you'll do on the real thing. If you're aiming for a 640 then yes post-pone the exam. Trust me, you won't surprise yourself with a 640 if you haven't been scoring in that range lately. I know from first hand experience just this past Saturday!

That goal went out the windows a LONG time ago. I'm of the frame of mind, where I'm looking to score in the 560-580 range. Essentially that would put me 30-50 points above the average score of my past 3 exams. I think its doable, as I've gone down to my lowpoint 490 and that's 60 points lower than my highest score (550), so why can't the inverse happen?

I've dedicated the past 4-5 months for this exam, studying 15-20 hours every week (including 30+ hours these past few weeks) and really just want to get it over with. I have already postponed it once before and did not see my score change in a positive manner, so I don't see the purpose now in postponing, it may only prolong the misery.

My gameplan for tonight and tomorrow is to review some of the manhattan strategies, go through the Quant answers for OG and review the AWA section. After that, I'm just going to relax and attempt to give it my best (on Friday).

Wish me luck

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!!!! I wish you the best.