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What to do.

by kevtims1979 » Sat Apr 02, 2011 8:37 pm
I have taken the GMAT three times!! My scores were 350, 450 and finally 530. I see that I am improving but I'm at a loss of what to do now. It seems that the questions on the test just seem so unfamiliar from the OG guide. Furthermore, all of the things that I know really well such as number properties and algebra never appear on my tests. I know that it is not a timing issue and from my preparation with the ManGMAT guides I always feel as if I know the material. Please help.
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by serge » Sun Apr 03, 2011 1:42 am
Thanks for your question I have the same issue. I start my preparation on January. My Diagnostic test was 300. So I decided to do a 6 months preparation, I booked my exam for June 15.
I'm a bite lost because after almost 3 months preparation, I have 380 in my second test and 350 in my third. As I would like to have at least 650, it seems that I would never reach that score.

What can you recommand me to reach my target ?
For more precise advise, you'll find hereafter my profile.
I'm a non english GMAT taker(French), I made a french post graduate specialisation major in Finance Controling. I've been working for almost 10 years. And my work is very tense.
My study program was 2 weeks quick review with Princetown review, then diagnostic test. After 1 month for quantitative & 1 month for Verbal. So far I did not pay attention on the AWA part. I plan to work on it 2 weeks to the exam.
As I don't have enought time durind the week, my preparation is based on weekend day (About 12 hours).
I started with the fundamental then exercice (Kaplan + OF)
My big problem is timing. During my test I noticed that for the required time I manage to do only 2/3 of the questions. The other is just strange non rational guessing to end the exam (for my 380, I did 26 questions on quant and 28 questions on verbal. I did not finished. For the 350 scrore, I did almost the same but this time I dicide to finished by guessing the rest of the question with the 10 minutes left. I wanted to see the impact to end or not to end the question => As you can my score is almost the same)

I thought my english was fine. indeed, I've got an international position and I work a lot with our US, UK, Asia teams. But, GMAT english is very special, I feel like a child. I need to read 3 times to get the half of it. => this one is out of the scoop it is just a feeling.

I need your clever help now, as I'm about 2 months for the Exam. What to do according to my profile, what is your recommandation to reach my target ?


Thanks in advance,
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by tpr-becky » Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:57 am
You probably have a very common problem in that you have focused simply on math or grammar knowledge and not applied GMAT testing techniques. when you say that the questions on the real test look different from those in the OG I start to think that you don't have a set category of concepts that are tested and how to identify those concepts before starting a question. Do you feel like you just read entire questions and then start to try to answer them? if so look for a study technique that will help you identify and organize the key content areas and recognize them every time you see them. Just as if you were building a house, you would not just start hammering boards together and hope to have functional building at the end - you would look at a blueprint that tells you each step and what tools to use.

The particular concepts you mentioned are normally contained in easier problems or combined with other concepts to form harder problems and that is why you may be having a hard time recognizing them on the actual exam.

if you have trouble identifying these areas or organizing them considering finding a tutor who is well versed in technique and step by step instructions that work for every problem. With you increasing scores it is obvious you are gaining confidence in the knowledge portion of the test, adding this componenet will be the icing on the cake.

Best of Luck
Becky
Master GMAT Instructor
The Princeton Review
Irvine, CA
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