GMAT Strategy

Hi All,

My GMAT is scheduled on 9th AUG and I need a 740+.
After one and half months of study the following are my scores from 5 Manhattan Tests which i have given till date:

MGMAT1: 590 (Wasn't able to complete the exam in one sitting, was tired, this is the free test available from manhattan)
MGMAT2: 630
MGMAT3: 630
MGMAT4: 640
MGMAT5: 630

After analyzing my performance, i could make out the following regarding my test:

1. My mistakes are from all brackets e.g. 500-600 to 700-800 and my correct ones are also from all brackets.
2. I fail to keep the percentile constant above 90. My score report varies from as low as 65 to as high as 99.
3. On every test, the amount of question i answer wrongly differs. Sometimes it is RC and sometimes CR. Sometimes it is PS and sometimes DS.
4. When i practice section wise questions, the number of question i answer correctly is over 95% irrespective of the level of difficulty of the questions.
5. SC has been a constant problem. I have gone through Manhattan SC Guide but i find it difficult to answer OG problems which involve multiple concepts.
6. I am always able to complete verbal before 2-3 Minutes of the section time. But i always had to rush through 4-5 Questions on the Quant. This doesnt happen when i practice 20 PS and 20DS from the OG.

Based on the above, please advice on:

1. Whether i should postpone my Exam. My target is 740+ and with one more test remaining, i dont see how i may be able to scale up my performance by 100 points. And if i postpone, by how much duration should i postpone it?

2. I have completed all of the seven books from Manhattan, the Princeton Review GMAT Guide and the OG 12 questions. What I am left with are some 100+ questions from 1000 SC, CR, RC, PS and DS. What all can i try out for additional practice?

3. Can you suggest any online course from kaplan or any other tutorial which i may take up for increased practice and performance. I only checked out Kaplan Online which provides 9 more tests with extra banks. Do you think i should go any other Online help?

100 points from MGMAT's average of 630 will not be plausible in a week. Reschedule is definitely necessary.

@uwhusky: Thanks for your vote. I am surely going to do that.

Can anyone tell me how to proceed from here..? AM desperately looking for some help..

You likely won't score 740+ unless you're really lucky: Lottery lucky. If you absolutely need 740+, then I would reschedule. But what makes you think you need 740+?

There are so many knowledgeable souls out there....can some expert help me with my queries ?
Please...

Hi Stacy,

I don't want to hijack this thread from the original poster, but I do have a similar question. What if I have already thoroughly reviewed the OG and the verbal guide, and I am actually pretty comfortable with my progress. My question is, what should I do in the mean time when my test is 3 weeks away?

Thank you!

Stacey Koprince wrote:Received a PM asking me to reply. (FYI for future: we get tons of requests. It's unusual to get a same-day response - we just get too many requests!.)

Your test is in 4 days. Your highest practice test score is a 640. You want a 740.

As you suspected, that is not going to happen in 4 days. A 100 point increase typically takes at least 2 months, if not longer. At this point, you are going to need to make a choice. Do you want to postpone your test and maintain your goal score at 740? Or do you want to take your test in 4 days and lower your goal score?

Next:

I have completed all of the seven books from Manhattan, the Princeton Review GMAT Guide and the OG 12 questions. What I am left with are some 100+ questions from 1000 SC, CR, RC, PS and DS. What all can i try out for additional practice?

You are not done with your OG books if you are not yet at the scoring level that you want. Nor are you done with your other books. Your goal is not to "do" a whole bunch of questions. Your goal is to learn from what you're doing. If you haven't hit your goal score, then you haven't learned everything you could learn from your current sources. You don't want to go to inferior sources just because they're new to you. (And the 1000 series is inferior.)

Can you suggest any online course from kaplan or any other tutorial which i may take up for increased practice and performance. I only checked out Kaplan Online which provides 9 more tests with extra banks. Do you think i should go any other Online help?

Do you want to take a class, with a teacher who teaches you? Or are you just looking for more practice problems? Stop worrying about the number of tests and practice problems you have. You need to worry first about learning what you need to learn.

There are all kinds of classes available, if that is of interest to you. If you ask any experts to recommend a class, we're all going to recommend our own, of course, so you'll need to do some research to see what works best for you. This article might be useful for you:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... s-or-tutor

Let us know what you plan to do and then we can offer better advice. If you postpone and decide to take a class, then you should follow that curriculum and talk to your teacher about any problems you're having. If you postpone and decide to continue with self study, then we can talk about what to do. If you decide on the latter course, start with this article:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/ ... study-plan

Thanks Stacey.
I cant say how much better i feel now after reading all that you suggest. I will reschedule it for sure. As to when is something i would address later based on my further progress. I would come back for help once i have done my analysis of my tests.

Thanks again.