GMAT Strategy

Hello everyone,
This is my first post and it is not how I would have liked it to be. I always thought that my first post would be the story of my triumph over the GMAT. However, it has been the other way round. I have scheduled my GMAT on the 16th of May. I started my preparation in mid March and have been consistently scoring low scores which are as follows:

1) The Economist free CAT- 500 (Q35 V25) on 06.04.14
2) MGMAT CAT 1- 550 (Q40 V26) on 27.04.14
3) GMAT Prep 1- 520 (Q40 V21) on 04.05.14

That's not the only concern. I am unable to detect my weak points in Verbal. Initially I thought I only needed help in SC. So I used the MGMAT-SC and the E-GMAT to study and it paid off. My error % was reduced to half and I started to really enjoy the SC even if I got some questions wrong. But since then I have been making mistakes in RC and CR sections. I have prepared these sections from KAPLAN Premier-2014 and have got most of the questions from the book right especially in the CR section. Now I am left with all the three sections as my weak links. I am aiming for a verbal score of around 40.

In Quant section I have researched and found that most of my mistakes are silly mistakes that to only in the DS section. I am engineer by profession and maths has always been my strength. But the thing is that in the DS section I have been making silly errors and I am unable to find a way by which I can reduce them. I am aiming for a quant score of 50.

I have completed MGMAT guides for the SC and quant section and only CR and RC are left. I have also completed half of the OG 13th and whole of the KAPLAN Premier 2014. I have also decided to reschedule my GMAT appointment to the 1st week of August in order to have more preparation time to reach my target score (720+). Also I would like to know whether I should work only at getting all Quant ques. right initially and then move to work on my Verbal or study for both of them together.

Seeking your help!!!

Let's talk about Data Sufficiency. You need to address those errors by being more careful and considering the possibilities for each question.

Here are some articles that can really change how you look at DS:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/10/ ... -handrails

https://www.beatthegmat.com/diagnose-you ... 75308.html

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/12/ ... ufficiency

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/11 ... technique/

https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2013/1 ... -the-gmat/

@Brent @David Thanks for your immediate reply. Your articles were really helpful. To sum up what I learned is that in the DS section I need to do lots of practice, avoid mental calculations, start writing more and try to complete the question in 2 minutes.

However, I am still wondering how to tackle verbal section? Also I would like to know whether I should work on Quant section initially until I start getting my Quant target score and then move to work on my Verbal or study for both of them together.

@Rich @Brent Thanks for your suggestions. Really appreciate your time.

I would also like to know how to proceed in Verbal. As mentioned above, I am not confident in any of the three sections namely SC, RC and CR and have got poor scores in all of them.

Also how should I make a study plan for around 80 days which includes both the quant and verbal practice and a test every weekend.