GMAT Strategy

Hi all,
I am a new member and started preparing for GMAT about a month ago. I am preparing with Veritas. I am not able to put a lot of time in studying right now because i travel extensively for work and that hampers a steady schedule. However, I just took the veritas practice test 1 and was surprised with the score.

I got a 720 with Q 48 and V 41.

I generally am more comfortable with Q and was mad to miss 6-7 problem solving questions. I knew I was getting them wrong as I was working on them and hence the surprise at the score.
Now, here is where i need to dig into the knowledge of this forum. How realistic are these tests? Veritas of course says they are very close to the real thing but i would like to know from members here if possible. I also had a few mins left (approx 5-8 mins) in each of the 2 sections.
I would appreciate any responses and insight into this.
thanks
Joban

Different people perform differently on the various practice tests. The Veritas exam is based on real student responses and is one of the most realistic practice tests.

However, I do like to know how my students have done on the GMATPrep official practice tests from MBA.com. Those are the ones with retired GMAT questions and are therefore the most realistic.

Have you taken one of those yet?

In general I would never take the results of one practice test as definitive. After all, scores on the actual exam can vary by 30+ points for the same test taker. I would say that even if the score is a little high, and the Veritas test can be generous some times, with one month of prep and not a lot of time to study, even a little lower score than that would be an encouraging start.

Thanks David.
I took a GMAT prep test before i started preparing with Veritas. I scored a 610 (Q 45 V 28)on that test and had no strategy but just some basic knowledge about the test. So it is a big jump from that score in a small time frame.
Anyway, thanks for your response. I will take this 720 but would tone it mentally down to about a 680-690.

Joban

Joban, I'd say that our V scores are very accurate and our Q scores are a little generous. One of the perils of IRT scoring (used on the GMAT) is that the scores are all relative to the rest of the testing population. I'm guessing here, but our student population seems to be better at verbal than math, so your math scores will likely be a bit higher than they will be on the real exam, while your verbal scores will be about the same or a little lower.

As David said, the tests from mba.com are the gold standard, as they (presumably) use response data from every person who's taken the questions included in the pack, which is data the rest of us would kill for!

Thanks Matt and David.

I just took another Veritas test (practice test 2) and got a very similar score to the first attempt.
710 Q 48 V39
I am consistently making most of my verbal mistakes on the Sentence Correction section. Are there any other tools that I could use for this? I have gone through Veritas notes and ex but somehow am not able to use them on the test.

GMAC diagnostic 610
Veritas 1 720 (Q 48 V 41)
Veritas 2 710 (Q 48 V 39)

Hi guys,
I took the GMAT prep test 2 (complete with AWA and IR) and scored below my expectations.
I got a 680 (Q 45 V 38)
I did make some silly mistakes and was mentally exhausted by the time i was in the middle of the V section. Even in the Q section i almost knew when i was making a mistake but had to keep moving in order to save time. However, my old problem of finishing too early resurfaced and I had 15 mins in both sections left when i was on the last problem. Any tips for tuning timing and also any resource for higher level problems will be greatly appreciated.
GMAT Prep 1 610 (Q 45 V 28)
Veritas 1 720 (Q 48 V 41)
Veritas 2 710 (Q 48 V 39)
GMAT Prep 2 680 (Q 45 V 38)

thanks
joban

First let me say that a 680 is very close to a 710 or 720. It is certainly very different from a 610. So you are moving in the right direction!

I did make some silly mistakes and was mentally exhausted by the time i was in the middle of the V section. Even in the Q section i almost knew when i was making a mistake but had to keep moving in order to save time. However, my old problem of finishing too early resurfaced and I had 15 mins in both sections left when i was on the last problem. Any tips for tuning timing and also any resource for higher level problems will be greatly appreciated.

Two of your statements struck me!

1) You said, "Even in the Q section i almost knew when i was making a mistake but had to keep moving in order to save time.

2) You then said, "However, my old problem of finishing too early resurfaced and I had 15 mins in both sections left when i was on the last problem."

Can you see the contradiction? You were hurrying so you missed some problems you should have gotten right and then you has 15 minutes left!

My solution for you is to stop hurrying so much. Take the exam and do your best and certainly do not stick with any problems for 5 minutes, but please do not have in your mind the idea that you must hurry. Please do not think "I am out of time" because this is not supportive of a good score.

The top scorers are often those people who really forget about the clock and get into a groove. What do you think, are you willing to not rush yourself and see how your score is?

I mean think of it, you got a 680 but you only used 80% of the time that you are given. What would you have scored if you where not in such a hurry!

Does it make sense?

David

Thanks for the reply David. I did realize the contradiction when i was writing the post too. i will try my best to follow your advice and stay clam.
I am focusing on some higher level problems for now and plan on taking the test in the next 4-6 weeks. Do you have any suggestions for sentence correction guides/problem sets?

thanks
Joban

The best source of course is the GMATPrep add-on pack or the Official Guide for GMAT Review 2015 (or 13th edition).

That is because these are official problems that have been used on the exam and the retired. I would lean towards using the resources online. The GMATPrep pack 1 add-on is all online and the Official Guide 2015 allows for questions to be used from the book or online.

For sentence correction strategy you really need to perfect two techniques. 1) Decision points - working with the differences in the answer choices to eliminate 4 answer until only one remains. SC is a process of elimination.

2) Slash and burn - meaning that you focus on correct parts of the sentence and do not give your attention to the other things like prepositions and modifiers.