Taking the GMAT again

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Taking the GMAT again

by lola3086 » Tue Jan 26, 2016 2:15 pm
Hello everyone, this is my first post on this forum. I have taken the GMAT twice now, in 2013 (scored 440) and 2015 (scored 560). Now, I want to give it a final attempt to get to 700 as I plan to apply for Fall 2017 admission. My only target school is CBS. I want to take the exam in 6 weeks so I can have time to focus on putting together a great application. Is this possible? What do I need to do? What's a good study plan? Or am I just nuts???

Your help, insights, and comments are appreciated.

Thanks.

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by [email protected] » Tue Jan 26, 2016 7:43 pm
Hi lola3086,

If you're not planning to attend School until the Fall of 2017, then you have LOTS of time to study. Is there any particular reason why you want to try to get this all done in 6 weeks? I ask because given your prior GMAT scores, you'll likely need more time than that to hit your score goal.

1) How long did you study before each of your attempts?
2) Have you done any studying lately (and if so, then what materials have you worked through)?
3) When in 2015 did you take the GMAT? What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores when you scored 560?
4) When was the last time you took a FULL-LENGTH CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?

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by lola3086 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:08 am
Hi Rich, thanks for your thoughtful reply. I want to take the exam quickly before I feel if I study for a longer period of time I will lose interest and hate that my life is on hold. I took almost a year to study for and pass my CPA exam in 2010 so I dread this happening again. But I really want a good score on this third and last attempt. Here are the answers to your questions:

1) I studied for about 1 month on each attempts
2) Nope. No studying since I took the exam on April 29,2015
3) April 29,2015. Q40 V27 AWA-5 IR-3
4) I guess that would be 2 days before my last exam

I look forward to hearing more insights from you. I have pushed myself to commit 2 months now.

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by [email protected] » Wed Jan 27, 2016 10:29 am
Hi lola3086,

Many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before hitting their "peak" scores, so since you spent just 1 month studying for each of your attempts, that might help to explain why you didn't score higher. Since you haven't been in 'study mode' for almost 9 months, you'll likely need a bit of time to relearn the general material and concepts that you knew from before. To hit your goal score, you'll likely need to invest in some new materials, including a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led).

1) How many hours do you think you'll be able to study during a typical week?

Since you haven't taken a FULL TEST in quite some time, you should also plan to take a FULL-LENGTH CAT (including the Essay and IR sections) sometime soon (perhaps this weekend). Once you have those scores, you should report back here.

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by lola3086 » Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:28 am
I plan to study 2-4 hours a day Mon- Friday and Sunday, 6 hours on Saturday. I started using MGMAT books before my last exam and I feel it really helped. I just didn't spend much time on it before my exam. So this go around, I am using the 60 days study guide from BTG and using the MGMAT and OG. I also plan on buying some from questions from GMAC. I plan to take a GMAC CAT on Saturday and go from there. Thank you so much...

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by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:39 pm
Hi Lola,

I agree with Rich - 6 weeks is a pretty short timeline to much such a large improvement. Dedicating 15-25 hrs per week is helpful, but it might be more beneficial to study 10-15 hrs per week for 12 weeks instead. Here's my very broad, general rule of thumb: a reasonable time expectation would be at least a week of study for every 10 points you want to gain. Since you want to gain 140 points, I'd recommend budgeting at least 14 weeks.

Here's what you should do:

- take a full practice test. You can take a GMAC one, but just be advised that those won't contain any answer explanations. You might find it more helpful to take an Mprep test (or another company's test) first, and save the GMAC ones until right before your real test.

- Analyze the practice test you've taken in a lot of depth. Which areas were you weakest? Strongest? Fastest? Slowest? Decide which topics and question types need more of your time and attention. Be very aware of your timing as well.

- Study topic-by-topic from your Mprep guides. Read the chapter, then practice with OG problems that correspond to that topic. For example, read the chapter on SC subject/verb agreement, then go do a set of 8-10 problems in the OGs that relate to that subject. You can find problems by topic using GMAT Navigator (you should have access to this if you purchased the Mprep guides through us): https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/stor ... navigator/
Do this for each chapter in the Quant and Verbal strategy guides. Aim to do this in 8-10 weeks.

- Make sure you are tracking all of the OG questions you do, and timing yourself while you practice. Hold yourself to strict 2-min time limits per question! (I highly recommend using Navigator to track your OG problems)

- Alternate between Quant and Verbal. Don't just focus all on one or the other.

- Keep a record of any mistakes you make, so you can locate patterns in your errors: https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -studying/

- Once you've covered all of the topics, practice your skills with random timed sets out of the OGs. Set the timer for 20 minutes, for example, and do questions 1-10 (skipping any you've already done).

- Take a practice test after 4 weeks, then every 2 weeks after that. Increase to a test every week for the last 2 weeks before your real exam.

- Analyze your data from the random sets and practice tests, and go back to any topics that need extra work.

If you need any other help or advise with your Mprep resources, please contact us: [email protected]

Good luck!
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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by lola3086 » Thu Feb 04, 2016 2:50 pm
Thank you. I will do exactly as you have said. I have all the MGMAT books. I will study those and the OG for 12 weeks. Thank you.

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by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Feb 04, 2016 3:27 pm
You're very welcome. Good luck!
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