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4 days till GMAT EXAM and still scoring 550 on PR CAT tests!

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4 days till GMAT EXAM and still scoring 550 on PR CAT tests!

by chrissy_927 » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:40 am
Hello All,

I have been taken the exam 3 times already (320 with not much studying as u can tell; 550 [28V and 36Q]; 550 [27V and 39Q] and this coming Saturday is gonna be my 4th try. I'm hoping to get a 680 and have been taking a course with the GMAT guru in SF for a few weeks now. He is really good at analyzing my weaknesses and what I need to focus on i.e his methods etc. But when I do the practice tests from Princeton Review (CAT 1: 600 and CAT 2: 550).

When I was studying for the second and third time, I studied with VeritasPrep and the OG 12 primarily and I did a lot of the GMATPrep tests and at a point where the questions were familiar to me and I got a 710 on one of the GMATPrep, however I thought that high score was just because I recognized those problems and could do a lot faster than normally would.

I know I only have 4 days till the test and I can only practice more with the practice tests and additionally questions. But is there any help or advice that you could give me at this point? I really want to break into the 600 range at least because I will look really really bad if I can't reach that range for so many times.

PLEASE any help and advice is greatly appreciated!

Thank you very much!

Chrissy
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by papgust » Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:57 am
Hi Chrissy,

I don't intend to de-motivate you in any way but considering that you have only 4 days for your exam, you really can't do anything extravagant in your prep. Even if you work out hard, you'll become tired during the exam and lose focus.

The key is to be confident during the exam. Be sure that you stay focused and confident during the test. Regarding what to study these 4 days, i would advise you to just review flashcards everyday without rushing up and practice few problems from OG just for the first 2 days. Not all 4 days. You need to take rest as much as possible in the final 2 days so that you will be fresh during the D-Day.

For verbal, just review SC flashcards and practice few sentences for the first 2 days to get into the groove. Do a lot of reading in economist.com or some other site to get into the reading groove. That will help you a lot in verbal.

Work out everyday and eat healthy food. Do whatever that keeps your mind relaxed. You'll just be fine. Good luck with your exam!
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by money9111 » Tue Feb 09, 2010 1:52 am
Hi Chrissy,

I would like to echo what papgust said. The problem with trying to learn new things the week of the exam, is that you don't have time to practice those using those strategies.

Idioms are always something that you can run through again and again for memorization, as well as the divisibility rules. I would also go over the meanings of each type of CR question and how to decipher what they're truly asking you. Last but not least, it can't hurt to memorize the common fractions and their decimals.

Best of luck! Keep us posted!
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:01 am
This is what I would do. Go through every Critical Reasoning and Sentence Correction problem in the Official guide. Really attempt to memorize the errors you make. Do not waste time memorizing idioms, this will be useless. You may see 2 questions max, that are idiom questions. If you have time, also, develop a reading comprehension strategy. Click the link in my sig, on page 3 there is a post on how to approach reading comprehension.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

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by money9111 » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:40 am
I wasn't suggesting memorizing all of the idioms, but definitely the most common ones. at the 550->600 Level it's easy for them to slip one of those in there and trip someone up. I should know that's why i got a 37 on verbal on my Quant exam. 2 questions is 2 questions nonetheless and idioms are easy to drill into your head if you have an extra 5/10 minutes/day.

Although... if you go through every Sentence Correction problem in the Official Guide... you will see all of the popular idioms! Best of both worlds...
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:44 am
money9111 wrote:I wasn't suggesting memorizing all of the idioms, but definitely the most common ones. at the 550->600 Level it's easy for them to slip one of those in there and trip someone up. I should know that's why i got a 37 on verbal on my Quant exam. 2 questions is 2 questions nonetheless and idioms are easy to drill into your head if you have an extra 5/10 minutes/day.

Although... if you go through every Sentence Correction problem in the Official Guide... you will see all of the popular idioms! Best of both worlds...
You got a 37 on verbal cold? You will kill this test. I studied and got a V38 :(
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by papgust » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:24 pm
Hey Osirus,

I've noticed you many times saying "I studied and got a V38" followed by an upset emoticon. 38 in verbal is never a bad score to get disappointed with it. :)
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 09, 2010 6:35 pm
papgust wrote:Hey Osirus,

I've noticed you many times saying "I studied and got a V38" followed by an upset emoticon. 38 in verbal is never a bad score to get disappointed with it. :)
When you realize that you were two or three questions away from a 700 it is disheartening.
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by chrissy_927 » Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:43 am
Thank you for your messages.

I wish I could get a V38 !! But I'm only getting a V28 on practice tests for far... It seems like I can do it but when it comes to doing a timed test, I get so many questions wrong!!
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by Osirus@VeritasPrep » Wed Feb 10, 2010 7:45 am
chrissy_927 wrote:Thank you for your messages.

I wish I could get a V38 !! But I'm only getting a V28 on practice tests for far... It seems like I can do it but when it comes to doing a timed test, I get so many questions wrong!!
Are you struggling with CR, RC, or SC? If you are struggling with SC and RC, click the link in my thread. I have grammar lessons, and a post on the third page on RC strategy. You may find it helpful
https://www.beatthegmat.com/the-retake-o ... 51414.html

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by chrissy_927 » Sat Feb 13, 2010 11:30 am
Thank you for all your help again.. Just want to let you know that I have postponed my test till Mar 13 so that I can better prepare. I know I can do better but I just need more time.

For Verbal, my weakness is CR, I guess coz I don't have that kind of logic.. so typically I get 5-6 CR questions wrong. For SC, may be i'm not too familiar with the grammar rules and when under timed pressure, I tend not to think too much on it and save time for RC and CR. And as for RC, if I have enough time to look for the line in the passage, i should be able to find the answer. I have seen some improvements on RC if I spend more time on the RC passage and questions, but that means i have to cut short on SC and CR time and in the end I have to guess around 6 questions to finish the test.

For quant, I know my weakness is Probability Combinatorics and Coordinate Geometry, do you have any suggestions on what prep book has good lessons on the fundamentals on these topics?

Thank you,
Chrissy
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