420 on practice exam, need to break 500 within 4-6 weeks!

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Hi,

The program I'm applying to has an application deadline of April 1st. I read on mba.com that official score reports can take up to 20 days. Do most schools absolutely need to have the official score reports in their hands before making an official decision on the application? If so, when would you say is the latest I can take the exam?

I haven't signed up yet, but I was thinking of a mid to late February test date. That gives me roughly 4-6 weeks. As a personal goal, I would love to score in the 550-600 range, but honestly, I'm fine with just breaking a 500.

I just took my first CAT practice test (MGMAT), and I scored a pathetic 420 (15Q, 31V). I wasn't surprised by the Q score since I can honestly say that I guessed on most of the questions. As for V, I felt comfortable and had 6 minutes left by the time I got to the final question (which indicates that my pacing was good). Upon reviewing my answers, there were some questions to which I could have easily gotten a correct answer - I had just been a bit careless in reading. I'm pretty confident that I can get up to at least a 38V. My weakness was CR, by far. I recently purchased the Powerscore CR Bible; I've heard nothing but great things, so I'm hoping this book will help me boost my CR performance.

My problem is CLEARLY quant. I have never been a math person, and never will be. If I have an algebraic equation in front of me, I can do it fine. My problem is mathematical reasoning, which is what GMAT quant is all about. I look at a problem, and usually feel stumped on how to even go about tackling the problem. So, how on earth does a person like me improve their quant score? I'm assuming that it comes down to going through every single Quant question in the OG books, and just practice, practice, practice???

The clock is really ticking, so I know I have to really buckle down and focus on implementing the most appropriate strategy.
ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

My plan so far is to:
-study at least 2 hours of quant on weekdays, and do around 5 problems of each verbal question type to keep this fresh.
-take a practice test every Saturday, review answers (I have 5 more MGMAT CAT practice exams left), then the 3 mba.com practice tests that I'll save for closer to my actual exam date.
-finish reviewing Saturday's test if didn't complete on Saturday, more studying
Source: — GMAT Strategy |