six days to go before G day

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six days to go before G day

by yogami » Wed Aug 05, 2009 5:36 pm
Took GMAT Prep today and was not very pleased with my performance for not having met my expectations. Nevertheless, I have no choice as I have scheduled my test on Tuesday which is less than a week and way past the cancellation deadline. I am broke so cannot afford to postpone with no refund so I am set for the battle.
My test prep performances have been:
MGMAT1 - 680
MGMAT2 - 680
MGMAT3 - 690
MGMAT4 - 750 (this was a shocker as this test was easier than the previous three)
GMAT Prep 1 - 720 (Q 50 , V 37)

Tests remaining: MGMAT 5 and 6 and GMAT Prep 2
All my quant mistakes are silly ones and there ain't nothing I can do about it as I am not perfect. But I am embarrassed about my verbal. Averaging in higher 30s. I want to push it to 40s. My RC/CR is hit or miss. But my SC Is on an average 5 to 6 wrong.
I would say that silly mistake is robbing me off 10 points and stamina is robbing me off around 10 more points. So my expected GMAT is 700+ on a good day and considering the 50 point variation rule I might also get a 670. But at this time there is no turning back. The sword has been drawn !
200 or 800. It don't matter no more.
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by myohmy » Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:04 pm
Are you doing the AWAs with your practice tests?

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by yogami » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:45 pm
Nah havent been doing for the last two sets. I just make mental notes of points i get for each topic and then imagine myself typing two to three paragraphs few a minute or two and then i move on. I will be satisfied with 5.0+ AWA. The key is to add grammatically correct logically consistent content in AWAs and lot of content!
200 or 800. It don't matter no more.

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by myohmy » Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:56 pm
I hate to burst your bubble (really) but not doing the AWAs may account for the dramatic jump in scores in the last couple tests. It's not that writing the AWA actually provides substantial value, it's just that stamina wise, you're in a very different place when you're doing the Q and V portion. Entering Q fresh is different than after spending an hour writing two essays, and entering V after 3.5 hours is different than entering it after 2.5 hours.

If you take another practice test *definitely* do the essays and you will get a better approximation of your "true" score. For verbal -- you said you're having trouble with sentence correction. Do you know which parts (modifiers, tense issues, etc)? That might help you target and improve verbal.

Good luck on your test!