last chance for my GMAT

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last chance for my GMAT

by [email protected] » Thu Dec 29, 2016 4:35 am
I have taken a GMAT test 2 days ago & I have been shocked from my score 380 overall after 1 month of dedicated study.
15 verbal - 29 math -2 IR (I am really devastated)
I think my weak point is math section especially DS
I want to gain from 250 - 300 points more

I need full guidance from anyone here.
should I continue self-study materials or is it better to consider subscribe to an online course?
I want to apply to University of Mannheim in Germany (MMM), application period will start from March 15 to May 31, 2017.

so it's only a few months left.
what can I do? please help[/b]
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by [email protected] » Thu Dec 29, 2016 8:57 am
Hi ezzeldin.khaled79,

From your prior posts, you've clearly been studying for some time now, but you have not been able to earn a significantly higher score. Thus, you have to consider changing your study routine and the materials that you've been using. In a prior post, you stated that your score goal was 600+, and I assume that that is still your score goal. Since you've been studying for so long, it's likely that you have developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix (and replace with new 'good habits'), so it's not just about learning new Tactics - it's also about changing how you 'see' (and respond to) this Test.

At this point, it's likely that you would benefit from a GMAT Course of some type (either Guided Self-Study or instructor-led). Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our website (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

If you have any additional questions, then just let me know.

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Rich
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by Bara » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:37 am
You're going to need a comprehensive approach, because at a 380, you're getting the majority of things incorrect. You'll need to learn content, best test-taking strategy, and an optimal mindset.

You can improve a variety of ways, however, ditch the self-study. At this point, the most efficient way to improve your score will be a live class or online-live tutoring, or in person individualized tutoring. Check out the options of the professionals here: we're the best in the biz. Happy to talk with you about our tutoring - - we work with students all over the world remotely.

Good Luck!
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by ceilidh.erickson » Tue Jan 10, 2017 3:16 pm
A score of 380 indicates that you need improvement in content understanding, but probably also in time management. One month may have seemed like a long time to study, but your competition (other GMAT students) often study for 3-6 months. You should plan to study hard between now and May.

Here's what you should do:

1. Take an adaptive Practice Exam (CAT). Most test prep companies offer one free exam (though I recommend buying a suite from a single company so you can track metrics and progress). Be sure to take it accurately timed, with no pausing. Try not to run out of time.

2. 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 timing issues as well.

3. Study topic-by-topic. You'll need to purchase strategy guides from some major company, and you'll go chapter by chapter. Then practice each topic with OG problems. 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 Mprep's GMAT Navigator: 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.

4. 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)

5. Alternate between Quant and Verbal. Don't just focus all on quant! You said that quant is your weakness, but your Verbal score is actually lower. You're just misinterpreting the percentiles: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/

6. Keep a detailed record of the mistakes you make in addition to just tracking right and wrong answers, so you can locate patterns in your errors: https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -studying/

7. 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.

8. Practice your skills with random timed sets out of the OGs once you've covered all of the content in the strategy guides. Set the timer for 20 minutes, for example, and do questions 1-10. The OG problems generally get harder as the question # increases (within a given question type), so questions 1-10 will be easier on average than 101-110. Start in the middle of the section if you want more challenging questions.

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

10. Take GMATPrep CATs. Download the software from mba.com and take these tests as the last few before the real test. They won't have answer explanations or metrics, so we recommend using Mprep CATs for most of your study time, and saving these for last. (They're less helpful for analysis, but arguably most predictive of your real score, since they're written by the actual test-makers).

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