Dear all,
I am a bit stuck and would like to hear some experts' advice. I started my GMAT journey in Jan 2016 and have been about 7 months now.
First attempt Mar 2016 420 (Q:30 V:18)
Preparation:
- Kaplan tutor and Kaplan Premier 2016, verbal and math work book
- 1st CAT 530, 2 CAT 570 on Kaplan; 520 on gmat prep test.
After my first attempt, I discovered beat the gmat and received some advices here. I realized that I had a nervous breakdown during the first one and did not prep the exam in the right way.
Second Attempt July 2016 500 (Q:36 V:23)
Preparation:
- Mprep interactive 9 week course, OG 2016, Powersource for CR.
-Mprep CAT 3: 530 Q 37 V26, CAT 4:530 Q33 V31, CAT 5:590 Q37 V34, CAT 6:570 Q37 V31( All under exact GMAT circumstances in a library and my actual exam time)
- Gmat Prep 480 Q 35 V20
-Study around 2 hours per week day, 4-6 hours per weekend.
-Keep an error log
-Redo wrong questions to ensure I understand
Doing the CATs really help me with anxiety. This time I was not as nervous and I thought Quant was within my test result. However, with verbal, a 23 was below expecations. I realized that Mprep verbal may not be as accurate. RC is usually my strength but I found them very hard this time during the test. With SC and CR, they are so different from the ones in Mprep.
I am glad that I made a 80 points improvement, but my goal is 600. M prep helped but I think the verbal difference is big. My questions are:
1) With quant, seems like I am always in the 36-37 zone and cant break through it. How can I break through to get to 38-40?
2) As my goal is 600, I was thinking I should aim for 38-40 in quant and focus more on verbal this time around to get at least 34?
3) After all these studies, I am wondering what else should I try differently in order to improve? There must be something that I am missing here. I tried a tutor, self study, and I dont want to give up! What else can I try?
Hopefully, third time is the charm. Thank you
I am a bit stuck and would like to hear some experts' advice. I started my GMAT journey in Jan 2016 and have been about 7 months now.
First attempt Mar 2016 420 (Q:30 V:18)
Preparation:
- Kaplan tutor and Kaplan Premier 2016, verbal and math work book
- 1st CAT 530, 2 CAT 570 on Kaplan; 520 on gmat prep test.
After my first attempt, I discovered beat the gmat and received some advices here. I realized that I had a nervous breakdown during the first one and did not prep the exam in the right way.
Second Attempt July 2016 500 (Q:36 V:23)
Preparation:
- Mprep interactive 9 week course, OG 2016, Powersource for CR.
-Mprep CAT 3: 530 Q 37 V26, CAT 4:530 Q33 V31, CAT 5:590 Q37 V34, CAT 6:570 Q37 V31( All under exact GMAT circumstances in a library and my actual exam time)
- Gmat Prep 480 Q 35 V20
-Study around 2 hours per week day, 4-6 hours per weekend.
-Keep an error log
-Redo wrong questions to ensure I understand
Doing the CATs really help me with anxiety. This time I was not as nervous and I thought Quant was within my test result. However, with verbal, a 23 was below expecations. I realized that Mprep verbal may not be as accurate. RC is usually my strength but I found them very hard this time during the test. With SC and CR, they are so different from the ones in Mprep.
I am glad that I made a 80 points improvement, but my goal is 600. M prep helped but I think the verbal difference is big. My questions are:
1) With quant, seems like I am always in the 36-37 zone and cant break through it. How can I break through to get to 38-40?
2) As my goal is 600, I was thinking I should aim for 38-40 in quant and focus more on verbal this time around to get at least 34?
3) After all these studies, I am wondering what else should I try differently in order to improve? There must be something that I am missing here. I tried a tutor, self study, and I dont want to give up! What else can I try?
Hopefully, third time is the charm. Thank you
