GMAT Strategy

my exam is on may 2nd, and I really dont feel confident at all now.

from my practice exams, I scored the following:

mgmat CAT 1
420(Q24, V26)
mgmat CAT 2
460(Q26 V28)
mgmat CAT 3
450(Q24, V29)
mgmat CAT 4
470(Q26, V30)
mgmat CAT 5
650(Q43, V36) <----pure luck
mgmat CAT 6
530(Q34, V30)

GMAT prep 1, scored 530(V34, Q 28)

just took GMAT prep 2:
GMAT prep 2, scored 460(V29, Q24)

I work full time and by the time I get home to try to take practice exams or review my CATS, i'm already exhausted, that it's hard to concentrate.

Looking at the scores, it looks like it's not going to be pretty.

How should I prepare for the next 2 weeks to maximize my overall score? my goal is to go to LSU MBA parttime program now. It's not a prestigious school, but it looks like it's going to be my best shot. the 2007 statistics show average gmat to be 490, but I'm not sure what the current profiles are. I'm trying to mitigate a 2.5 gpa, so obviously, I need to score above the average.

My strength is obviously verbal(but, not by much). should I just focus all on verbal and try to raise this as much as possible in order to maximize my overall score, or should I concentrate more on Quant?

Just trying to review the gmat prep quant questions take me a long time because there are no explanations. So should I just focus on all the questions on the math board and try to be familiar with the questions and general explanations?

starting to panic a bit and looking for a way of damage control.

semidevil wrote:
Just trying to review the gmat prep quant questions take me a long time because there are no explanations. So should I just focus on all the questions on the math board and try to be familiar with the questions and general explanations?

starting to panic a bit and looking for a way of damage control.

Semidevil, don't give up trying to study GMATPrep questions because they are obviously as close to the real thing as you can get. Going over the questions/solutions that others have posted here is a good start but it's not ideal because these aren't necessarily the questions that YOU need to learn (remember the test is adaptive to your individual performance)

Have a look at the GMATFix Solutions Engine if you want quick access to GMATPrep quant solutions. A demo of the solutions engine can be found at (https://gmatfix.com/sols/gmatprep_demo.php)

You could also post your own questions and wait to get input from the rest of the forum.

TedCornell wrote:

semidevil wrote:
Just trying to review the gmat prep quant questions take me a long time because there are no explanations. So should I just focus on all the questions on the math board and try to be familiar with the questions and general explanations?

starting to panic a bit and looking for a way of damage control.

Semidevil, don't give up trying to study GMATPrep questions because they are obviously as close to the real thing as you can get. Going over the questions/solutions that others have posted here is a good start but it's not ideal because these aren't necessarily the questions that YOU need to learn (remember the test is adaptive to your individual performance)

Have a look at the GMATFix Solutions Engine if you want quick access to GMATPrep quant solutions. A demo of the solutions engine can be found at (https://gmatfix.com/sols/gmatprep_demo.php)

You could also post your own questions and wait to get input from the rest of the forum.

Pls stop promoting your gmatfix in this forum.Folks need help to ace GMAT not through your almighty gmatfix you are implictly advertising here all the time.
Folks should beware of this guy.

In terms of score range, we are in the same boat. I talked about my exam life in my post ''GMAT101''. It's time to get off the boat and ride the ship.

Why do you think your 600 score was pure luck? Any variables?

Personally, I think you should be proud walking in to the real exam especially from a 420 to a 600ish jump.

You'll do fine.

I'm sure that if you'll have a full week dedicated only for studying you will be able to improve your GMAT score significantly.

I also work full time and find it very difficult to study for the GMAT. I already took the test once and though I'm not pleased with the score I can tell you that I did improve my simulation tests scores after I took a week off work and studied for the GMAT 8 hours a day.

Eric

I would suggest putting the exam off for later than may 2nd. i also work full time and what i've been doing is studying after work and taking practice exams on saturdays and reviewing them on sundays.

i also do practice questions on my commute to work (i'm in nyc and take public transportation to work).

from what I understand there shouldn't be too big of a variation between your quant and verbal scores so i'd suggest to not favor one over the other. However you should focus more on your quant since that's your weak point but also take some time to look over verbal stuff.

for math I would suggest "Bob Miller's math for the gmat". This is a good book for math content. Use it with other prep books that you use that focus a bit more on test strategy. I've been using it and i've also used the kaplan math work book.

hope that helps