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ish137: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:32 pm

1 month to go for GMAT!

by ish137 » Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:56 pm

Hi,
I have been preparing for GMAT for about 6 weeks now and I have the test in a month.
My test scores so far:
Test 1: GMATPrep: 620
Test 2: MGMAT cat 1: 640(Q41/V36)
Test 3: MGMAT cat 2: 640(Q42/V35)
Test 4: MGMAT cat 3: 670 (Q45/V36)
all tests were takes with 1 week gap.

I am very slow in quant and have to guess last 5 question. For verbal, CR is my weakest. I have finished OG quant and I am now doing topic based questions for areas that I am weak in such as absolute values, inequalities, statistics, probability etc. For verbal I have done more than half of the OG.

Can you please suggest strategy/study plan and resources for this one month? Any suggestions on what to focus on will be really helpful. Thanks!

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Source: Beat The GMAT — The GMAT Avengers Study Group | Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:56 pm

GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; Followed by:511 members; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Fri Aug 12, 2016 9:14 am

Hi ish137,

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you're looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) What materials have you used during your studies?
2) Did you take the FULL CAT each time (with the Essay and IR sections)?

3) What is your goal score?
4) When is your exact Test Date?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
6) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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Jeff@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1462; Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:34 am; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 39 times; Followed by:22 members

by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:10 pm

Hi ish137,

Before providing some specific advice, I would like some more insight into your GMAT preparation and goals.

1) Describe your study routine. What resources have you been using to study? For how many hours a day have you been studying?

2) When you took your practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks)? Did you complete the entire CAT, including the IR and Essay sections? Also, when do you plan to take another offical MBA.com exam?

3) What are the MBA programs to which you plan to apply? What deadlines are you targeting?

4) What is your GMAT score goal?

5) Have you mostly used the Official Guide to learn and practice GMAT quant?

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews

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ish137: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:32 pm

by ish137 » Fri Aug 12, 2016 8:02 pm

Thanks Jeff and Rich for replying.
Here are the details:

Study Materials: Official Guide,OG verbal and quant review books, test question that I get wrong, question compilation from a test prep company, sometimes questions posted in forums, "Tuesdays with Ron" videos.

Study Routine: Weekdays 1.5 to 2 hrs, about 4 times a week with a day off. Weekends are spent doing test and reviewing it.

Tests: Under timed condition with no extended breaks but without IR and Essay. I plan to do the other GMATPrep test in 2 weeks.

Score goal: 700-720. Test date: 15th Sept.

I am an Indian living and working in Singapore. My target schools are INSEAD, NUS, HKUST and ISB. They all have application deadlines spread across Oct to Jan.

Thanks!

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MartyMurray: Legendary Member; Posts: 2135; Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am; Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/; Thanked: 955 times; Followed by:140 members; GMAT Score:800

How to rock the GMAT.

by MartyMurray » Mon Aug 15, 2016 7:08 am

Hi ish137.

Doing topic based quant is a great idea. If you think about it, you can see that by getting better at getting answers to the types of quant questions you are that good at handling, you will likely drive your score up, as not only will you get more right answers to those types, but also by answering those types faster, you will leave yourself more time for other types.

If you have done only half of the verbal questions in the OG, you haven't done that much verbal work. To get better at CR and at verbal in general, do practice questions slowly, taking time to define EXACTLY why each wrong answer is wrong and each right answer is right. In practice, you have all the time you need. So really you should get almost all verbal questions right. By working slowly, defining why all answers are wrong or right and really seeking to get almost all of the questions right, you will develop the skills that you need to get verbal questions right.

Those skills are vision and use of logic to make decisions. People learn all kinds of "stuff" in order to score higher in verbal, but really you just have to learn to see what's going on the questions and to use effective processes to get to right answers. If you don't get a right answer, generally you didn't see something key or there was some flaw in the process that you used to get to the answer that you chose.

As you do verbal questions, constantly ask "What do I have to see?" and "Is this an effective way to get to a right answer?"

Last edited by MartyMurray on Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.

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ish137: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 3; Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2016 10:32 pm

by ish137 » Mon Aug 15, 2016 6:19 pm

Thanks for you suggestion, Marty! It's very helpful.

Hi Jeff and Rich,

Here are more details about my preparation.
1. Materials used: Official Guide, OG Verbal Review, topic wise Quant question compilation from a test prep company, MGMAT "Thursday's with Ron" videos for clearing some concepts and test questions that I get wrong.

2. Study hours: So far I have been studying about 10 hrs + 1 test every week. But this last one month I am trying to put in more time; about 15+ hrs a week.

3. I have done the practice test under timed condition with no extended breaks but haven't done with IR and AWA.

4. My test date in 15th Sept'16. I am targeting NUS, NTU, SMU, HKUST, ISB and ofcourse... INSEAD!! The application dates for these schools are spread across Oct to Jan.

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GMAT/MBA Expert

[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; Followed by:511 members; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Aug 16, 2016 9:01 am

Hi ish137,

With a September 15th Test Date, you have a little over 4 weeks of study time remaining. Unfortunately, since you have not taken any FULL CATs (with the Essay and IR sections) yet, we don't have a complete and accurate assessment of your skills. As such, I highly recommend that you take one of the GMAC CATs sometime soon. Make sure to take the FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections), away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, under test-like conditions, etc. Once you have that score, you should report back here.

Based on these Quant Scaled Scores, you likely have most of the math knowledge that you need, but you're missing out on lots of 'strategy-based' points. To score at a much higher level in that section, you'll likely need to shift your focus to Tactics and fix the 'little mistakes' that you make when solving problems.

1) Do you have the flexibility to push back your Test Date?
2) What is your score goal?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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Jeff@TargetTestPrep: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 1462; Joined: Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:34 am; Location: New York, NY; Thanked: 39 times; Followed by:22 members

by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Tue Aug 16, 2016 3:55 pm

Hi Ish137,

Thank you for the response. I don't think you mentioned this, but is your GMAT score goal a 700+? Also, because your test is only a month away, and you have only completed 1 official practice exam, you might consider taking another MBA.com practice exam to get an up-to-date GMAT score. When taking the exam, try to replicate the test day experience as much as possible: Go to the library instead of taking the test in your house or apartment. Be sure to complete all sections (AWA, IR, Quant, and Verbal). Only take the allotted breaks.

I also see that you have leaned heavily on the OG as a study resource. The Official Guide is a great book because it has official questions from past GMATs; however, there are not enough questions given about each topic to provide full exposure to all GMAT topics. Additionally, the questions are presented in a random order, so it's challenging to use the OG for focused practice. Thus, if you find that your quant and verbal skills have plateaued, you may consider finding another resource that allows for more targeted practice.

For example, if you are reviewing Number Properties, be sure that you can practice 50 or more questions (not necessarily in one sitting) that test all aspects of Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. The results from that practice will help you determine your weak areas in that topic. You might consider following a similar practice routine for all quant topics and for your verbal review as well.

In the meantime, to help diagnose your GMAT quant strengths and weaknesses, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you'll be provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level on all GMAT quant topics as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.

Once you take an official practice test, please report back with your score.

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]

See why Target Test Prep is rated 5 out of 5 stars on BEAT the GMAT. Read our reviews