T -16 days and counting ...

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Dina: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:07 am; Location: Sacramento, California

by Dina » Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:27 am

I've got 16 days left before I take the GMAT on March 17th. I'm still struggling with the Quantitative section of the test and will be taking a two-day prep course this weekend. Any suggestions on what my strategy should be for the next couple of weeks? I've only been studying on my own up to this point, I'm gainfully (and busily) employed, 42, married with one child. Wouldn't be realistic for me to drop everything and take the next two weeks off. And my application deadline is April 4th so rescheduling the test really isn't an option. Glad I found this site! Thanks to Joel at PrepForTests.com for referring me!

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:27 am

isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times

by isisalaska » Thu Mar 01, 2007 9:12 am

Hi
I am in the same situation, a FT person with a toddler! my advice is to make sure you are stronger in the quantitative section, I am speaking for my own experience. I took the test on Feb. 17 and because I scored low on this section my total score was less than 500

So I am taking the test again and this time to make sure I will improve in the quantitative section. My strategy this time is to make sure I understand the problem, and not try to memorize or guess too much. Spend time analyzing the problem.

Good luck!

Isis Alaska

GMAT/MBA Expert

beatthegmat: Site Admin; Posts: 6778; Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:30 amFollowed by: 994 members; Location: Los Angeles, CA; Thanked: 1249 times

Re: T -16 days and counting ...

by beatthegmat » Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:46 pm

Dina wrote:I've got 16 days left before I take the GMAT on March 17th. I'm still struggling with the Quantitative section of the test and will be taking a two-day prep course this weekend. Any suggestions on what my strategy should be for the next couple of weeks? I've only been studying on my own up to this point, I'm gainfully (and busily) employed, 42, married with one child. Wouldn't be realistic for me to drop everything and take the next two weeks off. And my application deadline is April 4th so rescheduling the test really isn't an option. Glad I found this site! Thanks to Joel at PrepForTests.com for referring me!

Hi Dina:

I would really make an effort to systematically study and analyze your weaknesses in quant. Try to figure out patterns of quant problems that you consistenly get wrong, and determine why you are getting these questions wrong.

I recommend that you look at the resources available on the GMAT Resource Wiki: https://www.beatthegmat.com/wiki/

There are some great links there to posts where members have proposed excellent strategies for diagnosing GMAT weaknesses.

Best of luck!

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Dina: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:07 am; Location: Sacramento, California

by Dina » Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:34 pm

Thanks Isis Alaska and Eric for the good advice and words of wisdom. I hope the two-day class I am taking this weekend will really help with understanding all types of quantitative problems. I'll come back and post some info on the class and if my confidence is any higher for taking it!

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Stacey Koprince: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 2228; Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pmFollowed by: 694 members; Location: Montreal, Canada; Thanked: 639 times; GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:09 pm

Hi, Dina - also, let us know what your strengths and weaknesses are more specifically. I'm sure lots of people here would like to help out!

Good luck

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Dina: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:07 am; Location: Sacramento, California

by Dina » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:14 pm

Well, I was only able to make it to one day of the two day class over the weekend. Had to go home due to a family emergency (nothing critical). The second day was really what I wanted to cover.

The instructor was really nice and e-mailed me the cheatsheets he was handing out for each section and he also provided a great sheet to keep track of the questions I get wrong when I do the sample tests so I can narrow down what types of problems I should focus on. I think that will be very helpful. I also realized in class that I should give myself some more time for studying so I moved my test date out to April 3. THE last possible date I could take the test and still meet my application deadline of the 4th!

My next step is to take a full on practice test (haven't done that yet) to see where I should focus. I am pretty sure where I should study more but it will be nice to have some confirmation.

isisalaska: Community Manager; Posts: 363; Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:24 pmFollowed by: 3 members; Location: St. Louis; Thanked: 7 times

by isisalaska » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:51 pm

HI Dina
what class did you take? I am planning to take maybe a Princeton Review course.

Isis Alaska

Dina: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 5; Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:07 am; Location: Sacramento, California

by Dina » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:01 pm

I took the Quant Review two-day class through Veritas https://www.veritasprep.com/. I looked into a few others but they didn't have anything scheduled in my local area. If you do end up taking a class, let me know how it goes! My criteria may be a bit lower than yours since I'm shooting for a minimum score of 610.

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