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Started taking practice exams, need help!

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Started taking practice exams, need help!

by gtudor » Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:17 pm
I have narrowed down the school I really want to go to but I blieve it will take at least a 650-700 on the GMT to get me in since I only have a 2.89 undergrad GPA. =/ I just took a practice GMAT from the Princeton Review and scored the following:

Score SummaryVerbal: 31 (27 of 41)
Quantitative: 29 (21 of 37)
Total (V & Q): 500
Analytical Writing: *
Integrated Reasoning: 18 (18 of 28)

Would like advice on what to study, can go more into detail on what I missed if that would help. Also, any suggestions/advice on what practice materials to purchase and study in order to prepare would be great. I only plan on taking the test once, MAYBE twice if I perceive my first score to be too low, but I'd like to get it right the first time. :) Thanks for any help and/or advice you have.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:07 am
First off, plan to take the test only once :-)

I typically suggest that students achieve their target score on at least 2 practices tests before they take the official test. This should be sufficient.

As far as how to improve, keep in mind that the GMAT is a test of your math and verbal skills AND it's a test of your test-taking skills. So, throughout your studies, keep taking practice tests to work on your endurance and your time management skills.

By the way, we have a free video on time management here: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

To help guide your prep, you might consider signing up for BTG's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide).
Each day you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by brianlange77 » Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:14 pm
gtudor wrote:I have narrowed down the school I really want to go to but I blieve it will take at least a 650-700 on the GMT to get me in since I only have a 2.89 undergrad GPA. =/ I just took a practice GMAT from the Princeton Review and scored the following:

Score SummaryVerbal: 31 (27 of 41)
Quantitative: 29 (21 of 37)
Total (V & Q): 500
Analytical Writing: *
Integrated Reasoning: 18 (18 of 28)

Would like advice on what to study, can go more into detail on what I missed if that would help. Also, any suggestions/advice on what practice materials to purchase and study in order to prepare would be great. I only plan on taking the test once, MAYBE twice if I perceive my first score to be too low, but I'd like to get it right the first time. :) Thanks for any help and/or advice you have.
G:

Good questions and welcome aboard on the journey. To get to a 650-700, I think you've got a fair amount of work in front of you on both the quant and verbal sides.

Question -- What's your timeline for wanting to take the test?

Suggestion -- I'd spend some time reading the two articles referenced below and really come up with a solid study plan to get you from point A to point B. Your desired score improvement is large enough that I think you'll need to start pretty broadly and then continue to narrow in as you 'check-off' areas in which you've made necessary improvements.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-2/

Hope this helps.

-Brian
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by ceilidh.erickson » Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:23 pm
Personally, I believe that you should plan to take the exam twice... with the hope, of course, that you get the score you want the first time, and don't have to take the second test! I think planning for the possibility of that second test is helpful for a few reasons:

1) You'll have flexibility, in case something goes wrong on that first test. You never know what could happen! Getting a cold/flu on test day will definitely impact your score.

2) Knowing that you have the option to take it again will take pressure off of that first test, and decrease anxiety. It's already a high-anxiety situation, so it's better to say to yourself "it's ok if this is just a test-run."

That said, I agree that you should wait to sign up for that first test until you've hit your target score on 2 practice tests (or hit it on one, and were within 10-20 pts on another).

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