550 First official Attempt!! Aiming for 600-650

[MGMT]

Hi guys,

I've read many of your posts on what materials to study and so forth. But can someone help me plan out what i need to do to score in the 600-650 range? I know this is a low score but the school I'm applying to is so damn expensive (bc of placement guarantees) that they've lowered all entry requirements.

Anyways here is my story:

Study Materials:

Kaplan Premier 2010 and did all the practice questions, quizes etc in the book
OG12 -- Did barely any work here -- only 60 Quant Q's

Practice Scores

Kaplan online Linear GMAT
600, Q36, V39

Kaplan online CAT
520, Q32, V28

GMATPrep --1--
560 (didn't record scaled scores but V>Q)

Kaplan CD
520 (didn't record scaled scores but V>Q)

GMATPrep --2--
560, Q35, V32

FIRST OFFICIAL ATTEMPT (Oct 20th, 2010)
550, Q35, V31

On the exam day I was sort of behind on time in the Quant section, i had to guess the last 3 questions. However, I had 3 minutes left over for verbal. Plus, I was sick with a sore throat and felt weak on exam day!! I started studying on and off since September 2010 but studied straight from October 1st to the day before exam day which was Oct 19th. I feel my problem is with quant questions -- both timing and understanding the questions..especially DS. I want to focus more on algebra since I feel my main weakness is setting up equations -- I never know when to use x + 2x + 3x = 100 vs x + 2y + 3z = 100 ( ie one variable vs multiple variables)

Any help is much appreciated!! There is just soo much info on BTG its sort of all over the place!!


MGMT

[aslan]

hey...happened with me too..

I'am no expert, but feel the same towards the setting up of the algebraic equation parts.I think this thing basically goes back to high school roots.People who you think get Q50 or Q51, generally have good roots in setting up equations.Whenever they practice all the washed away stuff comes back to them.I had the problem that I also wasn't good at setting up complex equations (such as the two or one variable type), although by brute force I was getting Q45-48 but

1) it wastes time in guessing
2) You are not sure about the way forward in an impulse and maybe it can ditch you at anytime.

Just when I picked up (MGMT-algebraic translations) and I tell you its a God send!...Study each and every page, make notes of it and practice by 'just using those methods only' on OG12, even with 2-3 groups....and hopefully you will feel the new muscles flexing in the neurons!

Cheers!