Suggestions - GMAT on 22nd

[rashvi]

Hello there,

I have been preparing with various books (OG 11,Kaplan 800/Math workbook and 2007 edition) for the past 1-1.5 months.I have taken 4-5 practice tests so far and scored as given below.

Kap 1 - 500
GMATPrep 1-500
GMATPrep2-530(1 week back)
GMATPrep3-640(yesterday)

I would like to know how I should work forward to take this score to 700+.Lot of people suggested to postpone the test but I am determined to go ahead and give the test.

Any advice for the next 5 days (full time)would be really appreciated.

Thanks so much.

[wunderkind]

I would not really expect your score to go from 640 to 700 in a matter of days. You've made nice progress in the past week, but 640 to 700 is a big leap. You don't need 700 to be competitive. It's a mythical magic number. A 670 is competitive at most schools.

By all means, aim high. But focus on what you're getting wrong on the test and how to fix those errors, and not on the magic 700.

What test is GMATPrep #3???? There are only two of them out there that I've seen.

[beatthegmat]

I would agree with wunderkind's assessment that it will be difficult for you to improve 60 points over the next five days. My advice--which you seem to have heard from others before--is to take several more weeks to prepare.

However, if you are determined to take your test--I would recommend taking lots of practice tests, while carefully reviewing your errors. But honestly, I'm skeptical as to whether you can achieve your goal of 700+ with this upcoming test--I sincerely hope you prove us wrong!

wunderkind: to your question, there is no GMATPrep 3--there are only two tests as you had correctly indicated. I am assuming that rashvi repeated one of the GMATPrep tests?

Best of luck!

[rashvi]

Thanks so much for your suggestions.I really appreciate your words here.

Having understood that it might be difficult to improve the score from 640 to 700 in 7 days,I moved the exam to 13th Jan which I do not intend to postpone further,partly because of my deadline for application.

Now I feel I would be able to score a number above 700 - not just because such a score would be very much needed by the schools,but it makes me feel good about myself :D - I plan to start using the Official Quant and Verbal workbooks along with OG and some tests from PR+Kaplan.Could you suggest if I should use some other material with this?

To answer the question about GMATPrep 3,I reinstalled GMATPrep renaming the 'exams' folder which would give 2 new tests which are unlikely to have any repeated questions (80%) and gave the tests again.
Now,can you please suggest what I should do to check my scores again a the end,as I have already taken most of the questions from GMATPrep?

Once again,thanks for your time and valuable guidance on this,

I would like to mention that I found this forum friendly and responsive compared to few other forums I have visited earlier.

[beatthegmat]

Thanks so much for your suggestions.I really appreciate your words here.

Having understood that it might be difficult to improve the score from 640 to 700 in 7 days,I moved the exam to 13th Jan which I do not intend to postpone further,partly because of my deadline for application.

Now I feel I would be able to score a number above 700 - not just because such a score would be very much needed by the schools,but it makes me feel good about myself - I plan to start using the Official Quant and Verbal workbooks along with OG and some tests from PR+Kaplan.Could you suggest if I should use some other material with this?

To answer the question about GMATPrep 3,I reinstalled GMATPrep renaming the 'exams' folder which would give 2 new tests which are unlikely to have any repeated questions (80%) and gave the tests again.
Now,can you please suggest what I should do to check my scores again a the end,as I have already taken most of the questions from GMATPrep?

Once again,thanks for your time and valuable guidance on this,

I would like to mention that I found this forum friendly and responsive compared to few other forums I have visited earlier.

Hi rashvi:

I think you've made a wise decision postponing your GMAT--I feel like you will benefit from the extra time to study to reach your goal.

With that said, January 13 is rapidly approaching, and it's critical that you have a smart study strategy for your remaining time. If you haven't done so all ready, I recommend that you take a look at my blog, https://beatthegmat.blocked to see one example of a successful study strategy.

Do you have a good sense of where your weaknesses and strengths lie with each section? When going through your practice sets, spend extra time on the areas you are week and CAREFULLY review ALL explanations--make sure you understand how the solutions were found. If you have any confusion, ping this forum for our thoughts and we'll be here to help.

Otherwise, be sure to take lots of practice tests. Princeton Review tests seem to have a scoring algorithm that's relatively representative of your actual GMAT performance. Kaplan tests are good practice, but they are difficult and skew your score down by 60-100 points consistently--don't take Kaplan results too seriously!

I wish you the best of luck, and encourage you to be active on this forum to learn and teach! I'm glad to hear that this forum community has received you more warmly than the others--this is a community service project, and we are here because we want to help everyone succeed and reach their dreams!

[rashvi]

Thanks for your comments.

I have understood that DS is the weakness affecting my Quant score and SC is the one affecting my Verbal score.

I have decided to work on these,and I would like to know the best way forward,apart from doing lot of problems from OG and Kaplan..Can you help please?

And I had one more question about what I could do to take GMATPrep/PowerPrep test again before the test as I have taken all the tests from the CD.Is getting another software/CD going to help or are there any other tests I can take to see if I am ready to take the actual one?

Thanks again..

[beatthegmat]

Thanks for your comments.

I have understood that DS is the weakness affecting my Quant score and SC is the one affecting my Verbal score.

I have decided to work on these,and I would like to know the best way forward,apart from doing lot of problems from OG and Kaplan..Can you help please?

And I had one more question about what I could do to take GMATPrep/PowerPrep test again before the test as I have taken all the tests from the CD.Is getting another software/CD going to help or are there any other tests I can take to see if I am ready to take the actual one?

Thanks again..

Hi rashvi:

Take a look at my GMAT blog (https://beatthegmat.blocked), and take some time reading the sticky articles on this forum for more information about DS and SC strategy. The most effective approach varies from person to person, but seeing some examples of what has worked for others might be useful.

For additional practice exams, I recommend the CAT tests the come with the Cracking the GMAT and Kaplan textbooks. It sounds like you have GMATPrep all ready, but this software can be downloaded at MBA.com.

Best of luck!

[wunderkind]

I would agree with Eric. Use the Kaplan and Princeton Review tests, but only go by the PR tests for your potential score. They are definitely more like the real thing, in all aspects...scoring algorithm, difficulty level of questions, and realisticness (I totally just made that word up) of the questions.

For SC, you need to have a good grasp of grammar. I have Grammar Smart, which is pretty helpful. It's a book and you can find it pretty cheaply on sites like Amazon.

Continually retaking the GMATPrep tests isn't going to be overly useful, so I would move on to other tests.

[rashvi]

Thanks Eric and wunderkind.

I took a PR test today but the scores were not displayed at the end as the software 'failed to authenticate my account online'.I used a PR 2007 CD.

Do you know anything about this?

Thanks.

[beatthegmat]

Thanks Eric and wunderkind.

I took a PR test today but the scores were not displayed at the end as the software 'failed to authenticate my account online'.I used a PR 2007 CD.

Do you know anything about this?

Thanks.

I haven't used the PR 2007 CD, so I can't say much about this error. It sounds like you needed to set up an account with Princeton Review first--have you done that?