3 600+ scores and then a 540 on Princeton review..

[vaibhavgupta]

Hey guys!

I am a bit confused and hence writing this post..

I got 600 and 660 on the GMAC mock tests and a 650 on another diagnostic one ...

I just took a princeton review's and got a 540!

Dunno how to take it.. still a month for me to give gmat.. so a bit stuck on how to go ahead ..

Plss help!!

[Toph@GMAT_REBOOT]

Granted this is from 2008, but I went back and look at my test data... and after I scored a 760 on the GMAT Prep 1, I scored a 710 on a Princeton Review exam (which was the next practice test I took after the GMAT Prep). In fact, I scored higher on my two GMAT prep exams (and the first GMAT prep exam I took only two weeks into my five week study plan) than I did on any of the other practice exams I took.

Instead of focusing on your results/score, focus on the mistakes you made, why you made them, and how to understand the concepts so you don't make those mistakes in the future. If there are concepts you don't know, it is better to mess them up now and learn them than to mess them up on the actual exam.

Good luck!

[vaibhavgupta]

Granted this is from 2008, but I went back and look at my test data... and after I scored a 760 on the GMAT Prep 1, I scored a 710 on a Princeton Review exam (which was the next practice test I took after the GMAT Prep). In fact, I scored higher on my two GMAT prep exams (and the first GMAT prep exam I took only two weeks into my five week study plan) than I did on any of the other practice exams I took.

Instead of focusing on your results/score, focus on the mistakes you made, why you made them, and how to understand the concepts so you don't make those mistakes in the future. If there are concepts you don't know, it is better to mess them up now and learn them than to mess them up on the actual exam.

Good luck!

I am also looking at 2 more of the tests probably.. i should go ahead with them as well, right?

[VivianKerr]

Riprop so has it. Who cares about your actual score on a PR test? Use the test to (1) practice pacing, and (2) as a source of review. Make sure you comprehensively review every incorrect question from that PR test, but I wouldn't stress out. Looks like your score range is in the low 600's. Your biggest gains now are going to come from your review sessions. Make your error log, and really attack those weaknesses

[Toph@GMAT_REBOOT]

If you have time and they're part of your study plan, there is no reason not to take a few more practice exams if you feel the experience will benefit you. Maybe try the Manhattan GMAT exams. The quant isn't entirely representative (I always scored lower on their quant sections... in my opinion because they had more steps and I felt rushed on them vs. not feeling rushed on the GMAT prep exams/the actual GMAT). But I definitely feel those exams helped me grow.

[vaibhavgupta]

Riprop so has it. Who cares about your actual score on a PR test? Use the test to (1) practice pacing, and (2) as a source of review. Make sure you comprehensively review every incorrect question from that PR test, but I wouldn't stress out. Looks like your score range is in the low 600's. Your biggest gains now are going to come from your review sessions. Make your error log, and really attack those weaknesses

I dunno .. how to say this.. But i am a little fast in pacing.. :/ i finish both verbal and quant with around 15-20 min to spare.. Could u advice me..

also with a month to spare what should i look at .. confused :/

[vaibhavgupta]

If you have time and they're part of your study plan, there is no reason not to take a few more practice exams if you feel the experience will benefit you. Maybe try the Manhattan GMAT exams. The quant isn't entirely representative (I always scored lower on their quant sections... in my opinion because they had more steps and I felt rushed on them vs. not feeling rushed on the GMAT prep exams/the actual GMAT). But I definitely feel those exams helped me grow.

I am more worried about verbal..

[Toph@GMAT_REBOOT]

Riprop so has it. Who cares about your actual score on a PR test? Use the test to (1) practice pacing, and (2) as a source of review. Make sure you comprehensively review every incorrect question from that PR test, but I wouldn't stress out. Looks like your score range is in the low 600's. Your biggest gains now are going to come from your review sessions. Make your error log, and really attack those weaknesses

I dunno .. how to say this.. But i am a little fast in pacing.. :/ i finish both verbal and quant with around 15-20 min to spare.. Could u advice me..

also with a month to spare what should i look at .. confused :/

If you're missing questions... and you have that much time left... my advice is... SLOW DOWN! Go back and review your practice exams. Understand what you are missing and why you are missing what you are missing. If you had spent more time with each question, would you have been more likely to answer an individual question correctly. Are you avoiding questions that you don't like and guessing instead of really digging into them?

Review, review, review. And remember, you don't get bonus points for finishing early.

[vaibhavgupta]

Riprop so has it. Who cares about your actual score on a PR test? Use the test to (1) practice pacing, and (2) as a source of review. Make sure you comprehensively review every incorrect question from that PR test, but I wouldn't stress out. Looks like your score range is in the low 600's. Your biggest gains now are going to come from your review sessions. Make your error log, and really attack those weaknesses

I dunno .. how to say this.. But i am a little fast in pacing.. :/ i finish both verbal and quant with around 15-20 min to spare.. Could u advice me..

also with a month to spare what should i look at .. confused :/

If you're missing questions... and you have that much time left... my advice is... SLOW DOWN! Go back and review your practice exams. Understand what you are missing and why you are missing what you are missing. If you had spent more time with each question, would you have been more likely to answer an individual question correctly. Are you avoiding questions that you don't like and guessing instead of really digging into them?

Review, review, review. And remember, you don't get bonus points for finishing early.

I dont think so.. i tend to eliminate two or three and then when left with the two, i go with the wrong one more often than less..

[Toph@GMAT_REBOOT]

Review those problems. There are probably patterns in the mistakes you are making. Identify the patterns. For SC in particular, figure out why the wrong answer choice appeals to you and why the right answer doesn't. There are SC rules that you probably still need to learn or understand in a deeper way. By reviewing the problems that, you can start to learn which rules those are. If you are unsure, post the questions you are missing (perhaps you already do this?) in the SC forum, and others can help you identify these rules.

You still have time. So don't be nervous. Don't be frustrated. Be motivated to figure out how to improve (and by posting here, it shows that you are... but take it one step further and put in the work).

Also, unless you're scoring a 50+ on the Quant, you shouldn't be finishing it that fast. Do the same things that I recommended for SC.

[vaibhavgupta]

Review those problems. There are probably patterns in the mistakes you are making. Identify the patterns. For SC in particular, figure out why the wrong answer choice appeals to you and why the right answer doesn't. There are SC rules that you probably still need to learn or understand in a deeper way. By reviewing the problems that, you can start to learn which rules those are. If you are unsure, post the questions you are missing (perhaps you already do this?) in the SC forum, and others can help you identify these rules.

You still have time. So don't be nervous. Don't be frustrated. Be motivated to figure out how to improve (and by posting here, it shows that you are... but take it one step further and put in the work).

Also, unless you're scoring a 50+ on the Quant, you shouldn't be finishing it that fast. Do the same things that I recommended for SC.

I am close to that 50 score in quant.. my worst has been 40.. and I am deeply thankful, sometimes its just required that somebody tells u again what has to be done.. and i realize that i might be going wrong with SC rules thats why at the moment going through them only. I will review my papers again and see why i went for the wrong one. as for the questions, i haven't posted any but go through what others post...