Stuck in a rut - any advice would be great

[mdecarbo]

Hi All,

I've been studying for the GMAT since the beginning of February. I'm scheduled to take the exam May 3. During the beginning of my prep I made significant gains in my CAT scores... from 610 -580 - 690 - 690

My verbal scores were 40 (89%), 31 (66%) (rushed through to see increase in Quant score), 42 (95%) and 44 (97%).

Since that fourth score I focused my review on the Quant side, and have made marginal improvements 50% - 57%. But in addition I've seen my Verbal score take a huge hit - I've scored 590 and 510! in my past two GMAT CATs while my Quant was slightly improving.

My question - is there any recommendation on taking a few days off and to not think about the exam? Or how do you keep your "cool" or focus during the exams? I'm really frustrated because I was knocking on the door of a 700 and now I'm starting to see my scores plummet.

Any advice, help, suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I'm very confident in my ability to score a 700 but not so much in my ability to keep the cool during test day and get the answers I KNOW I can get right, actually right.

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

I don't see any harm in taking some time (a week or two) off.
However, during that time (and throughout the rest of your studies), try to keep a positive attitude about your GMAT skills. Negative thinking will erode your confidence, and confidence is a vital ingredient.

Your practice tests show that you know the material - the last 2 tests were clearly anomalies.

Cheers,
Brent