Final advice - GMAT on December 9th '14

[fermar84]

Hi everyone,

Again me posting, I have been studying for the exam since August and now it is scheduled for Tuesday 9th of December. I picked up this date because Monday 8th is a holiday so I will have enough time to rest.

My CAT history has been as follows:
610 (Q47 / V29)
590 (Q42 / V28) - GMATPrep 2
630 (Q43 / V37)
630 (Q46 / V32)
660 (Q48 / V38)

Every CAT is taken within extreme controlled conditions regarding IR/AWA sections, food, time of day and breaks. In my last 2 CATs I have been feeling very comfortable with my Quant Score and I since 2 weeks ago I focus only on my Verbal skills although I practice at least 5 PS problems per day.

My routine now includes:
1. Weekdays:
From 6:00 am to 8:00 am I use Veritas Question Bank to do timed practice. I take a 5 PS Question set, 5 Min rest and 5 CR Question set. I repeat this during the 2 hours until 8:00 reach and I have to work.
At night, from 20:00 to 21:00 I take OG13 questions and some Quant & Verbal review questions. Sets of 5 until the time ends.

2. Saturday: I do a CAT in the morning from 8:00 am to 12:00 m. In the afternoon i review the complete CAT.

I am currently struggling with the Verbal section, my target score is 680 and I do not expect to go higher than 48 in Quant so what advice do you give me?

1. For the SC section I bought the e-GMAT module and I already studied it, but I really hate this topic. Any other material that you suggest to gain the most?

2. As for the CR section, I struggle with analogy questions. I know there might only appear a couple of these questions at most, but I really need to be prepared, I need every point from Verbal. So again, any advice regarding material?

3. Any free material for the Verbal section that you consider worth reviewing?

A final comment, I do not want to buy more material than I already have, so I use the free Ron Purewal videos for Verbal, and there are 3 weekends before GMAT weekend, so I have planned the Princeton, GMATPrep 3 and GMATPrep 4 CATs. I wont take any CAT on the GMAT weekend.

That is it, thanks in advance,
FM[/list]

[[email protected]]

Hi FM,

I have some questions about the information you've provided in this post:

1) Is that last CAT score correct or are there any typos? A Q48/V38 should be higher than a 660.

2) You mention how you don't expect to score higher than Q48 (which is fine), but WHY do you not expect to score higher? Are ALL of the questions that you're getting wrong too difficult?

3) When you say that you hate the "topic" of SCs, do you mean that you hate the e-gmat module on SCs or that you hate SCs in general? As an aside, grammar is essentially just "formulas" for how to build sentences. For example, if you're comfortable learning geometry formulas and looking for geometry patterns, then you should be able to bring that same mindset to how you deal with SCs. Some of what you need is knowledge-based (grammar), while the rest is built-in patterns that GMAT question writers use and that can be taken advantage of (if you know what the patterns are and how to spot them).

4) Is it more important to score 680 or not spend more money?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[fermar84]

Hi Rich, my answers to your questions:

1. My mistake, the CAT was 660 (Q48 / V34). I think my goal would be V38, I don't expect to be higher than this.

2. I do not expect to score higher than Q48 because I know my limitations. May be I am stupid, but I have not been able to score more than Q48 in none of my CATs. And no, some of the questions that I get wrong are not that difficult.

3. I hate SC in general, although I am a little biased since it is my weakest section. I do so-so on CR and RC but every time I see a SC question in a CAT it undermines my confidence and makes me angry because I might not be able to get it right.

4. The score is more important. But my point of view is the following: My Quant score is not going to be higher and as for the verbal, I already have the SC module.

This GMAT test is already making me feel stupid but I hope my misery ends in a month.

Thanks in advance,
FM

[[email protected]]

Hi FM,

Your practice CAT scores prove that you are NOT stupid, so you shouldn't let that kind of negativity (or any kind of negativity for that matter) enter your mind. It sounds like you might be at the point at which you're having a negative emotional reaction to seeing certain material; THAT cannot be allowed to happen (now or on Test Day). It's common to see 15-16 SC questions on Test Day, so you don't necessarily have to "love" the subject matter, but you do have to respect that it will appear and that getting a higher score is going to require that you know your grammar/idiom rules and understand the patterns that GMAT writers use when building their SC prompts.

You say that you're so-so on RC and CR, and that you hate SCs, but your Verbal Scaled Scores are high enough that you're doing fairly well in the Verbal sections overall. With the time remaining, you should put some emphasis into figuring out exactly what your problem areas are. If you find yourself "narrowing it down to 2 choices and then guessing" often, then you have a problem that you can attack. To consistently score at a higher level, you need to KNOW what the correct answer is and "stab" at the answers only when you have no other choice. This requires a greater emphasis on understanding the content and logical patterns that consistently show up in the Verbal section. In real basic terms, it's "muscle memory." Can you look at a prompt and remember OTHER prompts that were built the same way?

With the reference to ending your "misery", I think that you should take a couple of days off and do something fun (re: non-GMAT related). You might be getting close to burning out and we can't have that so close to Test Day.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[manyaabroadtpr]

Hi,

Just believe you have given your best and that you will get your dream score in the exam. Give this thought lot of energy and go make a crack at GMAT.

Wish you all the best.

If you have any specific query with respect to the test, please do let us know and we would be happy to advice.

www.manyagroup.com

[BestGMATEliza]

SC wasn't my favorite sections either, its really one of those you just have to power through it. There is quite a lot of content to learn. I would recommend the MGMAT SC guide as another resource it is very thorough. (I know you said you didn't want to spend more money, but you can get it on amazon for $9.99) Make sure to take notes, since people remember things better when they write them down.

For critical reasoning, you are not learning any new content, so the best way to study is to really practice and analyze your mistakes.

A lot of test prep companies have blogs that are very helpful for strategy that are free to read. I recently completed a three part blog series on a CR strategy to help improve assumption/strengthen/weaken/inference questions.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[BestGMATEliza]

SC wasn't my favorite sections either, its really one of those you just have to power through it. There is quite a lot of content to learn. I would recommend the MGMAT SC guide as another resource it is very thorough. (I know you said you didn't want to spend more money, but you can get it on amazon for $9.99) Make sure to take notes, since people remember things better when they write them down.

For critical reasoning, you are not learning any new content, so the best way to study is to really practice and analyze your mistakes.

A lot of test prep companies have blogs that are very helpful for strategy that are free to read. I recently completed a three part blog series on a CR strategy to help improve assumption/strengthen/weaken/inference questions.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[BestGMATEliza]

SC wasn't my favorite sections either, its really one of those you just have to power through it. There is quite a lot of content to learn. I would recommend the MGMAT SC guide as another resource it is very thorough. (I know you said you didn't want to spend more money, but you can get it on amazon for $9.99) Make sure to take notes, since people remember things better when they write them down.

For critical reasoning, you are not learning any new content, so the best way to study is to really practice and analyze your mistakes.

A lot of test prep companies have blogs that are very helpful for strategy that are free to read. I recently completed a three part blog series on a CR strategy to help improve assumption/strengthen/weaken/inference questions.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[fermar84]

Hi everyone, I am reporting back, I took my GMAT today and scored a disappointing 620 (IR 5, Q45, V31). I am not surprised about my Quant score since it has always been my range. Actually I am not surprised about my Verbal either since it is within my range.
In my last CAT (GMATPrep 4) I scored 670 (IR 8, Q45, V37) which is my target score and that made me feel comfortable. However I know that my score fluctuates because of CR and a little because of RC, SC is no longer a weakness actually is a strength. I am not scheduled the GMAT again but I plan to retake it at the end of January, which will leave me around 1 month to study (discarding holidays).

What material do you recommend me for CR and RC? I would appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance,
Fernando

[Brent@GMATPrepNow]

What material do you recommend me for CR and RC? I would appreciate any help.

Hi Fernando,

Sorry to hear your test did not go as expected.

If you're interested, we have a free set of videos that cover all sorts of Reading Comprehension strategies: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension

Cheers,
Brent