520 to 450 in Mocks, Need advice!

[shreyagirish]

Hi All,
1. April 2016- Started prepping seriously, studied for a week on few concepts. Gave a mock in the weekend and scored 520(Q38, V23)-Manhattan Prep free CAT

2. Following week with little prep scored 450(Q23, V24) Veritas CAT. I was stressed that I hadn't done much through the week. With this attitude, I had made up my mind for a low score.

Official exam in 2 months. I have attended class room training in Aug 2015. Since then my prep is on and off. I choose to resolve it as I want to apply for fall 2017.

Target score 720+

With quant, I lack in techniques and timing. Kindly suggest any content to learn tricks and strategies.

With verbal, grasping the content in CR and RC is time consuming.

Materials that I have:
All Manhattan Strategy Guides
Official GMAT Review 2013

Also, I'm working. I can dedicate 3 hours to study per day, weekends 4-5 hours.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Shreya

[[email protected]]

Hi Shreya,

Since it's been over 6 months since you took your class, it's likely that many of your GMAT skills have 'faded' a bit. Given these two recent CAT scores, and your score goal, you're likely going to need another 3 months (or more) of consistent guided study to build your skills up to that level. It would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) Did you take the FULL CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) What Class did you take before?

3) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
4) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

[shreyagirish]

Hi Rich,

I have sent a PM with all the details mentioned.

Thanks,
Shreya

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Hi All,
1. April 2016- Started prepping seriously, studied for a week on few concepts. Gave a mock in the weekend and scored 520(Q38, V23)-Manhattan Prep free CAT

2. Following week with little prep scored 450(Q23, V24) Veritas CAT. I was stressed that I hadn't done much through the week. With this attitude, I had made up my mind for a low score.

Official exam in 2 months. I have attended class room training in Aug 2015. Since then my prep is on and off. I choose to resolve it as I want to apply for fall 2017.

Target score 720+

With quant, I lack in techniques and timing. Kindly suggest any content to learn tricks and strategies.

With verbal, grasping the content in CR and RC is time consuming.

Materials that I have:
All Manhattan Strategy Guides
Official GMAT Review 2013

Also, I'm working. I can dedicate 3 hours to study per day, weekends 4-5 hours.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Shreya

There's no magic formula for determining how much time any test-taker will need to hit a goal score, but I agree with Rich - the average test-taker looking to jump 200+ points will need more than two months of prep.

A few supplements for your study regimen - first, official practice tests: https://www.mba.com/us/the-gmat-exam/pre ... tware.aspx
(try to take one at least every other week.)

And here is our free app, which contains all of our lessons: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat-iphone-apps/

[OptimusPrep]

Hi All,
1. April 2016- Started prepping seriously, studied for a week on few concepts. Gave a mock in the weekend and scored 520(Q38, V23)-Manhattan Prep free CAT

2. Following week with little prep scored 450(Q23, V24) Veritas CAT. I was stressed that I hadn't done much through the week. With this attitude, I had made up my mind for a low score.

Official exam in 2 months. I have attended class room training in Aug 2015. Since then my prep is on and off. I choose to resolve it as I want to apply for fall 2017.

Target score 720+

With quant, I lack in techniques and timing. Kindly suggest any content to learn tricks and strategies.

With verbal, grasping the content in CR and RC is time consuming.

Materials that I have:
All Manhattan Strategy Guides
Official GMAT Review 2013

Also, I'm working. I can dedicate 3 hours to study per day, weekends 4-5 hours.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Shreya

Hi Shreya,

The first advice would be to take a GMAT Prep Mock CAT and then analyse it thoroughly to find out your pain areas. Once you have identified them, go back to your class notes and revisit those fundamentals.

CR - Try to drill down deep and find the problem types that trouble you. Broadly you can classify the types into Conclusion, Assumption, Strengthen, Weaken, Inference. Once you have figured this out, practice those problem types from the OG and the Verbal Review

RC- There are various methods to increase the reading speed. I however recommend a method that increases your speed on solving the questions. Make a passage map of each paragraph and note down the major things that the paragraph talks about. This will improve your comprehension and will in turn help you solve the questions faster.

Quants - There is no substitute of practice here. Again, find out the topics that trouble you. It may be Algebra or Number system or Geometry. Go through your notes again and the practice.

In addition,

1. Make an error log and record all your mistakes. Look at the solution of the incorrect problem, go to the forums and see what new you can learn. Note down this lesson in your error log and revisit your log after every 2 - 3 days. This will ensure that you do not make the same mistake again.
2. But the Exam pack 1 & 2, Question Pack 1 and the Verbal review book.

[shreyagirish]

Thank you David.Appreciate your response.

@Ankur

I have been following the same. Will continue to do so. Thank you.

Shreya