first practice test...

[maolivie]

I took my first practice test with gmatprep after about two weeks of studying. I got a 530. I have till August before I take the real test. Is it possible to get a 700? That is the minimum grade that I am striving for.

[beatthegmat]

I took my first practice test with gmatprep after about two weeks of studying. I got a 530. I have till August before I take the real test. Is it possible to get a 700? That is the minimum grade that I am striving for.

Your goal is certainly possible to achieve, but it will take a lot of work. The first thing you need to do is develop a solid study strategy. Take some time to read through my GMAT blog, https://beatthegmat.blocked, to see what one successful study strategy could look like.

Also, it never hurts to consider professional test prep services if you feel like you could use the additional assistance. Check out the GMAT/MBA Scholarship competition that is running until May 7: https://www.beatthegmat.com/scholarship/

Best of luck!

[fsar45]

Anything is possible, my friend!

What test did you take? If it was Kaplan, then ignore the 530, as those tests do not really mimic the GMAT well. If it was Princeton Review or GMATPrep, then the score is fairly reliable. But, if you focus on your weaknesses and work on test-taking skills, you can do quite well.

What were your weaknesses? Have you developed a study plan yet?

[maolivie]

hey, yeah well I only studied for 2 weeks before taking that GMATprep practice test 1. I only studied the Quant section, thinking that the verbal section would be a breeze, since I figured I was better at that than math. Contrary to my knowledge, I ended up scoring significantly lower in the verbal, maybe it is because I didn't even know what to expect? So I had a 39 on quant, and a 21 on verbal.
My weakpoint was definitely Sentence Correction I think. For the Math, I think it was just a bunch of careless mistakes since I was rushing due to pressure from time which I need to learn to work with better.
I have till August for the test which is good since I want to do problems every day and get at least a 680. I just found an ex-Kaplan/Princeton/powerscore? Gmat tutor he "says." Only $25 an hour. I feel that this will help me the most for my stupid mistakes, verbal help, and getting me to the level i Need to be at. Not that far off in quant, but at very far off in verbal.
Study Strategy - nothing really concrete. Just focus on a category of problems for a certain duration till I feel comfortable to move on. This week's focus has been sentence correction. After I learn everythign I need to know for all sections, I will go through the OG11, keep track of the one's I get wrong, then just focus on those, and why I got them wrong, then take another practice test.

Any Gmatters from Long Island?

So what do you think so far of this strategy?

[fsar45]

Generally it's a good strategy to focus on one question type at a time, but I don't think I'd do just one type a week, going through all types and then finally taking a test. I'd do one question type a night for a few hours, and take a test at least every other weekend. You need to build up endurance for the test itself as well.

Go over your strategy with the tutor, though. If s/he is really good, s/he'd have a good recommendation for your strategy.