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Help Please.....Only 3 weeks left for my exam

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Help Please.....Only 3 weeks left for my exam

by sanaa.rizwan » Sun Sep 18, 2016 2:51 am
Hi everyone

I have my GMAT exam on the 8th of October (in 3 weeks) and I am stuck at 560-570 during my practice exams :( I need to score 600+. Even 610 or 620 will be fine

I have studied for 3 months 4-5 days a week for about 3-4 hours each day. I have covered all the contents using the GMAT Prep now videos modules.

My score doesn't seem to improve. Do you think it is possible to achieve a 50 point score increase in 3 weeks if I get tutoring? or should I think of rescheduling my exam

Your advise will be appreciated. Thanks :)
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by [email protected] » Sun Sep 18, 2016 9:16 am
Hi sanaa.rizwan,

A 560 isn't as far from a 610+ as you might think it is. However, if you have not been able to hit that level yet, then there are likely some fundamental issues with how you're handling the Exam. If 'your way' of taking the GMAT has gotten you stuck at this level, then you'll have to make some serious adjustments to how you 'see' (and respond to) this test. To start, I have a few questions about how you took your CATs:

1) How did you score on each individual CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?
3) Did you take them at home?
4) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?

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by sanaa.rizwan » Mon Sep 19, 2016 6:10 am
Hi Rich

Thanks for the quick response :) Really appreciate it

Answer to your questions are below

1) How did you score on each individual CAT (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for each)?

Total Score 570, (Q 35, V 34, Did not attempt IR or AWA)
Total Score 560, (Q 37, V 30, IR 7, Did not attempt AWA)

2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?

Please see above

3) Did you take them at home?

Yes I took the test at home. I went in my study room

4) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?

No I didn't, My exam is at 8 am but I cant take the practice exam at the same time at home as I have a 4 month old baby. I have to give the practice exam at the time my babysitter is available, which is late morning or in the afternoon

5) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?

I skipped the the IR and Essay section in Exam 1 as I wasn't prepared for that
I skipped the Essay section only on Exam 2
Apart from that nothing else, no pausing or taking longer breaks
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by [email protected] » Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:19 am
Hi sanaa.rizwan,

To start, there's a potential issue with how accurate these two CAT results are. Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's possibly what has happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, taking the CATs at a different time of day (from the time that you'll take the Official GMAT), etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience' that you will face in 3 weeks.

Raising a 560 to a 610+ is one thing, but I'm not certain whether you're actually at the 560 'level' or not. Is there any practical way for you to take a FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections), away from your home, at 8am? If that isn't possible, then we'll have to try to work around that issue. With your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores, you could pick up all of the missing points that you're looking for in either the Quant or Verbal sections, so if you're going to stick with your current Test Date, then focusing on one of them for the next few weeks (so that you could squeeze out every potential point) would likely be your best option.

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by sanaa.rizwan » Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:30 am
Hi Rich

I see were you're coming from...

I can take the full length practice exam at the nearest library. Timing is going to be an issue though. The library open at 10 am so that's the earliest I can start. Will doing so give me a better idea of what I can realistically score on the GMAT?

How can I improve further on either Quant or Verbal. I have pretty much covered all the contents. Is getting a tutor a good option in my case?

Aside from that, does giving multiple tests look bad on my MBA application. I can postpone the test if that's the case.

Thanks :)
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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Mon Sep 19, 2016 3:29 pm
Hi sanaa.rizwan,

A 50 point increase in 3 weeks is possible, but certainly not guaranteed. We first need to determine why, after 3 months of study, your score has not increased to a 600+. When you have been studying, do you feel as if you have been able to achieve linear and targeted learning followed by focused practice? In other words, have you been able to master one topic before you moved to the next? If you have not been able to study in this way, you may consider adjusting your study routine and furthermore pushing your exam to a later date.

When considering a new study routine, you must remember that the difficulty of the GMAT lies in the fact that there are so few questions asked in a given exam, but yet those questions come from a huge topic pool. Thus, the best way to get a great GMAT quant score is to have a thorough understanding of all that is tested on the GMAT. To develop such mastery, you should fully concentrate on a particular math topic and then practice that topic until it completely sticks.

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should learn everything possible about that topic: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. After that, be sure that you practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties. The results of that practice will help you to determine how well you have truly mastered that topic. Follow a similar routine for other quant topics as well as for verbal.

To help diagnose your GMAT quant strengths and weaknesses, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you will be provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level of all GMAT quant topics, as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.

If you determine that you need a new study resource, to allow for such focused learning/practice, check out the verified review section here on Beat The GMAT.

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to me directly. Good luck!

Jeffrey Miller
Head of GMAT Instruction
[email protected]

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by [email protected] » Mon Sep 19, 2016 7:04 pm
Hi sanaa.rizwan,

If you take the FULL CAT, in a realistic fashion (which includes taking it away from your home), then we'll likely end up with a more accurate score result than the other two scores that you have. That score result is important - we need the most accurate data possible about your skills if we want to create a study plan for the next 2-3 weeks.

As an aside, I do not think that you need a tutor. Also, Business Schools don't care if you retake the GMAT, so that should not be a concern.

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by MartyMurray » Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:05 pm
Hi sanaa.rizwan.

Given the work that you have already done, you may indeed be able to increase your score by 50 points or more within three weeks.

You now have a sense of what will be on the GMAT and basic idea of how to answer the questions.

The thing is that the GMAT is not a test of knowledge. So you work to understand "content" by watching videos and doing some practice questions is just the beginning of your preparation.

Now that you know ABOUT the GMAT you have to train to use what you have learned to GET RIGHT ANSWERS.

In other words, now you have to do more practice questions with the goal of getting better at quickly finding answers.

Here's your best bet.

To get 50 more points, you need maybe five or six more right answers than you have been getting. No big deal. You could find ten types of questions that you could get better at answering, and focus on getting better at finding answers to those types. If you do that, you should score higher.

Also, I bet that if you look over your practice tests, you will find that you could have scored higher had you just made fewer silly errors. So by doing some analysis of the types of silly errors that you make and working on reducing those types of errors, you can get more right answers.

With targeted practice and reduction in silly errors, you could get more right answers than you have been and increase your score 50 points or more.

A tutor or coach might be helpful if that person were to have the skill to help you speed up the process of getting better in certain areas and reducing silly errors.

In any case, either by working alone or working with someone, if you play this right, you could very well hit or exceed your target within three weeks.
Marty Murray
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MartyMurrayCoaching.com
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by sanaa.rizwan » Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:03 am
Hi

So I gave another practice exam last week (not at home). I scored 590. It was a full length CAT including AWA and IR and took 2 break in between.

2 more weeks left now, Not sure how much I can improve in these 2 weeks.


I have been studying exactly the way Jeff has suggested. On topic at a time and then moving to the next. However I haven't done 50+ practice questions for each topic. I have practiced from the OG-13 and GMAT Quant and Verbal review. These 2 resources do not have 50+ questions for each topic, Further more the questions have been arranged in order of difficulty and not topic.

Can you suggest some resources in which question have been arranges in topics so I can practice further. Preferably online as it is faster and I don't have much time left.

Also I have noticed that when I am doing question that belong to a certain topic I am able to do even the difficult question correctly, however when I do questions which are mixed (as in like a practice exam) I do not perform as well. How can I tackle this problem.

Thanks for the valuable advice.
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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Tue Sep 27, 2016 8:16 am
Hi,sanaa.rizwan

If you are looking for an online resource that provides focused learning and practice, I welcome you to get a trial to my GMAT quant course, Target Test Prep.
The course is quite robust, with around 3,000 GMAT practice quant questions organized by topic. The trial is 1 dollar and will expire after five days - no automatic billing.

If you prefer, you can start out with a free 37-question quant diagnostic. After completing the diagnostic, you will be provided a detailed analysis of your proficiency level of GMAT quant topics as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results with me or another TTP instructor/coach.

If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out.

Jeffrey Miller
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[email protected]

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