450 trying to get near 550, only 25 days till the GMAT

[balli_akshay]

Hello,

I attempted by first GMAT on April 25, 2012 and got a horrible score, devastating 400 (12%). Verbal(17/12%) and Math(28/21%); AWA 5/57%. I gave about 3 weeks of practice with knowing all the basic concepts and idea of the exam.

My 2nd attempt was after a month, May 28,2012 and scored only 450 (21%). Verbal(24/33%) and Math(28/21%); AWA 5/57%.

My 2nd attempt was a serious and I dedicated a complete month practicing the questions and did the OG 11,12. Even did KAPLAN 800.

CATs:

GMAT prep#1: 490. (mid May)
GMAT prep#2: 470.(may 22)
MGMAT #1: 500.(May 25)
McGrawhill: 530.(mid may)
McGrawhill: 560.(mid may)

ACTUAL GMAT: 450 (MAY 28,2012).

I applied for the fall semesters and unfortunately did not score well enough and I did not wanted to apply with a low score, so I cancelled all my applications and applied for the Spring intake. 2 months I was busy finalizing my career and options.

I did started preparing again since august, Please guide me o build up a schedule. I am taking my GMAT again on September 26,2012. I have a compete month to prepare for the exam with no other work.

I have complete awareness with all the concepts in Math and Verbal. Time management and studying the correct content are my two major concerns.

I downloaded few questions banks from beat the gmat forums. Math Quant 700-800 levels PS & DS questions, I know I am far away from those solving skills given the time constrain. Also other PS and DS question bank pools of about 450 questions each.
Even in Verbal about 600 questions of various level in each SC,CR and RC. I can also borrow the OG 11,12,13 for reference. And I am willing to buy the MGMAT CAT package of 6 test prep for $50.

I did went over the concepts and solved the Kaplan 2012, Princeton 2012-13.

Pleaese help me getting the correct content to prepare so I can raise my bar to about 100 points or more if it works.

thanks, your help will be appreciated!

[StaceyKoprince]

You're not actually taking enough time and you're not giving yourself a comprehensive study plan. Most people study for 3 to 6 months straight for this test. Note: studying for one month each on three separate occasions does not add up to 3 months of studying. And studying full time / not working doesn't necessarily mean that you can take only one month - you still may need more time.

So, first, you're going to need to change your overall timeframe. Don't set a deadline to take the test. Develop a study plan, see what kind of progress you make, and set a test date only when you are actually getting into the range of scores that you want to get on the real test. (Practice CATs must be computer adaptive and taken under 100% official testing conditions.)

Next, your mindset: you don't get (much) better by doing tons and tons of questions. You don't learn much while you're doing a question, actually - all you're doing is practicing everything you learned before you started doing the question. You learn via the study you do before trying questions and via the analysis that you do after you've tried a question.

Read both parts of this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/

Also this one - there's a lot of overlap between the below article and the above, but it's still good to read both:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Those do address content, but the main thing here is: you need books or material that teach you the content that is tested on the exam. You will not find this in OG - OG has the best practice questions, but does not teach you the material itself. Nor will you find this in books that are designed to be compilations of practice problems. You need books focused on content.

Also note: read some of the Amazon reviews on McGraw-Hill. I haven't looked at their books myself, so I can't comment, but the Amazon reviews are pretty... devastating.