6 Weeks to go before exam, but still need some work - Help!

[JDSchmidt8723]

Hello,

I have completed all assignments for the 10 week manhattan course per the class assignment spreasheet. I have achieved the following scores on my practice tests: MGMAT #1 620, MGMAT #2 630, GMAT PREP Test #1 660. I'm targeting a score around 660 or above. I have 6 weeks before my real test. What advice could you give me in terms of creating a study plan between now and my test date on September 25th? I've been pretty solid on the verbal sections (Around the 84th and 85th percentile); however, my math scores have not been very good (Ranging from the 52nd to 66th percentile). I can go through the guides, do well on the practice questions, and well on the OG questions, but I tend to struggle with retention. I try to review regularly, but it seems like if I don't touch a subject for longer than a week, then I tend to forget a lot of the material when under the constraints and stess of the test environment. I feel like my timing is pretty good right now, but the main issue seems to be retention. When I'm working a problem on a test, I have problems recalling the method in an adequate timeframe. By the time I recall the strategy, I'm usually too far into the problem from a timing standpoint, and so I'm left making a strategic guess. I'm pretty good about moving on from a problem if I can't solve it in two minutes, but I feel that there are a lot of problems that I end up guessing on that I'm capable of solving if I could just recall the strategy more quickly. Do you have any advise to remedy this?

Jon

[StaceyKoprince]

yes, start making flashcards. On one side, put down a problem or a part of a problem. On the other side, write down specific words from that problem and what they tell you that you should be thinking / doing.

Let's say that there's some sentence from which you could write an equation. Write down the words that tell you: hey, there's an equation in here! and then write "= write an equation!"

eg, In three years, Mary will be twice as old as John.

Clues:
"will be twice as old as" --> write an equation
"will be" --> =
"twice as old as" = 2*
"in three years" --> +3 to each person's variable

That kind of thing. What you're basically doing is creating drills for yourself of clues that tell you what to do.

You don't need to do this for everything - only for the types that are giving you trouble.

Other than that, in general, you've been doing a good job. You should be spending more time on quant than on verbal at this point - maybe 30% verbal, 70% quant. Use the results of your most recent practice test to set up a study plan to review the areas of weakness (which will involve going back to your red study guides, testing yourself on additional OG questions of the same type, and so on). Then, in a couple of weeks, take another practice test to see how your weaknesses have changed and set up a new plan based on the new results.