Exam in 20 days

[j.r.ashish]

Hi,

My target is to score 700+ in final GMAT, have scheduled my exam in 2nd week of Nov

Till date my CAT scores are as below

-Free CAT 16-Jun (gave without any preparation)
490 V22 & Q36
-GMAT Prep-1 18-Aug (completed Quants and RC from OG)
680 V35 & Q48
-CAT-2 29-Sep (completed OG)
610 Q45 & V30
-CAT-3 6-Oct
560 Q45 & V22

Generated assessment reports of all CATS and analysed mistakes in verbal section
Sentence Correction % Right 36%
Critical Reasoning %Right 46%
RC %Right 58%

So, decided to work on SC for one week and reduce silly mistakes in Maths

-CAT-4 14-Oct
670 Q46 & V35

Sentence Correction % Right 67%
Critical Reasoning %Right 36%
RC %Right 67%

In verbal section I am not able to cross Q34-35 in 75 mins, by the time I reach Q34-35 only 2-3 mins are left and then I simply tick on any option due to which the score drops drastically.
Same is the case with Quants, by the time I reach Q31-32 only 2-3 mins are left and then I just randomly tick any option.

Now my AIM is to score V37-38 and Q50 in the coming CATs and in Final GMAT.

Can you please help me to work it out.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, I'm sorry we're just getting to this now - this is crazy season. FYI to everyone else that between now and the end of the year, there will be long waits for replies.

As I was reading your test results, I was wondering why your scores were fluctuating so much. Then I saw your note about the serious timing issues you're having.

Read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

(Seriously, read it right now - before you read the rest of this post!)

You are absolutely right that, when you run out of time and have to guess on all those questions at the end, your score drops. But you're not taking the next step: changing your mindset (as the article above discusses).

You have to stop taking this thing as though it's a school test, where the goal is to get everything right. That is NOT your goal. Your goal is to make the best decisions possible as to how to spend your two limited resources: time and mental energy.

They're trying to see how good of a business person you might be, not how good of an academic you are. You couldn't run a company the way you're trying to take the GMAT (trying to get one thing done completely and perfectly before you move on to something else). So stop trying to take the GMAT that way!

Next read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Follow the links in that second article to some of the other articles.

Now that you've read that stuff, you tell me: how has your prior approach hurt you? And what do you need to change in order to get better at taking this test?

(Final note: I know you said you're taking the test in 2 weeks, which is right about now. I hope that you've got the score you wanted and so you don't need to talk to me any longer. But if not, then respond to my above questions. If you didn't make this mindset shift already on your own, then you're going to need a minimum of 4-6 weeks to internalize this - most people need at least that much time to completely change the way they're thinking about this exam, and often people need longer.)