General Study Techniques

[jamount1]

Hi,

I purchased the MGMAT prep materials in late August, and followed the syllabus through the end of December, finishing the course. My first free MGMAT test was 580, which I took before I even began studying the materials. Since then, my scores have fluctuated between 450 and 540. My study tactics pretty much followed the guided self-study syllabus to the tee with the exception of the materials received in the classroom resources. After, my disappointing score last week (520), I decided to upgrade to the Guided Self-Study so that I can learn some timing and strategic guessing techniques. After applying these principles, my practice test score went down even further.

The good news is that I am not planning to apply until late this year for Fall 2011. The flip side is that I was accepted into an MBA Prep program that requires an actual GMAT score of at least 500 (which does not seem that difficult to obtain) especially considering that I have been studying consistently for approximately 8-12 hours per week since Labor Day. I get the impression that I am not studying effectively. While I have performed pretty well on the OG and Supplemental Guides, I did find myself forgetting the materials that I were covered at the beginning of the course as indicated in the syllabus.

My strategy was to start in late August so that I could ensure to get a fairly reasonable score by February 1, then continue through the Summer to get a more competitive score (above 700).

My test is scheduled for next Saturday, January 30th, where I need to get at least a 500, but again, I am not really all too confident about that since my practice test scores have not reflected that.

Are there any suggestions that you may be able to provide to help me analyze to get a better score? I am a bit reluctant to continue taking practice exams since they seem to take steam away from me, especially considering that my exam is only a week away. My timing was great on my most recent test, but it was the lowest score that I received.

Thanks in advance for all of your assistance!


J

[StaceyKoprince]

Take a look at these two articles:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23/evaluating-your-practice-tests

and

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26/my-score-dropped-figuring-out-what-went-wrong

The first one will help you to analyze individual practice tests to determine your strengths and weaknesses. I especially want you to pay attention to timing in the analysis. I know you said that your timing was great, but I talk to students all the time who think their timing is great, but when I look at the results, I see that the timing is problematic. (Just because you finish the test on time does not automatically mean the timing was great.)

The second will help you to try to figure out why your score has been dropping, which is the other half of the equation here. We really need to figure out why so that we can do something about it.

You also mentioned that you're not sure you are studying effectively. Here's an article that might help you with that:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09/how-to-analyze-a-practice-problem

Also, there are two follow on articles that demonstrate what is discussed in that article via two specific practice problems. The first one (for a CR question) was published last week; the second one (for a PS question) will be published this coming Sunday. Read the above article first and, if you feel like you need more guidance, then look at the full archive of ManhattanGMAT articles on that site (and look specifically for How to Analyze a CR Question and How To Analyze a PS Question).

In terms of whether to take the test, you're going to have to make a hard choice. Your confidence is low right now, and we don't know yet why your scores have been fluctuating so much, so you may struggle on the real test. If you don't hit the 500 mark, would that really hurt your confidence a lot more, or would you be able to shrug it off? If it might really hurt your confidence, then I would suggest that you think about postponing. If you think you could shrug it off (and if you've never taken the real test before), then you may want to go ahead, take it, and see what happens.

If, after reading the various articles above and doing the analysis, you want to discuss your situation further, please come back, let us know what you found out in your analysis, and we'll help you figure out what to do!