Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
ceo1_1
Students
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 1969 8:00 pm
 

gmat advice sought - 3 weeks left

by ceo1_1 Fri Jun 24, 2011 4:42 am

Hello everyone,

I am sorry to post this as I know , someone somewhere might have gone gone through the same thing.
I have three weeks left to take the gmat exam for the second time. Target score 600.
I took the real GMAT last month (April 16) score: 440 V20 Q31
----here is my story----
For the past 2.5 months, I studied 2-3 hours/ pay ( 8-10pm or 9-12 pm) No study on weekends.
Books used:
-Kaplan Math workbook (To brush up my rusty math skills)
-Kaplan GMAT premier (not used a lot)
-Manhattan SC (helped me a lot on SC)
-Powerscore CR ( could not finish the book - read until page 138 i think)
-OG 12th (used extensively for AWA and Quantitative)
-OG Verbal review (not used a lot)
-OG quantitative review ( used extensively)

Regarding the practice test:
May 2 GMATPrep 2
380 Q24 V19

May 11 GMATPrep 1
360 Q19 V20

May 22 GMATPrep2
430 Q31 V19

June 2 MGMAT2
540 Q35 V30

June 8 GMATPrep 1
510 Q38 V23

June 9 MGMAT 3
510 Q32 V28

June 10 MGMAT 4
530 Q37 V27

June 11 GMATPrep2
350 Q25 V15

June 12 GMATPrep1
520 Q39 V22

June 15 (0ne day before d day) GMATPrep 2
560 Q37 V29
========================
As I have three weeks left or 108 hours of available time before I take the next exam, what could be your suggestions?
Week Jun 27 -July 3 ( 20 hours) / Week Jul 4 - July 10 (48 hours) / Week July 11-16 (40 hours).

My weakness: CR, RC & DS
Could you please help me out with a strategy? Could you also recommend an online class (if worth it) that may help during these 3 weeks?
I wanted to hire a private tutor but could not find any available during this 3 weeks.
I need 600 to get admitted. Impossible or possible, I must achieve this ...Please help!!!



want the gmat,
ceo1000
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9361
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

Re: gmat advice sought - 3 weeks left

by StaceyKoprince Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:39 pm

You list GMATPrep several times. Did you see repeated questions on your last two tests? How did you handle them? Did you always get them right (if you remembered the answers) or did you get some wrong on purpose? Did you take normal time or did you possibly work more quickly than you would have if they'd been brand new?

Did you take your practice tests under 100% official conditions, including the essays and length of breaks?

If you answered repeated questions more quickly, always got them right, skipped the essays, took longer breaks than usual, or in other ways took the tests under non-official conditions, then your score may be inflated. If so, that's important to know, because it would mean that you're further from your goal than you think you are.

I'm also a bit confused about the sequence of a couple of things. You say you took the real GMAT last month but list a date in April, 2 months ago. You also say "one day before d day" for your last practice test... d-day for what? The day after that day would've been June 16th and you said you took the test April 16th. Is it possible that d-day is referring to a real test that you took on June 16th? What was "d-day?" I'm confused. :)

Okay, so you've got about 2 weeks now, and your last practice test was 560. If that test was under 100% official conditions with no repeats, your position would be possibly okay for a 600 goal. If that test was under very non-official conditions, then that could be a false score, and you could be too far from your goal in the timeframe that you have left.

So, let's start with that right there. Tell me the details of your practice tests and let's determine what's going on there. If your scores are too inflated, then you'll either have to postpone your test date or lower your goal score.

Next, in terms of specific strategies / advice to help, we need more information on your strengths and weaknesses in order to advise you. Use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT test (if not taken under official conditions, please note how you deviated from official conditions):

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us what you discovered and we'll help you figure out what you need to do!

Unfortunately, I don't have any classes to recommend; cramming is not a great idea for the test, and you generally need at least 10-14 days after the class ends to review... :(
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep