GMAT in three weeks! Highest practice score 670 .Advice

[avellanj2]

Hi,

Im a non native English speaker who took his first GMAT ago. I decided to retake it and I have been studiying for around four months. On my first GMAT I scored poorly (525 Q 25 V69). I only used the MGMAT sc guide ath that time. For the rest I used a Kaplan all in one book. The bad score was a mix of lack of preparation (especially in math) and poor time management.

This time I bought all the guides and have been studying thoroughly. My scores have improved significantly in an steady manner. I went from 600 on a MGMAT test 1, TO 630 on a GMAT PREP test. Then I discovered that time management was what was not allowing me to imrprove even more.

I just took my las MGMAT TEST scored 670( Q 47 V34). I think I can do a little better on verbal (especially because I could have managed my time way better) but I know that I got a bit lucky on the math section.

I still have to analyze more in depth the test. I think I have improved significantly my time management skills and my test taking strategies, but that I still can do better in this department.

I personally like to control timing almost halfway during each section (in Q 35 min rem after finishing the 20th question and in V 30 min rem after finishing the 25th question.I prefer this over checking the time 3 times each section as it is suggested in the blog here. Do you think this is OK???

I still have 4 tests to go. I want to score as near as possible to 700. I have read Stacey's Koprince timing exercised (having a sense of how much is a minute, etc), practiced them a bit and try to apply them.

I just want any suggestion regarding my preparation during the for final 3 weeks. I plan to exhaust the 4 tests during these coming weeks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Re: timing, the reason we suggest checking it 3 or 4 times is so that, if you do have a timing problem, it doesn't get too bad before you notice it, and you have time to correct it. I get why you would only want to check once - it's distracting to check! - but it might also make it harder for you to keep on track.

So my answer is really: if it works for you, if you can do this and have no (or very minor) timing problems, then great - that's what you should do. But if you find that you are continuing to have timing problems, you should change your pattern to check more than once.

It looks like you've made very nice progress in your study so far - nice work. Did you take your last test under 100% official conditions? If so, then you're on the right track (though obviously you're not quite at 700 yet).

A couple of things to know going forward:

(1) the closer you get to the real test, the more your focus should shift from trying to fix weaknesses / learn new things to accepting that your skills are what they are, and just trying to review and solidify what you know before the test.

(2) CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve. So don't just take a bunch of tests in order to take the tests - spend time to analyze, to figure out how you want to do things differently next time, and to do any necessary work before you take another test.

You can use this article to help analyze your tests:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... sts-part-1

Also, these two articles talk about what to do during the final 2 weeks of your preparation:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -game-plan
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -to-review