GMAT prep 620,MGMAT 680,GMAT in 6 days,help!

[priyankaparanjape]

Hi Stacey,
MGMAT1 Q39,V35 - 620 -5/10/11
GMAT prep -1 560 do not remember the split
MGMAT2 Q39,V37 - 630 -22/11/11
MGMAT3 Q46,V36 - 680 30/11/11
GMAT prep-1 repeat - 710 sorry no split , 2-3 verbal questions repeated, no repeated questions in maths
MGMAT4 Q46,V33 - 650 05/12/11
MGMAT5 Q47,V35 - 680 - 07/12/11
Today I took GMAT prep-2 scored 620 :( , Q49, V30

I took AWA for last 2 MGMATS & GMAt prep today & otherwise i strictly stuck to 3 hours (no breaks, with timer on)

I have been preparing since last 3 months & have booked a GMAT date on 19th December - I am aiming at 680+, pls help me with the way i should study in next 8 days. Should I concentrate on giving more tests (1 MGMAT left) or revising the content.
In verbal, SC seems to be the problem area & with RC, if i understand the passage well I rarely make mistakes.
Thanks,Priyanka.


Hi, Priyanka - please start your own post. It's difficult and potentially confusing to discuss the cases of two different students in the same thread.

Quickly though: your scores were moving in the right direction till this last test. Why do you think your score dropped 60 points? Did both quant and verbal drop or was it mostly due to just one section? What was more difficult for you or what did you perform less well on during that last test? Did you have any timing problems? We need to figure out what went wrong in order to figure out what to do about it. If you can't figure out why pretty quickly, then you may want to postpone your test until you know for sure that you've worked out whatever the problem was.


Thank you so much for your reply on my earlier post, I am sorry I am bit new to posting queries.
I tried to analyze my performance in last GMAT prep,
Quant score : more or less in line with my average mock test score
Verbal : dropper dramatically in the test, particularly SCs & few CRs (cleverly worded) although while answering I did not feel those were tough.
Timing : I finished each section in time however had to hurry on few verbal (2,3) questions as I checked the remaining time.
After the test I have reviewed all questions, noted the mistakes in error log & since last 3 days have been studying in following manner.
I have already reviewed all questions from my error log,
everyday I am picking 2 sections for ex- today data sufficiency & sentence correction, going through basics, solving some questions from GMATprep & reviewing.
Can you pls help me in fine-tuning my prep in last week. (I have decided to take test on 19th as some b-schools I am targeting need score of GMAT attempted in 2011). My target is 680+.

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for re-posting in your own thread - it makes the discussion much easier. :)

Okay, so quant is fine but verbal is the problematic thing - that's what dropped on the last GMATPrep test. I do have to warn you that the same thing could happen on the real test because a week isn't really enough time to address issues that can lead to a big score drop, but you might still also hit the scores that you were hitting on your previous tests before that one last lower test.

One thing I'm wondering is whether timing might have been an issue - that can often cause a big fluctuation in score. You mentioned struggling with SC and some CRs. Did you get a little hung up on some, spending extra time because you found them harder? That would have caused you to have to rush on other questions elsewhere in the section, which would increase the number of careless mistakes. (And you did mentions seeing some tricky questions that you didn't feel were tricky while you were doing them but then afterward you realized you missed something. Rushing even a little bit could have contributed to that.)

I'm also wondering whether stamina might have been an issue. What had you been doing earlier that day and in the couple of days before? It looks like you were taking a ton of practice tests back to back, which can hurt your mental stamina. Did you ever find yourself either feeling sick of the test (I don't care anymore, I just wish this was over) or reading something and then realizing you had no idea what you just read and re-reading it again? Those are signs of mental fatigue.

So. Today's the 15th, you're booked for the 19th. We're going to take the view that stamina and some timing problems contributed to the score drop, but that you're also capable of scoring in the high 600s because you did several times.

DO NOT take another practice test. The BEST scenario is that you do get a score in the high 600s, but you tire yourself out again right before the real test, risking another low performance on the next test (the real one). The WORST case scenario is that you get another low score and that kills your confidence going into the test on the 19th.

Actually, I'm going to amend that to this: if you think that you would actually postpone your real test if you get a 2nd low score, then go ahead and take a practice test today (not after today - too close to the real test. But if you know you're going to take the test on the 19th no matter what, then don't take another practice test. Just assume that we've figured out what's going on and we're going to deal with it.

For others reading this, the general rule is: no practice test within 5 days of the real test.

So how do you deal with it? By doing less and resting your brain. Do high level review of everything, but don't do a bunch of problems and overload your brain right now. You know what you know and you don't know what you don't know, and that's not going to change in 4 days. So review and get your brain ready. The closer you get, the less you do.

Read these two articles. You aren't going to do everything that's written here, obviously, because you don't have 2 weeks, but they'll give you a good idea of how to review in the last few days leading up to the test:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... game-plan/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... game-plan/

Next, the potential timing issue. You've got to be REALLY careful that you don't go into the real test thinking that you have to get everything right, because then you'll blow all your time on really hard questions (which you'll probably get wrong anyway) and then you'll get a bunch of easier questions wrong that you could have gotten if you'd actually had the time... and then your score will drop.

Read this. Do what it says. You don't have much time, so you're just going to have to trust me on this one. :)
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/

Good luck - let us know how it goes!