HELP NEEDED ASAP - PLEASE RESPOND!!

[kairuskavarana]

Hi,

I am scheduled to take the GMAT in 6 days and I am currently scoring an average of 630 - 640 and need to cross a 700. I have completed 5 CAT tests and have spent the last few days reviewing mistakes made on each of the tests. I feel like this has helped improve my score to a limited extent. My question to you is, where should I focus my efforts and what exactly I should do over the next 6 days so that I can do my best on test day?

Some stats which might be helpful in reviewing my case:
Last week CAT:
Quantitative 45 77 %
Verbal 32 67 %
Total 630 79 %

This week CAT:
Quantitative 43 70 %
Verbal 34 72 %
Total 640 80 %

My understanding is that a significantly improved score in verbal has a larger impact on the overall score vs. quant. Is this correct? So should i focus my efforts on improving at sentence corection and practicing CR? vs. practicing additional sets of Quant?

Also - do you recommend doing the GMAT practice exams or is it sufficient to rely on MGMAT CAT tests only?

Many thanks,
Kairus

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry I'm only getting to your post right now; I just returned from vacation on Monday and there were a lot of other posts built up ahead of yours. :(

Just an FYI for anyone reading this: if you are a course student and need last-minute advice, please contact your teacher or Student Services. The forums are not monitored every day and it can often take a while to get help here.

Generally speaking, it's rare to improve by 60-70 points in a week. If it's not too late, you may want to consider postponing your test until your practice test scores are in the range you want to score on the real test.

As a general rule, the final week should be focused on reviewing what you already know, solidifying your strengths and acknowledging your weaknesses (so that you can "let them go" more easily on the test, when necessary).

It used to be the case that a higher verbal score had a disproportionate impact on the final score. That's not the case any more. Verbal still does have a slightly higher impact than quant, but it's not a huge difference the way it used to be.

In general, if you're looking for a quick boost, there are a couple of things to look for:
(1) fixing any major timing problems
(2) areas that are already moderate strengths for you
(3) on verbal, SC (assuming SC isn't a big weakness for you)

I usually recommend that my students do one or two GMATPrep tests as well as 3 or 4 MGMAT tests. GMATPrep tests don't provide any data or analysis, but they are the real thing. I don't think it's an absolute requirement to do GMATPrep though.