Need Help-GMAT in 5 weeks & Practice Test Scores (450-550)

[StaceyKoprince]

You do need to take a practice test in order to gauge your progress, but that test doesn't need to be GMATPrep. Take one of our practice tests. Make sure to take it under 100% official conditions (including the essays!).

Then, use this article to analyze your results:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and share your analysis. (Note: don't just post the data. Tell us what you think the data means and what you want to do about it - that analysis is an important skill to develop. We'll tell you whether we agree. :)

Once we have the data, we'll talk about where to go from there!

[salesh.aswani]

Dear Stacey,

Its been a while since I have been on this forum. Just a little update since the last time I posted here. I have given GMAT twice,

1) Real GMAT Score: 510 (Q: 35 and V: 25)
2) Real GMAT Score: 560 (Q: 42 and V: 24)

I have been at the GMAT for the last year and half. Been working on my weaknesses of both Quant and Verbal. Since the real test I have given 5 Proactise test thus far, the results for these are below,

Date: 4/7/2012 MGMAT 5A: 600 (Q: 34 V:38)
Date: 4/15/2012 GMATPrep: 560 (Q: 38 V:28)
Date: 4/28/2012 GMATPrep: 560 (Q:40 V:27)
Date: 5/5/2012 GMATPrep: 590 (Q: 41 V:31)
Date: 12/5/2012 MGMAT 6A: 600 (Q: 37 V: 35)

I have my third real test om 31st May 2012. I am aiming for anything above 680+, but will take anything above 650+. The last practise test I have analyzed, I realize that I am slow at Algebraic Transalations and Overlapping Sets. Weak in Rates and Works, Percents, and Fractions/Ratios. I also tend to make careless mistakes in Inequalities, Roots and Exponents, and Factors due to time pressure. The timing problem still presists as I run out of time in quant by atleast 4-7 question of the last leg. I still have to work on Quant (not only on my weaknesses but also on the timing aspects), with that I cannot also stop Verbal as I still have to streangthen SC some more.

I have planned to give the test by 31st May in order to avoid the Integrated Reasoning part of the test of GMAT from June onwards. But looking at my performance of the last 5 test I am thinking what should I do next.

Should I post pone the test date by 2 to 3 months and then give GMAT with the IR or should I give it a third try and then if I don't get anything above 650+, then give a forth try in 3 to 4 months. I feel that if I don't get the score in my third try then the forth try will be a bit more to show on my MBA applications. Please let me know what would be the best way to go forward based on my situation. Thank you in advance for your assistance.


Regards,
Salesh Aswani.

[StaceyKoprince]

You are still far enough from your goal score that it's unlikely you will hit 650+ in 2 weeks. I agree that it would be nice to be able to avoid IR, but I don't think there's much you can do - if I were you, I would postpone.

Re: your practice test scores, quant started at 34, went up to 41, then dropped back down to 37. Why? Verbal started high, went down, and is coming back up again. Why?

Such variability often indicates timing problems and holes in your foundational knowledge. Ah, okay, just got later in your post and saw that you are having timing problems. So that is one of the problems, at least.

Read these:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

translations:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... into-Math/

overlapping sets: don't worry about them - they're not commong enough. Know how to make a good guess and make sure you don't LOSE time on these.

Inequalites, roots, exponents, factors - those are all common and important. You say that you're making careless mistakes on these due to the time pressure, so if you fix the timing problem, that will help to reduce the incidence of careless mistakes.

Also, though, ask yourself: what specific mistakes do you actually make and WHY do you make them? What different habits do you need to make in order to minimize the repetition of the same kinds of errors in future? (eg, I used to solve for the wrong thing sometimes, so I changed the way I wrote things on my scrap paper to make it a lot less likely that I would solve for x instead of y.)

Percent and fraction difficulties are usually due to 2 issues:
- translating words into math (addressed above)
- knowing when to go back and forth among fractions, percents, and decimals (in one problem)

eg, it's usually easier to add or subtract in decimal or percent form than in fraction form. It's usually easier to multply or divide in fraction form (since you can cancel). And then you need to think about when it's worth it to convert to one or another. Etc. This comes with a lot of practice and very conscious thought about: what would be an easier way to tackle this? You may have to try a few different things in practice until you figure out WHAT would be easier and then you ask yourself WHY is this easier and how would I know the next time around? What criteria need to exist in order for me to say: oh, fractions will be the easiest way to do this one?

Re: IR, you may want to go and browse through our blog for the various IR articles that have been posted in the last couple of months. They'll get you started. :)

[salesh.aswani]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you for the feedback as always valuable feedback and gets me to fish into my test results further.

Though it would be preferable to not take GMAT with IR but it seems like I am doomed to have to take GMAT with IR.

The first test showed Quant at 34 because in the month of Jan, Feb, and few weeks of March I was only concentrating on Sentence correction. As my previous results in verbal were always stuck at 24 and 25. I took MGMAT at the end of March and saw my Verbal score jump to 38 (must have been dumb luck. Did not know how to analyze such a jump so did not pay much attention to it). Realistically I think my verbal score now hovers around 30 +/- 2 points. Depending on how well I do in CR and RC.

Thereafter from last few weeks of March I started on Quant again. Hence the improvement in Quant but verbal fell due to no prep in CR and RC. So I started regular reading of various books which helps me get rolling on RC and its easier to speed up on the same. Also did some prep on CR.

In quant I compared the last two test and found that on test 4 where I scored 41 in quant I mostly got Rate&Work, Ineuqalities, and Percent problems wrong and only three problems wrong from other topics. But in the last test besides the three topics i.e. Rates&Work, Percents, and Inequalities. I got 1 problem wrong in Quadratic Eq. (due to time crunch as this was the last problem of the test), 2 problems wrong in topics of linear equations (which is one of my strenghts) and of Overlapping Sets, 3 problems wrong in Number Properties (sub topics were odds&evens, Positives&negatives, and Consecutive Integers).

I have to improve a lot in terms of recognizing what kind of method of solving a problem applies where. I tend to take almost 10 Min in solving rate/percent/fraction problems in OG 13. I also have to practise using numbers where ever there are variables in the question and in answer choices. But like they say bad habbits die hard, I tend to dive into problems with variables.

Besides rate/percent/fractions, Inequaities I get it wrong cause mostly I end up not testing a perticular scenario and under time pressure just select the answer choice and move on the next question.

Minor question types as Lines and Geometry also had some foundational issue (such as in lines, various line equations and their slopes have to be at the back of my hand, and in geometry I get stumped on questions with similar triangles and exterior angle concepts), which now I am conciously working on.

Overall seems like a lot of work to be still done even after being at it for more than a year. But I created a graph of my practise tests which indicates a slow climb towards my target, which keeps me going slowly but surely. Like the age old adage goes "Slow and Steady Wins the Race", I guess I have taken this to heart :)...

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, I'm glad to read your analysis. That's how we really get better - diving into the data on our performance and picking apart the construction of these questions so that we can determine the best solution methods (including educated guessing!).

Inequalities are often used to disguise number properties problems - you may want to look into that. Here are some NP resources:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -gmatprep/

(There are two "inequalities as a disguise" articles linked in that article.)

That article also has a link to a "translating from words to math" article that might help you to become better at rate, work, etc. problems ("wordy" problems).

You mention percents as a problem area, too, so I'm wondering whether "wordy" problems in general are causing you problems. Go back and try some old problems using this technique: put yourself in the problem. Pretend it's a real situation and you're the driver / business owner / whatever it is. Then, draw out whatever the scenario is, thinking it through like "this is really happening, and this is what I would do next."

You're going to be slow with this at first, but use it to help develop your ability to think your way through this "situation" problems. That'll help you set them up well / correctly, which will make it easier to do the actual work to finish them off. (Also, browse our blog and resources section for more articles in particular content categories!)

I have to improve a lot in terms of recognizing what kind of method of solving a problem applies where.

This is critically important - in fact, this is the overall goal of everything you do while studying! Buy some flash cards. On one side, put "When I see ___________" and on the other "I'll think / do ___________." When you're studying a problem and you think anything like:
- oh, this is the best way to do it
- oh, I see, that's what they're really asking / telling me!
- this is a trick; they're trying to get me to ....

Then ask yourself HOW do I know that? (From specific clues in the original problem.) And start filling out a flash card!

[salesh.aswani]

Hi Stacey,

I gave my GMAT for the 3rd time on May 31st. My 3 official scores now are,

1st GMAT: 510 (Q:35, V:25)
2nd GMAT: 560 (Q:42, V:24)
3rd GMAT: 600 (Q:43, V:30)

In my thrid attempt I started to see patterns of questions that I had been practising before my 3rd GMAT. Quant though I finished on time I sensed that wordy question do take me a while to solve so I guessed on some of them and skipped a probability related question. If I remember correctly I got only one Geometry Question. Rest all were mostly Rate & Work and Number porperties. In verbal I found my self ahead of time by alomost 3 to 4 min. I think I gloassed over an entire RC cause i felt I spent a lot of time on SC and CR which were the first 4 questions. In CR I even got a bold quetion as my 4th question and I had read some where that if you get this type of question it means you are doing well and you've gotten previous questions right. Even after seeing the 600 score I was not devastated or broken like it happened in my 1st attempt. It was more like was expecting it to get this score. Since in my last three practise tests i scored,

5/5/2012 - GMATPrep 590 Q:41, V:31
5/12/2012- MGMAT 6A 600 Q:37, V:35
5/19/2012-MGMAT1B 630 Q:42, V:34


I am planning my forth attempt in september or october and really want this to be my final attempt. Realistically I am aiming for 670+ with a split of Q:48+ and V:37+.

I will start studying for the 4th attempt by 8th of June after a week break. Please let me know if there is something I should take care of during my preparation this time and if a jump of 70+ points can be relistically achieved in 12 weeks period. These 12 weeks will also include my time on IR as well. I was hoping to avoid it but seems like I will have to deal with it now.

Your assistance thus far is greatly appreciated and looking at where I was last year in May 2011, when I gave my first GMAT, I feel I have come a long way and I am closer to my Goal score. I can now see why I bombed my first GMAT and this test is slowly but surely making more sense.


Thank you & Regards,
Salesh.

[StaceyKoprince]

I know you're not where you want to be yet, but your score is moving in the right direction - nice work.

And, yes, your real test score was in line with your practice test scores. The good news there is that, in future, you'll know you're on the right track when your practice test scores start going even higher.

The most encouraging thing to me is that you are now starting to recognize patterns that you weren't seeing before. That bodes well for your chances to continue to improve. I think setting 12 weeks for yourself is a reasonable timeframe, but it's also too soon to tell exactly how long you'll need. You may discover that your progress starts to accelerate and you only need 10 weeks or that you need more time and have to postpone - but you don't need to decide that now. Just see how it goes.

IR is really not as scary as it seems - I promise. :) And you only need to get a "good enough" score so, yes, you're going to study, but you don't need to spend a ton of time in this area. The material tested is the same as what you're studying for quant and verbal - it's just that the question formats themselves are different.

We're offering free online IR workshops - we just added a few more this month because of high demand. Look here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... workshops/

In terms of what to do, your process so far is working - you're making progress - but I'm sure you're also going to come up with questions as you go along, so come here and ask. You may also want to consider whether you should work with a friend or tutor or even take a class - outside help at the "I'm getting this but need to learn to recognize more" stage is often helpful (because other people can point out patterns to you that might take you longer to find on your own).

Also, have you seen this?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

[salesh.aswani]

Hi Stacey,

After the last post. which was after my third GMAT attempt, I gave 5 practice test for which the results are below,

6/23/2012 MGMAT2B: 600 (Q:36, V:35)
7/6/2012 MGMAT3B: 620 (Q43, V:32)
7/14/2012 MGMAT4B: 640 (Q43, V:34)
7/21/2012 MGMAT5B: 610 (Q46, V:29)
8/4/2012 GMATPrep: 600 (Q47, V:27)

As you can see from above my goal in quant of 47 has been reached, but I am still spending time to further reduce my careless errors, questions that I guess on, and comfort level on wordy problems. Quant I know the aspects I have to work on and strengthen it further. The same is also visible from my scores in quant above.

The main issue that I face now is with Verbal. verbal seems to be declining and its no way cause I am spending less time on it. The Scores on verbal seem to be more erratic. In my MGAMT test from 2B to 4B I was doing well in SC i.e. scored 60% plus. But there was more to desire from CR. Therefore I started working on CR by going over the CR bible and practicing OG problems. Parallel to that I did practice SC. But in my MGMAT 5B test I went down in my SC and scored close to 40% in MGAMT 5B while CR touched 60% in this test. The Last test I gave on GMATPrep but before I could analyze verbal the comp got restarted so could not analyze verbal. But i have noticed that for verbal on GMATPrep my scores have been lower than what they have been in MGMAT test.

Also before the last GMATPrep test I was going over some videos of Thursday's with Ron to further strengthen my prep on verbal. But looks like that had no effect on my scores.

I am at lost as to how to improve in verbal. I am registering myself for Oct 11th for my 4th Real GMAT. In the last real GMAT i scored 600 with Q: 43 and V:30.

Compared to the last real GMAT score, the last GMATPrep practice test score saw my Quant improve from 43 to 47 and on the other hand my Verbal scores have gone down from 30 to 27.

Please let me know as to why I might be seeing such swings in my Verbal scores and what I have to do to score consistently on Verbal. I want to score in SC and CR 60%+ in my practice test consistently. which should be sufficient to score 37+ on verbal I guess.

My overall aim is to score 47+ in quant and in verbal I aim to score at least 40 during practice test, but in real test I hope to score 37+.

Regards,
Salesh Aswani.

[StaceyKoprince]

Congrats on your quant improvement - nice work.

For verbal, there are several common factors that cause score fluctuations. Probably the most common is timing - how has your timing been on these sections? Simply finishing the section on time doesn't mean that your timing was fine; use the test analysis article to determine how well or poorly your timing went.

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

Another common factor is mental fatigue. Were all of those practice tests under official conditions, including essay + IR and length of breaks? Were some of those tests taken when you were more mentally fatigued than normal - you'd been studying a lot, you took the test at night, work had been really busy or stressful?

You acknowledged that you hadn't been studying verbal much before some of the tests - and that when you do study certain things, you do usually see results (eg, you studied CR, and then CR was better on the next test).

That tells me that you are probably doing really intensive review of one subject right before taking a test - but before you take the real test, you need to spend the last 10 days or so doing a high level review of everything. You can't work only on one thing for the week before, and you can't do a "deep dive" on everything. You need to have really good notes / lessons / takeaways so that you can do a higher level review across everything in the final stretch.

You're not typically going to do that before each practice test, of course, because while you're still trying to improve your score, you're trying to fix weaknesses between tests, not review everything. But you do need to make sure that when you complete a "deep dive" segment of studying (eg, on CR), you have a concise set of notes that you can use to later remind yourself of the key strategies, processes, takeaways for those question types.

[salesh.aswani]

The last month of GMAT prep has been frustration to say the least. I have given 5 tests with one botched test. The results of these 5 tests are as follows,
MGMAT 5B* on 21st July 2012: 610 (Q: 46, V: 29)
GMATPrep on 4th Aug 2012: 600 (Q: 47, V: 27)
MGMAT6B on 11th Aug 2012: 620 (Q: 40, V: 35)
MGMAT1C** on 17th Aug 2012: 420 (Q: 42, V: 4)
MGMAT2C on 21st Aug 2012: 640 (Q: 43, V: 34)
*  My internet connection kept failing intermittently
**  The Botched Test

Based on the last 5 tests I am stuck in the range of 600 - 640. Now to break this range and move to a range of 670+ I have to sort my timing issues and my weak areas in both quant and verbal.

The timing issue in the quant section is due to the following topics,
i) Overlapping Sets - Word Problems
ii) Triangles - Geometry
iii) Positives & Negatives - Number Properties
iv) Rate & Work - Word Problems
v) Statistics - Word Problems
vi) Linear Equations - Algebra
vii) Ratios - FDP

The quant topics where I have the lowest accuracy is as follows,
i) Fractions - FDP
ii) Circle & Cylinders - Geometry
iii) Divisibility & Primes - Number Properties
iv) Inequalities - Algebra
v) Lines & Angles - Geometry
vi) Percent - FDP
vii) Rates & Work - Word Problems

So a lot of work seems to be cut out for me on the quant section. On the other hand verbal section SC is stuck at 60% accuracy overall and CR at best 50% to 60% accuracy. Above that if I slowdown in SC and CR then I compromise my RC, in which I end up getting "Specific Detail" type of questions wrong. Highest raw Verbal score I have scored consistently is 35. I need to get this in the range of 37+.

Due to work and personal commitments I have not been able to maintain a flow in my preparations. Now I am left with 5 weeks of prep effectively give or take a few days. With whatever time I am left with I hope to at least consistently score 670+ which would mean that I have a chance of achieving or surpassing my goal score.

All the practice test I have given have been under official test conditions and all the sections were attempted in the practice test under the given time. Breaks were not more than 8 min as the same in the real test. Have been studying everyday with may be a day here or there set aside for other chores.
Now for the next week or so I will be travelling for a week and will be carrying my laptop, hoping to spend a few hours on practicing and going over my incorrect answers in all the MGMAT tests. Specifically will concentrate on the weak areas and as I have been doing make notes on the takeaway’s from each question. These notes as indicated by you will be used a week before the final test in order to review all the topics and memorize things that need that.
Below is the strategy I am developing and do implement it during the practice tests,

- Weak Area, Inequalities: The DS questions where the question stem and S1) and S2) have variables in these question I will gage the question with a little analysis by picking initial integers and then selecting either E or C.
- Will skip Probability and Combination questions. As I tend to get them wrong most of the time and do not have the time to improve on a topic that max has 4 questions appear in the test between both the topics. This helps me gain some time.
- When question is asking for "X+Y" or a combination such as "XY" then I have "X+Y" or "XY" together.
- Use smart no’s in percent question where only percentage of various elements are defined.
- If the answer is obvious in the DS question then be suspicious of the answer.

I have set my test date on 11th October 2012. And I really want to make the fourth attempt to the GMAT as the last one. I will be travelling for a week from 25th Aug to 30th August, but will try to spend a few hours practicing incorrect question in my MGMAT practice test. Looking at my practice test scores the highest I have scored is 640 and I am still short of 30 points to hit my goal score of 670. Seeing that I have 5 weeks before the test, please let me know if it will be possible for me to improve by at least 50 points more so that if in the real test I end up scoring between 670 to 690. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you & Regards,
Salesh Aswani

[StaceyKoprince]

Agreed that your current score is in the 600 to 640 range.

You've been taking tests pretty frequently (even discounting the botched test). I want to make sure that you're aware that the act of taking a practice test really doesn't do much to improve your score. 98% of what you learn comes after the test is over, you analyze it, and then you spend the next couple of weeks working on whatever weaknesses became apparent as a result of that test. The next test is then used to gauge whether you've made progress, and where, and to come up with a new list of strengths and weaknesses to tackle.

For your timing issues, be aware that there are two fixes and which one you use depends on the circumstances of that particular problem type or content area:
(1) learning to be solve more efficiently (works best if you are getting the questions correct more often than not and if you're not going more than about 45 to 60 seconds over, maybe up to 90 seconds)
(2) getting the questions wrong faster (works best for any that you're getting wrong anyway, and for those that are going 90+ seconds over regardless of whether you're getting them right or wrong)

In other words, the fix is not simply: learn how to get this right faster. Sometimes the fix really is just to get something wrong faster. :) Also, factor in the frequency with which something is tested.

Of the topic areas on your first list (quant timing issues), these are more commonly tested:
pos and neg
stats
linear equations

So those ones are more worth prioritizing into category 1 if you can. The others are less common (especially sets and rates), and so those ones are typically a better for for category 2.

For your second list (quant accuracy problems), these are the most frequently tested:
fractions
divisbility and primes
percents

Of that set, the most infrequently tested are rates and the geometry stuff.

I notice that rates are on both your too low and too slow list, so there's your first candidate for category 2 (get wrong faster).

verbal section SC is stuck at 60% accuracy overall and CR at best 50% to 60% accuracy

This isn't really going to change much as you get better (unless you eventually lift yourself into 90th percentile plus territory on verbal). The percentage correct is not what changes (much) as you get better. Rather, the difficulty levels get higher.

So that comment tells me that you need to learn more about how the scoring on this test works. Read this article as well as the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered (if you have an account of any type with us, the e-book is already in your student center):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/

You may have read one or both of those before. Read them again. Then come back here and explain to me why I gave you this assignment and how that reading changed your thinking. :)

Re: your question of how to lift verbal the last few points, read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-2/

You're at the "learning how to think" stage described in the article. It's not primarily about doing a million questions now or learning a bunch of rules. It's about learning how to think, as the article describes.

Finally, you ask me whether it's possible to improve by about 50 points in the next 5 weeks. Yes, that's possible. There are no guarantees, of course. Again, take a look at that last article about how to study - you need to make sure that the time you're spending is as productive as possible in that you're learning how to think through these questions. If you're struggling with that level of study (as opposed to the more content-focused study described in the article), then you may want to get some outside help in the form of a tutor. (I'm suggesting a tutor, as opposed to a class, because you don't have much time left. I'm also suggesting a tutor as opposed to a friend because friends who did well can often help with content-focused study, but people who aren't trained as teachers find it much more difficult to help a friend with the "how to think your way through" issues.)

[salesh.aswani]

Hi Stacey,

Yes I agree I have been taking a lot of tests. I kinda realized this after my last MGMAT 2C test. The major upside I saw by the approach of taking the test on weekly basis is that I was able to identify content weakness for various topics and gauge some of the timing issues. Also felt this was the best way to resolve my weaknesses, but i guess that was not the right notion.

But I guess I have saturated my tests and now my time would be better spent on concentrating on individual week areas and finding why am I making mistakes in those areas and method/approach to solve questions in my weak areas.

For instance yesterday I was going over my Fractions weak area and found that content was not as much an issue as the issue was more with approach. The two take a ways i realized for fractions were,
1) Most questions i got wrong could have been avoided if i had picked up smart no's. As these questions never defined a concrete no. for any of the elements.
2) When I did the question using variable I realized that i made error in algebraic translations. That is rather than doing 3/4(1/3)x I would some how do 3/4x-1/3x.

Hence I can term yesterdays session quiet useful. I am taking all the weak topics as identified based on the frequency of the questions and filtering the same from the MGAMT CAT Exams and going over the wrong questions.

I will continue this form of studying for the next 2 weeks and try to work out issues on other types of problems as well and the best way to approach such problems.

For timing issue the fix based on point two where I should be getting question where i spend more than 90+ seconds and still tend to get wrong i.e. "Category 2", i should try to get such questions wrong faster. But this is kind of hard to digest as i feel topics like Rates & Work (45% accuracy and Slow), Overlapping Sets (accuracy on this is 60% + and Slow), and Triangles and Diagonals (50% accuracy and Slow). Such questions if i work on practicing more such questions then I can get them right in the real test. But for now since I have other weak topics with higher frequency on the GMAT I will concentrate on that. The weak topics that appear with high frequency on the GMAT are,

1) Fractions
2) Divisibility and Primes
3) Percents
4) Statistics
5) Positives and Negatives
6) Linear Equation (more than 65% accuracy but Slow)

Subsequently will take up the category 2 area for further practice.

Now my verbal portion is where I need some guidance in order to take my raw verbal score to 37+. My highest MGMAT verbal score has been 35 which i was scoring before my third GMAT attempt. But in my third attempt I was only able to score 30 on my verbal.

In the last post you indicated that 60% in SC and 50% in CR will not change much as the score depends on the level of difficulty as well. I did refer to the articles indicated by you in the earlier post. But I am unable to figure out how to use the break down of SC and CR according to the difficulty and the accuracy at each difficulty level in order to find out ways to improve my SC and CR. Break down according to percent right and the difficulty level for CR and SC are given below (these are taken from last 6 test excluding the botched test),

SC Break Down
Overall SC: Percent: 61% Correct - Avg. Diff. Right 660 & Avg. Diff. Wrong 700
Level 300 - 500: Questions: 1, Right: 1, Wrong: 0, Percent:100%
Level 500 - 600 Questions: 14, Right: 10, Wrong: 4, Percent: 71%
Level 600 - 700 Questions: 37, Right: 26, Wrong: 11, Percent: 70%
Level 700 - 800 Questions: 38, Right: 18, Wrong: 20, Percent: 47%

CR Break Down
Overall CR Percent: 52% - Avg. Diff. Right: 630 & Avg. Diff. Wrong 680
Level 300 - 500 Questions:6, Right: 5, Wrong: 1, Percent:83%
Level 500 - 600 Questions:13, Right: 8, Wrong: 5, Percent:62%
Level 600 - 700 Questions:36, Right: 20, Wrong: 16, Percent:56%
Level 700 - 800 Questions:29, Right: 11 , Wrong: 18, Percent:38%

I am aiming to raise my CR to 60% + over all and getting the questions at level 500-600 and 600-700 above 70%+.

Please let me know how do I work on my verbal i.e. how do i work on the weak areas as listed below,

CR Weak Areas (these were identified based on accuracy of less than 50%),
Draw a conclusion (Must be True and Main Point)
Weaken Argument
Assumption Argument
Evaluate Argument

SC Weak Areas
Parellelisim
Quantity
Comparison
Meaning

Thank you for the guidance you have provide thus far. It has helped me move from a score 510 to 600+. Now I hope in a month i can pull my score up to 670+.


Regards,
Salesh Aswani.

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, that's really important (realizing those takeaways for Fractions and just realizing in general that you need to figure out WHY you're struggling with something). Taking more tests - you already know what your weaknesses are! Until you figure out why, and take concrete steps to address the "whys," doing more tests is a waste of time. :)

where i spend more than 90+ seconds and still tend to get wrong

No, not for quant. For quant, we want to average 2 minutes (120 seconds), and too long is 30 seconds above that, or 150+ seconds / 2.5+ minutes.

Such questions if i work on practicing more such questions then I can get them right in the real test

Be careful - it's not enough just to say that you can get them right. Efficiency is just as important as accuracy. Also, there's a big difference between 45% correct and too slow (rates and work) and 60% correct and too slow (sets). You've got a lot better shot at turning the 60% and slow category into not-a-weakness. But for something that you're already mostly getting wrong AND it's too slow? Much less likely to happen.

(Plus, as you noted, both of these types are not tested very frequently on the real test.)

On to verbal.
Why are you getting around 70% correct for both 500-600 and 600-700 SCs? The 500-600 Qs should have a higher percentage correct. Are there holes in your knowledge? Are you making careless mistakes? Are you getting distracted by what sounds good or sounds bad and that's causing mistakes? Etc.

Ditto for CR - the percentages for 500-600 and 600-700 are almost the same.

CR:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... g-problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-Problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -problems/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... on-problem

Meaning often has to do with parallelism and comparisons, so start with this article (and the series of articles linked in it):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

[salesh.aswani]

Hi Stacey,

To cut the post short...I was suppose to give my forth GMAT attempt in October but due to family commitments I postponed my forth attempt to January.

But now its been 2 months since I fell off the wagon of preparing for the GMAT regularly.

My last practice attempt at the GMAT had fetched me 600 (Q: 46 and V: 28).

My 3 Official GMAT Scores are,

1st GMAT: 510 (Q:35, V:25)
2nd GMAT: 560 (Q:42, V:24)
3rd GMAT: 600 (Q:43, V:30)

This time around it is becoming very difficult for me to motivate myself to commit a schedule to my GMAT studies...feels like I should just give up my dream of doing an MBA and jump it to my Family business than torturing my self through this process...

Please let me know how to keep myself motivated and how to get back to a habit of preparing for the GMAT regularly...looking for guidance...

Thanks,
Salesh.

[StaceyKoprince]

Do you want to give up simply because you're sick of the GMAT / burned out? Or are you seriously re-assessing whether an MBA is the right path for you?

If it's the former, give yourself a break - don't take the test in January, postpone your application for a year, forget about the GMAT for a month (with my permission - so you don't need to feel guilty about it or have it in the back of your mind!) and then come back refreshed and ready to do this.

If it's the latter, then give yourself time to seriously think this through and see whether this is - objectively - the right path for you. I've talked to many students over the years who eventually realized that, you know what, I'm doing this because people expect me to or it's what you're "supposed" to do but it actually doesn't make sense given my career goals and path.

I had a student one time who told me that he'd just been offered a chance to interview for his dream job but he wasn't sure whether he should bother since he wanted to start business school in a year - so he'd just have to leave the job. I asked him what he wanted to do *after* b-school, and he told me he basically wanted to do this job for which he was being recruited NOW. !!! That was a clear-cut case, obviously, but many people don't really think through this decision; they just move forward because it seems to be expected.

Back to the first part - if it really is just that you're burned out, then I've got two things to say to you:
(1) you can get better... but you probably won't get much better if you're completely burned out, hating this test, and setting up so much pressure with specific deadlines by which you must get a certain score, etc.
(2) So stop with that roller coaster, take a break, and make this a less stress-filled process once you do resume your studies!