Need tips on cracking the gmat

[rahul.lleo]

Hi Stacey,
i gave my gmat today and scored a disappointing 650 (44,35). I have been a regular on your blogs and other forums but this is the first time Im posting something. First of all i'd like to give u a brief about my study routine. Since i have a full time demanding job, it has been a lot difficult for me to take out time for the prep.
I started off with Kaplan premier in mid june as suggested by a couple of friends and finished it off by july first week. THough i admit there wasnt much to learn but i got a feel of the test. I picked up OG after that and mid way i started to feel that im not learning anything. I left it there and started with the manhattan guides thanks to which i regained my confidence. After completing these guides, i quickly moved back to OG and completed it without much difficulty. IN sept i enrolled for manhattan tests and gave all of them in real test conditions expect a couple of them.
test 1 - 640 (44,33) first week of sept
test 2 - 590 (missed last 4 in quant)
test 3 - 680 (47,36)
test 4 - 700 (47,38)
test 5 - 640 (43,34)
test 6 - 640

prep 1 - 670 (49,32)
prep 2 - 660 (47,35)

As you see from the above, it seems i havent improved on any of the sections though i had hit 700 once and which was under real test conditions. What more can be done? what more should i study or what strategy should i follow. i feel 650 is too low. i plan to start my applications next year so that i can begin my session in 2013.

Regards,
Rahul

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. Your real test score was similar to most of your recent practice test scores (that is, you didn't experience a major problem that dropped your expected score by 100 points or something - which is good), so what we need to do is figure out what your strengths and weaknesses are and work from there.

Use this article to analyze your last couple of MGMAT CATs:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and share your analysis. Note: don't just give us the raw data - tell us what you think it means. The ability to analyze your own performance is crucial to your eventual success.

If you discover you're having timing problems, read this article and start doing what it says right away:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

Also, what's your goal score, do you know? Or are you not sure yet?

[rahul.lleo]

Hi Stacey,
Thanks for your reply. I have gone through these articles. Also, i want a score of 700+ given that i am an indian software professional aiming for atleast the top 50 colleges. In my initial tests i found it a bit difficult to analyze my test results but eventually i have come to realize that my weaknesses are combinatorics, number properties, and RC in verbal. Though i had tried my best to improve these topics but finally i exhausted myself. Iam still not sure how to improve or what else to study as you can see in the last month i havent improved even a bit. I guess error log will be the best approach.
In my actual gmat, i had to think hard for my first problem and it was like oh my god .. Please advice.
I just got my score report and have scored 5 in AWA..

[StaceyKoprince]

Did you have any timing problems at all? Most people do, and most people either don't realize they have timing problems or don't realize how significant their timing problems are.

What did you find out timing-wise when you analyzed your tests?

What other materials have you been using? I wouldn't worry about combinatorics because they're not very common on the test - maybe one - so just make sure you're not losing time that you could be using on other questions. Get them wrong faster, basically. :)

We have books for both NP and RC (as do other companies), so there, I think your issue is to identify some resources that teach you how to get better at those things (that is, not just practice tests or questions, but actual lessons). You can take a look at our books and whatever else you find out there and pick the ones that you think will be the best for you.

Really go dig into that timing issue and let me know what you find out. One of the clues sometimes that there's a timing problem is studying a lot but not seeing much of a score improvement...

[rahul.lleo]

hello Stacy and all my dear friends..
Ive been waiting to write a reply to this post since a long time now and it gives me immense pleasure that i have finally scored what i aimed for.. I appeared for my 2nd attempt yesterday and scored a 720.. my mantra for the last 1 and a half year has been that i never lost touch of the basics.. every quarter i made sure that I went through the manhattan materials even though i found it really tough to take out time out of my busy office schedule. i found the quant guides and the sentence correction guide really useful.
One more point that really helped me this time is that i didnt spend much of the time in mock tests. I gave just 2 tests in total, one from manhattan and the other one from gmat prep and scored more or less in the same range. This helped me in saving a lot of prep time and also kept me fresh and ready for the final day. Also, i would like to give one advice over here is tht one should not shy away from making a calculated guess in dire times and here the manhattan forums specially Ron's and Stacy's threads help me a lot.

Stacy - One question i would like to ask here is how much should i worry about the IR score? i did decent enough in my IR section as far as i remember. I plan to start with my applications now. So just wanted some inputs and worst case scenarios about IR.

[StaceyKoprince]

Congratulations! That's great - I'm really happy for you. :)

No schools have said yet that they're going to start using IR this year, but I would expect schools to pay a little more attention this year and maybe start using it next year or the year after.

Some consulting firms have also said that they're examining whether to use the IR score in the job application process (as they now ask for the 3-digit overall score. If you're thinking about going into consulting or banking, then be aware that in 2 years, they might care about your IR score.

What did you get on the test? If you scored 4 or higher, I wouldn't retake it now. I'd wait and see whether in future I decided to apply to consulting and, if so, whether companies wanted to see IR. Then you might have to retake for IR, if they really care a lot about it, but I think they're going to be pretty lenient about it for a while because they know nobody's taking it really seriously right now.

[rahul.lleo]

Thanks a lot Stacey. Im keeping my fingers crossed. Im yet to receive the official score. just waiting .. :(

[StaceyKoprince]

oh, right, you just took the test. It takes them about 3 weeks to get your IR and essay score to you. Let me know when you get the report!

[rahul.lleo]

Hello Stacey,

I just received my official score just moments back. Analytical W - 5 (60%) and IT 7 (82%).. :) hope that is good enough..

Thanks,
Rahul

[rahul.lleo]

Hello Stacey,

I just got my official score and scored a 7 in IR (82%). Hope that is good enough ..

Thanks,
Rahul

[StaceyKoprince]

That's great! The top score is an 8, so 7 is definitely good enough. Congrats!