One month to go - need advice

[LindsayK526]

Hi there,

I started studying (self-study) for the GMAT in mid-May. I wrote the first GMAT prep Exam with no prep and scored a 550 (30Q/35V). I studied for a month, and wrote the second one a week before I was scheduled to sit for the actual test, and scored at 640 (42Q/35V). I am targetting 700, so I postponed my test until October. I decided I needed some help and signed up for the MGMAT Interact course.

I started the Interact course in July. I am 6 weeks in and just wrote my second practice test. I saw minimal (if any) improvement over my first practice test, which was surprising as I feel like I have learnt a lot and have mastered various new concepts. When I do the homework questions, I am getting most of them right. My two MGMAT CAT test scores are as follows:

CAT 1 (July): 610 (40Q/34V)
CAT 2 (today): 620 (39Q/35V)

I feel like there has been basically no improvement between the two, and it makes me nervous. I am writing the GMAT on October 3rd, and am wondering if you have any advice on how I should proceed over the next month. Currently, i have just been working through the homework each week as assigned for the Interact course, but I am wondering if there is more I should be doing.

Please let me know - any advice is appreciated .

Thanks.

Lindsay

[StaceyKoprince]

You've made great progress so far - nice work.

It's actually extremely common for the second test to show no overall improvement - it's not even uncommon for people to go down! Here's what happens: people think: oh, I *should* know how to do this, and this, and that, because I've just studied all of these things. But some things are still weaknesses (and you should let them go, but you're tempted because you've just studied it), and some things you learned only recently and are still taking too long to do, and so on. So then you mess up the timing and your score doesn't improve - even though your underlying skills have actually improved.

So my first piece of advice is to analyze that test to see whether this happened to you. You can use this to analyze your test:
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

As you analyze, think about the things described in these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Next, assuming that this is what happened, you need to do two things:
(1) develop the mindset described in the exec reasoning article, and
(2) study in the way described in the 2nd Level article (in other words, add to your study "how to know when to bail / let something go / make an educated guess if possible / etc" - all of those "test-taking skills" that need to be layered on top of the content and question-type skills that you've been concentrating on for the last 6 weeks)

This can help with #1:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/08/ ... r-the-gmat

For #2, start doing what that 2nd Level article says. Make sure to watch the Interact Timing lesson (session 6) if you haven't already. And make sure to watch the Preparing to Face the GMAT strategy lesson from session 7, which talks more about how to analyze your test.

Based on all of the above, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

I do have one more piece of advice. If I understand your timeline correctly, you still have 3 more weeks to finish the Interact program and then you're planning to take the test 1 week after that. I recommend taking a minimum of 2 weeks after finishing any program (Interact or class) to review before taking the real test (and most people would benefit from something more like 3 weeks). You will be learning new material right up through week 9 of the program - you need time to go back and do a global review, brushing up on some things and making the decision to bail on others.