Scored 580 in MGMAT practice test

[Gmat]

Hi

i scored 580 in MGMAT practice test
Q - 42
V - 29

I am planning to give GMAt in the last weekof feb, i am at a score of 700+ , does it sound realistic

[Guest]

I mean, i am aiming 700+, does it sound realistic..
i have started preparation some 10 days bacl
I am putting 2 hrs on weekdays and 4-5 hrs on weekends.

[StaceyKoprince]

It is extremely challenging to score 700 or higher and the few people who do achieve such scores tend to study for 3-4 months. It sounds like you're planning to spend about 2 months, which is less time than average. That doesn't mean you can't achieve a 700 in that time frame, but most people would need more time than that.

[comiteage]

I am in the exact same situation as you (I will take the GMAT in Feb 21, my target score is 700 and I will study for 2 months in total). So far my scores are...

GMAT Prep1: 640
MGMAT 1: 590
MGMAT 2: 620

Although I agree with Stacey, I still believe that it is possible to get 700+ with only 2 months of studying. Maybe it sounds impossible, but I am using the experiences of 3 close friends as a benchmark.

These three friends...

- Studied for only 1-2 months in total (the three of them had full time jobs so they only studied at night)
- Obtained between 550 and 620 in their first diagnostic exam
- English is not their native language
- Studied engineering or economics in college
- Are really smart (they had a really high GPA and all of them have really good jobs)
- Obtained a final score of 680, 710 and 690

I am following the exact same technique that they used (studying 2-3 hours per day and 5-6 on weekends and using the official guide 11, Manhattan SC book, Manhattan RC book and Kaplan 2007 as study materials) and hope to get the same results.

[Guest]

I also have a full time job and i study in the evening and the weekends.
I am refering OG 11, but i am finding OG maths too simple ,
I also have Kaplan and MGMAT verbal.
Should i finish OG first and then swicth to the other books or refer all in parallel

[StaceyKoprince]

comiteage - good luck with your study! I don't think it's impossible to achieve a 700 in such a short timeframe - people do it, obviously. I just want to caution people that most people need more time than that. I don't have any problem with my students setting ambitious goals (in fact, I think it's great!) but I also don't want them beating themselves up if they set very ambitious goals and then don't quite make it. So set the goal, but be flexible and adjust when necessary.

Guest, I would not finish OG first - I would use OG concurrently with your other sources and I would also do both math and verbal together (not literally at the same time, obviously, but every other day or something like that). The higher-numbered OG questions are harder, so on quant, it may be that you just need to work yourself into the high-numbered questions. You may also want to try GMAT Focus (www.gmatfocus.com) for quant. GMAT Focus consists of diagnostic tests made up of official GMAT questions that have not previously been published (in the OG or anywhere else). There is a fee for these tests - you can find the details on the website - but I don't think it's very expensive.

Good luck to both of you!

[Guest]

Thanks Stacey
How to go about Sentence Correction ? am pretty bad at it

[StaceyKoprince]

What are you using now to study SC? You need a source that will teach you (a) the actual grammar rules, and (b) how to go about applying your knowledge to GMAT-type questions.

I obviously like our own SC strategy guide, but I'm biased. :) There are lots of products on the market, so ask around, see what other people have used and liked, and choose something for yourself!

[Guest]

Stacey, i am using MGMAT verbal,Kaplan, OG for sentence Correction.
i am doing RC's pretty well , CR and SC are my weak areas.
In CR, I just cant understand the cause effect and generalization sort of questions, the questions where we have to draw a parallel

I recently gave GMATPrep and scored 680
I had to rush toward the end of the test and had to make a guess in the last 7-8 questions in both Vebal and Quant. :(

[StaceyKoprince]

By "MGMAT verbal" do you mean the three red verbal strategy guides? Or do you mean the verbal portion of our practice tests? I just want to make sure you have something that is teaching you the actual grammar rules.

For CR, if you have the MGMAT CR book, can you tell me the specific name of the question type you're referring to? I'm thinking you might mean "mimic the argument" questions when you say "we have to draw a parallel" but I'm not sure. I'm also not sure which type you mean by "cause effect." If you don't have the MGMAT CR book, you can also give me the problem numbers of a couple of OG problems (NOT the text of the problems, please) and I'll look them up and see what they are.

Nice job on your practice test... but your score could've been even better!

No matter how good you get, you will still have to guess on something like 5 to 7 questions in each section. You can either do nothing to adjust as you go along and then be forced to guess on the last 5 to 7 questions at the end, or you can do something. The worst-case scenario is to have a string of wrong answers in a row at the end, so instead of allowing yourself to be forced into that position, choose the 5-7 hardest questions AS YOU SEE THEM throughout the section. Then, you have two big advantages: you're selectively choosing to guess on the hardest ones, rather than just the last ones, AND you're spreading the guesses out - they're not all clumped together in a row. Literally just exercising a choice about guessing on the hardest ones, rather than doing nothing and being forced to guess at the end, can raise your score 20-30 points right there!

[Guest]

Stacey , i have MGMAt verbal stratgey guide.

[Guest]

Stacey, can u suggest me a good study schedule, shud i switch between verbal and quant every day or concentrate on one section, i am giving the offcial test on 25th of this month.
i spend 2-3 hrs on weekdays and 5-6 hours on weekends.

[JonathanSchneider]

Switching between Math and Verbal is probably a good strategy. That depends on where you really need to focus your efforts. In general, you will make the most improvement in overall score by bringing up your weak areas. So, start by attacking those weaknesses. After that, make sure you take a look at any other are where you are getting specific problem types wrong, as this may be a place for a quick fix.

[StaceyKoprince]

I agree with Jonathan - in one 2-hour study session, it's best to concentrate on either math or verbal, and then do the other one the next day. (Or, alternately, you could use a 2-days-on, 2-days-off formula.)