Time to worry? Or relax?

[terence.battle1]

I'm currently running the self-study plus program and just finished the week 4 class video yesterday. Due to boredom I decided to take the GMATPrep practice exam 1 yesterday afternoon. My first Manhattan GMAT score was 620 prior to beginning the first class and yesterday I scored a 660 47Q/34V. My exam is scheduled for July 24th and I'm aiming for 700+ to target the schools that I'm hoping to get into. Knowing that I still have five weeks worth of videos and review should I worry that my test score was only at 660 or should I just relax and wait until after week 6 when I take my second Manhattan CAT and see how I do?

[StaceyKoprince]

Most people find that score increases come in "jumps" - it's not really linear. Further, a lot of people don't see much improvement at all at the 4-week mark because they haven't learned enough yet, and they're still practicing / getting used to what they have learned so far.

You did improve by 40 points, and you're only at week 4 of the 9 week program. I think you're in good shape. You don't mention a specific test date, so I'll assume you have some flexibility there - just keep doing your work, assessing your progress periodically, and making adjustments as necessary.

Also, when you take MGMAT CATs, you can use this article to help analyze your results:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... sts-part-1

[terence.battle1]

Thanks Stacey. I'm currently preparing for week 6 now and intend to take my Cat 2 from Manhattan this weekend. I did retake gmat prep1 this past weekend (too much free time!) and scored a 710 (49/39). I definitely think the next few weeks will help me polish up that verbal score a bit more and hopefully the next 6 weeks will get me solid in scoring 700+ range. Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Good luck! Just a warning: lots of times people find that they score the same or not much better on the 2nd CAT during the course. It really is just because you're trying to apply all of this new stuff that you're in the midst of learning, so you're not totally confident with it yet, and as a result you're slower than you want to be by the time you take the real test - and that affects everything, of course, since you have a finite amount of time for each section.

Focus on answering what you know you can answer, and acknowledging when you can't for whatever reason and moving on without using up too much of your precious time!

[terence.battle1]

Yes, I just took MGMAT cat 2 this weekend. 660 (44/36). Made too many stupid mistakes on questions I should of gotten correct in the quant section. Also was on good track for timing then bogged myself down on a geometry question that I thought I could get right which ended up putting me at 4 minutes left and 4 problems to answer. Ultimately I went from 83% down to 73% on the last 4 questions due to this. So I definitely agree with you that the nuisances of learning the technique are effecting me but I also did the AWA this round which I hadn't on my previous tests. All things considered, I have just shy of 6 weeks until D-Day and know that I should of had a 700+ on this one had I not tied myself to the timing on two problems. Hopefully next weekends will be a little cleaner.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

You're learning - that's the most important thing. You're working the kinks out on these practice tests so that you don't have the same problems on the real thing. :)

Keep up the good work!