When to take the GMAT?

[leovir.22]

Hi,

Firstly I'd like to mention that this is an awesome forum and just the thing i was looking for, for my questions.
I started my preparation about 3 months back and haven't yet reached the desired score in the practice tests. Since its up to me to choose the date for the GMAT I think am taking too long to decide on this. I have taken 4 practice tests so far. the scores were:
G prep 1 470
G prep 1 570 Q(45) V(24) (hardly 2 to 3 questions were repeated)
G power prep 550 Q(48) V(19)
Kaplan prac test 500 Q(30) V(28)

Am currently studying from kaplan premier program and revising the Manhattan Sentence correction . Clearly my verbal is weak and I am working on it. I am aiming for 690-700 as my scores. This whole preparation time i think is taking too long , I guess. Though i plan to take the exam in july, i don't know if i'll be able to reach the desired score. I wish to join in fall'10.

Please advice!!
Thank you

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, so you seem to be in the mid-500s right now. (Your quant score dropped quite a bit on that Kaplan test - did you figure out why?) And you want to get to 700-ish, so that's a pretty big jump. If we assume your quant score is generally mid-to-high 40s (ignoring the Kaplan result), then, yes, most of your improvement is going to need to come from verbal.

Not sure whether you're studying on your own or taking a class. Do you feel that you're making progress on the verbal, whatever methods / sources you are using today? I'm guessing you're at least a bit frustrated with your level of progress because you mention that you think things are taking too long.

So, it could be that you are not spending enough time studying. This test typically requires a commitment of 10-15 hours a week over a period of several months, especially when looking for a very high score, as you are. I know you've been studying for a few months, but you don't mention how much you are studying?

Or it could be that you're spending lots of time but not seeing the results for some reason. If that's the case, you may need a new way to approach things. That could mean identifying new books or other sources, taking a class, or working with a tutor - up to you. If you feel that it's a more minor problem, then probably finding different books or other sources will be enough. If you feel that it's a more major problem, you may need some outside help from a teacher, via either a class or tutoring situation.

[leovir.22]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you so much for getting back. Well, I am studying all by myself and thanks to the economy depression, I am not working either. So right now the whole purpose is to crack the GMAT.

I analyzed my performance in Kaplan , mainly i found the questions a bit tough and made some silly mistakes too. More so i had an impression of kaplan tests being really difficult an all. But after giving the paper, I considered it to be a myth.My preparation so far has been with the OG-10,11 manhattan SC, 1000Sc(done about 100 so far) , Kaplan premier ,OG-11 quantitive review.

Yesterday i appeared for the free online Manhattan test. Scored 520 Q(42) V(20). Found the manhattan test to be of a higher standard than that of kaplan also.I haven't done the analysis yet!

Hey you mentioned something about the tutor. Is online assistance possible?
As for verbal I plan practice the manhattan SC alsong with OG's again with a timer . Do you feel i need to refer to some more books? If so then please mention which ones? I spend on an average 7-8 hrs in a day for my prep(for 5 days), and then i give a paper , the next day goes in the complete analysis of the paper. Do let me know how to go by this.

Hope to hear from you soon. Good day!

[StaceyKoprince]

How much time do you spend analyzing your work? When you do a problem, or take a test, how much time do you spend going over it after?

As a general rule, review should take 2 to 5 times as long as you spent doing the work in the first place. If I spent 2 minutes to do the problem, review of that problem can take me anywhere from 4 to 10 minutes (even when I get the problem right).

The goal is not just to learn the right answer and the right solution for this problem - because you're never going to see this problem on the test. You are, however, going to see new-but-similar problems on the test. Can you recognize a new-but-similar problem, to the point where you can say, yeah, this one's like #32 on my last practice test, and the best method for doing #32 was picking a smart number, so I should try that same method on this one. And you should be able to say that within 15-20 seconds of starting to read the problem - possibly before you're even done reading the whole thing.

So what you're actually studying is the way in which test questions are constructed. What are the traps? What are the tricky / difficult parts? Can you identify some answers that are definitely wrong for specific reasons (not just that they aren't the right answer)? (This is how you make an educated guess - eliminate wrong ones first.) What are the best ways to approach the problem? There's always more than one way. Which way is the best way for you? (Best = efficient + accurate) If you made a mistake, why did you make the mistake? Not just "what was my mistake" but "WHY did I make it?" What could I do to avoid making that same kind of mistake in future? Etc.

There are literally 10-20 questions you can ask yourself about every single problem you study, so that you can develop the ability to quickly recognize some new-but-similar problem in the future and be able to apply the same method / reasoning / thought process to solve the new problem. That's your overall goal, and it's much more complicated than doing a ton of problems and reviewing the official solutions (which is how most people try to study).

So, first, mindset change: think about HOW you're studying. Does it resemble what I've described above? If not, you need to change the way in which you're studying.

You ask about other resources, including books and tutors. You mention using our SC book. You also mention Kaplan premier, but I don't know what materials are included in that. The OG11 quant review is basic at best (though the questions in that book are first-class, obviously). Take a look at your SC book. You need sources that give you that kind of detail on both content and technique for: CR, RC, DS, algebra, geometry, word problems, stats, number properties, fractions, decimals, percents, etc. Do you have books that give you that kind of material? If not, you'll have to find some. (I obviously like ours - I work for MGMAT! So you can check out our books if you like, but you may also want to look at books from other companies and see what you like best.)

Re: tutoring, we do offer online tutoring via a web conferencing platform. Tutoring in general is extremely expensive, so the first major thing is to investigate the cost and see whether you think the cost will be worth it to you. You can take a look at the tutoring section of our web site and that of any other company that interests you to see what you think.

Finally, you mention giving "a paper" - you mean a paper test? It's better to take CATs (computer-based), not paper tests. The test questions can be of similar quality, but the timing can be very different, and the way in which the questions are presented is also very different. In some instances, the things that would make you a great paper-based test-taker would actually cause problems for you on a CAT-based exam. So I would recommend that you take CAT-based exams when you do take an exam, and use the paper tests as a source of practice questions.

Finally, I wouldn't take exams more than about every 2-3 weeks at this point (from what you described, it sounds like you're taking them every week). Taking an exam is a chance to see whether you have made progress with all of the studying you've done since you last took an exam. Most people don't make hugely significant, noticeable progress in just one week - it typically takes a bit longer. And because you're concentrating on the GMAT full-time right now, be very careful about burnout. Your brain can't process and retain 7-8 hours worth of new material every day - that's overload. Your study will actually be more high quality, and you'll retain more of the material, if you don't do so much every day!

[leovir.22]

Hi Stacey,

THANK YOU so much for your in depth analysis!
I will surely follow your recommendations of reviewing the questions to the root.
An ya the papers that i took so far were all CAT based. I totally agree with you on the time factor.

One quick question Stacey, can you suggest some Manhattan books for quant and verbal. Really appreciate your help and guidance.

Will keep you posted with my progress.

[StaceyKoprince]

You're welcome! Our books are based on the different content areas for quant or the different question types for verbal, so what you would want to use just depends upon your strengths and weaknesses. Here are the books:

Quant:
Number Properties (probably the most commonly tested math stuff on the test)
Equations, Inequalities, and VICs (everything you need to know about algebra)
Word Translations (including rates, stats, ratios, combinatorics and probability, etc - basically, all the stuff that tends to get tested as a word problem of some type)
Fractions, Decimals, and Percents (self-explanatory)
Geometry (self-explanatory)

Verbal:
Sentence Correction
Reading Comp
Critical Reasoning

You can take a look at the "store" area on our web site to read more about what's in each book and decide whether you think any would be valuable for you.