Hello guys,
I am quite desperate at the moment and really need your advice concerning my strategy, because I have no idea what I am doing wrong.
Some background information:
Materials I'm using:
MGMAT quant and verbal guides and
OG 13. I took one MGAMT CAT 2 weeks ago and scored 530 and took another gmat prep test today and scored 550. (Q 37, V 28)
I started studying in July with the quant section. I realized that I am lacking all the math basics, so I used the
MGMAT guides for some topics. I've gone through all the quant
OG problems so far, and I KNOW that I did that quite inefficiently, which means I kinda "rushed" through the problems and explanations. I have certainly improved in many areas, cause i then started focusing on my weak areas and solved many practice problems, but I am still not able to score a decent score in the quant part. (Quant score in GMAT prep was 37)
My main issue is that I have a lot of problems with the approach of certain problems/topics. + TIME is probably also one of my biggest issues. As soon as I get into a tightly timed exam, I am starting to rush without really thinking about what I am doing or what I would be supposed to do.
I really need some advice how to improve quant. The forum is really helpful, but there are so many different strategies and resources mentioned, so I am kinda confused.
Should i:
- work through the quant review?
- work through the
OG problems again?
- only focus on my really weak areas? (I don't really know whether I have real weak areas since I am lacking knowledge in almost all of the topics)
How can I most efficiently work on my basics? I am not good at reading books when it comes to math and memorize certain concepts, I need to practice in order to understand the concepts.
I wanted to take the exam on September 20, but thats not working I guess. I think I will give myself another 1,5-2 month and take the exam in the end of October, since I don't feel confident at all at the moment. I am struggling with basic stuff, like working with exponents/roots/fractions etc.
My weak area in Verbal is SC. I am pretty good at CR, only had 1 question wrong in the prep test. RC could also be improved, but I think thats a question of concentration.
I already referred to this thread, which consists of some good advice in my opinion:
510-to-770-49q-46v-7ir-what-worked-for-me-2-years-176580.html and the poster had a similar situation as I'm having now.
So I think I know how to approach verbal: I will just go again through the
MGMAT SC book and practice the problems which are available in the forum + the
OG verbal review problems (in all 3 sections). Since I haven't studied that much for verbal so far, I will put my focus on SC.
However, I have no idea how to tackle the quant part? I am really desperate because I've studied for quite a long time now, but obviously it was very inefficient
Are the "extra" chapters (always the last ones in the books) in the
MGMAT quant books a good resource? Cause I think the
MGMAT books are good books, but sometimes I feel that they don't really help much when it comes to solving official problems.
I'd really appreciate some expert's insights!
Thanks!