Need help urgently

Hi pavrnd and coffeeloverfreak

Thanks a lot for your prompt feedback.

I have started preparing for GMAT since May. Here are things that I have completed before taking the first GMAT:

- Kaplan workbook
- PR workbook
- Barron workbook
- OG 10th (mainly focus on verbal and few in math: 75% completed in Sentence Correction section and Critical Reasoning section, 50% completed in Reading section, 50% completed in Data Sufficiency section)
- Take GMAT course at Kaplan (do all practice tests including workbook and on-line, complete all 8 CAT exercises)

Here are my CAT scores:
- Kaplan CD (590, 570)
- PR CD (520, no time to do the remaining tests)
- PP (590 done before reading OG, 690 done after reading OG)
- 8 CATs from Kaplan Course(650, 600, 670, 640, 670, 680, 710, 660)
Kaplan course also provided a chance to practice CAT test in the real test center (I got 670)

My weak points on test date:
Math (actually I expected at least 45-50 to help move up my score given that my verbal was expected to be low)
- slow thinking in word problem
- found hard questions in probabilities
- faced tricky questions in Data Sufficiency

Verbal (I expected at least 25-30, mostly from SC part, but it turned out even worse in the real test)
- SC (found many tricky questions, many choices sound to be similar so hard to made decision)
- RC (found it was easier than PP but don't know why the final score got low)
- CR (I thought I did only 1 out of 11 questions, most CR questions were put in the last 15 questions whereby the remaining time is about 10 mins, a few of them were bold-type questions and long arguments)

At the first test, I planned to cover everything. But now I plan to focus on the section that I think I can do most which are math (PS, DS) and sentence correction in verbal part. For reading and critical, I am not sure that I will have time to focus. What do you think?

- Is it true that we can take GMAT only 5 times in life? or in a year?

Hope I address your questions.

To add more for verbal part on my test date:

I spent about 15 mins to work on first 10 questions (90% are SC and RC). I was not sure much on SC and RC. Maybe most of my answers were wrong.

SC- I knew the grammar rule but most of the time I end up at 2 answers which I think I made a wrong decision.

RC - I could understand the main idea of the passage but I found the questions are difficult...the answers, which I though they were right, might be wrong

CR - don't need to mention, I found the long argument, bold-faced type (3 questions in a row), I guessed about 8-9 questions in a row before the time finished

Don't know how to improve within a short timeframe !!!
Anyone, please help !!!

Hey,

A 480 means you do not completely understand the material you studied, period. I would recommend you going back and reviewing all of OG, power prep gives a good idea of what you will score so unless you are getting in the 600s I wouldn't retake. I would also not do anything else unless you completely understand all of OG.

One problem I had earlier on is I would study a massive amt of info from all these books but would not spend enough time going over my mistakes and learning why I got something wrong, this may be your problem.

Good luck with everything!

I have some serious concerns about your preparation for the verbal section, particularly your pacing. You can take the test several more times over the course of your life so I would not worry about that aspect now. Focus on mastering the verbal section of the OG before your next administration.

Hjort

Agree with aroman, I got 550 and 500 in 3 month time but I had read kaplan, princeton and OG. The problem was that I didnt spend enough time on the analysis of the answer ! There are many "standard" questions that look alike, you should take time to understand them and check other similar one to see if you understan dit correctly. Also take your time, I suggest you to work hard all the next year and try the gmat in july 06 for example, there is no need to push too fast, you will certainly not improve so much and it will be a new bad score on your profile that the schools will see later on. Except if you need a precise score around 500, so maybe you can give a shot...if around 600 i have doubts but that's my personal feeling

believe me, you should take more time and work more precisely. No need to finish everything in one week. Do it slowly and well during 6 months. It should be fine then.

I scored 640 (q48 v31) and it was the first time i reach some score over 30 in verbal (i've scored 22 in verbal during the past) but I will certainly stick to the verbal forum until i got results from the schools I applied too in case of refusal, so that I can try the gmat for a last time...

hmm....Antmavel.....I feel Hard Work , determination can get u the score in less time...u dun need to wait for 6 months !!!!...coz chances are there u mite loose interest !!.......I feel slog ur ass for 2 months study 15 hours a day and u can get ur desired score !!...but again if u working full time .....u mite want to take a leave...I am just giving my opinion.......

But its true....with a score less than 500 U need start from scratch...

go thru the basics in Quant......that requires a lotta hard work......
and that takes time..so it actually depends on you...how much time you are taking to learn the basics....

my current score is 450 and I plan to give my Gmat by Jan15....I have taken a leave and shall work my butts off for the next 2 months !!....
My target score is 700 !!.....

Remember - Anything is Possible


All th best guys...

jINESH, sorry, my meaning was not to study 15h a day during 6 months

I think that to really improve your verbal skills it is better to do it quietly over a long period of time (let's say 4 months at least) between 1h and 2h max a day. You should also read more newspapers and magazines in english such as The Economist, or go to the webpage for example. It will help anyway for AWA. I believe in the potential to increase score in verbal, but mainly on a medium-long term, but this is only my own analysis.

I also think that now we are close to Round 2 for many schools so my meaning was just that you need to feel good before taking the gmat, you need to feel confident. In my opinion it is better to apply one year after than to score the same as before.

However, you may also increase your verbal score quite fast, who knows...

Thanks a lot for all your suggestions.

Before I did the first test, I already done PP, 590 (before reading OG) and many other tests. But I don't know why my first score is far lower than the PP score. Maybe you are right that I didn't spend much time on reviewing OG and I think my time management during the test needs to be improved. But to tell you the truth, I have resigned since March this year in order to prepare for GMAT. I feel embarrassed that even I spent much time on GMAT (about 35-40 hours a week), I still got only 480.

But anyway, this time I will redo and try to understand all questions in OG as much as I can. I have registered for the test in Dec 19 (last month for ETS). It would be great if you can suggest the plan for preparing to fight with my next GMAT test. Which one should I focus first? What should be my first priority and next?

For math, do you know how can I practice probability? Is there any place talking about probability in GMAT club?

Many thanks !!!

I've taken the same kaplan CATs (from the website) and I've gotten 530, 580, 570 and 560 should I be worried.

thx,

wiseguy

Hi ffgmat,

As you previously sent me a message telling that you also live in Bangkok, pls feel free to contact me if you wanna chat over the phone about GMAT. Although my score isn't that spectacular (I only got 700), but I will be happy to provide any advice if I can.