Need some help please!

Hi Rich,

Thanks a lot for your answer.

I applied to Erasmus University, Rotterdam School of Managements premaster program. I have already been admitted on condition that I provide them with a 600+ GMAT score before deadline, which is 15 May 2016. Their next deadline will be 15 May 2017. Then there are some other Dutch universities that I am considering, all of them asking a 600+ GMAT for their business/management programs. Those other universities have deadlines ranging from 15 June to 31 August.

As I already have been admitted to Erasmus University on other criteria and only need to provide them with this score, I really would like to give it another try before 15 May. But I am not sure about how to use this short time to improve myself. You are right when you say that I am 'wining' it'. I know that something has to change fundamentally but I can't see what. I have already been tracking every mistake that I made, asking myself what went wrong. Most of the times it turned out to be a careless/stupid mistake or misreading the question. I concluded that this had to do with my timemanagement on the Quant part. Sometimes I had 15 minutes left, so I went over it way too fast, and sometimes I had to guess the last 2 or 3 questions on a CAT. I have been working on my pace and while doing CAT's I don't have time issues anymore. But yesterday on the real test I had a lack of time again, as well in Quant as in Verbal.

I know something is going wrong all the time. But I don't really see what it is that I have to change in order to surpass the 600. Should I just keep practicing intensively with CAT's and question banks? Should I go back to my tutor again, or maybe another tutor? Or should I go over my study material again or provide myself with new study materials?

I hope you can help me!

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your answer!

I would be very willingly to join Magoosh and go over all of the study materials. I don't lack motivation or energy, but as you say, I don't know if this is realistic within 3 weeks. Can you give me a guess at how many hours I should spent every day in order to go over all of the material?

Dear Laurence,
My friend, qualifying for the score guarantee would probably be something close to a full-time investment, at least 5-6 hours a day. That would definitely boost your score, but that's a great deal of time.

If your math is strong, rather than watch every intro math lesson, you simply could take the quizzes at the ends of the modules. That would save you some time, if basic math is a strength for you. Passing the quizzes at the ends of the lessons is a way to show that you have already mastered that material and don't need to spend time on those lessons.

If you were interested in qualifying for the score guarantee, you would have to watch all the lessons and do a large chunk of the questions. If you are willing to let go of the score guarantee, you could just do as much as you possibly can fit during the three weeks. If you watch some of the more advanced math lesson, go through the SC lessons thoroughly, and practice as many questions as you can, I would be surprised if this alone doesn't give you a significant increase in your score.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

Hi Laurence,

Continuing your studies in the same ways as before is likely not going to lead to the improvement that you're looking for. As it stands, there's actually a pretty easy 'fix' for your situation, but you have to adjust how you 'see' (and respond to) the GMAT to incorporate it. Right now, you've defined your BIG problem - you're making too many silly/little mistakes (likely because you're rushing through questions and not taking enough notes). If you had more time, slowed down a bit and took more notes, you could likely eliminate those little mistakes. With your overall score goal, you don't need to answer ANY of the 'hard' questions correctly, so you should plan to dump those questions quickly. In that way, you'll have some extra time to spend on the 'gettable' questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Hi Mike and Rich,

Thank you so much for your help! What you're saying makes sense so I've decided to let go of the Erasmus University deadline. I am going to study with the Magoosh material and practice avoiding the hard questions in my CAT's. And when I get 600+ multiple times I will go for the official GMAT again.

Best,
Laurence

Here is a small piece of advice from me:
If you are good with Erasmus, it may not be a bad idea to give it one more shot before the deadline. The way your scores are, you can do reasonably well on both sections. But you are able to focus your energy on only one section in any given test. Probably, when you don't do well on a section, next time you focus on that and do well but you end up shortchanging the other one. This time, review concepts of both sections once, work on your weaknesses and take extra care during the test.
Take a light healthy breakfast before the test and utilise each break to de-stress and eat something to keep your energy and concentration. Know that you must do well on both parts and give both your best. If the score is again less than 600, just cancel it so that it will not appear on your scorecard. In that case, you can continue with your plan of revisiting all fundamentals.