GMATPrep1: 700 (Q51,V33). ...2nd GMATPrep1: 770 (Q51,V42)

GMATPrep2: 710 (Q51,V33) : Q - 1 mistakes, V - 12 mistakes (6 in RC).

I decided to make the worst conditions before start Prep2: I do not study 1 week, no warm-up problems, moreover I caught a chill and felt unwell. So, I want to see what is my bottom in score.

Here is my feeling:

1. Quant was definitely harder I even had to guess 3-4 questions (just one mistake - mistake in guess). DS is a very valuable source of time !!! So, I really recommend to study the recognition of DS patterns.

2. Verbal was the same but I think my condition and mainly lack of vocabulary hurt me in RC and again the most unlucky social science and history.... I'm very strong in astronomy, biology but did not see any RC of these topics in Prep1/2.

3. I did not see any repetitions between Prep1 and Prep2.

4. My exam will be on 28 May and I have 1.5 months to focus mainly on RC. As my target is HBS (or TOP-5), I have to reach at least 740 (the average GMAT in HBS last year was ~720). So, I think it is possible to get such score.

Congrate Walker,



I argree. Definitely helpful!



Previous test, you made some warm-up? What is important of the warm-up? and how do you make it?

Finally, can you share the mistake you took here?

Its incredible how you keep peeling of 51 after 51. I want to get to that level from my current level of 48/49. Any tips walker ?

ps. RC will be a breeze - just practice on some tough passages.... I am sure you'll get 720+ good luck.

Yes, I made warm-up before the previous tests. I feel more confident if I study very hard last week before exam (test), do not study last day and make 20-30 problems before go to sleep on last evening. Warm-up is good thing to tune up me and be ready for the morning.

My verbal mistakes,

- silly ones because of lost of concentration
- lack of vocabulary. This lead to lack of understanding, and hurt me mainly in RC.
- my insufficient knowledge of grammar in SC.



I talked about my experience in this and others threads:

1. silly mistakes: read slowly, 2-3 times, reread problems just before picking an answer, understand where GMAT want to trick.
2. hard problems. chose the hardest and common problem, spend even a few hours to find as many different ways to solve it as possible, and refresh background.
3. 10-20 problems are the most important!
4. do not spend more than 3 minutes for a question.
5. DS often is the best way to speed up pace. Learn to recognize DS-pattern along with typical traps.




Thanks.

Dear Walker,

I really want to learn from your expertise in recognizing the pattern that you may got in your prep. preriod.

Beside the typical trap, i sometimes wonder, what other patterns are? What is common btw them? Honestly, all that questions still hanging in my head. For example, why the correct of this DS is D, not C? And sometimes I saw E choice is correct for one DS, but the model of that DS is not the same as that of Spy Girl Trap. Do you have any tips?

Many thanks

Sondenso, I have a proposition: Each time you find an interesting DS, you send me link and we are trying to identify a pattern together.

Wow, just one mistake on Q is amazing!
I am surprized how with 12 mistakes you got such a low V. First time I took GMP2, I had 12 mistakes on V too, but I got a score of 40. Maybe you made mistakes in the beginning.

One advice on RC. It is much easier on GMP than on Manhattan or Kaplan. That is because the answer choices are not that close or confusing as they are on the other providers. However, that does not mean the passages in GMAT can be easy, as you already found out. So, make sure you make time to read the passages carefully. Especially the first one, you may want to read twice since those early questions are more critical. Basically, my strategy to boost RC is to learn to be as quick as possible on the SC and CR, so I leave the bulk of the time for RC. Basically, the problem with RC is time. If you had all the time in the world to read the passage many times and slowly, I don't think any question can fool you. Not the case with CR and expecially in SC. Disclaimer: This may not work for everyone.
The other thing is like you said, concentration. On a good day you can get 90% right in RC, on a bad day 40%. But again, on that bad day if you had time to read the passages one more time, I'm sure you'd have done better.

Chineseburned, thanks!

I guess RC and CR are more vulnerable for a score than SC. I always perform better on the fist half of questions than do on the second one

Walker I am interested in this as well I'll join you two in this DS pattern recognition exercise.

Ok. Just send me interesting DS.

Thank you, I like the blue color of your nickname!

Hm...green indeed...

Woow, silly mistake! I want to kill silly mistakes!

People, I have a huge problem. On Sunday I took a gmatprep#2 first time with the awful result 580 Q49V21. The main problem - I can't switch my brain from math to verbal at once. 1st verbal question took more 5 min Only by 20th question I got my rythm and my answers for last 10 questions were just clicking fast. Any suggestion?