GMAT Debrief - 770 (Q50, V47)

Aj: For a general approach to DS questions look at the flowchart here https://gmatclub.com/forum/an-emerging-problem-studying-for-the-gmat-104013.html. For specific strategies I would consult the MGMAT guides. I completely agree with you that DS is more challenging than PS most of the time because your thinking for the problems can be disjointed and going back through your logic to check your work can be damn near impossible at times. There are a couple things you can do to help your accuracy:

1. Organize your work on the scratchpad so that it's easy to follow. On one side maybe write "Check 1," and include all of your work checking to see if (1) is sufficient. Then on the other side of the page write "Check 2," and do the same. This will ensure that you don't get the work confused.
2. Write out counterexamples explicitly and circle your conclusions. For example if you're trying to see if |x| > 1 is sufficient to say x > 0, you could write x = 2 (YES) and x = -2 (NO) and then in big letters circled write "INSUFFICIENT." There should be no doubt when you check through that thought process later because you have written the counterexample down explicitly.

I haven't seen a way to sign up for a Kaplan Real Test Day experience without signing up for the course, but Kaplan has a good refund policy so what I did was: I signed up for the cheapest self-study course (about $450 USD) and Kaplan will refund 75% of your course fee if you only use one CAT/resource. So I ended up paying about $113 for the test (cheap compared to a $250 GMAT!!!).

arp: https://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-get-6-0-awa-my-guide-64327.html

gablaze: Read chineseburned's AWA guide (linked above). I always took an AWA with my CATs. Once you are decently prepared for Quant and Verbal I recommend ALWAYS doing this for a couple of reasons:

1. Taking an AWA best simulates the actual fatigue you'll feel during the exam
2. You want to practice the templates/techniques/timing for the AWA as well as getting used to thinking of ideas quickly

To be honest, from what I've seen your AWA score doesn't matter too much. Neglecting it in your prep though is likely to throw you off during the real test and if you're struggling or thinking too hard in the first hour of the GMAT, it will negatively influence your performance for the latter two sections.

Hope this helps!