1st Official Test on April 2nd - Review Score

Question

Hey guys -

Big fan of GMATCLUB. I am in the final 2 sessions for the Manhattan GMAT course as well as finished the 8 books. I have been taking practice MGMT tests every 2 weeks and my progression as been steady, albeit, not what I hoped for. My ultimate goal is 700-730. I feel that my Verbal is much stronger than what is represented. Likewise, I have been pretty focused on Quant because I feel that is my core weakness (obviously my split would say otherwise).

My practices scores are as follow:

Test 1 Q/V 32/32 Score: 530
Test 2 Q/V 44/32 Score 630
Test 3 Q/V 39/36 Score 570
Test 4 Q/V 35/33 Score 570
Test 5 Q/V 39/34 Score 600

I am going to spend the next 4 weeks taking practice tests, going over wrong problems and studying up on topics I am weak on. I am going to continue to use the OG Tracker and use OG12, Official Quant and Official Verbal as well as the GMATCLUB tests. With that said, any suggestions are welcome.

Santanu76 · Answer

Hi

I think your prep plan is good.

A few suggestions:

You could go through the GMATClub SC, CR and RC and PS, DS discussion threads, which are broken down into 700-level questions and 600-level questions. You can find these links here: viewforumtags.php

On verbals, I would suggest you could have a look at the e-GMAT course and enroll for the free trial. If you like it, you can then enroll for the paid version. It's relatively cheap and is targeted at non-native speakers.

Please go through the Brutal SC, CR documents on GMATClub - and also the verbal notes by whiplash, Gayathri, spidey etc - all are free downloads. You can download them here: download.php

Also, please go to whiplash's profile and download all the verbal documents you'll find in her signature.

For quants:

I would also suggest that you go to Bunuel's signature and look at the wealth of material there - esp the 50 tough DS and PS documents with solutions.

All the best!

wayahead123 · Answer

I was in the same boat around two days back.

The only difference is that i was scoring 610-640 in my practice mgmat tests with Q44, and my verbal varied.

I just took the real gmat yesterday and scored 620 ( V 30, Q 45 )

The quant of mgmat resembles very much with the real gmat , but believe me the verbal is gonna be tough at real gmat as compared to verbal of mgmat.

i would suggest you take knewton test and gmat prep , then judge your performance.

I am a big fan of mgmat, so nothing against them , but i believe their verbal is a bit easier than the real gmat.

Shko1 · Answer

So just for background, I started studying at the end of September but quickly realized that I was not focused and really learning the concepts. I decided to start the New Year with the Manhattan GMAT course as well as really put time. I have seen a dramatic improvement in just a fundamental understanding. I always feel shaky about Quant and more comfortable with Verbal. Obviously my scores are reflective of that, but I just need to put more focus and attention to the Verbal section.

This is great feedback. What I realize is that a 700 score, while attainable, requires a considerable amount of study, focus and effort. I think a strong month of just doing tests, reviewing topics and understanding errors will get me that extra 80-100 points. I know this sounds like a long-shot but I can put 4 hours everyday. I just need to execute for the next 37 days.

fcvald01 · Answer

I am taking the exam on the same day as you and I might have some good advice. I actually took the exam about a month ago and canceled my score. Here is why...

I had been studying directly out of the MGMAT books for about 3 months (started studying around October). Went through them about 3 times and felt really confident. I focused on Quant almost exclusively because I went through verbal and was like this seems pretty easy to me. I took 2MGMAT exams and 1 GMAT.com exam and average a 610 on all 3 ( Q41 V35). I felt pretty good going into test day. I was even like, on test day I will work extra hard on verbal and that score will go up. On test day, I got in there and right away notice how the quant questions were more similar to the GMAT.com test and wished I had focused more on all the official questions and not on MGMAT tests and questions. I knew I had done terribly and then came the Verbal part. These were much harder than anything I had seen before. I knew I was no where near my practice scores so I just canceled the score.

Why am I telling you this, because I dont want you to make the same mistake I did and go in there thinking your verbal is better than you think. In fact, it it way harder.

Forward 3 weeks and here is what I have done so far and my plan going forward. I am still using the 5 Quant books from MGMAT. For verbal, I got the SC Grail and CR Bible, and still using MGMAT RC. It took me about a week to go through both SC CR books. After going through them I realized that going into the exam I was clueless and let my practice test scores and being a native speaker ruin the reality. I am actually taking this weekend off (personal reasons) and starting next week I am going to start doing as many official problems that I can get a hold of-- OG12, OG Verbal, OG Quant and OG 11. If you are trying to work the problem and then really work on understanding the questions it should take you about a month. I am also going to take a practice exam each weekend until the real thing to work on timing, real time testing feeling (taking 2 MGMAT exams and GMAT.com test 2 and redoing GMAT.com 1 to get more of the real questions).

Not to go against any other advice, but I would not spend a whole lot of time on any other materials, basics are basics. The MGMAT books are solid and seems like you have a good grasp on the basics (I would suggest getting the CR Bible and SC Grail though--better than MGMAT counterpart). But with about a month to go, nothing beats working on real gmat problems. I got this advice from someone on here who was in my position as well. You should really see an improvement and will be confident in the questions presented on the real thing.

Shko1 · Answer

fcvald01 - Great color. I appreciate the note. I definitely have been underestimating all aspects of this test. Unlike how we are usually tested, this test is unique in the fact that it tests your limits. I am going to order the CR Bible and SC Bible (Grail?). And get working on this. Hopefully I can make significant progress.

cecilpaladin32 · Answer

@Shko1: When preparing for the verbal, focus more on the OG12 questions...the questions in 2nd Edition Verbal Guide are FAR easier, in my humble opinion. I have been struggling considerably with OG12 SC correction (around 70% for correct answers) on just the "basic" sections of MGMAT, whereas I am getting a little under 90% right in the 2nd Edition Verbal Guide.

fcvald01 · Answer

Shko, Yes get the CR Powerscore Bible. This book should take a solid 8 hours to go through. This breaks down every single question type you will face and provides great info on how tackle each one. Since your a bit pressed for time (5 weeks, 4 hours a day), you could try to get the Aristotle SC Grail, but not sure if it will take too much of your time. You will spend an hour Downloading, printing and punching holes to put in a binder alone. The book is more basic than the MGMAT SC and teaches you how to read the answers vertically. I have started timing myself and can get about 75% questions right, while doing them in under 1.1 minutes as of now. This is after reading the SC Grail and practicing the 100 problems in the back. My goal is 90% right and under 1 minute when i start practicing OG SC. There is a great link on here about how all the verbal question types are correlated and how much you should spend on each one. You need to do each SC problem in a minute so you can have more time to outline for CR and RC problems. I thought outlining was dumb at first, especially on CR, but once you start practicing this you will start to find the conclusion and premises really easily. This helps for RC as well.

I had not looked at the OG Verbal and these SC may be too easy, but again they were once real questions so I am still planning on doing them. The SC Grail has the 100 problems at the end, you could substitute those maybe? Either way, do every single OG12 SC problem. For RC, you will see that the CR Bible will help tackle those questions too, but you need to just get comfortable doing these and develop your own strategy. You just have to practice a bunch of these. I remember the RC passages on the Gmat being brutal, 2 of them had statistics and a lot of scientific terminology. I didn't even understand one of them and ended up wasting like 5 minutes just reading the whole thing--big mistake. So just practice as many as possible, develop a strategy and stick with it.

Shko1 · Answer

Here is my schedule til test date.

Verbal Quant
26-Feb GMAT Club #1 Quant #1 / Advance Quant Chpt 2-4 (25 DS / 25 PS)
27-Feb Class 
28-Feb GMAT Club #2 Advance Quant Chpt 5-6
29-Feb Quant #2
1-Mar Manhattan #6 
2-Mar Quant #3 / Advance Quant Chpt 7
3-Mar GMAT Club #3 Quant #4 / Advance Quant Chpt 8
4-Mar Quant #5 / Advance Quant Online Problems
5-Mar Class 
6-Mar Quant #6
7-Mar GMAT Club #4 
8-Mar Manhattan #1 
9-Mar Quant #7
10-Mar GMAT Club #5 Quant #8 / Quant #9
11-Mar Quant #10 / Quant #11
12-Mar Manhattan #2 
13-Mar Review Review
14-Mar Review Quant #12
15-Mar Manhattan #3 
16-Mar Quant #13
17-Mar GMAT Club #6 Quant #14 / Quant #15
18-Mar Quant #16 / Quant #17
19-Mar Manhattan #4 
20-Mar Quant #18
21-Mar Catch Up Day 
22-Mar Manhattan #5 
23-Mar Quant #19 / Quant #20
24-Mar Quant #21 / Quant #22
25-Mar Quant #23 / Quant #24
26-Mar Review Review
27-Mar Review Review
28-Mar Review Review
29-Mar Review Review
30-Mar Review Review
31-Mar Review Review
1-Apr GMAT Offical Practice Test 
2-Apr TEST DAY

Yekrut · Answer

Great thread! Helps put perspective on the importance of verbal. I really have little to no strategy when attacking these questions. Hopefully I will be able to change that once I start studying that section.

Shko1 · Answer

Great thing about CR and SC is that you can spend 5 minutes and do 3 problems in your spare time. I feel I need to keep focusing on this but still develop a strong foundation in Quant because I know thats where my weakness is. More importantly, thats where I feel not as confident and struggle. Verbal, I just need to make sure I amn progressing and keep defining my execution/strategy.

fcvald01 · Answer

Shko, looks like a good intensive study strategy. I would take the official GMAT practice 2 or 3 days before and review/relax the day before.

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

1st Official Test on April 2nd - Review Score

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards