22 days aiming at 750

Question

Hello experts especially BB and Bunnel,

Before I begin my story, this forum is a blessing for all the gmat aspiramts who want to convert their dreams / aspirations into reality.Pl keep doing teh great work.

My question and my partial answers to them (need experts to help me out)

1. I have my exam on 8 may and am close to 3 weeks away from it.

I started out with my prep almost 6 months back , i am a working mother of a toddler so its been a roller coaster all the way , studying aand managing kids.

My mock scores tell me I am way behind my target , I scored GMAT Prep V28, Q449 (650), today i took economist gmat , I score 670 Q49, V 34.

Few days back I took MGMAT in which I score 650 V 37, Q 44.

I have been through lots of relevant posts in this forum regarding study plans all say close to 150 hours are sufficient.Considering the no of hours I am all for putting 9 hours a day my husband will be helping out to take care of the kid so that make close to 200 hrs , so I still believe I can achieve my target if i work deligently.

I have strategised as under :

1.Identified SC to be weak area and a potential ROI area, so I am jotting down all wrong questions of OG 13 again . Reviewing them understanding why i am going wrong.Reviewing e-gmat course again. It is a wonder ful course but i have stuck to V 34 some how with approx 70 % accuracy in SC.Timing really screws my accuracy.

2. RC daily pract : I have seen if i daily practice 4 passage my accuracy os close to 85 % but if i dont do pract for few days it goes down also because of timing issue.

3. CR I am going through 10 q daily and reading e gmat articles to understand the pattern and technique.

For quant : I have reviewed Jeff toal gmat math , identified where i do silly mistakes or not able to grasp the question in ds because of missing few points given in question stimulus.

And doing timed question for forum / followingf bunnel / review mgmat maths book.

Also, I have identified that timing espe cially in verbal bogs down my score so I will be giving 12 mocks 6 mgmat + 2 gmat prep + 5 800 score got with egmat + economist gmat every alternate day or so..

Please experts help me to achieve my experts score and let me know what else i should do or what i should refrain from doing..
I belive I can do if i work smartly for next 200 hours...

Thanks a lot ,anticipating an early reply.

TheEconomistGMATTutor · Answer

Hi there!

I noticed you said that you are studying with Economist GMAT Tutor. Fantastic!! I wanted to chime in and let you know that you can use one of your 45 minute one on one tutor sessions to discuss strategy with an expert. The tutor will be able to see your progress in your account and devise a customized plan for you to improve.

Regards,

Elizabeth

purnima · Answer

Hello Elizabeth,

Thank you so much for your reply.I took the free test from economist gmat site I am not a regular student of the course.
However, any help/advice is welcome.I took the manhattan test yesterday and scored V38 and Q45 total of 680.
But there were around 5-6 questions in the CR section which i had attempted before from site and could recall their answers.

Request BB / Bunuel to pl chip in and guide if possible,

Regards,
Purnima

ThomasHall · Answer

Here are my thoughts on your prep situation:

You just scored a 650 on a GMATPrep CAT and your goal is a 750. I'm not sure how hard and fast of a goal that is, but that is likely not possible in 3 weeks, especially because you have so much work to do in Verbal. With a Q49, you really should be focusing most of your energy on Verbal to bring up that V28 you just scored. So, two pieces of advice there - devote 3/4ths of your prep time to verbal and also plan on pushing your test date back if possible.

You mentioned 150 hrs of prep being sufficient. How much prep is sufficient is extremely variable for each student. If someone wants to increase her score 150 points and preps very efficiently, she can expect to reach her goal in about 225 hours of prep.

You mentioned using egmat for SC. Have you looked at MGMAT? Their strategy guides are fantastic. And the fact that you bog down timing wise on Verbal in general likely means that you could be using stronger strategies across the board, or practicing more effectively.

I think you could gain a great deal from my big-picture guide to GMAT self-study:  GMAT Clarity (amazon link) . I'd be happy to help you use it based on your specific situation and needs.

purnima · Answer

Hello everybody,

I gave my exam yesterday and got a score of 680 (Q48 and V 35 IR 4).I am not happy with it as the colleges I am targeting need 700+.

Sharing my exam experience,

Preparation : 4 months base score of 620 ( Q47 v 30)
Books : Almost all noteworthy books
Course : MGMAT CAT and E-gmat

E-gmat course really helped me improve my SC as before the course I was clueless on approaching SC questions.
My performance in MGMAT CATS was always below the mark never scored more than 650 .Verbal score hovered between 28-38 , averaging 34 , and quants never scored more than Q 44.

Retrospection :

1.Though I worked on quant section and studied too form MGMAT books and Jeff but In my opinion GMAT questions are tricky , they require you to think out of the formulae and are not just simply put the formula and get the answer type questions. Also, for few problems you need to recollect the shortcut as working out easily consumes more than 2 min which plays havoc with your timing during the exam. I think I lacked practice and despite reading and covering the books my concepts were not up to the mark.

For some I think doing few questions are enough but I guess for me I have to a lot of practice.

2. For verbal my 70 % focus was on SC but to my disappointment I think I didn't perform well in SC on The exam .I wish I had focussed on RC and CR too equally.

3.Timing was and is still a pain , I have extremely poor timing which I feel I was not able to overcome , in all my exams till the end timing played havoc with my score.ave 
Especially in Verbal , if two long RC's came despite knowing the fact that I need 8 min each to read them , I always used to feel tensed inadvertently causing a mess up.

4. I gave gmat prep 2 days before my exam got 680 and 580( a day before the exam- 2 back to back rcs at q 11 - 18 all wrong).
I know what an emotional turmoil I went through after seeing that score. But in a way I learned that if two rc's come and if I panic I will ruin everything I learned in 4 months

My questions to the forum:

1.I am targeting indian b schools executive programs where median score is 705+.
2.How do I achieve it ?
3 What new resources I need ?

Regards,

Purniam

	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Manhattan Prep: $79 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $325 $200 Discount + $79 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	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

22 days aiming at 750

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