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550 mock test, strategy moving forward

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mekaelj
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550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   13 Jan 2017, 18:19
Hey everyone,

I just took my first mock test at Veritas prep and scored 550 (Q33/V33). I haven't started studying at all yet and just wanted to know where I was. I have around two months before I need to sit the test, and I was just wondering if you would help me with how I should study? I work full time and lead a busy life so I do not imagine I'll have more than an hour per day to study during weekdays and probably around two hours a day on weekends.

I got the following percent right on each type of question: PS57, DS44, RC58, CR81, SC54.

Clearly my quant score is horrible, I assume I should start by studying some basic maths? I've bought the GMAT Official Bundle Guide books to help me practice.

In terms of a goal, I don't really have one. I'd just like to prepare as best as I can within the time restraints that I have. Just scoring 550 would get me into a good Msc in my country, but with a better score obviously there's a chance of getting into an even better program. Additionally, I just want to make sure that I don't score any worse than this on test day.

Any tips appreciated!

Regards,

Mikael
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   14 Jan 2017, 21:39
mekaelj wrote:
Hey everyone,

I just took my first mock test at Veritas prep and scored 550 (Q33/V33). I haven't started studying at all yet and just wanted to know where I was. I have around two months before I need to sit the test, and I was just wondering if you would help me with how I should study? I work full time and lead a busy life so I do not imagine I'll have more than an hour per day to study during weekdays and probably around two hours a day on weekends.

I got the following percent right on each type of question: PS57, DS44, RC58, CR81, SC54.

Clearly my quant score is horrible, I assume I should start by studying some basic maths? I've bought the GMAT Official Bundle Guide books to help me practice.

In terms of a goal, I don't really have one. I'd just like to prepare as best as I can within the time restraints that I have. Just scoring 550 would get me into a good Msc in my country, but with a better score obviously there's a chance of getting into an even better program. Additionally, I just want to make sure that I don't score any worse than this on test day.

Any tips appreciated!

Regards,a

Mikael


Hi mekaelj ,
Since you have not started studying , you can easily improve your score to early to mid 600's in 2 months provided you study consistently during this period .
1. Identify your target programs
2. Research stats on the Class profile of your target programs
3. Set a target GMAT score
4. Start your GMAT prep - you can give one of the two free GMAT practice tests. That should give you an idea where you currently stand.

The free GMAT Prep tests that can be downloaded from www.mba.com will provide a better idea of where you stand. Also, depending on your requirements you have different options-
- Magoosh - provides decent prep at a reasonable price
- e-GMAT - on demand and live course - e-GMAT SC is the best in the market
- Veritas on-demand - It is pretty decent course but is expensive
- Manhattan GMAT SC and Powerscore CR bible - best books for SC and CR .
- Quant - You can follow Bunuel and the questions posted by him. Since you have Q33 , i would suggest that you should try to improve the core concepts before moving to difficult questions

Hope this helps!! :)
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   15 Jan 2017, 02:09
Skywalker18 wrote:
mekaelj wrote:
Hey everyone,

I just took my first mock test at Veritas prep and scored 550 (Q33/V33). I haven't started studying at all yet and just wanted to know where I was. I have around two months before I need to sit the test, and I was just wondering if you would help me with how I should study? I work full time and lead a busy life so I do not imagine I'll have more than an hour per day to study during weekdays and probably around two hours a day on weekends.

I got the following percent right on each type of question: PS57, DS44, RC58, CR81, SC54.

Clearly my quant score is horrible, I assume I should start by studying some basic maths? I've bought the GMAT Official Bundle Guide books to help me practice.

In terms of a goal, I don't really have one. I'd just like to prepare as best as I can within the time restraints that I have. Just scoring 550 would get me into a good Msc in my country, but with a better score obviously there's a chance of getting into an even better program. Additionally, I just want to make sure that I don't score any worse than this on test day.

Any tips appreciated!

Regards,a

Mikael


Since you have not started studying , you can easily improve your score to early to mid 600's in 2 months provided you study consistently during this period .
1. Identify your target programs
2. Research stats on the Class profile of your target programs
3. Set a target GMAT score
4. Start your GMAT prep - you can give one of the two free GMAT practice tests. That should give you an idea where you currently stand.

The free GMAT Prep tests that can be downloaded from will provide a better idea of where you stand. Also, depending on your requirements you have different options-
- Magoosh - provides decent prep at a reasonable price
- e-GMAT - on demand and live course - e-GMAT SC is the best in the market
- Veritas on-demand - It is pretty decent course but is expensive
- Manhattan GMAT SC and Powerscore CR bible - best books for SC and CR .
- Quant - You can follow Bunuel and the questions posted by him. Since you have Q33 , i would suggest that you should try to improve the core concepts before moving to difficult questions

Hope this helps!! :)


Hi Skywalker, thanks for your reply!

1-3. Well, I have been thinking of going to the University in my hometown of Gothenburg where they require ~450 for the course I want to do. However, the best school in the country would be Stockholm School of Economics and they require ~700. There is no school in between the two that accepts the GMAT that I would rather go to. In essence, either I aim for a 700 or I don't really apply myself and settle for Gothenburg Uni.
4. I sat down and quickly did one of the two free GMAT exams provided by MBA dot com. I scored a 630 with (Q36/V40) which does feel promising.

Again, my quant score is terrible, and I'm not surprised. I have to just move past so many questions because I have no idea how to even try to answer them. I ordered the basic math book from the manhattan series, which I hope will help me learn the basics of Quant.

Mikael
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   16 Jan 2017, 07:35
Hi mate,
I started from 550 and reached 650. The jump was possible mostly because of the change in attitude. The toughest task is to work on your mistakes. Understanding why you didn't answer correctly and how you can improve yourself is crucial.

Good luck with your journey ;)
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   16 Jan 2017, 16:17
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Hi Mikael,

The process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School will require a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, so you really should make sure that the Programs that you apply to match your career goals/needs. This is meant to say that you really should try to define your goals. If you really want to go to the Stockholm School of Economics, then you have to work towards that goal and plan accordingly.

From what you've described, you took 2 CATs in 3 days (scoring 550 and 630) - the problem here is that we don't know which (if either) is truly the accurate reflection of your current skills. While we want to believe that the 630 is the accurate score, we have no way to know (and it does not sound like you took either CAT under rigorous, realistic testing conditions).

I think that you should take a day or two to truly define your long-term goals, then gather the necessary data (application deadlines, etc.) so that we can properly discuss what the next several months of study should look like.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   19 Jan 2017, 18:31
EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi Mikael,

The process of applying to (and ultimately attending) Business School will require a big investment of time, money and energy on your part, so you really should make sure that the Programs that you apply to match your career goals/needs. This is meant to say that you really should try to define your goals. If you really want to go to the Stockholm School of Economics, then you have to work towards that goal and plan accordingly.

From what you've described, you took 2 CATs in 3 days (scoring 550 and 630) - the problem here is that we don't know which (if either) is truly the accurate reflection of your current skills. While we want to believe that the 630 is the accurate score, we have no way to know (and it does not sound like you took either CAT under rigorous, realistic testing conditions).

I think that you should take a day or two to truly define your long-term goals, then gather the necessary data (application deadlines, etc.) so that we can properly discuss what the next several months of study should look like.

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


Hi Rich,

To more accurately assess where I currently stand I sat down and took another CAT, this time from Manhattan. I did so under test like circumstances and scored a 620 (Q39/V36).

Moving forward, I have my GMAT scheduled for March 30. I would like a result of 680+.

My weak points for verbal are SC and RC. Sentence correction is especially weak. I've ordered MGMAT's sentence correction book and I hope that should give me some pointers.

For Quant, I'm weak in both DS and PS but especially weak in data sufficiency. To be honest, my math fundamentals are severely lacking and I find myself not knowing what some problems are about at all.

What would be my best resources for learning math fundamentals? I have the MGMAT basic math book on it's way from ebay which I hope will help me.

Cheers,

Mikael
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   20 Jan 2017, 11:55
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Hi Mikael,

You mentioned that you took this last CAT under test-like circumstances, so I'd just like to clarify a few details:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at home?
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during this CAT that you can't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Have you taken this CAT before? Had you seen any of the questions before?

All things being equal, if this score is accurate then your score goal is absolutely achievable in the time that you have. You might find it necessary to invest in some non-book study materials though.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Re: 550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   20 Jan 2017, 23:07
EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi Mikael,

You mentioned that you took this last CAT under test-like circumstances, so I'd just like to clarify a few details:

1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take it at home?
3) Did you take it at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during this CAT that you can't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Have you taken this CAT before? Had you seen any of the questions before?

All things being equal, if this score is accurate then your score goal is absolutely achievable in the time that you have. You might find it necessary to invest in some non-book study materials though.

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


Hi Rich

1) I did, but didn't put too much effort in and got mediocre scores.
2) Yes
3) No, I took it around 10pm at night after work so I was a bit tired.
4) Not really. I did however finish each section about 20 minutes early. Especially in the quant section this was not due to moving too quickly and making careless mistakes, I just had lots of questions that I did not know what they meant.
5) I have not and no
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550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink] New post   21 Jan 2017, 15:39
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Hi Mikael,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more your scores can deviate - and that's almost certainly what happened here. With this latest CAT, you didn't "try your best" in the IR and Essay sections (because you were tired) and you rushed through a certain number of Quant/Verbal questions and finished early (you could have used those extra 20 minutes in each section to potentially pick up some points). Beyond that, neither taking the CAT at 10pm nor taking it at home are realistic choices. This is all meant to say that I don't think that this score is necessarily accurate - and you're going to have to be a bit more disciplined about how you take your CATs from now on, otherwise we'll won't be able to properly assess your 'readiness' to face the Official GMAT.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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550 mock test, strategy moving forward [#permalink]
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