Advice: Gave first two GMAT Practice Exams

Question

Here's my results for the Practice Exam 1 and 2

Exam 1: 645 (Q80, V82, DI84) - Q 66th Percentile, V 79th, DI 98th
Exam 2: 615 (Q76, V83, DI83) - Q 40th Percentile, V 86th, DI 96th

I was not expecting this drop from Exam 1 to 2 and had practiced - feeling disheartened. I can of course see that Quant is where I'm lacking mostly. And in Exam 2 I had to attempt the last ~10 questions in ~15 minutes, really rushing me. Within Exam 2 Quant as well I'm @ 100th percentile w.r.t Counting/Sets/Series/Prob/Stats and Rates/Ratios/Percent, I'm 39th Percentile for Value/Order/Factors and 53rd for Equal/Unequal ALG.

Kindly tell me how to proceed. I've exhausted both Mocks and was planning on giving exam end of July/beg Aug.

My targets are LBS, HEC, INSEAD + T1 US Colleges and I considered ISB as backup but it's seeming unlikely now.

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Consider including/sharing your mock report and some of the gmatclub links of questions you found challenging. If, for example, you start with Quant and find it takes you a bit of time to warm up, doing a few questions beforehand may also be helpful. During prep, when reviewing Quant questions (e.g. after a practice set), consider seeing whether there may have been shorter/easier ways to get to the correct answer choice; this could include questions you already got correct.

Quant Cheat Sheet

Quant Cheat Sheet

pintukr · Answer

Should cover the syllabus fundamentals using Manhattan Prep books, if possible..

VIGupta · Answer

QA is where there is big lag. Starting with foundations of QA will be best with structured learning. Use the mock analysis to identify weak topics.

divyutdebbie · Answer

You can purchase the paid mocks and they are worth it.

yc168 · Answer

You can take each of Practice Exam 1 & 2 twice, without seeing repeated questions. Reserve them for before your formal attempt.

But that's really not the point here. Mock Exams are for practicing your timing strategy, or to gauge your standing. But they are not for learning the concepts or practicing your problem-solving skills.

Would you mind sharing what are the resources you have been using for Quant?

Missinga · Answer

For practicing purpose, try to use unofficial mocks like from GMAT CLUB, Experts Global or some other....Only use official mock during the final phase of prep.... If you have already taken mock 1&2 twice, then you can consider buying official mock 3&4 for final prep. 
Also start with least difficulty level in quants (from 505-605 level questions, once you have mastered questions of these level, go for higher difficulty levels). You can use Forum Quiz for that

Hope it helps

mhndru · Answer

I've only been prepping via GMATNinja Videos + Questions on GMAT Club. Unfortunately I'm not in the position to purchase TTP or Manhattan courses financially. Max I was planning on dishing out for the official practice exams before the prep.

I'm thinking of doing concepts for the two Quant areas from YouTube and then GMATClub Questions for this week. Then give myself time to practice on official mocks till end of July. Does that sound okay?

WhitEngagePrep · Answer

Hi mhndru!

Often I see a drop between the 1st and 2nd exam, particularly if you've been focusing on learning new content and strategies in between. I like to use the analogy of bouncing (dribbling) a basketball. Most people learn to dribble with one hand but not the other. But if you want to get good and actually play basketball, you need to learn to dribble with both. But in order to learn to use your non-dominant hand, things will get worse before they get better. Same with material. If trying to apply new learnings and strategies are slowing you down, that can hurt for a while (but it will get better). Knowing more can also encourage you to make some poor choices around which questions to spend time on (just because it now looks familiar, you might start spending time when you still should have bailed).

That said, how much time was between the two exams? What did your studies look like? And did your section order change at all?

Also, as some other posters noted, can you include screenshots of the question-by-question performance on your sections, particularly quant? And you're only 2 practice tests in, I wouldn't start counting out schools just based on that!

Whit

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