After 3 Months of Preparation, i've got 570!? PLZZ Advice!

Question

Dear all,

I've been studying for the gmat for about 3 months of serious preparation. Through out this period, i've managed to completely read, understand & solve all of these books/resources;

OG11
OG Quantitative
Kaplan Premiere (with CD)
Kaplan 800
Kaplan Verbal Guide (but that one is about 1/2 complete)
Princeton review (with DVD)
Gmat Manhattan SC
Gmat Manhattan Number Properties
Gmat Math Bible by Jeff Sackmann
Ace the Gmat by brandon royal
800score.com

I thought i did all the necessary preparation in the world. But to my surprise, i took the the gmat yesterday and i scored a 570 Q38 V30 !!!

I can't deny that i was never a good standardized test taker, and i can't deny also that my performance during this studying period has increased exponentially, and i've got a lot of benefit from the books above. However, i still need to get a 680+ to apply to the biz schools of my choice.

I don't give-up easily. I still believe i can do this despite the score above.
But i need your sincere and experienced advice.

FYI, i reside in a 3rd world country were we dont have any gmat preparation company here to have a course with. I really wished i lived in NY were i can cross the street to go to Kaplan, Veritas or Manhattan gmat.

By the way, has anybody tried those expensive self study courses offered by Kaplan and Manhattan? Does anyone here suggest that i should take those?

Guys, my problem now is that i feel that i've prepared using all the good resources that i know about. In addition to, practicing all the recommended studying strategies i've found on this incredible forum (i.e. time ur self on an excel sheet, focus on understanding ur wrong answers, re-solve wrong questions again....etc.).

I'm feeling a bit confused now, and i'm not sure what should be the way forward??

Sorry for the long post & thanks for your concern.

Your advice will be highly appreciated.

Thanks & regards,
Kareem

Tarmac · Answer

You don't need any prep courses.

Have you used GMATprep software? What were your scores?

spiridon · Answer

Well, you are close man, just need to improve those scores a bit but they r kinda balanced.

How did u do in gmat preparation tests?
and

no matter what gmac says, i believe there can be a big oscilation in the scores depending what type of problems do u get, if u find reading passages hard to read etc.

bigtreezl · Answer

what do you think of the kaplan material? does the CD that comes with the kaplan prem. book include a math question bank?

kareemamer · Answer

Hi all, Thanks a lot for your inputs

Tarmac & Spiridon: Yes, i did work on practice tests: Mgmat: 610 Mgmat: 560 Mgmat: 530 Gmat prep: 550 Real Gmat: 570 I think i've scored with in my practice range

Spiridon can u explain more plz about "no matter what gmac says, i believe there can be a big oscilation in the scores depending what type of problems do u get, if u find reading passages hard to read etc." bigtreezl, the kaplan material is MUCH HARDER than real gmat, yes it does have practice sets for the quant. part (other than the 4 gmat tests included)

spiridon · Answer

Well, the big oscilation in scores can happen only if you have strengths in certain areas (eg geometry and arithmetics) and total weaknesses in another (eg algebra and applied problems). Therefore, if you get lucky to get first several question more focused on your strong side, you have much better chances of getting a good score and vice versa.

This does not apply for a well-rounded candidates who score balanced in every section.

Back to your scores:

So, if you scored 550 on gmatprep why would you expect to score significally higher at the real test? That was a sign that you should study more to improve your weak spots and perhaps postpone the test if you are aiming at scoring really high.

kareemamer · Answer

You're right spiridon. I think i should have postponed untill i get into the score range im aiming at. But the problem is that, i didnt know how to improve!? You see ive finished more than 1500 questins in practice and read a lot of strategy guides/books. But still i reached a point where i felt i really dont know how to improve. And as a matter of fact, i didnt know what exactly are my weak areas. And i guess that till now, this is my REAL PROBLEM; i dont know how to improve & i cant identify my weak areas.

Any thoughts/ suggestions?

Thanks

Any thoughts/ suggestions?

Thanks

spiridon · Answer

I would suggest that you practice hard math problems so you can uplift that Q38 to somewhere around 40+ and do a lot of work on verbal. After a while and a bit of luck on the test, you should be able to score around 650 more or less.

To identify your weak spots, do several tests and then analyze how many u got right/wrong in each section.

For us non-native english speakers is much harder to improve verbal in a short period of time but it is still doable to some extent.

good luck

btw where r u from if u dont mind sharing that info

kareemamer · Answer

Thanks Spiridon. Im from Egypt. (i bet u didn't see that coming :lol:

) And yourself?

spiridon · Answer

bosnia but live in texas now

yiihhaaa where and when r u planning to apply

kareemamer · Answer

Bosnia, that's interesting!

Im planning to apply for hbs, wharton, stanford, kellogg & insead for 2009

and urself

Ntang · Answer

Egypt? Third world country?? Ha!

Dude, prep courses are for suckers. I took none of them (and they're hard to find where I am too - North Carolina). Computer-based practice tests are where it's at - if you get to the point where you're scoring reasonably well on those, you're ready for the real thing. If you don't, you're not. It might just call for a second try.

Tarmac · Answer

do you understand your wrong answers on the gmatprep?

kareemamer · Answer

yes, i think i do understand my mistakes, but i guess i just keep getting new ones all the time.

However, ive noticed a very interesting observation; most of my mistakes are in the pretty easy questions (500 level), i do less mistakes in harder questions! I wonder why!?

spiridon · Answer

I am gonna try rice and mccombs, however have to improve gmat verbal too. my exam is scheduled in 3 weeks. right now i score around 30 in verbal and struggling to push it to at least 35

Miketx · Answer

Did you ever try the GMAT club questions on this forum? I read many 700+ found it very useful especially for those who are weak in Quant. It helps you learn from your mistakes and provides you many test so you can learn different styles of questions. Also, there is a section on this forum where others post questions and you can check them out to see if you can answer them. If you need anymore help just post and I am sure someone will help you out :-D

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