tejal777 wrote:
Gave my GMATprep 2(retake) 660 V35 Q45
PS 12/20 DS 10/17 SC 7/9 CR 13/19 RC 9/13
Yes people..I am STILL there..there is absolutly no change and it feels like I am stuck in a rut..Really need some advice now as to how to get over this hurdle..
Pt1: My Quant was actually terrible this session.Clearly I have been ignoring it the past few days.
Pt2:The long hours spent on Sc day after day is not helping me RAISE my score but to keep it constant..
Pt3;I would consider postponing my exam,but my deadline is November end(Have a trip in dec so want to get it done before that)So even If i postpone i'll get just 15 days..not sure if it will make a difference.
There are so many of you out there..Did somebody face this..being stuck at the same score no matter what?It seems I am spending my day pulling this heavy cart which just refuses to budge!!Grr..!!
660 was exactly the score that I got in my GMATPrep2 which I took a 8 days before my scheduled date. I was completely shtattered and lost my confidence thinking that I was NOT ready to fight the beast yet. So unwillingly I postponed my exam. This happened when my initial date was Oct 12. But because I was still having time, I took the decision of postponing the exam. Planning to take over the beast in the next couple of days. One thing that I experience is GMATPrep 1 is little easier when compared to GMATPrep2. Now when compared to real exam, how GMATPrep 2 is rated, I cannot comment on that. And infact 660 is NOT that bad of a score. But it may matter when you are targetting really really high. I think this is enough of Bhashan.
Ok Now coming to your score, I see that PS,DS and SC(I think you swiped your SC with CR) are relatively weak. One good take away from this is that all these 3 sections are definitely improvable. If you have to score 700+, I think it is a safe bet to have Quant atleast at 49. And Verbal atleast at 37.
Here are some things you can watch out -(I know that it is very easy to advice BUT very difficult to implement. BTW, these are the mistakes that I have done and now I am trying to correct them. Hope to see a happy ending)
1. How is your timing w.r.t to both the sections. Are you following any timing strategy to help yourself w.r.t time. Are you taking any pressure when you see that you are behind the timing? Solution for this is - try to follow some time strategy and do NOT take too much pressure when you see that you are little off the timing. Rather try concentrate on the problem and get the solution quickly.
2. Did you do any GMATClub quant tests? They say that they are very good. I do agree to that but my opionin is that They do not have questions on par with GMATprep but deinitely have tricks that are frequently asked in GMATPrep. So in case you have NOT started these tests, I would definitely suggest to start taking them. This will help you in improving your DS skills.
3. All you need is roughly 4 more points either in Quant or Verbal so that atleast you reach the magical number. And I know you have around 11 days from now. So think which one can you spend more time that will reap sweet fruits. Say in quant, if it is the careless mistakes that you are doing, then
GMATClub tests are the solution. If in verbal, SC is your weak area, then working on
OG and for each question, cross verify the point in
MGMAT SC book to get an ever better explanation on how the question can be attempted.
4. One common mistake that I do is that, when ever I am stuck between two ans choice, I really spend lot more time to pick the ans. But then if you are NOT so confident, there is no guarentee that the ans I pick is ging to be right. But still I end up spending a lot. And guess what......this leads to a rippling effect on the later questions becuase I am trying the squeeze the time out of the relatively easy questions on to this doubtful question. I finally end up having my supposedly easy question turn to a much harder one. So I would suggest, when ever you have 2 ans and you are NOT confident enough which one to pick, go buy your favourite number (1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5) and move on. Atleast this way, the supposedly easy question will remain easy.
5. Since your GMATPrep score is NOT upto your expectation, I would suggest you take the Prep exams, probably one day quant and the next day verbal so that you improve on our timing and also come to know what type of mistakes you are doing. Also it is very very imp to review the questions that you have completed on the same day becuase, your mind set is fresh with the information on how you sovled the question and in case if the question happens to be wrong, then you know what mistake you made that led to a wrong ans. This will help you in correcting your mistake. There is no point in attempting the questions one one day, and then reviewing them couple of days later. You might forget how you solved the question and there will not be any learnings from your mistakes that you made.
6. One last thing, DO NOT EVER THINK that your GMATPrep score is NOT on par with your expected score. This will hinder your performance very very badly(My personal experience). Start attempting the GMATPreps with an intention of learning from your mistakes BUT NOT to see 700+ score. Seeing a 700+ score in GMATPrep will NOT guarentee the similar result in actual one. But if you learn from mistakes and NOT repeat them in the real one, atleast it will contribute a little to your 700+ number in the real GMAT. Ultimately how cool and how confident will you be on your D-day i what will ONLY matter.
See if any of these tips will help you better. Phew.....such a lengthy advice......See how easy it is to advice someone who in the water trying to swim out when you are on the shore.
Hope to see a happy ending.
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22 Oct 2009, 23:00
So until 2 days before the exam, ignore the fact that the exam day is fast approaching....rather select couple of topics that you are week, and go thru the exercises to learn more on solving the questions under these topics. 
