Hitting a Wall.... T - 35 days until Target Test Date

Question

I am stuck in a little bit of a rut and I was wondering if anyone has been in a similar situation or has any advice on how to get out of this?

I started studying for the GMAT in mid-November and my strategy has been to wake up early, study for 1-1.5 hours before work, and then also do some drills if I have any downtime at work (which is almost daily.) I took GMAT Prep 1 after I went through the Kaplan book to give myself a good idea at where I was starting off - I got a 420. Beyond dismal. I had to give myself credit though, I haven't taken a math class in 6 years. Of course I am going to be a bit rusty.

Using the Manhattan GMAT series as my main studying material, I have since then managed to improve my score by roughly 200 points. My last 2 tests (though these are MGMAT tests) have been 610 and 630 respectively. Not bad.... but not even close to my target score of 720-740.

Since that huge 200 point jump to the early-600 range, my score has stayed stagnant. I have almost been studying Quant exclusively because that is where I need the most improvement (by far.) And still... it is going nowhere. I've been keeping an Error Log since Day 1 and the sad part is that most of my mistakes are STUPID mistakes. I will add numbers wrong. Or multiply wrong. And then the other 2/3 of my mistakes are because I don't know the concepts forwards, backwards, and sideways as you absolutely HAVE to on this test. But I've done the Question Banks online, gone over the Chapter Practice Problems at least 3 or 4 times a piece now... WHY ISN'T IT STICKING?!?!

Anyway, I'm not really sure where to go from here. I haven't scheduled the test yet because I want to wait until I am POSITIVE I will have, at the very least, a 700+ score. My target test date is in 35 days... is this too soon? How can I get over this hump?

Any help is appreciated.

actressinpink · Answer

Oh, I also should mention that I have OG 12 and have been doing those problems as well, which correspond with the Manhattan series.

PowerCruncher · Answer

If you are having trouble with Quant have you considered the GMATCLUB tests?
In my experience the 25 quant tests played a big part in getting my Q50. I did 2 quant tests a night for about 2~3 weeks every night..

While I was already comfortable with Quant to begin with, it was the practice and the insight to tricks that made the GMATCLUB tests invaluable.

elleesie · Answer

Just relax! Believe that you know the concepts, and don't rush through the questions too quickly, which can cause those silly computation errors. For now, take your time to answer the questions... get familiar with the format and understand the answers. After a while, you will become more comfortable and be more confident!

Best of luck!

rajeevrks27 · Answer

I would suggest you to give break down ( Q and V ) of ur result...that will give more insight to fellow clubbers to understand whereal the scope exists for improvement...and to improve ur Quant, do prac, prac,prac,prac and in the end prac.....trust this method is the time tested method,....the more u prac , the more comfy u feel ...after some time u start understanding the pattern and able to do the problem correctly, having less time spent...
There doesn't exist any shortcut to practice.....be at it...n trust u will emerge out as winner...
Run a report of diagnostic, find the topics ur not comfortable with....solidify the concept referring to mgmat books, prac easy problems and graduate to medium and hard probs...rinse and repeat for other topics..
That's my 2 cents....Good luck..

MSoS · Answer

Get the fundamentals right. If you say that you do silly mistakes it is easy to fix. Take the time and get the questions right, no matter how long it takes. Of course the timing part is one important issue and makes the test even more difficult, but spending 10-15 secs more to double check might cover your a...

The gmatclub test are quite good but only if you manage the fundamentals up side down and already score at least Q45. Do not bother taking these test if you have trouble with basic issues.

45 days are enough if you are able to study every day for some time and use the weekends efficiently.

Good Luck!

jazzman · Answer

To get a score in the 700s, you have got to be scoring well on the questions GMAC marks as difficult. I would focus on the "advanced" sections in the MGMAT series, goinng through them until you understand the concepts completely.

wallstreetbarbie · Answer

Have you reviewed the advanced portions of the book?

Also, making stupid mistakes give us a false sense that we will not do that on test day. Maybe its time to do some multi/div/add/sub drills... google 3rd grade math work sheets... they will help you a lot.

actressinpink · Answer

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated. I'm taking the GMATPrep 2 this weekend (1st try) to see how I fair against truly accurate problems, not just MGMAT.

In the mean time, today is going to be a slow day at work so I am going to utilize the next 8 hours to hardcore drilling. Practice, practice, practice, right?

One I feel more comfortable with the easy/medium problems, I'll most likely graduate to the GMATClub Tests.

wallstreetbarbie - I actually have not gone through the Advanced portions yet. I know I am not 100% with the basic parts, so I was holding off until then. And will do.. maybe I'll start off with that right now.

Thanks again, everyone, I'll update you with my new practice scores after this weekend!

actressinpink · Answer

Well, just took the GMAT Prep 2 and I was actually SHOCKED when a 700 popped up on the screen.

Q43 V42 The funny part is that I haven't even finished going through the Verbal MGMAT guides. I've done two chapters of CR and did all of the SC... Still need to bring up the Quant score, though. I'm thinking now might be time to go through the Advanced portions of the MGMAT guides. I did look up some drills that were suggest earlier and those definitely helped. Does anyone know if the GMAT Prep is easier than the actual GMAT? I am just so shocked that I got a 700 on it... I had thought I did terrible the entire way through. Is this truly an accurate representation of the difficulty of the questions on the test? Thanks, Morgan

Yekrut · Answer

Congrats on breaking the 700 mark! Your verbal seems to be quite strong, do you remember how your verbal was on your first CAT test? Also how did you approach the quant section? Did you take the time to make sure you weren't making any "dumb" mistakes? It looks like if you can improve your quant to 47 you can reach your score. Something that I do in my spare time is play this game: https://www.lumosity.com/brain-games/pro ... /raindrops
It just keeps my basic math sharp and ensures that I avoid the dumb mistakes. Hopefully that will help, but your new score seems quite encouraging.

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