Last minute tips please!

Question

Hi community,
Sparsh here from India - I've planned to take my GMAT in the coming days & targeting the round 1 intake.
 
I started with 675 a few months back, and with a few months of prepping with free resources (thanks GMAT Club!), I'm now getting a 715 on my official mocks. (Q89 D86 V82)
Verbal seems to be my weakest and where I can afford the fewest mistakes - and it always puts me in time trouble. Any last-minute tips?

Also, how costly is an " unattempt " is in the GMAT? On the last question in the Verbal section, I selected the right option but wasn't able to submit before the timer ran out. Although I read somewhere that GMAT would auto-accept the selected option, that didn't seem to happen on the mock.
Should I add back any points?

Also, I haven't registered yet, so I'm open to pushing the D-day a day or two to work on this. Appreciate your insights as always

pintukr · Answer

You may attempt topic-wise variou difficulty level questions using Forum Quiz. All the Best.

dotsoftme · Answer

good luck man you will make it to 715 surely... i am also trying for the ssame but my level is at 600 yet

KaviIyer · Answer

I have read that it is always better to mark even those questions that you are not able to attempt some question or questions because of scarcity of time.

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Nice work getting from 675 to 715. Q89 and DI86 are excellent results, and you're right that Verbal is where the room is.

One thing on how you're framing it, though. All three sections count equally toward your total, so Verbal isn't the section where mistakes cost you more. It's the section where you have the most to gain.

For the time trouble, the first job is figuring out where the time actually goes, because "Verbal runs long" covers a few different problems. Verbal is 23 questions in 45 minutes. A short RC passage and its questions should take about five minutes, a long one seven or eight. CR usually runs around two minutes, three on the hardest ones. Pull up the timing data from your recent mocks and see which of those is drifting. If CR is fine and RC is eating the clock, the fix is in how you read the passage. If CR is where you stall, you're probably re-reading the stimulus or going through the choices twice.

Check the front of the section too. Running out of time at the end often starts with six or eight questions at the beginning that took too long. Nerves can do it. So can content that holds up untimed and falls apart under the clock.

Don't try to read faster this week. On Verbal, that costs more in accuracy than it saves in time.

On the unattempt. Unanswered questions do hurt your score, and there's no point value I can give you for one, because your score depends on the difficulty of the questions you get right and wrong, not just the count. But the mechanic is worth knowing. The answer has to be submitted to register. Selecting it isn't enough. So in the last minute of a section, get an answer submitted on everything left, even if it's a guess. Question Review and Edit won't rescue you either. Per GMAC, it only works if you finish the section with time on the clock, and it lets you change answers on at most three questions per section.

As for the date, a day or two won't move your Verbal skill, so don't push for that reason. If it buys you one clean rehearsal of your pacing routine and a rested morning, take it. Otherwise register for the earliest date that works and go. Either way, spend the days you have on your mock timing data and your section order, not on new material.

You're walking in from a strong position. Trust the work behind you and let test day look like your mocks.

	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

Last minute tips please!

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards