Last Month - Weak areas and Reviews

Question

Hello there!

I have been studying for more or less 3 month right now.

I have been thinking about taking the GMAT test on the begging of June.

I know that the major are I have to improve during this month is Verbal ( ~27 on CATS), specially SC and CR.

I have got the E-GMAT course and I am currently at the SC section, however I don't know if I should mix both topic on a daily study base schedule or study each individually?
Apart from that, I feel that I am able to improve QUANT(~45), specially in time management.

My current approach is the following

1 hour - QUANT PRACTICE - OG with timer 
1 hour - SC review
1 hour - CR review.

would that be the best approach?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi zzarur,

Before you commit to a June Test Date, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) Did you take the FULL CAT each time (with the Essay and IR sections)?

Goals:
3) What is your goal score?
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

zzarur · Answer

Before you commit to a June Test Date, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? -  my last CAT on April 15th was - 590(Q45/Q27)  
2) Did you take the FULL CAT each time (with the Essay and IR sections)?   No essay/Yes IR
  
Goals:
3) What is your goal score?   my goal is ~700  
4) When are you planning to apply to Business School?  start right after the GMAT/end of june would be perfect  
5) What Schools are you planning to apply to?  It really depends on my Score, my main goal are the best Canadian Schools - Rotman/York/UBC/Mcgill... also IESE/IE in Spain. But if I reach a more decent score I may consider Kellog/Berkeley/Standford/Insead

thank you!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi zzarur,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your practice scores can become - and that's likely what happened here. By skipping the Essay section, you took a shorter Exam that requires less effort and energy than the Official GMAT will require, so this score result is likely not accurate. In addition, if you did anything else that isn't realistic, such as taking the CATs at home, taking them at different times of day, pausing the Exam, etc., then the score is likely even more inflated. As such, you have to be more specific about how you take your CATs in the future.

That having been said, raising a 590 to a 700+ will likely take at least another 2-3 months of consistent, guided study. This is meant to say that a June Test Date might not be a practical choice with your current score goal. Since it's been almost 3 weeks since your last CAT, I suggest that you take a new FULL-LENGTH CAT sometime soon (perhaps this weekend). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss how best to proceed.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

zzarur · Answer

Thank you very much Rich!

will be taking a FULL Test today, hopefully I'm going to be able to improve my score!

zzarur · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

I have just gone through my test

and had the same Score

590 - (45Q/27V) with IR and AWA.

I have no doubt that I need to work on Verbal to achieve my target.
Specially SC. From 15 wrong questions 
9 - SC
2 - CR
4 - RC( Which also really bad)

Should I just forget about Quant for now? and work only in Verbal?

What would be the best approach for a study plan?

Thank you!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi zzarur,

Given the similarity of these recent CAT scores, and the length of time that you've been studying, it's possible that you're 'stuck' at this particular score level. To score at a significantly higher level, you're going to have to change how you "see" (and respond to) the GMAT - and it doesn't seem that your current study materials are helping you to do that. From what you've described, it sounds like you really want to apply to Business School this Fall. If you want to stick with that timeframe, then you're going to have to make some significant changes now, so that you don't 'waste' the next couple of months studying in a way that might not lead to improvement. Since you'll need to improve in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections to hit your goal, you should be studying some Quant and some Verbal each week, with an emphasis on learning and practicing the proper Tactics.

1) Going forward, how many hours do you think you can consistently study each week?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi Best approach also depends upon your temperament, Only adopt only that approach in which you learn more effectively and efficiently Its doesn't matter what to learn first quant or verbal Focus on areas you are performing bad Review all of your practice with more time than you solve them practice only OG questions Take some CATs and work to meet the pace of The test Good Luck Cheers

zzarur · Answer

EMPOWERgmatRichC

about 2 - 3 hours a day.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi zzarur,

Based on your needs in both the Quant and Verbal sections, and your potential study time, I think that you would find the EMPOWERgmat Total Score Booster to be quite helpful. Most of our clients complete that Study Plan in under 2 months, so the time commitment wouldn't be that bad. We have a variety of free resources on our site (www.empowergmat.com), so you can 'test out' the Course before setting up an Account.

If you have any additional questions, then you can feel free to contact me directly.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

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