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JohnnyCage
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 26 Jul 2011, 06:38
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I spent three weeks to burn thru most of the OG 12 for my first try and got a 600, which was exactly what I expected (V27, Q44 & AW 5). For verbal, I did not get much of the SC right in OG12 , about half right in CR, and a lot right in reading, I guess that’s exactly what happened in the real exam as well. For Quantitative, I got around 70% right in OG12.

I really struggle with SC and CR, should I go thru OG12 again or look for something else to improve?
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 26 Jul 2011, 20:38
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have you tried the SC MGMAT guide, you can buy them separately on amazon.com
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 27 Jul 2011, 18:21
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try the CR powerscore bible.
also refer to this:
best-gmat-books-77703.html
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 28 Jul 2011, 09:59
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JohnnyCage
I spent three weeks to burn thru most of the OG 12 for my first try and got a 600, which was exactly what I expected (V27, Q44 & AW 5). For verbal, I did not get much of the SC right in OG12 , about half right in CR, and a lot right in reading, I guess that’s exactly what happened in the real exam as well. For Quantitative, I got around 70% right in OG12.

I really struggle with SC and CR, should I go thru OG12 again or look for something else to improve?
Show more

Well, the good news is the SC section you claim you are weak in is actually the easiest to improve. It's all about knowing where the booby traps are. You see, the GMAT guys try to create traps and make you choose the seemingly obvious answer--when really that's not what you want to do. Once you learn the ropes of how to navigate SC--you can start thinking about how to reduce the amount of time you spend on SC. Doing so is critical so that you can free up more time for the CR and RC questions that will require more of your time.

Remember, it's as much about accuracy as it is about time management. Good luck on your studies--and we're here to help.
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JohnnyCage
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 03 Aug 2011, 23:20
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Thx all. I am planning to concentrate on verbal only (CR and SC) and this time I will take the test more seriously instead of shotgunning thru OG12. My goal is to up my verbal score to 40 from 27. I have already bought the Powerscore CR bible and MGMAT SC book and will probably buy the forum grammar guide as well to build a better foundation of English language for the test first. Also, I will be taking practice tests (and error logging) from time to time to track my progress. This is the plan I came up with after researching extensively on this forum, does anybody have comment? Since I am working 12 hours a day, I am looking to maximize my ROI as much as possible.
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 20 Nov 2011, 22:52
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Guys, I am feeling very frustrated now. After three months of studying mgmt SC, RC, and powerscore cr and finishing all og12 verbal questions, I still got a 33V(47Q, 660total) on my mgmt sim exam yesterday!
The sad thing is I was feeling super confident during the test, although my mind did go blank wih couple rc questions. When I revisited the questions that I got wrong, I felt that I could have gotten some of them right if it were not in an exam setting. I did not have problem solving even hard questions when doing them type by type( like doing only cr weakening), but my brain just didn't work very well when all question types combine together. Has anyone experienced this before? I dunno what I should do next as I have around 30 days to the exam.

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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 21 Nov 2011, 06:44
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It does happen - try practising mixed content when not taking tests. Also see where you made most of the mistakes. Last but not the least MGMAT Quant is harder than GMAT and Verbal is easier(scoring wise).
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try Updated on: 27 Dec 2011, 09:28
Originally posted by JohnnyCage on 26 Dec 2011, 10:05.
Last edited by JohnnyCage on 27 Dec 2011, 09:28, edited 1 time in total.
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Guys, I took the test again last Friday and got 650(Q:45, V:34), a small bump from first time.

I am pretty disappointed as I felt confident I would break 700 during the test(I even finished both sections 10 minutes early).

This time it was RC that got me. This is heartbreaking because I did very well on OG12 RC. As a result, I only spent two days on this. Most of the essays on the real test were short but very technical, I even guessed through all questions on one essay.

I struggled with about half of the CR questions even though most of them were just typical strength/weaken questions. I am disappointed with the result after spending so many hours to read the powerscore CR thoroughly and go through all OG12 questions.

SC felt like a piece of cake to me after drilling on MGMT SC and OG12 like crazy. And you guys are right, SC is the easiest to improve as the questions on the real test looked very "familiar" to me.

I spent only one week on quant. My preparation included OG12, MGMT word problem, and MGMT number properties. I spent significant amount of time on number properties and still struggled with it on the real test.

Since my goal is 700 and I am still 50 short. I am planning to take it again and focus my preparation on pacing(learn to go through first 10 questions calmly), up my Q to 50(namely, number properties), and RC(super technical essays)

My challenge now is that I am running out of study material. I have memorized most of the questions on OG 12 and the OG verbal 2nd ed. too easy. What do you guys suggest? Thanks.
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 27 Dec 2011, 06:16
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JohnnyCage
Guys, I took the test again last Friday and got 650(Q:45, V:34), a small bump from first time.

I am pretty disappointed as I felt confident I would break 700 during the test(I even finished both sections 10 minutes early).

This time it was RC that got me. This is heartbreaking because I did very well on OG12 RC. As a result, I only spent two days on this. Most of the essays on the real test were short but very technical, I even guessed through all questions on one essay.

I struggled with about half of the CR questions even though most of them were just typical strength/weaken questions. I am disappointed with the result after spending so many hours to read the powerscore CR thoroughly and go through all OG12 questions.

SC felt like a piece of cake to me after drilling on MGMT SC and OG12 like crazy. And you guys are right, SC is the easiest to improve as the questions on the real test looked very "familiar" to me.

I spent only one week on quant. My preparation included OG12, MGMT word problem, and MGMT number properties. I spent significant amount of time on number properties and still struggled with it on the real test.

Since my goal is 700 and I am still 50 short. I am planning to take it again and focus my preparation on pacing(learn to go through first 10 questions calmly), up my Q to 50(namely, number properties), and RC(how to get bumped down by super technical essays)

My challenge now is that I am running out of study material. I have memorized most of the questions on OG 12 and the OG verbal 2nd ed. too easy. What do you guys suggest? Thanks.
Show more

Good news is that your score actually improved rather than going down. 50 point increase is great. Congratulations.

I think verbal section's score mostly depends on your stamina. Were you tired at all after finishing your test? What about your focus level? Your focus skill is definitely a key to improve dramatically improve your score, especially on RC - since it's the only one that shows answer RIGHT on the screen - you just need to be focused to find them all.

For CR, if the question looks intimidating or doesn't look familiar (ones you can't tell the answer within 30 seconds), immediately stop focusing on finding the right answer. Instead, try to find wrong answers and cross them out. The truth is, even if you stare at the question for 3 minutes, if you don't know the answer, you won't know the answer in the end. Your best bet is to get rid of obviously-wrong ones and increase your chance to pick the right answer.

Also, where do you study & take the prep test? I'd suggest you to study and take tests in library where they have the private study room. Try to simulate the testing environment as much as you can. It will definitely help you to stay calm and focused.

Good luck!
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JohnnyCage
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Looking for study recommendation for my second try 27 Dec 2011, 09:36
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goodbyeboy
JohnnyCage
Guys, I took the test again last Friday and got 650(Q:45, V:34), a small bump from first time.

I am pretty disappointed as I felt confident I would break 700 during the test(I even finished both sections 10 minutes early).

This time it was RC that got me. This is heartbreaking because I did very well on OG12 RC. As a result, I only spent two days on this. Most of the essays on the real test were short but very technical, I even guessed through all questions on one essay.

I struggled with about half of the CR questions even though most of them were just typical strength/weaken questions. I am disappointed with the result after spending so many hours to read the powerscore CR thoroughly and go through all OG12 questions.

SC felt like a piece of cake to me after drilling on MGMT SC and OG12 like crazy. And you guys are right, SC is the easiest to improve as the questions on the real test looked very "familiar" to me.

I spent only one week on quant. My preparation included OG12, MGMT word problem, and MGMT number properties. I spent significant amount of time on number properties and still struggled with it on the real test.

Since my goal is 700 and I am still 50 short. I am planning to take it again and focus my preparation on pacing(learn to go through first 10 questions calmly), up my Q to 50(namely, number properties), and RC(how to get bumped down by super technical essays)

My challenge now is that I am running out of study material. I have memorized most of the questions on OG 12 and the OG verbal 2nd ed. too easy. What do you guys suggest? Thanks.

Good news is that your score actually improved rather than going down. 50 point increase is great. Congratulations.

I think verbal section's score mostly depends on your stamina. Were you tired at all after finishing your test? What about your focus level? Your focus skill is definitely a key to improve dramatically improve your score, especially on RC - since it's the only one that shows answer RIGHT on the screen - you just need to be focused to find them all.

For CR, if the question looks intimidating or doesn't look familiar (ones you can't tell the answer within 30 seconds), immediately stop focusing on finding the right answer. Instead, try to find wrong answers and cross them out. The truth is, even if you stare at the question for 3 minutes, if you don't know the answer, you won't know the answer in the end. Your best bet is to get rid of obviously-wrong ones and increase your chance to pick the right answer.

Also, where do you study & take the prep test? I'd suggest you to study and take tests in library where they have the private study room. Try to simulate the testing environment as much as you can. It will definitely help you to stay calm and focused.

Good luck!
Show more

Thanks for your suggestion :)

I was pretty clam and at ease during the whole test, except when I was working on the first 10 quant problems.

I did employ elimination technique and stay focused as much as I could, though I admit I did not practice much on staying focus and pacing. This is especially hard when you are working a long-hour job. When I was studying for the exam, I sometimes took a week completely off from my routine study sessions if I was swarmed with work.
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