Hey guys,
I'm down the wire. My test is on Saturday, 8am sharp, and I'm not quite sure how I'm feeling. I've been prepping religiously since mid-November. This includes waking up at 5am to study before work, studying at work, and staying cooped up in my apartment on my fair share of weekends. I've read and completed all 8 Manhattan guides from cover to cover, gone over the O.G. questions over and over again, practiced with the GMAT Club questions (I'm going to miss those daily emails.
) and gone over both my Manhattan
Error Log and O.G.
Error Log. Multiple times.
My practice test scores have ranged significantly. I hadn't taken any math courses for the past 6 years, so my prep concentrated heavily on Quant. (With Verbal I've been scoring 37-40 pretty consistently since starting my prep.) My first GMAT Prep test was a 420 with no preparation (in Nov.) Next I took 5 Manhattan tests, about one every week, and stayed in the late-500s, early-600s level. I took about a 3 week break from testing, and then on my GMAT Prep 2, first try, I got a 700. I was ecstatic! I know it's only a practice test, but still... that's my target score. I tried to take GMAT Prep 1 on the NEW software and encountered a glitch, and it said my Quant score was 6.... after emailing back and forth with IT for a while, they told me my accurate score was a 40Q, 37V, bringing me to a total of 540. I shrugged it off as a miscalculation (700 to 540?? Really??) and kept prepping. Took the final Manhattan test, got a 680, Q46, V37. JUST under my target score, but still promising for 2 weeks of prep left.
This brings me to this past weekend. I attempted to take the GMAT Prep 2 (after downloading it on a different computer and being reassured that all bugs had been fixed) and to be frank... I was just distracted. Couldn't concentrate. I barely made it through Quant, forcing myself to stay focused, so once I finished that section, I decided to just click random answers through Verbal and at least just see how my Quant score was. Not surprising, my Quant was not so great. 35.
I'm still trying to chalk it up to simply being different/weird questions since it is the new software (including the Integrated Reasoning, which I will not be taking). But there is definitely a doubt in my mind now that my TWO last GMAT Prep tests have been very sub-par.
The entire weekend was like that as well. I couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate, when I SHOULD have been cramming material down my throat.... I was so motivated/focused for six months and then the weekend before the test and I can't look at another GMAT book.... almost like a deer in headlights who is frozen. What the hell is wrong with me???
Thankfully, I have a relaxed job environment, so I plan on spending the next few days before Saturday just studying 8 or so hours while I'm at work. Going over my
Error Log one last time... working out any outstanding kinks I think I need help on, etc. I don't want to burn myself out, I know it probably sounds like that's what I've done, but... bleh.
Anyway, that's my story. Any last minute tips would be GREAT and MUCH appreciated.