Need last minute advice!

Question

Hello All, I have my GMAT in a weeks time and I am not feeling very comfortable in Quant. As you can see i scored only 46 in my most recent prep test. (i scored quant 47 in my last official GMAT test few months back). I have been following E-GMAT course since past few months. My Verbal has increased considerably but Quant isn't showing much progress. Any thoughts on best way ahead? i have many options to practise from - E-GMAT Scholarium\GMAT Club tests\Practise via Manhattan\Veritas tests.. not sure which will be most effective in this situation (I do not want to spend energy with very hard questions which would never turn up in exam - just need some real time practise). I have also almost covered the GMAT Question pack :/

I am already struggling to keep my Verbal score around 40 (i bombed my RC today) so will need to continue practising those as well. Just looking for some balanced and effective advise to go from here considering that my exam is in 6 days. My GMAT Prep test score below: Exam pack 2: Exam number 5 690 Q46 V39 (Nov 10 today) Exam pack 1: Exam number 4 710 Q48 V39 (Nov 2) Exam pack 1: Exam number 3 680 Q47 V36(Oct 26) My target score is q49 v 42 750 :roll:

thanks, Gauz

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gauz,

At your scoring level, the GMAT becomes really 'sensitive' to little mistakes - if you make too many, then a 700+ score simply becomes impossible to achieve. In that same way, a 750+ is even more challenging (almost 99% of Test Takers cannot score at that level, even after multiple attempts). As such, you really have to nitpick WHY you're getting questions wrong. How many of them are actually 'gettable' and how many are just too hard or too weird?

1) Did you complete a Mistake Tracker/Error Log after taking each of your CATs?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
3) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

gauz · Answer

Hi Rich, thank you for your response, I agree that i need to keep my silly mistakes to 'minimal' and that is what i am relying on. I am still making 2 or 3 here and there but i am working on those as well. Apart from that i might have 'slight' timing issue which sends me in auto-panick mode whenever the time is slight less. I feel i am at a q48 and v 39 and that will get me to somewhere around 700 if i am in my senses during exam but i will be happier with a 730-750 so that i can be more confident while applying to good B Schools. I haven't made a list of schools yet but i do want to get into some very good one. I have NYU Stern in my mind as of now, like i said all depends on my score: if i am able to get to 730-750, then i'll be able to apply to my 'dream list'. My work experience in consulting does go in my favor but i do not have strong academics to back my ability and that's why I need the high score. Regarding error log - I have maintained notes for each section and i update those with any 'silly errors' i made or any concepts i missed. I always refer these lists prior to my tests. I plan to give the final gmat prep official mock on Sunday and will plan to take it easy from there till Wednesday(i read in one of your other post on importance of relaxing a day before exam

). Today and tomorrow i'll probably try to do attempt few questions for each section SC\CR\RC and Maths subsection on Scholarium and will plan to take couple of gmat club maths mocks as well.. thats all i have planned, Hope things turn out well! Let me know if you have any specific insights!! Thanks, Gauz

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gauz,

Your general plan for the next week sounds fine. As you continue to study, remember that you can get a bunch of questions wrong and still get a perfect 800, but you MUST correctly answer all of the 'gettable' questions. There aren't that many questions on the GMAT, so losing 2-3 questions to silly mistakes isn't something that you can 'absorb' on Test Day and still hit your specific goal score. In that way, 'precision' is key - write EVERYTHING down, DON'T do work 'in your head.' Most GMAT questions are remarkably straight-forward once you've taken the necessary notes - so take notes EVERY time.

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

gauz · Answer

Thanks a lot Rich for the valuable insights. I'll make it a point to write things down clearly - this will certainly help in avoiding some silly mistakes.

BrazilianPhD · Answer

Well, I got exactly "q49 v42 750"...

During the last stretch of my preparation, the GMATclub question bank helped me a lot. I selected only questions with higher difficulty level, in groups of 10 questions each. The GMATclub question bank is a great way to focus on the hardcore questions you don't see very much in the official guide, for example.

Ok, you said you do not want to "spend energy with very hard questions which would never turn up in exam". But if you want to ace the quant section, that's exactly the kind of question you must study: hard ones. Ok, not all of them will turn up in exam. But if a couple of them turn up, and you're able to answer them because you studied quizzes, it will be worth a few important points in your score.

Even if most hardcore questions do not show up in exam, the questions from GMATclub help you to understand GMAT way of thinking, and learn about traps, which are also important aspects of taking the GMAT.

It will help you during the test if you get used to hardcore questions. When a very hard question shows up during the GMAT, you see it just as another question, instead of getting anxious or desperate.

And it also helped me to identify which types of hardocore questions I should not waste time with during the real exam. And that's an important skill too.

gauz · Answer

Thanks a lot for your inputs and Congrats on the awesome score!!

What you are saying does make sense.. I am taking a GMATClub quant test daily nowadays - i see that questions are really high quality and they do help me to get the 'GMAT way of thinking' - Solutions are also very precise.. yesterday i took a mock in practise mode and got a 47(did not time it though) - the good part was the 'learning aspect'. I am doing the same today. These tests consist of 700+ questions mostly... lets see if something familiar turns up in exam

..

gauz · Answer

I just want to mention that I gave my GMAT yesterday and scored 710 (Q49 V38). Thanks a lot for your last minute inputs Rich - your advise was very very helpful - its always been, i should have listened to you much earlier when you had suggested that for many test-takers it's better to take a prep-course instead of self-study.. Prep course worked well for me but i learned it the hard way after a failure.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi gauz,

That's fantastic news - a 710/Q49 is an outstanding score (it's right around the 90th percentile overall), so you can comfortably apply to any Business Schools that interest you. With Schools such as NYU, you're going to be dealing with a highly competitive pool of applicants, so you might find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

ask-admission-consultants-124/

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

gauz · Answer

Thanks again Rich! I'll check out the admission consultants forum.

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