On what should I focus in the last 2 weeks of studying for a 600

Question

Hey guys,

first thank you all for this amazing forum! 
I have my test in about 2 weeks and I am extremely frustrated at the moment. I started some time ago, but had a lot of distractions with interviews and exams, however, this shouldn't be an excuse. My goal is a 600. So far I have studied with the Manhattan books and the OG book.

My CATs have been:
Gmatprep: 610 (Q42, V32)
MGMAT CAT 1: 590 (Q39, V33)
MGMAT CAT 2: 610 (Q40, V34)
MGMAT CAT 3: 590 (Q43, V29)

For the next 2 weeks I have more or less a lot of time for studying. But I got the feeling of not improving and that I guess a lot of the questions. At this point I have really low confidence that I will be able to crack the 600. I have purchased the extra question of Gmatprep today, but I am not sure of how I should prepare in my last two weeks and on what I should focus. I think that I might have some "potential" left in SC, but the score does not seem much worse than the others.

Thank you very much for your help. Really appreciated!!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi AK125,

Based on the CAT scores that you've listed, it certainly looks like you're in the perfect position to score 600+ right now, so it's unclear why you feel so un-confident. Can you provide a bit more information about WHY you're feeling that way?

I have a few questions about how you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? Did you see any of the CAT questions before you took the CAT?

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

AK125 · Answer

Thank you very much for your reply and the motivational push.
I feel like not making progress as my CAT scores didn't move up as I hoped. Also I read that I should score constantly 40pt above the 600 in order to be more or less certain to achieve a 600 in the actual test. I tried to improve my SC and think that I already made some progress with it but I didn't see any of it in my last CAT in which verbal was on an all-time low. Plus I have this feeling of guessing solutions in Quant, which I am totally not used to from my prior studies.

Regarding your questions:

1. I did 2 "complete" CATs. (For my school only the Quant and Verbal count, though)
2. Yes I took them at home, however I do study at the library which is a litte bit noisier than at home
3. I haven't had my official GMAT yet
4. No, breaks or any skipping of questions
5. Nearly every CAT question (unfortunately) seemed new to me. Sometimes I was able to apply concepts for example proportional ratios in triangles

I go the feeling of being exhausted after the Quant session and that my concentration declines. Is there anything other than doing CATs how I could become more concentrated over the full time?

Thanks a lot!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi AK125,

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 scores can become. If you skip sections, taking the CATs at home, take the CATs a different time of day from when you'll take your Official GMAT, etc., then you won't be properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

With the time that you have remaining, you should plan to take 1-2 additional FULL CATs (with the Essay and IR sections). As far as how you might be able to improve your scores, here are some things that you should look for when you review each CAT:

How many questions did you get wrong because...
1) of a silly/little mistake?
2) the question was too hard?
3) you narrowed the answers down to 2 choices and 'guessed wrong'?
4) you were low on time and had to blindly guess?

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

AjiteshArun · Answer

Some test takers like to get a little verbal practice in after they're done with quant (for the day). This could help you, but you'll have to take a call on how much you want to study in these last two weeks. I wouldn't advise you to overdo it, because you're already hitting your target score in practice. Do try to take 1 or 2 additional GMATPreps before your exam.

AK125 · Answer

Yesterday I took the test and scored a bad 570 :/ lower than my first CAT.
Q40 / V27 
I have 5 weeks now to study for my next try, which is the last one for the upcoming master deadlines, so I am extremely frustrated and nervous. Unfortunately I only have these 5 weeks to go with not more than 2 hours per day. (Weekends a little bit more) 
My question now is on what should I focus? I need some kind of plan for the next try. Should I buy the extra Quant and Verbal OG books and just keep practising? Or should i try to focus on verbal as e.g. 2/3 of the time for verbal?

Sorry if these questions are stupid, but at the moment I just don't have any idea how to beat the gmat.

Thank you very much!

OptimusPrepJanielle · Answer

Hi with a Q40 and V 27, you clearly need to go through your concepts again.
Practicing more might not be very helpful till you are comfortable with the concepts. 
Pick up the preparatory course/book that you have been following and go through the concepts again.

Analyze the mock test thoroughly and try to drill down deep to understand the problem types that trouble you.

SC: The questions test various concepts such as S-V agreement, modifiers, parallelism etc. Find out what troubles you.
CR: There might be certain types of questions that are troubling you. May be Assumption, may be conclusion, inference etc.
You need to find that out and then practice them
RC: This again can be drilled down into different types of questions and also different topics. See what questions and topics trouble you the most and then practice accordingly.

Quants: Try to break down problem types in different topics such as : Number System, Algebra, Geometry etc.

As an addition, start preparing an error log and keep a note of all the mistakes you made and the lessons you learnt from the problems. This will ensure you do not make the same mistake again.

Make sure you complete all of the OG and the Verbal review and if required, you can buy the Question pack1 from mba.com

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi AK125,

I'm sorry to hear that Test Day didn't go as well as planned. Your practice CAT scores clearly show that you're clearly capable of scoring at your goal level though. A 570 isn't as far from 600 as you might think it is. GMAC has publicly stated that the Official Score that you earn on Test Day is within +/- 30 points of actual ability. Thus, all of these scores (your Official Score and CAT scores) are essentially the same performance (+/- a few correct answers in some key spots).

At this point, you could continue to study as you have been and potentially hit your goals OR you can invest in some new resources and make some adjustments to how you 'see' (and respond to) this Test - and potentially score at a much higher level. As it stands, with a Q40/V27, you have the potential to pick up BIG points in BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections.

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

AK125 · Answer

Thanks for all of your comments!
I am back in the game studying hopefully this time more structured with a clear focus on deficits. I have set up study plan with 3h everyday in which I focus on the questions, which I think I have problems with and need improvement. But there is still one (maybe very basic( question in my mind. When doing exercises how should the split of >600, 600-700 and 700+ questions look like? My goal is a 600 or maybe a little bit more, but I am not aiming for anything above 640. Can I skip the 700+ questions and only focus on 600-700? In my GMAT, especially in Quant, I had the feeling that questions were easier than what I did at home. Maybe because I failed the easier ones and was therefore not able to reach the harder ones. However, I logically think that it would be smarter for me to get stable on the below 600 and 600-700. But I am not sure if this logic applies to the GMAT. My plan at the moment has a split of 30% of below 600, 60% 600-700 and 10% 700+ (I use the classification from the gmatclub threads) and with more study days reducing the split of below 600 and in the coming back to the old split in order to stay comfortable with easier questions. Do you think this split makes sense?

I really appreciate your help!

SamirAbrahao · Answer

AK125,

We are on the same boat, man! I also have a 600-650 score goal, and I've had roughly the same time to prepare as you did. Im taking my exam next monday. I've bought both extra exam packs from the official website, and trust me, they are great for practicing on your pacing.

In a little less than a month, I've improved from a clueless dumbshit in maths to someone who can solve any questions from the GMAT prep question packs. My only problem has been keeping the same pacing across the entire quant section. If your having to guess too many quant sections, I recommend you practice them from the GMAT prep packs. Ive been taking a CAT a day for a week now and I can tell you with utter certainty that, even on my worst days, my quant score has not droped below 40. :D

My verbal scores, however, have ranged from 25% to 93% on CATs, as crazy as it may sound hahaha

SamirAbrahao · Answer

And one more thing, which is the most important of all: The more you care, the more frustrated you'll be, the worse you'll perform on Test Day. If you fail, you can just take the exam again later, and every time you fail, you will have gained more REAL test experience (the most valuable sort) that will help you in succeding at future attempts, so being nervous will only keep you from learning the most of your experience. Remember that GMAT wouldn't have the same value if anyone could get a high score.

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