Opinions on my plan to shoot up from 540 to 700+

Question

Hi Guys,

As mentioned in my earlier post, I am ready to go all out to get a score of 700+.

I already have 6 Manhattan mocks, have already paid for 12 full length mocks from Jamboree (an Indian GMAT coaching inst) and I am also planning to take 5 mocks from 800score dot com.

Also, I intend to solve all OG questions with time constraints.

Will this be good enuf if I am also reviewing all questions after each exam?

Please pool in your suggestions.

Thanks in advance ppl !!

Cheers

DmitryFarberMPrep · Answer

Absolutely not. Doing a bunch of timed problems and going over them is not a very efficient way to study.That kind of work should certainly be *part* of your study plan, but you need to build up new strategies and habits, and simply doing disconnected problems is not going to help with that. Every day, someone posts on gmatclub that they have exhausted the OG and all the practice tests and have still not reached their goal score. Have you already worked through any prep course or strategy books?

dabral · Answer

atinder

One gets the most benefit from timed practice drills and tests if one has a solid foundation and one has already gotten a good exposure to how GMAT sets up problems. I would first ensure that before diving in to an arsenal of tests.

Other than that I would be cautious about spending your valuable time on poor quality CATs. Instead, try to stick to Official GMAT problems and sources. Quality over quantity would be my suggestion.

Cheers,
Dabral

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

First of all, make sure that at some point you take some official mocks, which can be found in the GMAT Prep software and in the PowerPrep software that is a predecessor to GMAT Prep. Those are pretty close to the real thing. Otherwise, rather than preparing for the GMAT, in a way you are preparing for a test prep company's version of the GMAT, which may be close to the actual GMAT, and yet not quite the same.

So get GMAT Prep and PowerPrep. Yes, your score on a PowerPrep CAT can be inflated if questions that you already have seen in the Official guide show up on the CAT. Still, it's pretty useful.

Beyond that, you would probably be better off spending more time working on questions put into categories, and much of this on an untimed or at least lightly timed basis. That way you could work on strategies for each particular question type until you get that type down. I have worked on one type for two days until I felt pretty confident in that area. Then I worked on another type for a day or two. This tends to work better than just doing random questions, because this way you can focus on learning certain things and get a clear picture of how a certain type works.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi atinder,

I have a couple of questions and some suggestions:

1) When you mentioned the "540", what is that a reference to - an Official GMAT score, a FULL-length practice CAT or something else?
2) When is your GMAT Test Date?

Taking lots of practice CAT is NOT how to properly prepare for the GMAT. A practice CAT is a "measuring device" - the reputable ones will give you a reasonable estimation of your score and will point out your weaknesses, but they will NOT make you a better Test Taker. As such, you don't need to take 23 CATs - what you need is consistent professional guidance and a study plan that will help you to properly prepare for everything you'll see on Test Day. The OG books are great sources for practice questions, but they don't offer much in the way of strategy or guidance. You would likely benefit from a Course of some kind (Guided Self-Study or Instructor-Led).

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

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Opinions on my plan to shoot up from 540 to 700+

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