Hello again,
It's been a long time since my last update. During this time, I bought 3-months preparation with The Economist, which helped my improving my Quant skills and taught me some tricks for the Verbal section. Apart from that, I also completed 25% of
the Official Guide 2018 (I know it should have been all as I still fail too many questions) and took several mock exams from several companies and I bought the Exam Packs 1&2 (only took 1 out of 4 so far). Results are below:
01/05/2017 - GMAT Official Mock: IR7 Q31 V35 550
24/06/2017 - The Economist Prep IR5 Q28 V28 470
04/08/2017 - Manhattan Mock: IR0 Q40 V39 650
09/09/2017 - The Economist Prep: IR5 Q38 V28 540
16/09/2017 - The Economist Prep: IR4 Q38 V38 620
27/09/2017 - Veritas Prep: IR5 Q37 V33 580
08/10/2017 - GMAT Official Mock: IR5 Q44 V33 630
14/10/2017 - GMAT Official Mock: IR7 Q45 V35 660
04/11/2017 - GMAT Official Mock: IR5 Q41 V36 640
I believe my biggest improvement, after finishing The Economist, came from reviewing the official exams and where I fail.
Last Friday, 10th of November, I took my official test after having delayed it due to unforeseen circumstances with this dissapoint result:
10/11/2017 - GMAT Official Exam: IR4 Q44 V31 620
I had time management issues on the Quant section of the real exam as I tried to ensure my answers to the first 10 questions. As a result, I didn't answer the last question as I was writing and didn't realise my time had run out. I never had this issue before and felt discouraged about the big penalty for not finishing the exam.
In the Verbal section, I was not concentrated enough and had to read the texts several times. I found all the sections difficult (especially complex RC) and selected several questions while doubting between 2-3 answers. This was the biggest disappointment of the exam.
IR was awful. I didn't solve the two-part analysis questions and I couldn't process all the information provided in the multi-source passages. I was only strong with graphs.
AWA. I'm still waiting to know the score but I expect 4.5-5.0 at the least.
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I'm planning to sit the exam again in mid-December and my objective was always 710. However, given the circumstances, I would be satisfied with 680-700. I believe I can reach that range improving my Quant to Q49 and doing an average Verbal of V35-36 as per my last mocks.
I will finish
the Official Guide + Quant Guide + Verbal Guide and will take the official GMATPrep exams and review my mistakes.
I would welcome any suggestions about how to improve my Quant in such a short period of time. I was thinking about purchasing some specific quant course but I work full-time and have to study the IELTS exam as well. Hence, I don't want a course to teach me the basics I already know and waste my time. I need something to take me directly from the level where I am.