Restarting - Target 700 - GMAT Story

Dreamy,

It appears that you are pretty good at quant. You said you got a Q46, so with some amount of practice you should be back on track in this section.

If I were you I would concentrate more on verbal - about 70% of my time (more on SC, a little less on CR, and sometime on RC). You can definitely improve from a level of V22. You should be able to reach V31-32 in about 1.5 months time. Beyond that you'll have to make another push to cross V35-36.

Dony worry for your confidence level going down after first CAT. I got a 590 in my first gmat prep 30 days before my real test & after 30 days I got a 680 in real test. First two CATs serve the purpose of getting used to the mock test, after that one comes to rythem. After completing 5 or 10 CATs, whatever the case, one gets a clear picture of his/her ability.

Gmat Club Tests are aimed at students getting Q45-46 & who want to get Q 50. If you are currently scoring Q 45-47 then you can go for gmat club tests.

Don't worry if you have a low score in any mock test. It doesn't mean that's your level. With time and effort you can improve, so the earlier you take it the better. All test takers improve as they get comfortable with the type of questions (common patterns) and when they figure out issues of timing. (I use this for Quant - 5: 65:00; 10:55:00; 15:45:00.../ Verbal: 5: 68:00; 10:59:00;...)

Thank you Akaydee. I will try to take a mock test this week.

I am including GMAT club tests in the things to do.

New things to do
Complete master gmat course
Work on OG Quant and Verbal Guides
Work on OG11 and OG12
Take GMATClub quant tests (I am yet to buy this)
Take MGMAT tests
Take GMATPrep tests

While I was doing the master gmat course, i was able to do well on most of the sentence correction questions yesterday. After the first Tutor session, I was able to capture the issues which I was missing in the Subject Verb agreement questions. I used to make too many mistakes when the Subject comes after the Verb before the tutor session. Now, with little more attention I am able to crack those questions.

On Quant, I am making too many mistakes on the Word problems. Before even reading the question, I tend to lose confidence in completing the question on time. I have completed MGMAT word translation book. May be the questions I see in master gmat is of higher difficulty. Not sure.

I have decided to complete the master gmat course, as I could practice either at home or at work. I don't need a book.

MGMAT (Manhattan GMAT) quant questions are definitely harder than the quant questions on the real thing. You already have a lot on your plate for a 15 day time frame, so GMAT Club tests at this stage might not be a good idea. But who knows you might be able to pull it off.

Akadee,
No way I am taking the final CAT in 15 days. I haven't even taken my first practice test so far. Let me know your thoughts. Thank you.

I am sorry I was under the impression you are taking the exam in 15 days. My bad.

As a number of users have said the GMAT Club tests are great for those wanting to get a high score on the quant.

Take a mock test (you don't have to tell us the score ). It will give you a baseline from where to start.

Take my words.....for quant Go for GMAT CLUB TESTS !!!

my quant score of 51 vouches for their authenticity...... I have improved from Q44 to Q51 by using these tests....You dont need anything else..

GOOD LUCK !!!

Thank you mustdoit for your advice. I like your id.

I am going to take gmat club tests starting 12th september, if I stick to my schedule.

I am mustering confidence to take a mock test on 4th September. Why do I dread so much to take this mock, did I give enough respect for this test in the past? I have made the mistake of misjudging it three times.

I would surely get more than 4 hours of prep time this weekend. I am planning to take mgmat1 on 4th september 2010. The results on this test will provide me the indicator to decide on the final date with the gmat.

Yesterday, I couldn't spend even a single minute for preparation as I had loads of work. Today, I am not able to sit at work and focus on work. My mind keep reminding me of the unfinished home work. Hopefully, I can catchup for the lost time this weekend.

May be I should register for the exam immediately, that will provide the needed pressure for the preparation.

Currently, preparing using master gmat verbal section. RCs doesn't seem to resemble OG at all. I am feeling frustrated to practice with this material as I am getting every single question wrong. SC and CR material were better. As this test is adaptive, till i master this topic its not going to give up on me. What should I do? may be I should start practice using OG.

I am not really satisfied with my verbal practice on master gmat. I am going to stop working on that as I feel I am wasting my time going through tons of reading comprehension questions, which are not representative of official questions. Planning to re-read mgmat sentence correction guide and start doing the official guide sc-s, manhattangmat forum sc-s and gmatclub forum sc-s.

For reading comprehension, I am going to focus on lsat questions for now. After getting continuous errors in master gmat reading comprehension questions, I did a lsat reading comprehension passage, six out of eight questions were right with timed practice.

After wasting few days of practice using master gmat, i am revisiting my study plan. I would like to complete two quant guides before doing mgmat first practice test. please let me know your suggestions.

Took the first mgmat test today. Though I did the test with the mindset of any score above 580 was good score, I am very disappointed with the result.

MGMAT CAT#1 - 630 (Q44, V32)

On initial review, the following are the findings.
PS - 59%
DS - 47%
Worst in quant is Word translations - 18%. I am getting lost in the translation. Any suggestions are welcome.

Neither in quant nor in verbal the hit rate is better for 600-700 level questions. Higher the difficulty of the questions the lower is my score. Every single section seems to need improvement. Its time to focus and do systematic study otherwise, I might not able to improve my score.

Only in sc, I am getting into trouble for questions at 500-600 level. I am having lot of trouble with idioms, pronouns and subject verb agreement.
SC - 40%
CR - 57%
RC - 58%
In crs, i am making lot of mistakes in conclusion questions. I got false confidence and comfort by doing master gmat. Its time to pay homage to the power god which I didn’t touch after opening it from the amazon package.

I have started hitting hard on the powerscore cr bible. Of all the questions in gmat I enjoy doing cr questions the most. So it is not hard to go through this book. Reading this book makes me feel how i can answer a cr question wrong still feel right. This learning could help me in identifying the answer choices in rcs also.

Must be true questions are the focus of the day. The following is what I have learnt today.
Correct answers - Must be true questions
1. Paraphrased answer choices
2. Answers that are the sum of two or more stimulus statements
Wrong answers
1. Could be true or likely to be true answers
2. Exaggerated answers
3. Answers which provide entirely new information
4. The shell game
5. The opposite answer
6. The reverse answer

Good Luck! You can do this! Remember your not alone in this. Many like you have tried HARD and are still trying so keep it up

keep going with the updates

Dreamy,

Looks like you are having some trouble with verbal. I read this post by BB, it is great:

study-plan-for-verbal-gmat-98342.html

Hope this helps,
Dawg