Please critique my situation!!!

Question

For the past 3 MGMAT Tests, I have made a consistent score of 640 each time, which is really pissing me off...

I'm taking the GMAT on the 28, so I have a little bit over a week to improve my score. I am shooting for a 700... I hope I can achieve this score by then.

Please look at my test assessments. I would really like to know how to improve.

The first 3 are assessments of 3 individual tests, and the final one is an assessment of a combination of the 3.

One thing that has troubled me so much is the timing of the test... Many times I get stuck for 6-7 minutes doing a problem I know I could finish if I had JUST a little bit more time... Like I COULD solve it, and I WANT TO (because it's one of the first 10 questions, where you score the most points) but I make silly errors or get stuck somewhere... Then, near the end, I usually have to randomly guess on a few of the last questions in order to spend more time on the last 1 or 2 questions. Same with the Verbal part too...

I tried Rhyme's RC Strategy... It sort of works for me. I actually understand the passage a lot clearer than I used to, but it seems to take more time than before. I seem to also be getting the same percentage of questions wrong too. I think I need to keep practicing it to be faster/more accurate. I think I'm taking too many notes. this takes too much time and

I wanted someone's opinion on what I can do to improve my score. Please evaluate!

Nach0 · Answer

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Nach0 · Answer

I don't know what I should do...

I know that to get at least a 700, I need to either:

a) improve my Math from 44/45 to 49

b) improve my Verbal from 34/35 to 40

Which one do you think I should focus on?

bb · Answer

It is tough to really prepare in a week.
I would recommend that you REALLY hard to get a strategy for each question type and stick to it. I think that's the best thing you can do. That and review your mistakes and take full length tests.

shadow · Answer

it seems you've already identified one of your main flaws - spending 6-7 mins on any question, no matter what the difficulty, is killer. it takes away valuable time from other questions, and you'll be forced to play "catch up" the entire test.

knowledge isn't everything on the gmat. in fact i'd venture to say (this is my opinion) that it's not even the most important thing tested! the most important aspect is timing (and along with that, knowing when to quit on a question).

to give you an example, during my gmat there were several instances when i knew i would have no shot on a math question. this wasn't because i didnt know the formulas or the fundamental knowledge, but rather it was too cumbersome to sit down and tackle, and would slow my pacing down. in these instances (not many - maybe twice or 3 times max) i opted to skip the question altogether and just guess - rather than taking 6 mins to solve it.

i know it's tough to do (especially if it's a seemingly easy question) , but if a question is taking you longer than 2-3 mins to do, then cut it as a loss, make an educated guess, and move on to the next one. and don''t ever ever ever leave a question blank on the real test - that's killer too.

the real trick is knowing WHEN to quit on a question. please don't interpret this post as meaning you should skip any question that seems difficult. this is something you get by taking multiple full length tests. i'd recommend to spend the last week trying to focus on mastering this skill.

to give you some hope, the mgmat tests are generally thought to be a little harder than the actual test. in fact on my MGMAT tests, i scored between a 660 and a 720. so you definitely have a realistic shot of achieving your goal

Nach0 · Answer

wow thanks for all the help! I'm glad SOMEONE thinks I can achieve my goal

Yeah, I truly think that if I had skipped those 6-7 minute questions, I would not have had to blindly guess the last 6 or 7 questions due to timing issues. I have asked off work for this and next week so I can prepare for my test. I have caluclated I have roughly 80 hours or so if I study 14 hours a day (HAHA, i know that's ridiculous)... but still... I'm planning to perfect my SC skills by grinding through the OG11 and MGMAT SC book. I want to be so good at SC that it's fast and easy, giving me more time to read/comprehend RC and CR. I think if I had more time on CR/RC questions, I would feel more at ease to when answering questions. I think the RC just depends on the topics I get. I also need to practice taking notes faster. I'm also going to finish Word Translations (I am more than half way done) then review over the subjects I had difficulty with. After that, I'm going to review the Advanced Chapters in Number Properties and practice those questions. Probably every other day I will attempt to take a Full Length test to get a better feel for timing. I believe if I skip questions that take too long and focus on answering the next question correctly then I will have a better chance to make my 700. If I have time, I'm going to try to do the Kaplan 800 book. I haven't even touched that book yet since I started preparing for the test. Also, I'm going to review all the mistakes I made with the help of my error log. Bleeehhhh so much to do, so little time to do in...

shadow · Answer

i'd advise against trying to cram for the gmat by studying a huge amount per day. it's unlikely that you'll retain any of that information, and you'll just wind up stressing yourself out.

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Please critique my situation!!!

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