Please review my plan

Question

Hello. I posted this on gmat general forum and I did not receive a reply. I am sorry for cross referencing but it is very urgent, and I need help. Thank you

Hi

First of all, I am not asking for much. I just want to score more than 550 on the official test, I have tested myself twice, on the mgmat with 320 , and 250 on gmatprep, both before touching the tested material.I was very anxious and I am sure I can do better now that I have reviewed most of the mgmat guides.

Okay, I need your help. I will finish all the mgmat guides by tomorrow, and I just completed my plan that I would like to do before the actual exam. Please feel free to correct my plan, and further guide me to best prepare for the exam. I have no idea how to feel when I do the real gmatprep, I am very curious that if I messed up by having a low score on the official practise tests I would screw up and lose my confidence on the real exam. Please let me know how to solve this issue as well.

The guides I am using are 3rd edition manhattan GMAT
May 15th Finish the SC Book, 2 chapters left

May 16th Finish the RC book

May 17th Princton Review Test (I have access to 2 tests from Princeton),  OFF from Work

May 18th Review Review Number Properties, and do the book exercises, Working

May 19th Review Finish the exercises, and SC.(weekend)

May 20th Review Sentence correction, memorize notes that I took, take a look at the gmat club flashcards, do OG 12 SC questions (weekend)

May 21st Learn by heart all the math flashcards, notes I took, formulas, figures and tables Working

May 22nd Review do the same, and start with the OG math questions, by category  OFF from Work

May 23rd Review math from OG, I am not sure how many questions I can finish a day, is 100 a good possible number ?

May 24th Do cat 1, is it a good idea? I dont want to mess up and destroy my confidence (timed)

May 25th Do princeton second test

May 26th Review notes for writing

May 27 Do CAT 2

May 28 Revise all marked questions from the OG, take a look at flashcards from all categories

May 29 Enjoy the day, visit the test center, and try to sleep good. My exam is at 8 am, which is the time I never find myself awake, and ready for the event, any ideas how to tackle this problem?

May 30 Take the score, and apply on the deadline, hopefully.

KarishmaB · Answer

You are the best judge of your strengths and weaknesses hence it is very hard for anyone to approve your day-by-day plan. People can only review your overall scheme.

First of all, I have some questions for you: Do you WANT to score 550 or do you NEED 550 i.e. a score below 550 would mean a re-take? 
How long back did you get the 250 on GMAT prep test?

If you have completed a complete set of study material, you need to take the GMAT prep test right now. You need to figure out your weaknesses at this time. With 15 days to go, you have enough time to review what you really need to revisit.

I will answer the questions you have raised.

Q: Review math from OG, I am not sure how many questions I can finish a day, is 100 a good possible number ?
A: Depends on your current understanding of Math fundamentals. You can run through 100 Quant OG questions in 2-3 hrs if your concepts are strong.

Q: Do cat 1, is it a good idea? I dont want to mess up and destroy my confidence (timed)
A: Take the GMAT prep test right now, not on 24th. If you take it much later, what will happen to your confidence if you get an unsatisfactory score? On the other hand, if you take it right now, you will have time to prepare.

Q: My exam is at 8 am, which is the time I never find myself awake, and ready for the event, any ideas how to tackle this problem?
A: For the next few days, sleep on time (say 11 pm) and wake up on time (read 6:00 am). If you want to study late in the night, use the early morning quiet hrs instead.

Let me warn you, many people see a dip in their actual GMAT scores as compared to their GMAT prep scores. I would suggest you to take the test after you reach 600 on the GMAT prep test (if you really need that 550).

olwan · Answer

Thank you very much for your reply. I have to get over 550 to be considered for the admission, the deadline is on the 31st, a failure to achieve such a score will postpone my admission till next year, so I will retake it if I had to, but I hope not.

I received the 250 exactly one month and a half ago, I got the 320 more than 2 months ago. I will do one cat tomorrow. do you think I need to review my math flashcards before attempting the test, I am sure that I somehow forgot some of the material I had to memorize, which I kept before the exam. But I am really worried about getting a low score when I attempt the exam, but I will be right on it.

and one last question, is it always a dip in their score, is it impossible to really improve on the test? I happen to be smarter when I am doing the real thing. I know it is the wrong thing to do for the GMAT but when I used to solve practice tests, I used just to answer randomly after taking 1 or 2 answers off the choices, when I get frustrated.

Also, when I do the practice test, and this is exactly why I always receive such a low score, is because I get frustrated after answering 2 or 3 questions that I do not know how to answer on a row. I know that I will def. see questions on the exam that will drive me crazy, but in practice environment, a frustration is followed by a bad score, as I will be show less enthusiasm and not to be punished in the end.

I will try to solve this issue tomorrow, thank you

MarkSullivan · Answer

Hello!

I do have a few additional recommendations for you.

• Do a careful analysis of any practice tests you have already taken at this point. You need to clearly identify particular weaknesses and focus primarily on those.

• Don't overdo it with practice tests. My take on practice tests is that they are primarily tools for assessing how well your other preparation has gone. Taking practice tests doesn't necessarily make you better at doing the problems, beyond gaining a little extra exposure to them.

• 100 OG problems per day is  way  too many! Focus on doing fewer OG problems and working on a  deep  understanding of those problems. I recommend sets of 5 OG problems at a time. Set a clock for the appropriate amount of time (e.g., 10 minutes if you're doing Quant problems), force yourself to get through those problems before the timer is up, but then carefully review all of the problems in the set – even the ones you got right! This review process might take 15, 20, or even 30 minutes!

• Remember that this is a computer-adaptive test. By design, it will eventually give you a problem that you can't do! And this is true whether you're scoring at the 300-level or the 700-level. It's important to know when to let go and move on – otherwise you'll end up with a much lower score than you deserve.

• To score a 550, you need to master the easy problems and have a solid understanding of the mid-level problems. But you don't need to get any of the most difficult problems correct! Focus your work in the OG's on the the first half of each section (they are numbered by difficulty). If you can get to a point where you feel confident with these, you're in a good place!

Best of luck!

Mark

olwan · Answer

I took the princeton free test and I scored 370, 25 quant 15 verbal. I am now thinking weather to reschedule, which will postpone my admission till next year, or just go for the test in 13 days in hopes to get a 550. I really need some guidance.

I thought that I am way better in verbal than in quant, in fact, I thought my only hopes getting a 550 was doing good in verbal.

How can I know when I should move on in a test, I am very weak in work problems for instance, should I just move on if i see a problem I know 100% that I won't be able to answer?

I know it is very hard to raise your score 150+ in 13 days. But I am sure that raising your score in the lower percentile is def. easier than raising it when you aim for 650+ score. Most of the people here aim for 700+ level. I just see no place for average not very smart people like me.

thanks anyway

MarkSullivan · Answer

Hi again,

First and foremost, you can't be so down on yourself! This test really does reward those who put in serious work. While 150+ in less than two weeks may be a tall order, a positive attitude toward achieving your goal can go a long way.

Let me address your question about deciding when to "move on" – it's an important question!

I'd recommend giving every problem you see an honest attempt, at least for 30 seconds to a minute. You can often eliminate some wrong answer choices even on the most difficult problems just by understanding a few basics about the question.

Here's what I tell my students to think during the first minute or so of each problem:

•  First 30 seconds.  Focus on what the problem is  telling you  (what are the givens?) and what the question is  asking you  (what's the real question?). Don't jump straight to computations during this time. Focus on understanding.
•  30 seconds - 1 minute.  Start forumlating a gameplan. How do you move from those givens to that answer? Have you seen a similar problem? Do you know a good strategy for tackling this problem type? Is there anything unique to this problem?
•  1 minute mark.  This is the point of no return! If you've got a strategy in place, get going with it. If you still are unsure how to approach the problem, it's "bail time". Eliminate any answers that are clearly wrong or look like traps, guess, move on and forget about it!

This thought process will help you both focus on individual problems and keep up your pacing. Knowing when to let go can make a huge difference in your score. This test isn't about getting every problem correct (virtually no one does). Rather, it's about keeping the highest level of accuracy you can while still getting to the finish line on time.

Best of luck!
Mark

olwan · Answer

Thanks mark. great advice.

Please review my plan

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