Silly mistakes in mocks. GMAT is in 3 days. Need help!

Question

Hi There!

I am facing this problem which is killing my mocks. I tend to make lot of silly mistakes i the test (with timer running), and when i review what went wrong, its mostly casual errors. I get most of them right when i re-attempt the incorrect questions. This is happening in verbal as well as in quant.

Details:

1. Lot of silly mistakes in quant in question onward 15 . I am getting a good start as i am very cautious is first 10 questions. This leads to a situation where i am behind the average time and then i start rushing, which leads to silly mistakes.
I agree going slow can make things work but i cannot afford to go slow at that time as i am already falling behind.

2. In verbal, i miss basic points while solving SC (e.g: pronoun should make sense with noun). In CR as well, because the clock is ticking, i am not able to comprehend the argument in the first read, as a result i am again lagging behind of the average time. This builds additional pressure to quickly solve the remaining questions.

Strategy i will follow after reading several articles / blogs:

For quant
- Neatly write down calculations and goal
- Double check in case of even a slight doubt on answer
- Leave the question in case not able to decipher the solution i a minute and a half or in case question is from my weak area

For verbal i need help! Please advise how should i go about it. My exam is in 3 days. What can i do to fix this.

Much thanks!
Pranav

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Pranav,

If your GMAT is in 3 days, then there's a limit to how much you can reasonably expect to change/improve during that time. I'd like to know a bit more about how you've been studying and your goals:

1) How long have you studied?
2) What materials have you used?
3) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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

pranav6082 · Answer

Hi, 1. Been studying for about 4 months 2. e-gmat Verbal online, OG13, Verbal review, MGMAT SC 3. MGMAT 3 - 660 q45v35 MGMAT 5 - 620 q45v31 MGMAT 6 - 610 q44v31 4. >=720 5. In next 2 months Please let me now how can i extract the most. Thanks! Much appreciate

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Pranav,

Since raising your score about a hundred points in such a short period of time isn't practical, you should look at this upcoming Test Date as something of a learning experience. While it's certainly important to make sure that you're correctly answering the 'gettable' questions, there's a big difference between moving slowly and working efficiently. From what you describe, there are a number of inefficiencies in how you're dealing with the GMAT overall. While we can certainly improve those areas, it's going to take time (and you've likely developed some 'bad habits' that will take time to fix). From what you describe, one of the immediate issues is that you're going into each prompt assuming that you're going to have to read it twice (so on an instinctive 'level', you're not really trying to understand what you read the first time you read it - and THAT would cause anyone to have a pacing problem). Put yourself in the mindset to 'attack' prompts from the moment you start reading them (take notes, label your work, be clear on what the question is asking you for, etc.) and you'd be surprised how straight-forward most GMAT questions actually are.

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

Silly mistakes in mocks. GMAT is in 3 days. Need help!

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