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yossarian84
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SOS Please! 20 Aug 2010, 15:35
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Dear All,

I am into the second month of my prep and really need some help/tips!

I've been preparing for verbal (CR and SC) for a while and feel that I do have a decent grasp over the concepts.

I have studied from MGMAT SC guide and OG11. I did all the SC problems in OG11 with about 80%+ accuracy, critically reviewing all the correct and incorrect answers. But I took a diagnostic test the other day (some online free resource) and got a dismal 70% answers correct (difficulty level wasn't high).

I find that I get overwhelmed by the questions when they are presented to me at first. It takes about 20-30 seconds to register whats given. I get jittery after that and start guessing the answers instead of applying any concept. Thanks to all this, none of the concepts I learn stand of much use.

Its the same case with CR. I am preparing from powerscore LR bible and am having the same problem. I am really feeling low!

I had taken the GMAT prep1 ages back with zero-prep and got a score of 640 (dont remember the break-up), scoring average in verbal and only slightly better in quant. This meant that I need to work hard in each of the sections! I plan to schedule my appointment in December and am targeting a 700+ score. And working very hard!

I am away from home, in a part of the world where there is no easy access to the good books - the only books I've got are the OGs (11 and 12), LR Bible and MGMAT SC which I carried along with me from home. Cant find any of the GMAT books in even the biggest bookshops. So plan to use OG12 for the next stage of preparation and make use of whatever good online resources I can find/buy. Worse, I haven't started quants preparation yet!

Can someone please suggest where am I going wrong? Do I need to take more timed tests? How do I improve?

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Regards
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SOS Please! 20 Aug 2010, 23:37
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You really need to work on your general knowledge. I would not bother with random diagnostic tests from the internet. Also 70% hit rate does not mean anything. Please use legit tests (all-gmat-cat-practice-tests-links-prices-reviews-77460.html) and then we can really talk. Otherwise we are chasing our tails.
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SOS Please! 21 Aug 2010, 10:49
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Avoid random, no-name practice tests from the internet. Instead, stick with CAT's that have a strong reputation.

You're still covering the fundamental concepts, so there's no immediate need to focus on test practice or strategy right now. The best thing to do is learn the concepts and reinforce the material through reliable questions. The GMATClub forums offer many verbal questions and explanations for free. Make sure to practice with those along with the OG problems.

You have very good guidebooks for verbal. But make sure to re-read the Manhattan SC guide.
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SOS Please! 23 Aug 2010, 08:33
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bb
You really need to work on your general knowledge. I would not bother with random diagnostic tests from the internet. Also 70% hit rate does not mean anything. Please use legit tests and then we can really talk. Otherwise we are chasing our tails.
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Avoid random, no-name practice tests from the internet. Instead, stick with CAT's that have a strong reputation.

You're still covering the fundamental concepts, so there's no immediate need to focus on test practice or strategy right now. The best thing to do is learn the concepts and reinforce the material through reliable questions. The GMATClub forums offer many verbal questions and explanations for free. Make sure to practice with those along with the OG problems.

You have very good guidebooks for verbal. But make sure to re-read the Manhattan SC guide.
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Thank you bb and bmillan for your suggestions.

I realized that my preparation is going no where since I only had a vague idea about my strengths and weaknesses. So as suggested, I re-took the GMAT Prep1 and scored 650 this time around.

Breakup - Q44 (19 wrong) /V36 (12 wrong)

Quant:
My timing was very bad as usual. In quant, I could attempt the first 20 questions fine (15 of them correct) but took a lot of time for those and in the later stages I had 17 questions to do in 20 odd mins. Most of my answers were wrong in this set (as all were wild guesses). I know the quant concepts fine but my skills are just too rusty as I haven't applied them in years...I need to revise and practice some of the old math concepts! I believe the gmat maths section of this forum can help me here?

Verbal:
My verbal really needs some serious drill too - My RC was (11/13), SC - 11/17 and CR - 7/11...so I need a balanced preparation in verbal - (I don't rate my RC skills as too high)...I will re-read MGMAT SC and LSAT Bible as suggested and take a lot of tests (though I've scarcity of good prep materials, i've managed to find some sectional tests and sets which I am going put to optimum use!).

Theres one thing that has always bothered me. I am never able to apply the concepts I learnt in any of the tests I take (GMAT or any others). In GMAT SC, for eg, I end up reading the question to myself to judge whether it sounds correct instead of relying on the concepts! Same in quants - I start deriving the formulas instead of using the ones already known to me! This practise really hurts me and I end up doing much worse than what I can!

This forum is really helpful - am now going through the study plans that many followed. Would formulate one to prepare myself in 3-4 months (plan to schedule my appointment in mid december)...I hope there is sufficient time? My goal is a score of about 720+ and I believe that with well directed study plan, I can make the leap. Can you suggest some areas of improvement or whether theres sufficient time?? I know I'd need a lot of prep for it but am keen!

Thanks again for your words of advice. It made a huge difference to my morale!
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SOS Please! 23 Aug 2010, 15:00
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Three to four months is plenty of time.

Anyway, a small correction. Just re-read the Manhattan SC guide. The Powerscore LR Bible is way too big for a repeat. Besides, your CR performance is good. You probably just need more CR question practice. If you notice that you're particularly weak in a specific CR question, then review that corresponding section only. Also, make sure to completely read every single explanation for the verbal in the OG.

I also have somewhat of a "learning-by-doing" mentality when it comes to math. Just make sure to fully cover the concepts and then practice with lots of quality quant problems. That would include the OG, GMATClub Tests, and Jeff Sackmann's math sets. For math guidebooks, nothing is better than the Manhattan series.
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