Struggling Math/English solid

Question

I will be taking my GMAT on June 17th. Currently, the essays and English do not worry me. My math portion has been a struggle. I am a social studies major going into business school for an MBA. I tested out of Math for my original competency way back in 1984. In high school, my classes were not Math based. My studying has been a struggle. I tried the dummies test and scored a 540. Princeton was a 490 by taking a huge hit in the Math section. Currently, I am answering the ETS official guide questions at about 40-50% being correct (10 questions at a time.) At times, I will get a 3/10. I have been studying my incorrect answers. I am reviewing my notes, Princeton review, GMAT dummies, and worked through an intermediate Algebra text and a high school Algebra text. What are some alternatives for the last few weeks? I only have to get a 500 to get into the program but I would like to score a 600. (no b-schools here!) I will take any advice because I am desperate. My weakness in Math is everything. My goal is to do well enough to pass a 500.
I just took the Powerprep and bombed with 410. Quant 21 and Verbel 25

Praetorian · Answer

I think the more your practice, the better you will get. I read that you are studying your mistakes. thats good. 

Do you maintain an error log? read about it here
 https://gmatclub.blogs.com/blog/gmat_/index.html 

Do you see a consistent pattern in your errors? Is there any specific area that is a problem for you? you could check out the forums here. we have recently started organizing problems by difficulty level. The problems here are tough and it forces us to learn concepts rather than just a solution to a problem

Hope this helps. Let us know how we can help you further

Regards
Praet

johnnystubble · Answer

I will start an error log--even though it will probably be as thick as the bible. I am down to a few weeks and it is crunch time. I am going to focus more on my English since I didn't do as well as I thought. If I can ace that, my math (which I will not ignore) hopefully can be carried and I can achieve a 500.

bb · Answer

Johnystubble, 21/25 does not sound especially attractive. I would work on the verbal as well as Math. I found that learning basics is extremely helpful. I would get a few books, esp Kaplan Math workbook and work my butt off. You can improve your score to at least 40 in 2 weeks. I think that will be the most efficient investment. Give it a try man, I think you can very well do it. here is a link to the books i have referred to: (it worked mirracles for me) Kaplan Math Workbook

johnnystubble · Answer

I have focused on my math mistakes and I have been focusing on English skills-CR 100% during practice and improvement in sentence correction. I am only hitting a 70% clip at RC which is cause for some concern. My study situation has not been easy being a father of two with a full-time job and a part-time band.


Thanks for the tips

bb · Answer

Wiht a load like that, it won't be very easy, but if I could, I would focus on the math and try to study early in the morning and go through an hour or so of the material. 

Also, 70% on RC is pretty good, at least for me... My best result in practice was 80%... but I am not a language guy, I was alwys stronger in math.

Lucyloo · Answer

I would look into getting a GMAT math tutor ASAP.

DaveforMBA · Answer

Honestly, I think I would consider postponing the test by about 2 weeks if I were in your shoes, but it's not unheard of to really kick up the pace and improve your experience. I would suggest two things from a practical stand point if you don't wish to postpone.
1) Review why your getting quant problems wrong. Is it lack of knowledge on certain kinds of questions? ie. DS, or problem solving. Or maybe your knowledge of probability, permutations, combinations is in need of pure focused learning. In this case, I would seriously consider purchasing the $27 study guide from https://www.deltacourse.com. They are focused on the math part of the GMAT. Really good.
2) Review and go through your questions differently. Follow a more disciplined and more active approach to how your doing the questions.
For example, do the questions in a quant section, note which ones you are getting wrong and why. Look for trends. you can follow one persons success plan from my web site at daveformba.blogspot.com. I have a journal in my blog on how to be more structured in your approach https://daveformba.blogspot.com/2004/06/good-info-from-someone-who-got-760-on.html

Daveformba

johnnystubble · Answer

Thank you for the great comments. I am focusing more on what I need to know for the math problems. Because I am math-challenged, I am finding difficulty but I am improving. I did get a 470 on the Princeton in a situation where I was disrupted frequently and just a few weeks into studying. My 410 was not in a solitary area. I answered a telephone call during the test and was listening in the monitor for my baby to wake up. The phone kept ringing. I believe that I can get a 25 quant and a 35 verbal in a test environment. Since the 410, I have improved my math abilities. My plan with 7 days to go. I will focus on the math skills and utilize the great suggestions from GMAT club (except the tutor). I am trying to eliminate careless errors and against the advice of the club founder; I will take advice from the cheap gimmicks of the Princeton Review. As intermission to the math pounding, I will work on the verbal--my strong area (although it didn't show on my practice GMAT 410.) I will take the another ETS GMAT sample test. I will be expecting a score that will surpass 500. :wink:

kath · Answer

Good luck to your test. Please give us a feedback on how it went.

bb · Answer

yes, please, let us know how it was. This would be a very short intense preparation.

johnnystubble · Answer

I bombed the second test with a Qaunt 22 and a Verbal 27 for a score of 430. The test is coming up on Thursday. Too late to reschedule so I will go 12 hour + days of study. It doesn't look good-- Maybe that math tutor isn't looking so bad right now. I will focus on my poor performance in data s(6/16) in math and sc(8/16) in verbal. I learned some ds tricks by actually focusing on them with writing out the equations instead of just studying math theory. My strong points were rc(10/14). I noticed that I do well at the beginning of quant and nosedive. Reading comprehension is interesting--I missed the 1st question and then pulled off 9 in a row. Later, I faded when I rushed and lost stamina. If I can address these issues with some luck, I may make it. In each, I rush too fast and have 5-8 minutes left of each individual test. Warning to others who are not so great at the GMAT or are closing in on the test date. Be prepared by going through the recommendations of this site such as completing Kaplan & the OG. I haven't gone through enough practice problems to even scratch the surface of math, and the Princeton Review is not enough. Forget the Dummies & Idiot's guides to start out. Hit it right away and don't waste time like I did. I think another mistake is to check out algebra books and sift through them cover to cover. They don't focus on math the GMAT way. It is going to be a close one to get that 500.

GuySmiley · Answer

Good luck on the exam tomorrow.

BTW, what is the total study time that you've prepared yourself?

johnnystubble · Answer

I am the poster-child for poor prep and apathy. I started fooling around with the notion of a MBA back in February. In March, I began my unfocused reading of what an MBA is all about. I wrote essays, and I bought Dummies for MBA and Dummies for GMAT. I blew through the Dummies with no problem (540 sample test) because it is for dummies. Then I checked out the 2002 Princeton review. I went through it cover to cover. At this point, I thought I was on a good pace. Princeton & Dummies explain the way to trick your way through the test which was not what I needed. Dummies did not have similar material. PR, I scored 410, 430, and 470 on the tests with many distractions. Because of my busy family schedule, I was not getting the appropriate study time in. I was still concerned about my math so I bought the OG. I got my butt handed to me by missing many questions and became concerned about math. I sifted through 2 or 3 Algebra books and felt I was ready so I scheduled my test date for June 17. With a month left, I felt I would do well on the ETS computer tests--410 then 430. I realized that my math skills were unpolished so I wasted more time on theory. Two weeks left, I realized that "Houston we have a problem." I worked through 40 problems of qaunt in OG book. I had ignored verbal because I was overconfident until I recieved a poor score. With a little over 1 week left, I began to put in two hours a day and discovered that a whole lot more work was needed by reading about other test taker methods. I tried to reschedule but it was too late. Now, I am cramming tonight before the test tomorrow. My goal is to take more time on the first 10 of each quant & verbal. My best shot is that I can get the first 15 correct on verbal and take it from there. It all comes down to studying the GMAT not math or verbal. I wasted way too much time on things that didn't matter. I can't put a number on total hours but the hours were not quality just reading here and there. Excluding intelligence, what I noticed about the GMAT pros is that it simply comes down to mass-studying, using the right tools, and focus. I did not demonstrate any of these concepts because of not understanding what the GMAT was all about and underestimating it. This site was an eye opener...500 or bust...

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