Stuck at V38 with 18 days to go for GMAT

Hi Vin,

Based on the score breakdown of your two practice exams, you have a solid verbal foundation. However, to bring your verbal score to the next level in the next 18 days, you should continue to do focused verbal practice to find and fix your weak areas.

For example, when practicing sentence correction, you should do focused practice of all aspects of sentence correction: pronouns: subject/verb agreement, comparisons, modifiers, idioms, etc. The results of that practice will help you determine and fix your remaining weak areas. You should follow a similar routine for critical reasoning and reading comprehension.

Also, you mentioned that your “brain is processing slightly slower” on the verbal section in comparison to that of the math. Thus, you may have been fatigued by the time you started the verbal section. If that is the case, you may consider taking more practice exams leading up to your GMAT to improve your stamina for test day. When taking your practice exams try to replicate the test day experience as much as possible. Take your exam in a quiet location, preferably at the same time and day that you will take the scheduled exam. For example, if your GMAT is scheduled for 11am on a Saturday morning, take your practice exams at 11am on Saturdays so that by the time your test rolls around, you will be mentally prepared for an exam given then.

Since you have only taken the two free GMAT prep exams you should also purchase and take exam pack 1 and exam pack 2.

I also wrote an article that provides some more advice of how to get faster at solving GMAT questions.

Hi Vin,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become. Unfortunately, some of the things that you've described lead me to believe that your CAT scores aren't completely accurate. By taking the CATs at home, taking them at different times (relative to when you'll take your Official GMAT) and seeing questions that you've already answered, you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Thankfully, this is a relatively easy set of problems to fix. Unfortunately, taking a CAT every 3 days isn't a good idea. The process of taking (and reviewing) a CAT requires a significant amount of energy and effort - and takes time to 'recover' from. This is one of the reasons why you typically shouldn't take more than 1 CAT per week.

As it stands, I still think that you're in position to score at a high level on the Official GMAT - how high will depend on a number of subtle factors in your remaining studies and on Test Day itself. To maximize that performance, you really have to nitpick all of the details behind how you take your CATs and try to make each CAT match up with Test Day in as many ways as possible.

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