Stuck in 560. I need 620

Hi luigi.roza,

To help determine whether you are on the right “path,” I would like to gain some further insight into your practice exam scores and study routine. I have two important questions.

1) Have you been studying straight since January or have you taken some breaks? Also, when you were studying, do you feel as if you were able to achieve linear and targeted learning followed by focused practice? In other words, were you able to master one topic before you moved to the next? For example, when learning about critical reasoning, were you able to learn about all aspects of critical reasoning: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. and then follow your learning with focused critical reasoning practice?

2) Have you taken any official MBA.com exams? If so, what are the score breakdowns of those exams? When you took the practice tests, did you take them under realistic conditions (e.g. in a quiet environment, no extended breaks)?

Once I have some more detailed information, I’d be happy to provide some further advice.

Hello guys,
First of all, thank you for your time and sorry about the delay on my response. I'm very focused on my studies and sometimes is hard to find a time to think of any other thing.

So let try to answer the questions:
- As I said, my last two CATs were done in Manhattan. The last Official CAT was done some months ago...and I confess that I don't remerber the scores (I just remember that was about 500).
- The Assessment Reports from Manhattan CAT was the following:
VERBAL
CR 57%
RC 25%
SC 60%

QUANT
Algebra 67%
Geometry 50%
Number Properties 67%
Word Problems 50%
FDP 50%

- The most mistakes are from silly/careless mistakes.

- I'm planning to take the test at the end of next January-beginning of February.

So, I'd like to know what is the best action plan to attack my weekness and what is the best approach. Could you guys have any suggestion?

PS: I'll go on vacations for 30 days in january, and I'm planning to study full-time during this period in a library next to my house.

Hi luigi.roza,

Thank you for responding to my questions, and I’m glad to see you are studying hard!

If you are finding it difficult to find and fix your weaknesses, you might consider a study routine that allows for focused learning and practice.

For example, if you are learning about Number Properties, you should learn everything possible about that topic, e.g., LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. After that, be sure that you practice with a lot of questions (50 or more) just on Number Properties. The results of that practice will help you to determine how well you have truly mastered that topic.

For verbal you will want to follow a similar study routine; focus on learning one section at a time: reading comprehension, sentence correction, or critical reasoning. For example, when learning about critical reasoning, you want to be able to cover all aspects of critical reasoning: strengthen and weaken the conclusion, resolve the paradox, find the conclusion, must be true, etc. Follow up your learning with focused critical reasoning practice so you can determine your specific weaknesses within that topic.

If you determine that you need a new study resource that allows for such focused learning/practice, check out the verified review section here or on Beat The GMAT.

Finally, for extra quant practice, I welcome you to take my free 37-question quant diagnostic. When selecting the diagnostic test, be sure to take the “average” test, since that diagnostic best corresponds to your score goal. After completing the diagnostic, you’ll be provided with a detailed analysis of your proficiency level on all GMAT quant topics as well as an opportunity to discuss your diagnostic results and GMAT plan with me or another TTP instructor/coach.

If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me directly.

Good luck!!

Hi luigi.roza,

Since your score goal is relatively modest, it's important to know that you do NOT need to correctly answer ANY of the hard/weird questions that appear on Test Day to hit that goal. However, you DO need to keep the little mistakes to a minimum. From what you describe, you're getting lots of questions wrong on your CATs because of silly/little mistakes - so if you can just fix most of those little mistakes (and that really means that you have to do the necessary work, on the PAD, to keep those mistakes from happening in the first place), then you'll hit your score goal.

In addition, if you adjusted your study plan a bit, you could probably take the GMAT in 1-2 months and hit your goal (and not have to wait until January/February).

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