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![[HELP] The Queen of GMAT? Not Quite.](/forum/styles/gmatclub_light/imageset/icon_post_target_unread.svg "[HELP] The Queen of GMAT? Not Quite."){kind=icon}
06 Jul 2020, 16:03
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This is my first post on GMATClub, but I've been lurking for a bit. Excited to find this community!
I'm going to be frank: I was pretty decent at math in hs/college, but it's been a while since I've had exposure to these rules. No sweat, right? Review the theories, make some flash cards, take a prep class, and the points will just *appear.*
Not quite.
Based on my most recent practice tests, I don't think I should take the GMAT at the end of July. Unless I can jump ~200 points in 3 weeks (lol).
Here's my path so far:
COLD TEST - E.G. DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE SECTIONS (5/1) - 340: Q6 (eek), V26
PRACTICE TEST 1 (5/17 - IN A CLASS, WEEK ONE) - 460: Q23, V31
PRACTICE TEST 2 (6/27) - 510: Q32, V28
PRACTICE TEST 3 (7/5) - 520: Q32, V30
I've been enrolled in a weekly MPREP Gmat Course, following along the book and doing practice problems (+keeping an error log), but could I be doing more? It's just not sticking to my brain and it's discouraging. I just registered for TTP as well. Also, I've started studying for 2 hours on workdays, and 5 hours on weekends.
Any recommendations for me? I know this might have been a bit vague, but I need help. This process has been painful - lots of reflection. I've never felt so stupid for this amount of effort.
What is your most effective tip/resource when it comes to GMAT prep? I am open to paid solutions as well, such as a great tutor (I can try to make that work $).
Feeling dejected. Thank you in advance for your help!
I'm going to be frank: I was pretty decent at math in hs/college, but it's been a while since I've had exposure to these rules. No sweat, right? Review the theories, make some flash cards, take a prep class, and the points will just *appear.*
Not quite.
Based on my most recent practice tests, I don't think I should take the GMAT at the end of July. Unless I can jump ~200 points in 3 weeks (lol).
Here's my path so far:
COLD TEST - E.G. DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE SECTIONS (5/1) - 340: Q6 (eek), V26
PRACTICE TEST 1 (5/17 - IN A CLASS, WEEK ONE) - 460: Q23, V31
PRACTICE TEST 2 (6/27) - 510: Q32, V28
PRACTICE TEST 3 (7/5) - 520: Q32, V30
I've been enrolled in a weekly MPREP Gmat Course, following along the book and doing practice problems (+keeping an error log), but could I be doing more? It's just not sticking to my brain and it's discouraging. I just registered for TTP as well. Also, I've started studying for 2 hours on workdays, and 5 hours on weekends.
Any recommendations for me? I know this might have been a bit vague, but I need help. This process has been painful - lots of reflection. I've never felt so stupid for this amount of effort.
What is your most effective tip/resource when it comes to GMAT prep? I am open to paid solutions as well, such as a great tutor (I can try to make that work $).
Feeling dejected. Thank you in advance for your help!
06 Jul 2020, 16:18
Kudos
Bookmarks
Welcome to GMAT Club. I have to say you had a pretty horrendous starting Quant score but you’ve managed to pull it up. ???
While you’re score of 540 may not be anything to brag about, you should be proud of your improvement. You’ve managed to improve 200 points and that’s not an easy fit. That also means your goal of improving another 200 points is a very high one. There is a natural speed of improvement. It doesn’t matter where you start, we as humans are usually only able to improve so much per day or per week. If you start extra low, you may be able to move a bit faster and if you start on the higher side, then it will be a slower curve but in general for the rest of us it’s a fixed number of points per week/month/etc. it does not mean it’s a constant rate either, some days your score may actually go down and on others it may jump. This is more of an average rate of improvement and an average Manhattan prep student improves about 150 points. You are already beyond that so the course is definitely working. However I would expect it to take another 2 to 3 months for you to improve another 150 points.
My suggestion would be to stick with one course and not try to do both at the same time. Are you finished with Manhattan? Doing two courses simultaneously is like riding two bicycles or dating two people at the same time. It rarely ends well ? My suggestion would be to stick with your course and follow it wholeheartedly.
PS. TTP is great. There is no doubt of that but The limiting factor is not your books of courses but rather human ability to learn and retain. The trick is to continuously keeping your skills fresh and current while acquiring new information and it’s a balancing act. For that reason the suggested study period is about three months and usually not to exceed six months.
The good news is that do you have a good room for improvement in both quant and verbal. You should be able to continue to have good gains along the way but watch out for burn out. If you’re looking for a 700 score, do you have at least two more months to go. This is of course not a scientific opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with me and I challenge you to prove me wrong which I think would be awesome for you by the way... So I love for people to prove me wrong because I’m usually pessimistic and whenever I’m wrong, things are good ?
Anyway, I hope this does not rain on your parade too much. Sorry. Good luck!
Posted from my mobile device
While you’re score of 540 may not be anything to brag about, you should be proud of your improvement. You’ve managed to improve 200 points and that’s not an easy fit. That also means your goal of improving another 200 points is a very high one. There is a natural speed of improvement. It doesn’t matter where you start, we as humans are usually only able to improve so much per day or per week. If you start extra low, you may be able to move a bit faster and if you start on the higher side, then it will be a slower curve but in general for the rest of us it’s a fixed number of points per week/month/etc. it does not mean it’s a constant rate either, some days your score may actually go down and on others it may jump. This is more of an average rate of improvement and an average Manhattan prep student improves about 150 points. You are already beyond that so the course is definitely working. However I would expect it to take another 2 to 3 months for you to improve another 150 points.
My suggestion would be to stick with one course and not try to do both at the same time. Are you finished with Manhattan? Doing two courses simultaneously is like riding two bicycles or dating two people at the same time. It rarely ends well ? My suggestion would be to stick with your course and follow it wholeheartedly.
PS. TTP is great. There is no doubt of that but The limiting factor is not your books of courses but rather human ability to learn and retain. The trick is to continuously keeping your skills fresh and current while acquiring new information and it’s a balancing act. For that reason the suggested study period is about three months and usually not to exceed six months.
The good news is that do you have a good room for improvement in both quant and verbal. You should be able to continue to have good gains along the way but watch out for burn out. If you’re looking for a 700 score, do you have at least two more months to go. This is of course not a scientific opinion and you’re welcome to disagree with me and I challenge you to prove me wrong which I think would be awesome for you by the way... So I love for people to prove me wrong because I’m usually pessimistic and whenever I’m wrong, things are good ?
Anyway, I hope this does not rain on your parade too much. Sorry. Good luck!
Posted from my mobile device
07 Jul 2020, 09:58
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Hello, gmatgina. I agree with bb that you should stick to the program(s) you have already begun to get as much as you can from it/them. There is no silver bullet to GMAT™ prep. Some (quite fortunate) people can just pick up an OG and teach themselves strategies as they go; others require lessons or repetition of concepts or questions to get something to stick. Accept that you will make mistakes. You know what? Even an Expert can feel dumb sometimes. (I can speak for this one.) What is important is that you take the time to get to the root of the problem, whether the issue is conceptual (e.g., some Quant topics might need a little dusting off in your mind), test-specific (e.g., your timing is way off), or even psychological (e.g., worrying too much about what you are missing that everyone else seems to get, which has nothing to do with answering a practice question). I will tell you right now that cumulative time spent in preparation will not automatically grant you access to the score you wish to achieve. You have to make those hours count. Do not look at each study session as a chore, but as an opportunity. When you start to understand how the questions are constructed and the different answer choices connect (or do not) to the given information, then you start to unravel the mystery at a more exciting pace. You do not have to solve every Quant question to get the correct answer. Many questions can be solved with logic and a little number sense. Neither do you need to be a grammar maven to do well on SC, or a professional editor to know how to read a passage or interpret answer choices for RC and CR.
I will stop there for now. Get what you can out of what you have paid for. Squeeze every last drop you can from such resources. Once you have exhausted them, then, with additional practice results in hand, you can reassess. But if you divide your attention and think that exposure to top-notch material will just get you to where you want to be, then you will diminish what you take from each lesson along the way, and you will only make yourself more anxious all the while.
Take a deep breath, let it out, and hit the reset button. Relish the chances you have before you to learn something today that you knew a little less about before. Good luck.
- Andrew
I will stop there for now. Get what you can out of what you have paid for. Squeeze every last drop you can from such resources. Once you have exhausted them, then, with additional practice results in hand, you can reassess. But if you divide your attention and think that exposure to top-notch material will just get you to where you want to be, then you will diminish what you take from each lesson along the way, and you will only make yourself more anxious all the while.
Take a deep breath, let it out, and hit the reset button. Relish the chances you have before you to learn something today that you knew a little less about before. Good luck.
- Andrew
