Tomorrow if not 700+, is 750 possible in 4 weeks?

Question

I start my prep ~5 weeks ago (Since than I have spent 2-3 days reviewing Quant concepts just for completeness sake, and rest ALL IN on Verbal :p - I HAD NEVER GIVEN ANY CAT TEST IN MY LIFE BEFORE, so I knew it would be the case)

4 weeks ago: Princeton Test : 630 (q51, v26)
3 weeks ago: MGMAT Test : 650 (q51, v31)
Last week: MGMAT Test : 650 (q51, v31) - I devoted 2 weeks improving my accuracy in verbal but I became ridiculously nervous in the verbal section as I wanted get to ALL questions which I "somehow" did. BUT I def had more confidence going in, which I f'ed up during the test.

I think at this point I am decently confident in Verbal - SC accuracy 90%+ (~1min avg), CR 80%(~2min avg), RC better than before BUT still not sure as I am still working on my strategy.

Tomorrow I am giving another MGMAT Test. Hoping to get to ~700 (please GOD!). Then I have exactly 4 weeks to go before the D'Day! Next weekend I am planning to give my 1st GMATPrep (exactly 3 weeks to go after that!).

If I score like 680-700 tomorrow. Based on how I have been improving, can the experts here tell me if my 750 target is realistic. Any piece of advice for me that will help me achieve my target or even get past it if possible!

Thanks.

ebonn101 · Answer

Read a ton of English to improve your RC. 90% accuracy and 80% in SC/CR respectively is not bad. I am willing to bet you are getting crushed by RC, just based on the way you write. Read newspapers, magazine articles, and excessive amounts of scientific, business, medical literature, and ASK YOURSELF some of the questions you normally see on RC (The author is primarily concerned with... etc). And that's what you do in your free time.

Study time, I'd say pretty much abandon quant for the most part since you are hitting 51 every time. RC and CR until you want to throw up. Then again. Then one more time. Then read Powerscore and MGMAT SC/CR Bibles. Then do more RC. Then start from scratch and do it all again.

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks ebonn for taking the time to respond. Appreciate it! I am getting crushed in Medium and Hard RC. I get lost by the time I reach the end of the passage. I have been trying very hard to focus on a big picture but when a long RC comes, I just get lost. Thing is I am in-general a very slow reader, so if I go fast I loose it all and if I go slow I forget the gist of what I read before. I had the same problem with CR but after reading MGMAT book (didn't help much) first and then the Powerscore (a true Bible - this truely helped! Hat's off!!) I am able to read quick and still paraphrase the answer. This has helped me a lot. BUT and A BIG BUT... I don't know what to do with RC yet. ONE RC comes in my CAT test and my timing is ALL f'ed up. Given I am slow reader in general, is there a way I can quickly improve my RC? I mean any strategy that you can think could help me? I have read MGMAT RC, and I am trying very hard to practice them but I don't know if I am improving

Anything else I could do? ps. Btw, how could you tell from how I write that my RC is bad :p ? hehe...

ebonn101 · Answer

If you have read the MGMAT RC book, I think utilizing the Highlight method they describe could be helpful for you, especially since your issue seems to be short term memory retention. The human memory is (very generally) divided into immediate short term and longer term memories, short term being information retainable for approx 30 sec - 1 min. All else is either discarded or retained long term. Your difficulty with English is clearly impairing your ability to maintain the RC passage information in the forefront of your short-term (read - immediately accessible) memory. Try highlighting the points of each paragraph in a few bullet points, maybe this will help jog your memory for both specific and general questions.

Also, avoid the detailed, extensive, and highly technical terms in passages. I am a native speaker and I generally don't even read them on the first pass. Most questions are related to wording or content of the passage, and rarely is the knowledge or recollection of a specific technical term necessary. If so, you can always go back and hunt for it in the original passage.

Also, avoid the detailed, extensive, and highly technical terms in passages. I am a native speaker and I generally don't even read them on the first pass. Most questions are related to wording or content of the passage, and rarely is the knowledge or recollection of a specific technical term necessary. If so, you can always go back and hunt for it in the original passage.

KarishmaB · Answer

Generally, people do well when they read the passage properly the first time around and consider the scope, tone, organization and purpose of the passage in their mind before moving on to the questions. If that doesn't work for you, take a quick look first to get an idea of what the passage is about (take a minute to do this) and then start reading the passage carefully. During the second reading you will have a feeling of familiarity with the material which will make you more comfortable and help you understand. Thereafter, think about the scope, tone, organization and purpose of the passage and then move on to the questions. This exercise will eat up some time but you will be able to handle the questions quickly and your accuracy will improve.

akhileshgupta05 · Answer

I second that.

See GMAT passages will always have a structure hidden inside the jargon and language of the passage - be it long or short.

What you have to do is decipher it and half the battle is won.
Spend quality time reading the passage to understand the following things:
Main Purpose of the passage and tone
Scope of the passage
Structural transitions with every paragraph.

And you must do all this without getting bogged down by detailing and unnecessary things.
Do not get intimidated with the words used in the passage - GMAT doesn't test vocab.

Once you have done this effectively, General Questions will be a cake walk. Also you get specific detail questions you know where to look for answers.

My RC accuracy was 40% when I had started and in my last GMATPrep I got just 1 RC incorrect, which too was a silly mistake.

What I usually do is spend good 3-4 minutes(when long) carefully reading the passage and writing down the structure along with the transitions. After this I can answer all 4-5 questions without even looking at the passages, generally. You need to have a lot of patience and concentration. If you don't understand a sentence, re-read it - Identify the structure of the sentence, not the technical language!

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks so much all 3 of you for responding to this thread, taking the precious time out for me, and giving me the invaluable advices. Today I will give heart and sole out there and try to develop a strategy the would work for me. I pushed my MGMAT test by a day, as I think RC has become my verbal nemesis (not just the accuracy in RC but mor importantly the time lost for nothing) and there is nothing more important than to develop my RC some freaking how. Hope I start nailing this beast soon and destroy these freaking RCs!!!!!

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abhicoolmax · Answer

Another quick question: Since these are very limited RCs in OG12 and OG verbal, is there any other source(s) for RCs that you guys would like to recommend me, and that has the same level of structure and language in it's RCs as OGs? I find RCs from random sources very inconsistent in their language and structure as compared to those in OGs.

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Alchemist1320 · Answer

check Aristole RC/SC grails

abhicoolmax · Answer

Awesomeness! I bought All 3 PDF books

99 Passages are awesome. Also great reviews. I will also skim through SCs to get even better at it. Thanks dude!!

abhicoolmax · Answer

I liked the idea of 1 min (or maybe less once I get better at it) scan. Will give this a shot in few of my practice sets today and see if this helps me cohere and more importantly retain the scope, tone, organization and purpose of the passage. Thanks.

akhileshgupta05 · Answer

If you're done working through all the passages in OG 12 and Verbal 2nd Edition, preferably twice, then try working through the past LSAT papers.

LSAT RC Passages have structure quite similar to the GMAT. But they are longer, slightly more complicated and they have more questions. But if you can master LSAT RC, GMAT RCs wouldn't be much of a trouble to you.

Also there a GMATPrep RC Doument lurking around but you should use it after exhausting the GMATPrep test (read as towards the end of your prep)

abhicoolmax · Answer

Man, I have taken your words literally! I keep throwing up, keep getting drained, and keep doing it again :p...it's either me or RC... World War III going on in my apartment!

Alchemist1320 · Answer

thats why Dilbert calls you Ashok....you will crack it...ll d best Also...as a separate suggestion books-to-read-improve-verbal-score-and-enjoy-a-good-read-76079.html

abhicoolmax · Answer

Haha... Thanks for sharing the link, nice read!

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abhicoolmax · Answer

Exactly what I feared. Gave another test today - couldn't get time to give on crazy weekdays - scored 700 (q50, v35). If it was less I would just postpone the test but now I am confused if 23 days are enough to get to 750!

Should I postpone? I had 8 wrong last time (~5 wrong last to last time I think, and 0 wrong in PR test) and I got q51 in all those. This time I got only 5 wrong. Only difference is I got 2nd question wrong this time as opposed to no wrong in first 5 in other tests. Any tip on how to keep quant at 51 consistently? Should just spend 15-20 seconds more to double check and triple check first 10 questions regardless? I can't afford a single percentile drop in quant to compensate of any verbal f'up. Please let me know if you have suggestion. Thanks. RC improved definitely but still only 50% accuracy. Still chugging! Will give GMAT prep in 2 days. Let's see how that goes, it will set the benchmark I guess.

akhileshgupta05 · Answer

I too am in the same condition as you. Quant touching 90%tile but Verbal screwed up!

Whats your SC accuracy? The problem with the 750-760 score is that you have to be perfect in every section!!!
SC is easier at first when you do not know CR and RC but once you become proficient in the latter, SC get devilish. Especially the 700-800 level SC questions are very difficult!
 
I too am having a hard time pushing my score beyond 710-720. I am sure that I will hit a Q50 but Verbal is a pain. More so because its after quant! Usually I get a q49-50 and am exhausted after this section making Verbal all the more difficult! My exam date is mid August (tentative) Let me know how you progress!!!

abhicoolmax · Answer

I think you summed up the situation pretty well. Man, my RC accuracy improved to 50% (from ~25% in previous test) and CR improved to 80% (from ~30%), BUT, as you guessed, SC accuracy dropped to 30% (from ~85%) - primarily because as you said the SC was tougher and it was very hard to get the same level of accuracy in < 1 min

So, I am focusing on SC more than others this weekend. Revising all the concepts again and let's see how that goes. BUT still long way to go in RCs. CR I am damn confident now! I am hoping 3 weeks should be enough and I hoping I don't need to postpone, unless I f'up my GMATPrep test, which will sink my confidence down to the gutter. I have not touched Quant for like ages (in past month)... First need to get Verbal close to "perfect" (given my verbal caliber) and will see if I can make Quant flawless (that will be last week of my GMAT). Next 2 weeks hard-core verbal and then last week will do some targeted Quant w/ more verbal to see if I can make Quant flawless.

KarishmaB · Answer

I really doubt having a couple of questions wrong out of the first ten will have any effect on your Quant score. Each question is equally important. If anything, I would worry more about my last few questions because if I make careless mistakes in those, I will not get the opportunity of re-aligning to my actual level. Quant 50 and 51 are very close so you can easily get one or the other score in different tests (except if you are getting almost all questions correct each time)
I would also suggest you to practice both Quant and Verbal each day. You can allot time as per your requirement. 1/2 an hour for Quant, 2 for Verbal or whatever suits you.

abhicoolmax · Answer

Thanks Karishma. Just want to confirm - are you implying that even if one is close to prefect in the rest of the test getting couple of wrong in the end might push him or her to a lower percentile. Correct? Anyways, for me I got #2 #7 #10 #31 and #34 wrong. I think obviously I screwed up big time in the beginning and then also screwed up towards the end. So that explains the drop in my %tile. How about this strategy? I take as much time as I need, double checking each answer, to make sure first 10 are 100% correct and then speed up in the middle #11-#27. Later take as much time as I need to solve last 10. Thing is time is never a problem for me. I always have ~10 mins (or more) left at the end of the section. I just cruise through the 37 questions w/o even looking at the time for the most part. Only when I am like 1/2 way - I just make sure I have > 50% time left and that's about - also when I take 3+ mins, I kind of sense that something is not right and I am taking way to long - my brain quickly switches to process of elimination then. I have never found myself short of time. So maybe if I deliberately spend more time in the beginning, it might help me keep close to perfect result, if not perfect. Any suggestion? Have you come across similar situation when dealing with any of your students? ps... One of the reasons I don't force myself to imply any strategy in mind in Quant is because I want to just enjoy the whole section; that keeps me fresh to fight out the coming up monster (starting to enjoy it lot more now :-)

) Verbal section. I am just worried implying any strategy in Quant might make me more stressed, hampering Verbal - that's the last thing I need at this point. Thoughts?

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