Should I Buy GMAT Official Practice Exams 3 & 4 ?

Question

Hi Experts ,

I have taken the 2 free official practice exams and my scores are below .

Test 1 - Overall 650 , Quant 44 , Verbal 35 ( Aug 29 2021)
Test 2 - Overall 680 , Quant 46 , Verbal 38 ( Sep 11 2021)

Current Study Schedule -

1) Over last 3 months ,2 hrs of Quant in the morning and 1 hr of Verbal in the evening 5 - 6 days a week . 
2) I have been ONLY solving the OG questions from various years from the GMATClub forums

Questions :

1) After over 3 months of prep i can feel my momentum flagging and i am wondering if i should take any more mock tests , Official or otherwise , before taking the GMAT ?
2) Is it worth paying for the Official practice exams 3 & 4 ?
3) Are there any free mock tests out there that are at par with the official practice exams ?
4) When i did a review of my performance i found that , if i had the time , i could have solved almost all the quant questions that i got wrong . Any tips for time management / anxiety management during the test ?

Thanks in advance !!

100mitra · Answer

Hello,

Though I am not an expert, but hope attempt with my opinion can help you out.

some suggest that by attending more Mocks, is to make sure, you complete the test well within time, understand the level of difficulty of question stem, and find your flaw to improve ahead, for some MBA.com two free test taken at certain period of time is sufficient, but for others, to gauge themself time to time, more than 2 or 3 Mocks is required.

650 and 680, are one of the good score considered in GMAT, which you have achieved well within time, and surely you can improve more, with time you have till the D day.
Yes, there are some free Mocks available, based on sign-in Eg.
Manhattan -1
Priceton - 1
E GMAT Sigma - 1
Kalpan - 1
GMAT Club - 9 Verbal and 25 Quants
Vertias Free - 1
And Best of Best is MBA.com 
1 and 2, 
3 and 4, and 
5and 6.

*Precaution - don't jump in all at once at them, go one by one with more understanding.

Plus to practice more difficult question, you may purchase additional approx 800 question directly from MBA.com, which will strengthen you and bring you more close to actual question pattern of GMAT.

For time management, there is a good article written by experts of GMAT club, see if it can help you out.
Relaxation is the only state of mantra : to focus on your objective to achieve.

Lastly don't lose your consistent with looking at current graph improvement, practice on fundamental more and remaining with time left on problems, because problems can vary, not the fundamentals

Wishing you all the best for your future
Regards

Posted from my mobile device

kntombat · Answer

ssddxx ,
Your starting scores are amazing. I feel you should take a on-demand gmat prep course(TTP, EmpowerGmat etc). It should be really helpful if you find the right one.
You can always study using the books, but I feel that you should take the trials of some of these courses and then take a call.
The reviews of all the on-demand GMAT Prep courses is available on GMAT Club for your perusal.

sivatx2 · Answer

Yes, buy 3 & 4. There are other prep companies mocks that are analytically good, but will not reflect your score as per the official scoring algorithm. Prep companies may make slightly or more harder, so their students feels better when the see relatively easier questions in the real exam. Avoid free mocks from prep companies but rather stick to one of them that you're convinced with, so you can find the other mocks(that are not free) are comparably easier than the free mock they provided, and it is for a reason. It is more intended to scare you, that you're not prepared enough.

avigutman · Answer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcHKgPCnJw Subscribe for more: https://www.youtube.com/QuantReasoning? ... irmation=1

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  mmsss . The official practice exams are the best way to gauge what your performance might look like on the actual exam, so if you can spring for exams 3-6 (all four of them), it is in your best interest to do so. You can take free mock tests by third parties (e.g., one from Veritas Prep), but, despite what these companies may say, the questions have a slightly different feel to them, and the scoring algorithm is different. This is not to say that all third-party mocks are a waste of time, just that you should take the results with a grain of salt, something to keep in mind as you continue to work on  official  material.

One way you can improve in Quant is to focus more intently on a given topic (e.g., coordinate geometry) before moving on to another. The OG questions are excellent for practice, but they are grouped by difficulty, not by content, and even in the forum, if you simply select "Source: OG 2022" and "Difficulty: 700-Level," you will be missing an opportunity to develop a more effective method for approaching certain questions. If you go through twenty coordinate geometry questions at the 600 or 700 level, though, and you get almost all of them correct, you will be more likely to approach the task with confidence down the line, if you saw another coordinate geometry question. (Of course, you have to return to the topic now and then to reinforce your methods.)

Anxiety plagues every test-taker, but the best way I know of to mitigate an anxious response is to prepare for the material you will likely see. With practice, you should be gaining confidence, and with review, you should be gaining insights into how to tackle questions more effectively. There are other techniques you can use to calm your mind—e.g., deep breathing, meditation—but these are not directly related to the test itself, and some people may find such techniques more effective than others. In short, no one disputes that knowing your stuff helps you feel more confident while you take the test.

Good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

sarthakaggarwal · Answer

Well i am going to write my gmat on 13 oct (1st time) 
I first gave my official mock scoring 650 then i gave the free mock of veritas and kaplan and i found that although they are good for practise but the feel as well as the algorithm was not quite right. So i decided to give these free mocks for practise and will buy 2 official mocks as they will prepare me better.

huongguyen · Answer

If you can only buy 2 mock test, test 5&6 are better than 3&4 in terms of difficulty. Other free tests, such as Veritas, manhattan, kaplan,... are good for practicing time management. these scores may not reflect your official scores well. 
goodluck!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi ssddxx,

To start, each CAT is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to learn the necessary Tactics and put in the proper practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. In addition, 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 - and your last CAT should be taken about 1 week before Test Day. Going forward, you really shouldn't take more than 1 FULL CAT per week.

Before I can offer you the specific advice that you’re looking for, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

1) Have you taken any other CATs/mocks besides the 2 that you listed (and did you take either of these 2 more than once?)?
2) What is your overall goal score?
3) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

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

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi ssddxx,

I do think it would be worth taking the remaining MBA.com practice exams. Also, regarding your issues with anxiety and time management, here are two helpful articles for you to check out:

GMAT Verbal Timing Strategy

Timing Strategies For a Higher GMAT Quant Score

How to Eliminate GMAT Test-Day Anxiety

Should I Buy GMAT Official Practice Exams 3 & 4 ?

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

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