Help needed to proceed for the final month

Question

Hey
I started my prep around 2 months back. And I've completed lot of material. From Manhattan to OG to Kaplan. 
I took the old GMAT Prep and scored 700 and 690, but recently I took the Kaplan CAT and scored a mere 630. Lot of it were careless mistakes. But it really has let my motivation let down.
I am aiming for 750. Advice will be greatly appreciated.

msvel2304 · Answer

While considering the mock scores, you have to rely only on GMATPrep tests and any other mocks are useful to improve testing experience, find out weak and strong areas across different sections. The scoring algorithm won't be similar to GMATPrep and so it will either be under/over representative of your true abilities and kaplan usually underestimates your score, which is good thing for improvement. Take the new GMATPrep soon with IR + AWA + 8 min breaks and improve based on that. If you still score a 700, then work more on the part where you make more mistakes and keep the other test for the last 10 days. Try to reduce the no of mistakes you make in each section. Taking tests won't increase the score. Only extensive review, revisiting the concepts which contribute to your mistakes and solving related problems will help in increasing the score. Also review the error log/flash cards regularly in the last month and extensively in the last two weeks. Avoid taking too many mocks in the last 10 days, if possible keep it to one - 3 days ahead of your test day and nothing more than that. Your entire preparation should be focused on review in the last one month.

waytomsg · Answer

@ msvel2304

Thanks a lot for the prompt and detailed reply. I just took another Kaplan CAT and the score remained at 630. Pretty discouraged at this point.
I've maintained an error log though and will be working on improving my weak areas. I think time allocation is largely bringing me down.
Btw I am just not able to apply the principles of CR Bible. Is it helpful to take notes on the CR and RC section during the test since I'm prone to stress?
and also is one able to restrict to those time limits while taking notes?

msvel2304 · Answer

Always remember that you cannot get every question right. So the best bet would be to learn more about your weak or strong topics say Bold face in CR, combinatorics in Quant and make an educated guess on those questions. Once you face the question from your weak topics, if you are running short of time, you can readily skip it or if you have enough time you may read the question and think about for few secs to decide whether you can get it right or not - you can do this under 1 min. Again its your call to attempt or make an educated guess. Employ a timing strategy to help you decide on that. This is the one I follow
# V Q
0 75 75
5 66 65
10 57 55
15 48 45
20 39 35
25 30 25
30 21 15
35 12 5
40 3

So for every 5 questions, you check the time to ensure you are on track. Any delay more than 2 mins either +/- you are taking too much time for a question or you are being too fast (here you make careless mistakes). There are some other timing strategies - timing-strategies-on-the-gmat-80176.html - people follow. But I stuck with this one. Apply this in one or two practice tests.

As for the CR bible approaches - I earlier used to go through to get a better understanding of the question types, but the approaches mentioned to categorize the wrong answers simply don't work for me except for very few ones like extreme answer choices or opposite answer choices. I found that I was spending more time on trying to figure out to which category can this wrong answer choice be allotted instead of reasoning it or understanding the argument/options. While it works for many people, I couldn't get used to it. Some generic techniques work such as negation, causal reasoning etc. A rule based approach to CR doesn't work for me. I read the question stem first, try to understand the argument and come up with a prephrasing and it works out pretty well.

Taking notes is a good option to keep you focused. It is possible to take notes and answer the questions provided you don't spend too much time on taking notes. Notes should be very short, it is of no use once you finish that question. At the end, if you look at the notes, you shouldn't be able to relate to anything or understand them - it should be that short. Your speed will improve with practice. I was initially slow but eventually the speed increased. If you are not much interested in taking notes. Use the last 5 columns for each option and strike out every wrong answer, circle the doubtful ones and tick the right ones or leave it blank. At the end you should have 5 columns 41 rows with strikes/circles/tick marks. I follow that as well. You can do it for every question if not at least for the difficult ones, even that would help you keep focused. These are completely my suggestions and what I have learned from them. Everyone works in his/her own way. So check out other people's strategies and choose the one which gives you maximum accuracy and speed.

waytomsg · Answer

Thanks again!!
Yep going to stick to that same strategy for timing from now on.
Will work on notes and stress management. Thanks for the tips.
CR Bible is a well followed book. I was confused as to why I wasn't able to keep up with its principles with every question. Clarification needs to be done. Combinatorics is something I really need to work on. 
Very less time though
Thanks for your time and help!!

	Target Test Prep - Save up to $599 $400 Discount + $99 Bonus GMAT Club Tests
	e-GMAT: 60% Off on GMAT Focus Get to 735+ from any starting point
	Magoosh increases your score, guaranteed - 15% off ALL Magoosh GMAT plans with code GMATCLUB15 + Free GMAT Club Tests.
	Manhattan Prep: $99 Bonus Score Higher on Your GMAT Exam. Guaranteed.
	Experts' Global - ~~$1720~~ $960 End-to-End GMAT Prep + App Support: 150+ Videos, 2000+ Questions, 15 FLTs +
	GMATWhiz - $299 ~~$499~~ Experience the course through a free trial.
	GMAT Club Tests - Free Included with every course purchase of $149+ View all deals

Help needed to proceed for the final month

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

My Rewards