What to do in last week to 2 weeks of preparation?

Question

I've taken 3 separate practice tests from GMAT Prep in the past 4 days and got a 770, 770, 780. These are the only practice tests that I have taken. I would be ecstatic with these scores on the actual exam but want to know what I can do leading up to the test to hopefully come out with a similar score and minimize any potential downside in performance. Does anyone have advice?

I have two specific questions:
1) How to improve quant from 49 higher? I got a 49 all three times, and just can't seem to crack a certain barrier. Is there anything that I can do in 1-2 weeks to get a little better at this? I am worried that if I have an off day on quant, my score could suffer.
2) Is it worth taking any more practice tests or is 3 enough to get the hang of things?

Thank you so much for the help everyone. This forum has been really helpful in my studies and I appreciate the community on here.

pushpitkc · Answer

Hey gmat5ever

Welcome to GMATClub.

You seem all set for a 750+ score(unless you are encountering repeated questions in your
GMATPrep mocks). My take would be to take 2-3 more new tests and work on areas which
need work. For instance, if you take a mock tomorrow and make 2-3 errors in solving DS
questions(specific to a couple of topics), you should work on hard DS questions for these
specific topics over the course of the next 3 days and then see if you are able to solve
those problems in a mocks 3-4 days later. If you have not already bought the second exam
pack, you might consider buying it and doing those tests as well.

This is a post which talks about what you should be doing regarding your preparation with 2
weeks left - https://gmatclub.com/forum/what-to-do-3 ... 52506.html

Hope this helps you.

gmat5ever · Answer

Thanks for the in depth response! That's a really useful link. And I agree with your advice on quant - think the best approach might be to find my weakest areas and do a lot of questions in those areas until I thoroughly understand the concepts.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hi

In the last 2 weeks you should better concentrate on the analysis of your latest CATs. Try to learn from your mistakes so you never repeat them on the real test, Take some more CATs (2-3). Make your stamina for sitting in the test for 3.5 hours, take care of your health and sleep.

Good Luck

rohan2345 · Answer

Hi gmat5ever,

For Quant, especially in the last couple of weeks, a subscription to GMATCLUB tests is the best way to improve your score. They are indeed phenomenal and will not only pinpoint your weak areas but also help you improve on them.

Further taking multiple mocks might help. Apart from the GMATPREP, Manhattan GMAT tests and Veritas Prep Tests in my experience have good verbal and Quant section and will certainly help you point out and improve your weak areas.

Further another advantage of taking many mocks is to build up your stamina. Apart from the GMATPREP tests, taking practise tests of any major GMATPREP company ought to do that.

I would also encourage you to purchase the GMATPREP QP 1 for some great additional practice.

Hope this helps. All the best!

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Wow, great scores!

Since you have about 14 days, there are some steps you can take to improve your GMAT quant score. You will need to study each quant topic "with a fine-toothed comb" to determine your exact weaknesses.

For example, if you are reviewing Number Properties, be sure that you practice 50 or more questions just from Number Properties: LCM, GCF, units digit patterns, divisibility, remainders, etc. Once complete, do a thorough analysis of each incorrect question. If you got a remainder question wrong, ask yourself why you got it wrong. Did you make a careless mistake? Did you not properly apply the remainder formula? Was there a concept you did not understand in the question? By properly analyzing your mistakes, you will be able to more efficiently fix your weaknesses and in turn improve your GMAT quant knowledge. Number Properties is just one example; follow this process for all quant topics.

Each time you strengthen your understanding of a topic and your skill in answering questions of a particular type, you increase your odds of hitting your score goal. You know that there are types of questions that you are happy to see and types that you would rather not see, and questions that you take a long time to answer correctly. Learn to more effectively answer the types of questions that you would rather not see, and make them into your favorite types. Learn to correctly answer in two minutes or less questions that you currently take five minutes to answer. By finding, say, a dozen weaker quant areas and turning them into strong areas, you will make great progress toward hitting your quant score goal. If a dozen areas turn out not to be enough, strengthen some more areas.

Regarding practice exams, you probably don't need to take any more. Rather, spend your time strengthening your quant skills so you push your score to Q50 or Q51.

Finally, you may find my article helpful regarding  how to improve your GMAT quant score .

Feel free to reach out with any further questions. Good luck!

gmat5ever · Answer

ScottTargetTestPrep

Thanks for the advice. I 100% agree with it, but can you elaborate on the best places to get these sets of 50 questions on particular subtopics to practice on? I've been using official GMAT materials to study and they only have ~400 quant questions and you can't pick and choose by area of weakness.

Is it just a matter of browsing here and finding random questions to do?

Thank you!!!!

gmat5ever · Answer

rohan2345

I haven't purchased GMATClub problems because they seem to be too involved and not necessarily practical enough for the GMAT, where solutions seem to be pretty simple as long as you understand the underlying concept that is being tested. GMATClub seem to have way too many calculations and intricacies to be useful for me to get a lot out of in only a week. If I had a month, maybe. But a week seems to be too short to truly take advantage of it.

Happy to be convinced otherwise though!

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