What to do After Finishing the Official Guide and Practice Exams

Question

Hi all! I will be having my first test attempt in roughly 3 weeks from this date and have been studying for roughly a year. Generally, I'm able to study for 1-3 hours on most weekdays and 6-7 hours on weekends (realistically incl goofing around on my phone

). My target score is >700. I have a background in software engineering. I've worked through the OG books TWICE (I own a copy of both the 2022 and 2020 editions) and took both of the free mock exams, scoring 680 and 740 respectively. I also had taken a GMAT prep class at a local university. Also took some of the mock tests from the old GMATPrep CAT app probably 6 times, with scores ranging from 660 to 730. My last official practice test result was 740 with Q47 (57 percentile) and V46 (99 percentile). Granted, there were some repeated questions that I had seen in my earlier tests and in the books so the scores, especially verbal, may be biased. I personally think that I need to work a bit more on the quants since I am still prone to make small, silly mistakes esp on data sufficiency and mental arithmetics, ie I'm so used to using calculators I have trouble doing fast calculations in my head. Now that I've pretty much exhausted all the basic materials, what would be the best course forward for the next weeks? I tried to re-run the OGs and practice exams this week but I'm seeing more and more repeated questions that they're getting more memorized. Are the other sources (eg Kaplan) worth studying in 3 weeks? Or Maybe I should purchase the Advanced Question Bank and the 3 & 4 exam sets? Thank you!

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi r_putra_rp.

It may not be helpful to purchase more official practice tests since they have the same questions you've seen in the GMAT Prep software if you've used tests other than 1 and 2 in that software.

Meanwhile, taking practice tests is useful, but are you filling knowledge gaps between tests? What are you doing to improve your skills?

It may be helpful to focus on one weaker topic at a time, by first reviewing or learning the relevant concepts and strategies and then practicing as discussed in the following post.

The Best GMAT Practice Methods

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

Fair to say purchasing Official Mocks 3 and 4 would be a solid choice. In case you've run out of Official questions, the Quantitative Review and Verbal Review guides could be helpful as well. If you've done all of these questions, the online only question banks through the main MBA website are also available.

How to get better on the GMAT. Note down your repeated careless errors.

bb · Answer

Hi and welcome to GMAT Club.

So, what is the specific reason you’re trying to take more questions? Is it just to practice not making silly mistakes?

If that’s the case, I don’t think you can expect that one day you will just suddenly stop making them. 😂 I can tell you from experience, while experience helps, you need to think deeper and harder about how do you proactively not to make them. They will not go away by themselves. It Hass to be a focused effort. For example, I took a five second break between questions because I noticed that doing them so fast one after another would bleed certain information from one question to another. Sometimes I would make silliest calculation mistakes by multiplying numbers wrong or multiple times so I forced myself to do all calculations on paper. Similarly, I stopped and looked at the answers to evaluate if they made sense and if it was logical to assume that that would’ve been the answer. Basically, I put safeguards in place to try to catch and prevent calculation mistakes. You should do more active safeguards rather than passive.

I would also say that after you cover a certain number of questions, each incremental question delivers a reduced benefit. It is usually more beneficial to study a group of rules or a chapter within the book then taking some diverse questions. It is even more valuable to study chapter in the book or in the course and then followed up with targeted and focused topics.

PS. We have a ton of questions posted in GMAT Club. As you’re practicing more quantitative questions, those are easier to follow the guidelines and I would say most sources would be quite good for practice. Kaplan would be great. I have use their math workbook and it was very helpful.

Here are a few topics to help you get started with questions:

1.  Problem Solving Question Directory 
2.  Data Sufficiency Question Directory 
3.  Forum Quiz 
4. Error Log

Posted from my mobile device

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi r_putra_rp,

From what you describe, some of CAT/mock results are unrealistic and 'inflated', so we need to better define your current 'ability level' before we can discuss how you might best proceed with your studies. 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:

Studies:
1) Have you been studying consistently over the last year or did you take any "time off" from your studies?
2) What study materials did the university course give you to work with?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?
4) 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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

r_putra_rp · Answer

Hi!

I don't think I have any particular topic of weakness at this point. I can confidently say I have a good grasp of most concepts and topics except the extremely outlier-ish hard questions. Even then, given enough time I managed to crack most of them.

Currently, my area of concerns are those related to the test itself; Anxiety/panic, time management, and silly mistakes eg 3x4=25.

r_putra_rp · Answer

I've also done all of the the Quant Review and Verbal Review guides and the Online Question banks!

I think the Online bank is a repeat of the Quant and the Verbal reviews (and also the OG Online Bank), am I correct? I saw too many repeated questions. That's why I'm getting bored and a bit lost on how to improve

, so I guess purchasing the 3 & 4 tests are my best way at the moment Regarding the silly mistake, I'm also still lost. Most of my mistakes are calculation-related eg 3x5=25; Annoyingly I still tend to do them even if I write every calculation on-paper. They require me to double or even triple-check my calculation which is EXTREMELY time-consuming IF I actually catch the error, otherwise they may point to the wrong answer altogether.

r_putra_rp · Answer

Thanks for the warm welcome! HAHA exactly. Those silly arithmetical mistakes have been my mortal nemesis since elementary school. I took pure math as my undergrad yet cannot do multiplications or divisions correctly and consistently

I guess I'm trying to take in more questions to reduce test anxiety and panic? I'm still panicking often during mock tests and those ruins my focus terribly, not to mention time management. The worst kind is, I do all of my calculations on-paper. Learnt the hard way at some other exams not belief in my mental calculations. Yet still making 3x4=36

. The only thing I can possibly think is to double and triple check my calculations, given I catch the mistake, which is EXTREMELY time consuming especially on a time-is-essential test like the GMAT. I will take your advices as well! Thanks a bunch!

r_putra_rp · Answer

Hi Rich!

Yes I somehow believe that some of my later CAT mocktests are biased because I saw a few repeated questions that I actually remember, both from previous tests or from the books.

1. I've been consistently studying over the last year with no major time-off
2. Recap on most of the topics and materials by an instructor, using a mix of in-class lectures and hands-on question analysis from multiple sources (OG, OG reviews, Kaplan, even SAT tests)
3. I took my first CAT test after a month of study with a score of 680. Took my second after ~4 months with a score of 720. I've been doing more CATs over the last few weeks every weekends with scores ranging from 680 - 740 (my latest score, Q47 V46). I did not note all of the scores, sorry about that.
4. I'm planning to apply on the first intakes in August, targeting Sloan mainly.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi r_putra_rp,

Since you are interested in applying to at least one highly-competitive School, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile and plans. Those Experts should be able to answer your Admissions questions and help define the specific areas of your profile that could use some improvement (and the more time that you have to act on that advice, the better). There's a Forum full of those Experts here:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/ask-admissio ... tants-124/

I've sent you a PM with some notes and additional questions.

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

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

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