Gmat on 14th Sept - should I reschedule ??

Question

Hi all , I have my gmat scheduled on 14th sept and things are not going well

I have off from work till 14th sept but my mock score are utterly hopless !! Here are my mock scores - Gmat prep 1 - April 18 - 600 (Q43 , V29) Gmat Prep 2 - August 18 - 640 (Q49 , V 27) Other mocks Mgmat 3 (Last night) 610 (Q44, V31) Mgmat 2 (a fortnight back) 620 (Q44, V 32) Veritas 3 (28 August) 580 (Q44 , V29) Veritas 2 (14 August) 570 (Q44, V28) My target score is 720+. I am around 100 points behind my target even though i have 13 more days to go for exam . and my pain is verbal . Is there going to be any miracle n i ll get 710+ in actual exam? I doubt about it. I have finished OG verbal part - SC accuracy 62% , CR accuracy 60% , RC Accuracy 65% OG quant - PS part is completed , DS yet to start OG reveiew both quant and verbal - yet to start My plan is to study for 1 more week , buy Gmatprer Exam pack 1 on 4th sept and take one mock and see how much i score. If i get 700 + in that mock then i will give exam on 14th sept otherwise i reschedule. does this look good ? Earlier i had planned to apply for all b schools in R1 but now i am fine with R2 as well. If i rescheudle when i should reschedule it ? I am thinking to plan it somewhere around last week of november

Thanks aditya_don

KarishmaB · Answer

First of all, you would need to focus on both Quant and Verbal - it might seem that your Quant score is way better than your Verbal score (44 against 30) but note that both represent about the same percentile. Both are slightly less than 60%ile. 
700+ your target score is 90%ile so you should ideally look at a 50 in Quant and 40 in Verbal. That would be a perfectly balanced performance with no skew towards either section. Obviously, few people are great at both Quant and Verbal so your actual overall percentile will be much higher than 90.

If you are yet to start DS, you can hope to get a solid Quant score boost from that. Focus on advanced applications and faster methods of solving. Don't get stuck on any problem - keep cruising ahead.

For Verbal, you need to revisit the basics to improve your accuracy. I am not sure whether you have time constraints in Verbal.

And yes, if you are not close to your target score in 4 days, you do need to reschedule. If you are open to retaking the test, you can go ahead as planned and take this attempt as a real time practice session. If you don't get a score you like, you can cancel the score and it will not be reported on your score card according to the new policy.

RichEconomistGMAT · Answer

Hi adityadon,

At this point, definitely something to consider. If you're this far off from your target score so close to your current date, there's really not much you can do in that amount of time to boost your score to 710+. What was your motivation for scheduling the original date? If you're not under any hard deadlines, there's no harm in rescheduling at this point.

Best,
Rich

adityadon · Answer

Thanks Rich , Actually i had 2 weeks off from work so i thought i will push my score by 60-70 points dring this period. But now exam being just 12 days away , I have not even finished OG and OG review. Also I took mock from different test prep comapnies apart from gmatprep but i never score above 640 in any of these... I will take another gmatprep mock in couple of days and reschdule the exam. What date i should select for rescheduling ? I am thinking of something around last week of november .
I will go for some verbal online course during this period. As i am not able to improve in verbal on my own.

Thanks
aditya

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi adityadon,

GMAC has publicly stated that a Test Taker's score on the Official GMAT is within +-30 points of actual ability. Assuming a similar 'swing' in how your CAT scores were generated, your practice CAT results are all 'clustered' around the low-600s. You're not likely to raise your scores 100+ points in under 2 weeks. As such, I suggest that you proactively plan to push your Test Date back, make the necessary adjustments to your studies and apply for Round 2.

1) How long have you been studying?
2) Besides the OG, what other resources have you been using?
3) Do you have trouble finishing any of the sections on time (and if so, then how many questions do you have to rush through just to finish?)?
4) What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical SC, RC or CR prompt?

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

adityadon · Answer

Hi Rich , 
Thanks a lot for your response .

1) How long have you been studying? -  I am studying from around past 5-6 months but its very irregular , I have not studied daily due to work commitments, in last one month i had to spend some weekends in office as well. So study is very irregular.
 2) Besides the OG, what other resources have you been using?  - I have not even finished OG till now, sad thing to admit but .. OG review for both verbal and quant is yet to start , I have used mgmat guides , powerscore CR and magoosh premium subscription(only 40% compelted in solving quesitons but watched all videos) .. What i get from this is i have not exhausted the resources available at my disposal.
 3) Do you have trouble finishing any of the sections on time (and if so, then how many questions do you have to rush through just to finish?)?  - Yes for timing i am fine with quant , sometimes i have to guess one or two to make timing but thats fine , I am not worried about my quant overall i can imporve, Gmat club tests are helping me with it. But for verbal i struggle a lot , If i spend more time on first 10-12 question i have to guess last 7-8 questions and this does not mean i get all 10-12 correct ,accuracy there is just 60-70% only.
 4) What 'steps' do you go through when dealing with a typical SC, RC or CR prompt?  For SC - I read sentence and do a verticle and horizontal scan across options , and eliminate options , accuracy in SC varies a lot if it is my day i get accuracy around 70% -75% but sometimes it just goes around 50%
For CR - I read info provided and then i read question - But sometimes i just could not figure out what exaclty is asked in question.. I just can not comprehend the question even after multiple reads . This happend to me for around 15 questions in OG 13 CR. sometimes i narrow down to option and end selecting incorrect one , this happens a lot in CR than sc and RC
For RC- First i read passage and then i read qusestion. My accuracy in RC depends on type or RC, If RC is something related to economics my accuracy goes down below 50% and if its scientific it hovers around 60-70%

I have decided to reschedule the exam in first week of decemeber. would it be ok ?or do i need to spend some more time on this ?

Thanks 
aditya

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi adityadon,

I think that planning to reschedule your Test for November is the first in a series of smart moves that you can make to improve your chances at hitting your goal score. Given everything that you've described, it's likely that you've developed a series of 'bad habits' over the course of your studies. Simply doing more questions in the same ways that you have been working is not likely to help you get to that higher scoring level (regardless of the source of the practice questions). As such, you might also need to consider investing in some new non-book materials that will focus on tactics and teach you all of the patterns, insider tips and 'secrets' to the GMAT.

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

Gmat on 14th Sept - should I reschedule ??

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