Need some advice for effectively utilizing last 2 weeks of GMAT prep

Question

Hi,

I have my online GMAT scheduled on July 13. I took two official mocks in last 2 weeks. I scored 650 (Q49, V30) in the first attempt and 700 (Q49, V36) in the second one. I am planning to apply Canadian b-schools, so I am hoping to score 650+ as that is the typical range for Canadian schools.

I am extremely confident on maintaining Q49 (hoping to score Q50) as I made 2-3 silly mistakes in the practice tests (and the remaining 3 incorrect questions were very difficult, 75%-95% difficulty as per GMATclub).

In verbal, I just want to maintain V30+. I am not very confident there. V30 to V36 was mainly because of the improvement in the CR. I made a few mistakes in the first one and chose the trap answers. I am going through my error log for CR. For RC, I haven't practiced a lot. So I am practicing 4-5 passages per day. In the second mock, I got all incorrect answers for 1 passage. So hoping to improve that.

But my main concern is SC. Most of the times, I am not 100% confident in selecting an answer choice. I particularly find modifier related question very difficult. I have practiced a lot, but most of the times, I am extremely confused between 2 choices. I have made 5-6 mistakes in SC questions in both the tests. Are there any tips in improving SC skills? I just need to maintain this V30+ score.

Target4bschool · Answer

I understand your concern with SC. Sometimes, you can solve it in 45 seconds or less, but sometimes you just stare at the question and get confused.

I was facing the same situation. I thought it had to do something with my theory/practice. But that was not the case.
Though you are getting a good score (700) on your mock test, so I don't need to tell you this, but I would like to point out that it is the time pressure which makes us anxious during such questions and not the question itself. When I realized this, I looked for better time management skills.

As you still have 2 weeks left, I would highly recommend you to go through this 7:46 mins short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWrUiBT83PQ&t=189s

As your quant section is quite strong, you may apply this trick for verbal section only. Also, if you decide to draw this table, please give a few mock test to get yourself comfortable.

My best wishes are with you!!

AkshayC95 · Answer

-Meditate every day before you sit to study.
-Don't stress yourself a week before your exam.
-Solve 2 Reading Comprehensions every day religiously(Try to improve your game there)(Official Guide)
Whenever you start with RC take deep breathe for 10-15second, Get your focus at one place and start. While reading start converting lines in the language you are comfortable with so that you get an idea(good Idea) of what the passage is saying. Ignore big and fancy words but with practice, you will get there. If you are comfortable with Official Reading Comprehension then I would say try LSAT(Warning they are longer and tougher than GMAT but at the same time closest to Gmat, even if you get a bunch of questions wrong on the last RC don't hurt yourself or curse yourself) You just need to practice 2 passage of RC every day. 
-Review Quant notes(if you have) Once a week and just solve a bunch of questions on Gmatclub so that you do go out of practice for Quants. 
-SC you can revisit topics or just go with grammar rules and solve questions and learn from mistakes while solving. 
-CR it's is up to how you want to go about it. But solve a few questions of each section every day. 
Study according to your test time and make get in a routine. Practice meditation everyday and relax your mind.

Focus on Careless mistake and work on them because you really don't want to lose your Quants points on real GMAT.

All the best and You shall score above 650.
Nail it

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  gmat4122 . I am a little surprised that no one has yet recommended taking another official CAT over the next week. This can help set your mind at ease, believe it or not, and allow you to feel as though you have a distinct goal in mind for  this  week. Deciding to maintain a particular score or sub-score is a risky strategy. Many test-takers, especially first-time test-takers, assume that their official exam will go the same way as their practice tests had gone, without considering that test-day nerves, combined with a lack of sufficient practice, can hurt their performance just when it matters the most. You might even seize up and attempt to be extra cautious about making mistakes, which could cost you time and mental energy better spent working through the problems at hand.

I would suggest practicing small sets of questions, perhaps 5-15 at a time, with a Verbal set in the morning/evening and a Quant set in the other part of the day. Place emphasis on quality time over the amount of time you are preparing each day, and do not force yourself to belt out x questions a day, or you will be coming at this task from the wrong angle. Some days, I can get more out of picking apart one or two questions than I could combing through 10-50 new ones. Look up the questions you have missed in the forum. Read what others have to say about those questions. If you enjoy videos, watch Verbal strategy lessons by Ron Purewal (in the "Thursdays with Ron" series),  GMATNinja , or  fiftyoneverbal , for instance. Sure, you might be fine with a 30 in Verbal, but what could aiming for a 40 hurt? Same with Quant. Do not assume you will earn a 49 just because you can do so in practice. I have worked with students who have done this before and walked away with a Quant score in the 44-46 range.

I say all this not to scare you, but to urge you to keep working at it. Keep sharpening your skillset so that your performance peaks at just the right time. Two weeks is a perfect amount of time in which to focus on the task at hand without losing track of the finish line.

Best of luck to you in your studies.

- Andrew

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi gmat4122,

How did things end up with your GMAT?

Need some advice for effectively utilizing last 2 weeks of GMAT prep

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