GMAT in 10 days...please help

Question

Hello all,

I am planning to give the exam in 10 days. I bumped into this forum very recently and I was overwhelmed at the amount of preparation that everybody in the forum here does. I am a bit scared now.

I have not given any practice tests yet. I have been practicing the questions from the Official Guide, Princeton Review, Cracking the GMAT, Kaplan Verbal Workbook, Kaplan Advanced Prep.

Please guide me as to what I should do now before the exam. Which practice tests should I go for and are these tests available for free? 

Please help me!!!!

Thanks.

agsfaltex · Answer

Hey,

I'd download the GMATprep software from the GMAC website (or mba.com) and take the two practice tests they have in the tool. You can retake the exams and you will get many different questions for a second or third time around. 

The GMATprep tool is by far the best represntation of the actual GMAT. It follows the same format, type of questions and most notibly the same scoring method. 

If, after repeatedly taking the practice tests, you are not where you expted to be, I would re-schedule the exam and focus on strengthening your weaknesses. 

Considering you have only ten days remaining, You dont have time to re-learn all the material. You do have time to test what you already know and see if you are ready.

Hope this helps, and Good Luck.

jamesrwright3 · Answer

Actually, honestly, I would reschedule now that way they only charge you 50 bucks. If you try to reschedule within 8 days of the exam, they charge you the full amount of the test hence it is pointless to reschedule it if you are taking it for the first time

Call today, reschedule for like a month. month and a half, get prepped

I don't know of anyone who could get an awesome score without studying for at least a month. You don't want to waste $250 dollars!

rhyme · Answer

Take a GMATPrep now. 

Whatever you get on that is going to be, in all likelyhood, as high as you can expect on test day. Almost everyone I know does a little bit (or a lot) worse on the real thing than on GMATPrep, or at best, they match. So if your target score is 650, and you get a 620 on GMATPrep, don't expect to pull that other 30 out of a hat on test day. I've seen some people BEAT their GMATPrep scores, usually by 10 or 20 points, but these tend to be people at the 720-740 range.

My advice? Take the practice exam and unless you beat your target score by 10 points, postpone the exam now while it costs you $50. 

When you take the GMATPrep, ABSOLUTELY do the WHOLE EXAM. Do NOT skip the essays. I'll say it one more time. When you take your practice test, DO NOT SKIP THE ESSAYS. I can't tell you how many posts I've seen: "My score sucks! I burned out!" followed by "Did you practice with the essays?" and then "No... I didnt think I needed to, but by the time I got to verbal I was totally DEAD."

just_do_it · Answer

Thanks for your advice. I will take the GMAT Prep today or tomorrow and then decide if I want to reschedule. I have time till 17th to reschedule it with $50. 

Are both the GMAT Preps the same level, in terms of what score people usually get?

just_do_it · Answer

I am not able to find the Prep tests tp download from mba.com? Do I have to request someone to get access?

lackeym77 · Answer

Agree with rhyme. Take GMATPrep (entire, with essays) today/tomorrow. Then decide if you like that score. If you don't, postpone by at least 1 month (it takes most people 2-3 months of studying to maximize their score) and prep like all us other crazy fools on this board. Also, most all of the schools say that either round 1 or 2 is about the same in terms of competitiveness... don't push it... if you don't like your GMATPrep score, then push back exam 2 months and shoot for Round 2. Only exception to this is Columbia, in which Early Decision makes a big difference. Good luck.

Marcus

just_do_it · Answer

I am not able to find the Prep tests to download from mba.com? Do I have to request someone to get access?

Thanks

u2lover · Answer

here is the link https://www.mba.com/mba/TaketheGMAT/Tool ... in2006.htm

just_do_it · Answer

Thanks, but the description says 

GMATPrepâ„¢ software features:

 * A 15-question practice section for each type of GMATÂ® question, with answers and explanations for each question 

I was expecting a full fleged GMAT exam and not just 15 questions

u2lover · Answer

just do it!!!! download the software, see what it offers and take the exam... the software has additional practice problems in addition to the test!

sng · Answer

That's right. Just do it man... :lol:

If I may, I would like to suggest not to take the GMAT Prep two days in a row... You might want to take one exam later close to the actual test day. Good luck!

just_do_it · Answer

I gave the Prep 1 today and it was a dismal failure -- 530

I felt very disappointed and the same time I am happy to know I have a chance to reschedule. I am planning to push my test to a month. Though this was just a practice exam for some reason I was very tensed and was not able to maintain it cool. At one point in Q I thougt I was doing it well, because I started to get diffcult questions. I spent more time on difficult questions to get them right and time started running out. This made me feel nervous and then I think I got a bunch of them wrong somewhere in the middle of the Q section. I started getting easy questions then...I then lost hope of a qood score. I got 19 questions wrong in Q. The same mood carried over to the V section. Somehow I felt I could handle V better than Q. I had a couple of mins left, but then the final score made me feel I cannot handle this test well. Please help me out..... Thanks for all your time

CHEN · Answer

you need more than a month to really improve this believe me
just a month is not enough to conquer 700

rhyme · Answer

He never said his target score was 700 though...

Whats your target score?

CHEN · Answer

oh I'm stuck in CR traps by making assumption that's not mentioned. :lol:

my target is any score more than 650 this is enough for my target school but I will come back to conquer 700 later before I finish MBA

just_do_it · Answer

700 is my dream score, but I do not want to get less than 650.

u2lover · Answer

I could not resist to answer this!!! :lol:

1st VERY IMPORTANT LESSON ON CR: ASSUMPTION IS NEVER STATED/MENTIONED!!!

rhyme · Answer

I dont think 1 month will be enough to jump 120 points to be honest. The reality of it is this -

To really be sure you will pull a 650 on the real exam, you should be scoring higher than that on practice exams. Most people tend to score a little bit lower on their real exam than on the practice exams - you should aim for 670 or better on practice tests to be confident of a 650.

Based on my experience, jumping 120 to 140 points is going to take work - I'd guess upwards of two months, and quite possibly three. This is, of course, just my view, so I'll see what others say, but you should prepare yourself mentally for a signficant push. My 130 point jump took me near 300 hours to achieve. A friend of mine jumped 80 points, and worked even harder than I did. 

I'm not trying to scare you here - you can do this - but you need to be realistic as to what its going to take. Percentages help put the numbers in perspective. A 530 is 47%, a 650 is 84%. A 670 is 88%. A 700 is 93%. To go from 530 to 700, in percentage terms, were talking about doubling your performance. Thats a significant jump. 

My advice: 

Create a 2 month schedule that covers all the material. Take one practice exam every 2 weeks at first, then 1 a week for the last month. If, by the time you get to the end of the 2 month mark, you are scoring 660 or better on your last three exams, you are ready. 

Remember:

The GMAT is not a test of intelligence...The GMAT is a test of endurance, both in studying for it, and in taking the exam.

agsfaltex · Answer

I would re-schedule to around 3 months later. If you're very confident and you are consitently scoring in your range for your practice tests, You can always pre-pone. Admissions deadlines for next Fall typically go well into next Spring.

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