Wrong time management statistic in GMATPrep software?

Hi Philipp,

Based on the answers that you provided, you've already defined the most significant issues in how you approach the GMAT:

1) Silly mistakes in the Quant section.
2) Fatigue issues in the Verbal section.

The good news is that each of these two issues should be easy enough to fix. The 'catch' is that you don't have a lot of time left to fix them and you're not going to fix ALL of the problems that you described. The short answer is that you have to be more ACTIVE in your work - take more notes, don't just read the prompt over-and-over, don't do work in your head, etc.. The fatigue issue is probably more about the physical things: sleep, breakfast, what you do during your breaks, how you sit in your chair, etc.

You should plan to do a reasonable amount of work over this last week+. Working on SCs and Number Properties is a good idea, as both of those categories will show up repeatedly on Test Day. That does NOT mean that you have to do every question in the book. DO NOT cram. DO NOT take lots of practice CATs (maybe 1 or 2, but that's it). Try to relax a bit before Test Day. The best Test Takers are the ones who stay calm, think about how questions remind them of work that they've already done and are active with their approaches.

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

Hi alexau,

thanks for your reply. That piece of information really helps! So I guess there was no penalty in my score.

I got your point. Timing is very important, though I am sometimges wondering wether I should also put myself on the clock while practising. I've been exercising for almost 3 weeks now only to lift my PrepTest score from 560 to 580.. think I wasted quite a good amount of time with rushing and tricking myself. Wish me luck, I might need it

Hi EMPOWERgmatRichC

Thanks for your advise! I'm really trying to get as much findings as possible out of the Prep tests. As you recommended, I listed my error log to find some issues.

Verbal
How often did I get a question wrong:

1) because "guessing" wrong.
Good point. Most times I am able to narrow down to 2 choices. Anyways, I'm still struggling then.

2) because of too wordy questions
This happened serveral times in SC questions. In one RC part I was mentally so exhausted that I stared at the text for almost 4 minutes not understanding the great picture, which leads to 4 wrong choices. I think it was also an issues of focus, but at the end it is lack of stamina. CR worked quite good, SC was my main problem, although I already trained it a bit.

Quant
How often did I get a question wrong:

1) because of silly/little mistakes
That's devastating. I think 7 out of 15 mistakes were silly. I solved them while reviewing all by myself in 2 minutes, though I was not able to solve them in the test. Sometimes I am really freaking out, because I am put on the clock. At the end I think I can only counter this problem with more tests and practise. I have to build stamina.

2) because math rules I didn't know
I really suck in number properties. In the test, there were two Sub-600 questions which I couldn't solve, because I was trying to find a formula instead of using my brain. I really will drill number properties. As bb already analysed (I'm not able to post the Link here) and according to my error log, number properties are quite common in the quant part (compared to geometry, permutations, etc). And surprisingly I seem to be bad in percentages. :D

3) because questions being to hard
I think i understand most of the concepts, though I have to drill them to be able to solve them in time. Which leads me to a questions.

How would you encounter this situation?

In terms of sentence correction many users recommended the Manhatten SC book, which I am trying to work through a bit. Also, I have still many questions in the OG, which are waiting to be done. At the end I think, being able to solve SC questions fast, is the key to the whole verbal part. RC and CR worked pretty good if I had a bit more time.

In terms of number properties I plan to read through the Manhatten Review Number propertie guide the next days, because I think there is quite potential as there are many questions in the GMAT related to this topic. I don't need to ball in the 700+ range, so do you think it is possible to work through the book in few days?

In terms of me freaking out during the test and not being able to use my normal potential ... Anyone of you had the same problem? I think I should just build confidence by working on some 600- and 600/700 questions. And maybe some sport would help in order to not implode Plus I bought some earplugs to improve my focus on the test. Any further suggestions or experience guys? 10 days to go 600 to reach.

Philipp

PS: To make it complete, here my OG error log analysis. Maybe someone has some advise like "Damn, you really have some serious problems" .. or "Nevermind, you're able to make it".