Best Strategy for Last Two Weeks Before GMAT?

[karan.issar]

Hi,

My GMAT is on 20th June and as of now I don't really know what to think of my performance. I've been prepping for about 3 months and I've definitely improved but I'm really concerned about messing up on verbal on the real test. I think I should be able to manage atleast a 49 on Quant. But my recent CAT scores seem to suggest I've regressed in my performance.

I've gone through kaplan 2013, OG 12-13 and all MGMAT guides
Here's a list of my practice CAT scores:

1. GMAT Prep 1: 650 ( Last September, unfortunately wasted it just to see what the test is like)
2. Kaplan 1: 740 (Q 51 V 36) 8th March
3. MGMAT 1: 740 (Q 47 V 45) 29th April
4. Kaplan 2: 740 (Q 51 V 39/40) 5th May

Had a break in prep due to my college exams.
5. MGMAT 2: 690 (Q45 V38) 28th May
6. GMAT Prep 1 Retake: 760 (Q50 V 42) 30th May (Had a few repeats)
7. MGMAT 3: 680 (Q 45 V 37) 2nd May
8. Kaplan 3: 720 (Q50 V 35) 4th May
9. MGMAT 4: 670 (Q45 V36) 6th May

Here is a link to my assessment report from the MGMAT tests: http://oi42.tinypic.com/9igtoo.jpg


I've been taking the practice tests mainly to work on my time management and develop the ability to leave questions that I'm taking too long on. Although, my time management is better, the recent scores have really dented my confidence and I think they're making me more anxious. I am confident that I have the ability to score a 99% on the GMAT but my test scores are disappointing at the moment.

My problem is that even though I'm able to do the OG 13 Verbal and Verbal Review problems without much difficulty, getting the most difficult ones right in the specified time, I'm unable to translate that kind of accuracy in the practice tests. I recently did the upper half of questions in the OG Verbal and correctly answered (50/60) in SC, (88/104) in RC(did all Q's) and (36/44) in CR. However, many RC and CR CAT questions seem weird and convoluted. Can exam pressure affect scores so significantly?

I've made a log of all the official questions that I've gotten incorrect or that seemed tricky and I have about 75 practice questions left on my GMAT prep. I'd initially thought I'd review these and squeeze out new questions from the GMAT Prep in the last two days of my prep but I'm not sure now if leaving it that late is the best strategy.

My questions are:

1. What is the best strategy to follow in these last two weeks?
2. Can practicing unofficial verbal questions skew proficiency on official verbal questions and subsequently on the actual test?
3. Should I stop doing unofficial questions at this point and focus solely on official questions?
4. When would be a good time to do my 2nd GMAT prep? ( I had initially saved it for 2 days before my GMAT, hoping my practice scores would consistently be 720+)

13 days to go. Fingers crossed :)

[StaceyKoprince]

Hmm. We need to figure out why your verbal performance has been going down.

One thing I'm noting is that you're taking these practice tests way too close together. I know you're working on the timing, but brute force isn't the way to do that. Part of the up-and-down scoring is likely just because you're doing way too much and tiring your brain out.

Don't do that leading up to the real test - no practice tests within 5 days of the real thing, and the day or two before, no more than a couple of hours of study.

Your quant score is also bopping up and down, not just your verbal score. How's your timing? I know you said it's getting better, but that might be a big part of the reason for the fluctuations right now.

Analyze:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. That should help you to see where your timing work is helping and where you still have more to do.

Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them! The link to your assessment summary isn't loading for me but even if it were - I'd still make you try to tell me what you think is going on first. :)

Yes, exam pressures can affect performance significantly. It's not the same to do a bunch of questions of the same type in a row out of a book. The pressure will be even higher when you take the real test, because you know all it really counts then. So expect pressure to affect you at least somewhat.

So really what you need here is to figure out why your scores (both quant and verbal) are fluctuating. That will tell you what you need to do to settle at the top ends of those fluctuation ranges. Then, you'll have to decide whether the time you have left is enough time to handle whatever those issues are, or whether you need to give yourself another week or two.

As a general rule, in the last week to two weeks, you should be (a) happy overall with your performance, and (b) focused on a comprehensive review. If you're not happy with your performance (and therefore can't yet do a review because you're still trying to fix something), then you will likely need to give yourself a bit more time - enough time first to fix this score fluctuation issue and then to give yourself at least a week of nothing but review.

If you have a bunch of official questions left, then sure, use those instead of unofficial ones. But doing a bunch of problems isn't your main concern right now. Your main concern is the stuff above.