LESS THAN THREE WEEKS TO GO... NEED ADVISE

[prachi143.ps]

Hi Stacey (and others reading this)

I am going to take the test within the next three weeks. My first gmatprep score was 450 and after about two months prep i am scoring in the range of 640-680 on various MGMAT and veritas tests but am shattered after seeing my yesterday'a gmatprep score- a shameful 560!! i performed bad on all sections uniformly, and cant figure out why. perhaps i was caught up with my infant's health but that cant be an excuse.
i am bombing it off slightly more on DS and RC (being non native i am at a loss after reading a few lines and cant comprehend the passage fully though i am good at comprehending english in general, i usually do fine on the 'main point' questions but definitely not on 'detail' questions) and to be honest, am doing bad on an average on all sections. Also, the biggest weak area is IR. i consistently end up having one wrong answer and to my bad there is no partial credit for the right ones. plus, i have never been able to finish more than 7-8 questions in 30 min on the practice tests.

when i practice i generally get most problems right but on test i end up doing one or the other careless mistake in every area. unfortunately things look far away from my 700+ target.

since all target second round deadlines are in november, i cannot postpone my test either. (pls advise what is a reasonable time one takes to prepare and send applications to schools after you get the GMAT scores?)

The study material i am using: MGMAT set of 10 guides, OG13, plus i have recently bought the verbal and quant OG supplements but not sure if i will be able to finish them.
i also need a suggestion regarding OG13- i did OG sometime back and i want to re-do all sections to check my progress on the offical questions but then, i am sure i would remember the answers, esp on verbal. do you recommend re-doing it.

many thanks for your kind attention in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

Did you keep track of your per-question timing when taking GMATPrep? You might have messed up the timing badly and that could have led to a big score drop.

Alternatively, did you take the 640-680 tests under full official conditions (including essay and IR)? If not, those scores might be inflated.

You mention other issues related to timing and pressure (eg, making more careless mistakes), which leads me to believe that you haven't spent enough of your prep learning how to take the GMAT (vs. learning how to do the math, verbal, etc). The GMAT is NOT an academic test - even though it seems like one. It's actually a decision-making test. They're testing you on how good you are at making tough decisions (such as letting a question go when it's going to take too long to answer!).

You also say something else that reinforces this idea - that you want to redo OG13 but you're afraid you will remember the answers.

Your goal is not to try a bunch of problems - every problem you try will NOT be on the real test. Your goal is to learn from the problems that you do... and 80%+ of what you learn comes after you have finished doing the problem - that is, after you know the right answer.

Read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Is this how you have been learning? If not, you need to start ASAP - this is what will help you get to the 700 level.

Next, if you do have timing problems (almost everyone does), then you also need to fix those:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

Unfortunately, everything that we're talking about will almost certainly take longer than 3 weeks - probably something like 4 to 6 weeks at a minimum.

Fortunately, though, you can adjust your workload a bit. You can start working on some of the applications earlier, simultaneously with studying for the GMAT.

I'm sure you've heard that it's better to get the GMAT done first and then work on applications. That's true - but that's for someone who gets the GMAT done 3+ months before they need to do applications. At this stage, what you're trying to do is smash the GMAT into a 3 week timeframe and then smash the applications into a 4 week timeframe - and that's not the best way to do things. Better to take the time with both even if it means working on them simultaneously.

So take a look at the above stuff and tell me what you think.

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
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. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (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!)

If you've got the GMATPrep timing data, weave that in. I've heard that someone "cracked" the GMATPrep defenses and learned how to extract the timing data (the test does track your per-question timing; they just don't show it to you) so, if you like, do a google search to see if you can learn how to extract that data. But don't spend a ton of time on this - only do it if it's relatively easy to get the data.