Studying Post-Exam

[AceTheGM@]

Hi,
I took the GMAT a month ago and scored a 650. I forced myself to take it a bit too quickly, and I really think I can hit my goal of 700 if I study a bit more. I've hit 680 on two past practice exams as well (one was MGMAT, one was GMAT Prep). As background, I took the Complete Course in person, did all the homework each week, studied diligently outside of class, etc. My PEA gave me some areas that I should focus on studying, but I also don't want to lose sight of what I already know.
How do you suggest I study at this point? What's the best way to balance improving my strengths and working on my weaknesses?

More specifically, if I only have an hour after work free, what's the best use of my time? I try to do mini timed sets, but it's hard to get questions at a hard enough level. I realize the value of working on Easier/Moderate questions, but it's hard to work on timing on mini sets when I get an unrealistic proportion of questions classified as 'Easier.' Where should I look for good study questions at this point? I've done the questions near the end of the OG, Quant, and Verbal books a few too many times now and don't really have the experience of looking at a question fresh.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions! I'll start with the last first. If I were you, I'd buy Prep Pack #1, the extra questions in the GMAT Prep software. Last I checked, it cost about $30 and you get 400 questions. Even better, they're classified as easy, medium, and difficult, and you can set problem sets accordingly. So, for example, you could tell the software to give you a set of 10 questions that are pulled only from the medium and difficult sets. (Note: you can't choose topics - but that's okay, see below.)

Your focus at this point is still on improving weaknesses (until you can get your practice test scores to the level that you want). You can keep your skills up in other areas, though, by making sure that your practice sets are randomly chosen - so you'll be practicing your strengths and weaknesses all together.

Have you read this yet:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

That's one of the big differences between people who do hit the 700 mark and those who top out at 650 or lower. If you haven't already been studying in the way described in that article, start doing so!

Also, examine your tests for timing issues. (You might have talked about this already with your PEA instructor.) A lot of times, people who are looking for an extra 20 or 30 points can achieve most or all of that improvement by fixing timing issues.

Read these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

Finally, for your after-work study sessions: one day, do a set of 10 questions, timed. Spend the rest of that study session analyzing the problems - but don't expect to get through all of them. During your next study session, continue to analyze those problems. The first article I linked above will help you with how to analyze. Make use of OG Archer, the forums, and any other sites you like to help you with this analysis.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!