Suggestions needed for retaking GMAT for the third time

[narendatta90]

Hi All,

I am an IT professional with a work experience of nearly 2 years. I appeared for GMAT during my pre final year of my UG ( 2011) course and scored a 550.( Dont remember the split). I was infact not happy with the amount of time I spent on my preparation. So I decided to re take the GMAT once I completed 1 year of my work experience. I got myself enrolled in Kaplan classroom course and initially i felt comfortable with the course. My strength is Quant and my weakness is Verbal. Infact Verbal is a nightmare for me even today. Though i feel comfortable with my Quant section i never scored more than 47-48 in Quant. Sometimes I have timing issues and sometimes I face accurancy issues. But there is no consistency in the errors I make. I followed Manhanttan SC guide and it gave me good confidence in solving the SC questions. But I struggle a lot with RC questions. I screw up either RC or CR in the CAT's but some times I end up doing really bad in SC too. I have given around 10 Kaplan CAT's and my scores were ranging from 610-690. My average spilt up was Q45, V25. Finally i gave two GMAT prep courses in which i ended up with a 550 and a 570. I was shattered with the result i got in the so called GMAT prep. As the exam date was approaching I had to boost up my confidence and go appear for the GMAT official exam in the month of November 2013 for the second time. I scored a 550 again with a 5 in IR, 4 in AWA, Q 44 and V 22. I was again shattered with the result as I expected at least some thing around 650. I wanted to take a break and then start on again preparing for the GMAT because doing an MBA is my ultimate goal. I was contemplating about the plan to study and ace the GMAT now. I thought i would take the help of you guys in the forum.

Here are the materials i referred during my GMAT preparation for November 2013 Exam

Quant:
OG12
OG13
Kaplan Online Quizes
Quant Review

Verbal:
OG12
OG13
SC Manhattan
Kaplan Online Quizzes
Verbal Review

I would be grateful if someone would guide me through a proper plan to ace GMAT. I am ready to dedicate at least 20 hours per week for my final attempt of GMAT. I am aiming something more than 700 this time.

Appreciate a quick help from anyone!
:)

Thanks
Naren Datta

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're having a tough time with the test.

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

The below article talks about how to set up a study plan. I actually just re-wrote this one and it should be up on our blog in the next week or so, so you may want to check for the new version:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/

The below describes how to analyze MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour). If you didn't take one of our CATs, you may be able to adapt for the Kaplan score reports - I'm not sure what data they give you, so you'll just have to try and see.
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

If that doesn't work, then you could take one of our tests. If you have our book, then you also have access to our CATs.

Use that analysis as well as your new knowledge from the other articles I linked above to figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as what you think you should do from here. Then come back here and tell us; 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!)

Also, everyone has some kind of timing issues, so I'll also give you these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/