I just Beat The GMAT!

Hello, I am planning to sit for GMAT exam on December 24. Right now I am scoring in the range Q 42-43. I need to score Q48 at least (this is must). I have been preparing for full two months now and left behind the following study materials:

MGMAT math series - 8 guides
Nova's concepts (as a refresher for entire math, did not solve the problems)
OG-11 PS and DS (although I finished OG11 math questions, I did not study any mistakes back)
MGMAT Questions Banks (finished all math banks and studied mistakes)

Right now, I am working through Jeff Sackman total math guide. I quickly scan theory and do problems (50 problems a day). I have obtained DS challenge from Jeff Sackman and am working through this 100-question guide.

What is the probability that I score Q48 in exam which is roughly one month ahead. Shall I bring any other materials into my study plan?

I have no timing issue during the Q section, as I constantly monitor grid 5 questions=10 minutes.

Please advise me.

What is the probability that I score Q48 in exam which is roughly one month ahead. Shall I bring any other materials into my study plan?

LOL...you sure are studying a lot of Quant.

Well on a serious note, as you told that you consistently score Q 42-43, which shows that your basic concepts are clear. So the key to improve the score is to practice more constructively. Solve more 700 level problems. Understand why are you making mistakes.

karanrulz4ever wrote:

What is the probability that I score Q48 in exam which is roughly one month ahead. Shall I bring any other materials into my study plan?

LOL...you sure are studying a lot of Quant.

Well on a serious note, as you told that you consistently score Q 42-43, which shows that your basic concepts are clear. So the key to improve the score is to practice more constructively. Solve more 700 level problems. Understand why are you making mistakes.

Thank you Karan, my obvious weakness in Quant is DS. I have dangling mistakes, i.e. sometimes I choose correct answer sometimes not for the questions around 600-700 level. My other weakness area is NP; these problems are just handicapping me. I hope that I will finish Jeff Sackman and do GMAT club tests too.

I know for one reason, that without the consistent score 48+ in GMAT Prep I shall not take an exam.

I left MGMAT CATs for the later stage when I am about to achieve 48+

Any critiques, Karan?
Others also, if possible please bring your inputs into my GMAT preparation.

hey night reader i think your position is somehow reflective of mine as well.I'm also getting a consistent score of 44q and need to reach it to notch above q47 :/...I agree with Karan here that to get up above 45q there has to an aresenal of some 700 questions answered correctly also.My main issue right now is of speed.Always tend to get in a hurry in the last 4 or 5 with a string getting wrong.

Are you satisfied with verbal now?.If you increase one superbly you can also fly!...keep on practicing dude!

aslan wrote:hey night reader i think your position is somehow reflective of mine as well.I'm also getting a consistent score of 44q and need to reach it to notch above q47 :/...I agree with Karan here that to get up above 45q there has to an aresenal of some 700 questions answered correctly also.My main issue right now is of speed.Always tend to get in a hurry in the last 4 or 5 with a string getting wrong.

Are you satisfied with verbal now?.If you increase one superbly you can also fly!...keep on practicing dude!

I have already mentioned in the forum my approach to GMAT's Verbal part; I shall game here with the score combination for SC and CR. RC is somewhat attached to the CR, the latter should be well set.

For SC, I have read multiple sources, mainly reference notes (Sahil's, Gaitheiry, sorry if spelling is not correct, etc.). Also skimmed Manhattan's SC guide. In fact, I got lost somewhere at the accuracy level 72-73% for 600-700 questions, though I have an advantage of the long-time studying and practicing English and scoring high on ESL and Toefl. The mistakes I would do in SC were ones pertaining to the style of English.

Now I am quickly remedying the problem by having subscribed to e-gmat, as my accuracy rate for SC has increased to 90%.

For CR I am re-reading CR Bible from Powerscore. This helps me a lot!

I hope to game for the Verbal part: 90% accuracy in SC, 75& accuracy in CR, and 70% accuracy in RC; to summarize I am not to allow for more than 2 mistakes in SC, 3 mistakes in CR, and 4 mistakes in RC. I think, this translates to V36-39.

Let's work and see what will happen.

It is upto you night reader, but I would recommended to go for the strategy of getting only 2 or 3 incorrect in verba!.....It sure sound daunting, but one can do it... I have been noticing that GMATprep and GMAT as a whole is very unforgiving on verbal part...a slight increase from your setup of 9 mistakes and you will end up with V31.Last night I had 11 incorrect in GMATprep, ended up with 31 ...

also notice that most natives or non-natives are usually scoring high with verbal of V40+..I think that is only possible if you are not doing more than 5 in total.

aslan wrote:It is upto you night reader, but I would recommended to go for the strategy of getting only 2 or 3 incorrect in verba!.....It sure sound daunting, but one can do it... I have been noticing that GMATprep and GMAT as a whole is very unforgiving on verbal part...a slight increase from your setup of 9 mistakes and you will end up with V31.Last night I had 11 incorrect in GMATprep, ended up with 31 ...

also notice that most natives or non-natives are usually scoring high with verbal of V40+..I think that is only possible if you are not doing more than 5 in total.

aslan, it is difficult to attain high accuracy rates for RC. I am not a native speaker, and by knowing my reading speed and data retention abilities, I doubt about my scoring 40+ in Verbal part of the GMAT. I pass here

How do you find Jeff Sackmann's DS so far ? Did you get the fundamental or the extreme challenge. Personally, I would get the extreme challenge, just because once you cross 42 - 43, its more than concepts that is needed.

GoBlue wrote:How do you find Jeff Sackmann's DS so far ? Did you get the fundamental or the extreme challenge. Personally, I would get the extreme challenge, just because once you cross 42 - 43, its more than concepts that is needed.

I am unable to evaluate DS challenge set at this moment. I need time and studying from this guide. One thing is to be noted, challenge set is oriented on the 80s percentile scorers of GMAT Quant. The extreme challenge is also available from Hacks; this one includes both PS and DS, 100 questions in total. The extreme challenge is for breaking 99% percentile level in Quant i.e. 51+. I am not really looking into that, hence will not puzzle my brain with the extreme staff.

I have learnt two things here on BTG.

People who go in confidently on GMAT are relying on one of their primary weapons.Either they are non native and are pretty confident of their range from Q49-Q50 in all CATS but a bit less in V of V35-V40....or there are people (primarily natives) who are dicey on Quant (ranging from Q44-48), but go in with a mindset that they can easily achieve verbal of above 40+.One thing is solid going in, for 95% above.

aslan wrote:I have learnt two things here on BTG.

People who go in confidently on GMAT are relying on one of their primary weapons.Either they are non native and are pretty confident of their range from Q49-Q50 in all CATS but a bit less in V of V35-V40....or there are people (primarily natives) who are dicey on Quant (ranging from Q44-48), but go in with a mindset that they can easily achieve verbal of above 40+.One thing is solid going in, for 95% above.

aslan, I understand non-natives having hard time to score 40+ on V. What would prevent natives from scoring high (49+) on Q?

frankly, i see no reason for classifying GMAT examinees on natives and non-natives: both should revise actual GMAT content and expose their abilities to dynamic test conditions. GMAT is one of the merits in business schools' selection arsenal. GMAT is ONLY test; it is not a degree and not a serious academic achievement. It is only a prerequisite (must) for the admission into business school.

@night reader:One advantage native have on verbal is of reading comprehension at high speeds.We can learn here something of how GMAT is structured.

I was just emphasizing the point that regardless of being 'native' or 'non native', if one goes iffy on one part he'll probably survive on the other, but if both are iffy then the mindset is a changed one.GMAT is also a mind game as well as strategy..

@ Night Reader

I was in the same situation as you. Not doing very well in Math but desperately wanting to break the 80 mark on the test. My advice is don't focus too much on the MGMAT material. I think some of their 500 - 600 level questions are good, but the 700 - 800 level questions are harder than you would ever see on the test.

I recommend using the GMAT prep software. Take the math section over and over again. You'll only see a few repeats. There's also a post on this forum about 198 700 level GMAT prep math questions - a really great resource for me.

The BTG questions are also great for learning one concept at a time.

I think I become more confident in Math after I turned to this strategy and was making better use of my time studying. I ended up scoring a 48, which was higher than most of my MGMAT CAT math scores.

Random Wok wrote:@ Night Reader

I was in the same situation as you. Not doing very well in Math but desperately wanting to break the 80 mark on the test. My advice is don't focus too much on the MGMAT material. I think some of their 500 - 600 level questions are good, but the 700 - 800 level questions are harder than you would ever see on the test.

I recommend using the GMAT prep software. Take the math section over and over again. You'll only see a few repeats. There's also a post on this forum about 198 700 level GMAT prep math questions - a really great resource for me.

The BTG questions are also great for learning one concept at a time.

I think I become more confident in Math after I turned to this strategy and was making better use of my time studying. I ended up scoring a 48, which was higher than most of my MGMAT CAT math scores.

Thanks a lot, Random Wok
We keep our secrets at BTG. I am going to buy practice questions to battle the GMAT :!:

Random Work:Your words were music to my ears