Advice for a GMATtaker 2 weeks before GMAT
As title suggests, I have just 2 weeks before the test. Scoring around 710-720(Q:49-50; V:35-37) on gmatprep. Please share if you have got any anecdotes how you made the best out of the last few days before hitting the ring.
I would find some 700+ quant level questions and work on those. Manhattan has a book dedicated to those (Advanced GMAT Quant) and you should also be able to find some online. Do those while keeping your other knowledge fresh - it'll make you better at both the easier questions and the hard ones to push that score up a bit.
Thanks. I'll look into that.
Watching my cousin study for (and ace) his LSAT exam in only 2 WEEKS (he had a full time job and 2 kids) gave me the following idea, which led to a 30 point increase on exam day over my peak practice scores...
Devote "immersion days" from now until 3 days before the exam to a separate category or question type that still makes you nervous, or one that you "sort of" know-say you hit it 60%-70% of the time. For me, I didn't truly "master" those wordy rate/distance/time problems until I spent an entire day on gmatclub doing them-I did all the easy ones in the morning, medium by lunch, and got deep into the hard ones before quitting around 9pm. I put in a solid 13 hours of repetition and review, and then proceeded to dream about them that night. Setting them up became automatic no matter how complicated the question stem looked; something just "clicked". Obviously it was worth it because I knew those questions show up often, and it would be ridiculous to blow an easy one compared to the stuff I really expected to struggle with.
Did the same thing for sentence correction questions, to the point where I was not missing any on practice exams, no matter how cleverly disguised. While I was initially strong in this area, I tended to take more time than needed-it was crucial to eliminate that layer of uncertainty, which gave me more time to focus on Critical Reasoning, and so on. It's even better if you're self-aware enough to break it down into further subcategories so there's no wasted effort.
I'd prioritize 6-7 question types or formats (Data Sufficiency was another big one) just for that extra layer of comfort going in.
At this point you already know what you know, so don't waste time trying to shoehorn new concepts. Your goal is to be automatic, reduce anxiety, and program your brain to identify and set up courses of action on sight so that you capture all low hanging fruit and maximize your chances on the 60%-70% stuff. Last couple of days just do some light review and mechanical problem solving to keep your rhythm.
I probably overdid it but it paid off.
For RC, the errors are spread out and my errors are spread out, so I would redo OG and review them.
For CR, I have timing and accuracy issues especially on these: Evaluate, bold face, and paradox questions. I will use the 'immersion strategy' you suggested for these CR types. I really appreciate your inputs :)
Trust me, once you've gone through and examined the logic for a couple hundred of the same question type in increasing difficulty without any distractions, the pattern will be cemented in your brain.
GMATCLUB keeps comprehensive lists of these questions divided into easy, medium, hard, and very hard-so it does all the work in sorting them for you, and would be a great extra resource after hitting the OG. Start early in the morning to avoid distractions and to "make a day of it", taking breaks for snacking and lunch and then wrapping up for a late dinner.
I had a very low college GPA...below 2.5 low....and considering the schools I wanted to attend (Wharton, HBS, Columbia, Yale), I knew I had to absolutely destroy the GMAT exam to have any chance at all. A lot of people told me not to even bother with those schools because of my GPA, but I did some research and went for it. I had a very good reason for the low grades, and my work experience was in start-ups/entrepreneurship, which I was told could actually work to my advantage since Finance has been on the decline. I applied round 1 and ended up getting an interview invite to every school except HBS. I took the GMAT exam twice- got a 690 (Q50, V32) first try, and then a 770 (Q51, V44).
Here is what helped me out! 1) Veritas Prep mobile app - A lot of people recommended me this company for GMAT prep, but I didn't want to shell out thousands of dollars for their prep courses or tutoring sessions. They do have a free mobile app though, with tons of very high quality questions. While the app does have some very easy questions as well, the majority of questions are on the difficult side, and some of the harder math and verbal questions are much tougher than anything you'd see on the actual exam.
2) When I first set out to take the GMAT and began my research on the exam, the math section seemed to be the most emphasized aspect. Websites echo the notion that business schools weigh the math score more, that the math section is notoriously difficult, etc etc. I got a D in college intro to stats and had to drop intro to calculus because I was failing it. I knew I had a long uphill climb to score well on the GMAT quant, but it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Because so much was on the line and I really want to attend a top MBA program, I began to actually enjoy the GMAT math problems and even become slightly obsessed with them. Manhattan GMAT also has a mobile app with tons of great questions, and you can pay extra within the app to unlock some harder questions. I ended up paying to unlock the full Manhattan prep app. The tougher, challenge math questions on the app however, are waaaay waaaay beyond the difficulty of GMAT math, and the app even says the questions are intentionally beyond the GMAT difficulty for added "fun," which is exactly how you should feel if you are trying to score above 720. The point I'm ultimately trying to make however, is that you shouldn't discount the verbal section. No matter how good at writing you are, or how well read, the verbal section in my opinion is much more difficult. I highly recommend both the veritas and manhattan prep mobile apps because the verbal questions on them are very good, and won't cost you anything.
3) GMAT has the ESR reports or whatever, and I ended up purchasing them to see how well I did, but mainly to help others with their GMAT journey. For both my scores, reading comprehension was surprisingly the weakest part of my verbal score. On practice exams and problems, I rarely ever missed a reading comprehension question. The tricks and curveballs they would throw at you on RC questions were so predictable and easy to learn. In fact, on my 770 score, I didn't get a single sentence correction or critical reasoning problem wrong. If I had gotten all the RC questions right, I would have gotten a 790 or the fabled 800. This is what I noticed- on the actual GMAT exam, the verbal questions seemed very very different from a lot of the practice questions I had seen. There were even a few critical reasoning questions that drove me insane, because I had seen the exact same type of question and prompt before, but none of the answer choices made sense, and I just had to guess after wasting too much time on them. I think the GMAT is ramping up the verbal side, since scores are going up too much each year. I also had one absolutely insane reading comprehension passage near the end of the verbal section that gave me a legit WTF moment in which you had to use math to solve all the questions. The math itself wasn't too bad, but figuring out what you even had to solve was buried underneath a very dense scientific passage. Not sure what GMAT was thinking with that passage, because normally the super dense scientific passages are balanced out with relatively straightforward questions.
4) Lastly, definitely hit up GMAT club. Possibly the best free resource out there. There really is no point paying tons of money for GMAT prep unless you really need human interaction to learn in which case go with tutoring and never sign up for those classes, complete waste of cash since most of your time will be spent discussing the very basics of the exam such as the directions and problems so easy your time would have been better spent at home watching TV. GMAT club has tons of very good questions. The only downside to GMAT club is that some of the verbal questions can be a bit sketchy because a lot of times, the questions are not transcribed correctly from official sources and can really mess you up.
Best of luck with the GMAT exam!
Stop drinking alcohol, exercise, and eat healthy. You'll be surprised at how much this will help your concentration.
OP have you already taken the one (or two- can't remember how many) CATs that you can download on the GMAC website? I would recommend taking one about a week before and then going through every single question very closely. I think I got a 720 on the GMAC CAT and a 730 on the real thing- the formats are identical, and the questions are previously used GMAT questions. There is no test that is closer to the real thing.
When you get in there on test day you need to remember to breathe. Take the ENTIRE time that they give you to read the test directions, don't just click through. Use the time to breathe and collect yourself. Good luck!
No. I'm done with the two tests. I'll remember that tip to calm down and breathe. Still struggling with RC and CR both with a percentile ranking on a lower side of 35. Currently, reading daily something to strengthen my RC skills and for CR, solving from gmatclub.
Sorry to be a dick but you most likely have zero shot at any top 7 school with a GPA below a 2.5, regardless of GMAT.
He got interview offers everywhere he applied except for HBS.
Tempora libero praesentium rerum nam corporis. Iure repellat est omnis vel est dolores. Adipisci omnis reiciendis eum deserunt deserunt est velit qui.
Rerum possimus sunt modi nemo magnam. Asperiores aperiam id magnam et maxime ipsa. Vitae iusto consequatur totam. Voluptatibus qui consectetur perspiciatis consectetur eos eligendi ipsam.
Velit modi id et qui. Qui sit sed reprehenderit quam. Deserunt ut aut suscipit voluptatum voluptate est. Eius et voluptas deserunt expedita.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...