30-Day Retake advice needed, Quant focus.

[rshih562]

Good morning,

I'd like to start by saying how helpful the MGMAT materials have been in my preparation. I am a native speaker of English, but found the SC guide invaluable in the technical aspects of grammar. In addition, I started with a horrendous 31Q score, which improved significantly after going through all the Quant guides, and hopefully a bit more, as I'm about to explain.

I just completed my first official GMAT, and came back with a 710 (45Q, 41V). I'm quite satisfied with my verbal score, given that I was mentally demoralized after the Quant section, in which I completely fell apart.

My goal is to maintain, and maybe improve a bit on the Verbal score, but I think 90-95% of my study time will be towards the Quant section. I am aiming for a 48 (80th+ percentile), to achieve the much-vaunted 80/80 split.

I am in a bit of a quandry as to how to proceed. I have exhausted the GMATPrep tests, as well as the MGMAT CAT's, to the point that most of the questions I see now are repeats. Therefore, I'm not sure how I can a) gauge my performance, and b) evaluate what I need to hone in on.

I know from the exam that my timing was suspect, and that could be a substantial part of my shortfall. Prior to the GMAT, I scored 47 and 48 on GMATPrep and a 47 on the MGMAT CAT. Just today, I ran through two of the GMAT Focus diagnostics, and they came back with a 43-49 (80% confidence interval), and a 45-50. I feel that 48 is within my grasp. I am going to work on the timing, but I want to know if there is any way I might be able to evaluate the subject areas in which I need to hone in.

I just wanted to see if I might get some pointers as to how I should proceed. My next exam is scheduled for August 13th, and I am planning to gun it until then to get to the score I need. In your very experienced eyes, I am seeking some direction as well as an honest assessment as to if my plan is feasible, given that I put in the effort.

Thanks much!

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad you're finding the materials useful! And clearly, things are working well - congrats on the 710.

So, let's see, you have multiple questions. One is on practice tests. The best thing available that you haven't used yet is GMAT Focus, which is an adaptive mini-quant CAT of 24 questions. This product is made by the makers of the real test, so all of the questions are official questions. Whoops, I just read further and saw that you've already done some GMAT Focus as well. Okay, if you still have more of those available, use them! (Don't do two in one day. They're valuable. Save them as true tests.)

For full-length tests, you may want to take a look at 800Score. I would also ask anyone else you know who's studying what they've used and liked, particularly for quant.

For timing, start here:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

And for content, use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT test and come back to tell us what you find out. We'll use that to help advise you. (And, of course, just doing the analysis will help you quite a bit to figure out for yourself what you need to do!)

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Finally, re: feasibility, yes, it's feasible to go from 45 to 48 in quant. A month may be enough time; you may need a little longer. That will depend partially on how significant your timing problems are and partially on how significant your remaining weaknesses are. (And, of course, on how much time you put in, etc.)