took my first PP test today! how can i push my score further

Well I started the last 10 days of my prep. Today was verbal day with 100 RC questions from the OG11. So far so good. Without timing myself and utilizing every strategy I have read about ( will explain in a second ) I got 2 wrong. I’m expecting harder passages as I go on but so far it’s a great improvement over my previous strategy.


Before I was simply reading the passage trying to make sense of what’s going on and noting key words ( as many suggested ). However I found myself re reading parts of the passage that related to each question and sometimes even more to get a broader perspective. Recently I was introduced to passage mapping. This is a technique of simply taking notes as you read. You start by noting the main idea within each paragraph ( most of the time its within the opening lines ) then as you read you note key terms and arguments which either support the authors view or present another side to the argument. Personally I find its easier to separate the points or newly introduced topics by paragraphs this gives me a better picture of the overall structure.

Honestly I must say that this technique has benefited me in more than one way. Firstly it gives me the passage map on paper so I know where to look for relevant data. Second, and probably the more important benefit… it helps me organize my thoughts as I write down each idea the author presents ( in reality it gives my mind a few seconds to collect all the presented data and organize it into neatly formed blocks of relevant and irrelevant information ). I find that using this technique it takes me about 2-3 minutes longer to read each passage while noting all the relevant info … however now I can fly through most of the questions without rereading and making up the lost time. I love that feeling when you can answer the question w/o even reading the answer choices !!!


I hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to ask !

Tomorrow is another verbal day with 40 RC questions and 80 SC questions. Hehe I feel like im creating another workout schedule except this time its for my brain. The planning is similar to going to the gym … work hard eat right push yourself and always expect results !

Quick update on my progress .

Well I finished up all the RC CR sections of the OG 11 … I found the RC to be somewhat easier in difficulty than what I got on my first Power prep however the second to last passage in the OG is hard ! the CR were fairly easy until question 90 … then they start to require some real focus. I think the Og questions are great practice and much better than the Kaplan questions. I also started some SC questions … so far im in the beginning of the section so its fairly intuitive, nothing special. Im expecting to hit the hard ones around question 70.

Tomorrow I plan to finish up the verbal in the OG and take a look at some of the AWA topics. It was suggested to me to pick out 10 random topics and write down the layout of each essay ( not to write the whole essay just your opening lines for each paragraph ) I think this is a good strategy to help develop rapid response thinking. Then after that its Kaplan 800 book for some math questions and maybe a bit of verbal ( but I don’t like the Kaplan verbal stuff that much … their math is great! )

Oh well 7 days to go .. let the cramming begin

Wow, you are so much more diligent about it than I was! You should get a nice score out of it.

One thing to be aware of...you won't get scratch paper at the testing center, but a dry erase board and pen. Maybe someone here who's taken the GMAT since Jan 1 can tell us how big the board was, but that could affect your note-taking. If you have a small noteboard, try jotting your notes on that while going through the RC passages so you get comfortable with it.

Yea that’s a great idea ! actually i went out and got a note board and one dry erase marker from my local school supply store ... i have yet to use it but im going to try and take my last PP test with the note board. LoL that proctor best be in good shape to run around when I need it. Maybe il give him or her a power bar just in case

Im in the middle of finishing up my OG11 SC ( yes im a bit behind )…. What a drag !!! at least the math problems are fun (its sort of a competition with myself ) this is just annoying! Well il write a more detailed report tonight and maybe share another strategy about CR ( which I rocked .. .the OG ones that is ). I still think the PP CR’s were harder … or maybe it was bcs of the time ? … who knows

way to go NTLancer!
I dont know about the others, but your posts sure do keep me motivated in my studies

Stupid question here... but where do you get PowerPrep stuff? I have GmatPrep, but people seem to suggest these are different......

you can download them for free from mba.com

Well this will be my second to last post before taking the exam. My test is on wed and im anxiously counting the hrs. In the past 2 days I have been working on the Kaplan 800 book … I finished up all the PS and DS stuff and just started into the verbal ( primarily I wanted to sharpen up my math skills with this book as I know that Kaplan lacks in verbal ) Also I think in the final few days it best to work on your strengths and not your weakness. The most efficient way to get points on the gmat is not to make any silly mistakes… I don’t think il learn too much more about sentence corrections within the next 2 days to really boost my score however if I can learn a few more math tricks I may be 1 or 2 questions above where I was 2 days ago. Also it’s a nice moral boost when you are getting most of the harder math questions right . Today im planning to take it easy .. do a few problems here and there and look over some AWA templates im planning to use … maybe draft a few essays. Tomorrow im studying ( im not one of those people who can just nothing before an exam). However im certainly not cramming … im going to do about 10 questions from each section and take the second PP test. I think this will let me know how ready I am.

Will report on my PP test tomorrow! God I wish this is the last PP test I need to take haha

Good luck ! Stay calm, positive and avoid distractions in the last few days...

I took my second power prep test today. I scored a 690 (48 quant 37 verbal) this makes me a bit nervous about reaching my 700 goal on tomorrow test. Tonight I plan to relax go over some AWA stuff and go to be early. Tomorrow is my test so maybe by some godly miracle I can pull out a 700 haha. Either way il write in the Share Your GMAT Experience section tomorrow haha .. till then dear friends

All done ... here is how it went.

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