STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

honey · Gucci

standardized testing

Alikat · Kate Spade

Some of my friends have had drastic improvements by taking courses. Of course those are ridiculously expensive, but I guess worth it in the grand scheme of things.

Good luck!

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

you can do it honey. just don't give up and take it extremely seriously but try not to stress. total contradiction i know, sorry!

improvement is totally possible. when i first took a diagnostic practice lsat, i didn't know what the heck i was doing and totally got a low score but instead of fixating on my score i just took all the questions i got wrong and figured out exactly why i missed each and every one--it helped tremendously. and i'm so glad i did miss them because they were such good learning lessons.

as for your test specifically--you've gotta get that math score up. you've just gotta do it. it's what kills everyone, everyone i know who took the gmat did better at verbal than math. so you're in good company but seriously, if you can ace the math portion--you've got this thing beat. six weeks is a long time, if you focus like crazy, i know you can do it.

also, don't have it in your mind that you can take it again. my dad always said when i was taking the sat and the lsat go once and go home. and he was totally right. all my other friends were weirdly holding out on themselves because they had this option of taking it again in their head whereas my dad was constantly like, just do it once, just do it once. that really really helped to just give it my all.

you've just gotta keep on keeping on and do not doubt yourself for one second--all that is is a waste of time. you can do it honey.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

you can do it! I always do better on the real test than on practice tests. And I improved my SAT score by over 100 without even studying in between the first and second times I took it (I guess I was just more comfortable the second time). You know what you need to study, and you have plenty of time! You can do it!

edit: also, don't get too hung up on your raw score. When I took the GRE I got my number score immediatly and was devastated because I thought I bombed it. But when I got my scores in the mailed- turns out I was up in the 90th percentiles, so I must have just gotten tough questions.

Which test are you taking?

-- Edited by ILoveChoo at 09:08, 2005-08-23

honey · Gucci

thanks for all the input.

alikat -- i'm actually going to take a kaplan class. for me it's worth, b/c i have difficulty focusing if i'm not in a structured environment with deadlines, etc.

esquiress -- you're right (as usual) it's weird b/c i don't want to stress myself out too much, but i really only want to take the test once. plus it's like $250 per test so it's not in my best interest at all to take it multiple times. i just get scared being like all or nothing

ilovechoo -- i'm taking the gmat. in oct.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

i would just practice taking it over and over again before you go and reviewing. Just take the test once though because they claim its not worth the $$ to take it multiple times.

rocky · Coach

I am studying for GMATs, and everyone I have heard from says that the actual test is easier than the practice tests you find in Kaplan or Princeton Review, etc... I went to the ETS site and downloaded practice tests with real questions from previous years, and I did alot better!

So don't worry!

kiwi · BCBG

i just finished the mcats, and for me, the best way was taking practice full length tests, and going over the answers thoroughly. i went over the questions that were iffy, but i ended up getting right, because if i'd taken it again, i might've chosen the other choice i'd narrowed it down to (does that make sense?) i definitely saw a substantial increase in my score during the 2 months that i studied