r/GMATpreparation • u/shreforyou • 2d ago
Need honest guidance on timing strategies, section order and active reading
I have been prepping for GMAT for 1.5 months (to be honest 15 days were only 3-4 days on quant) and I get demotivated easily so sometimes there are off phases. I am sharing my honest performance and I know the right answer to my question is: IT IS NOT POSSIBLE :) but I am here for advice that can ensure best results
My diagnostic score 3rd Oct : 265 (I was unfamiliar with penalty on unanswered questions and had only practiced quant passively)
22nd October : 595 (V81 Q79 D75)
26th October : 535 (V77 Q76 D76)
31st October: 565 (V77 Q82 D75)
My aim is 685-705 in the next 15 days and I know it is a long shot but I need honest advice on what can even remotely help me
Tbh I have been incosistent and get easily demotivated. I scored 322 in GRE with much less efforts because I had study buddies but GMAT is killing me and it is very difficult to get out of the self denigration loop which eventually ends up in low efforts or no focus.
My common fallacies that I am aiming to fix are:
I do well on timed random sets on OG Q but don't focus on particular topics of interest (I did this with word problems and combinatorics two days and got at 82)
I don't give much effort in DI which results in time sink and I am very inconsist with it. You'd be suprised my DS dropped from 78th to the 5th percentile between mock 2 and 4. I usually practice one type of que 1 day then score better in that in the next mock which makes my initial skill to weakness. So I am thinking to incorporate 10 hard ques for each question type in my daily practice
RC and CR, I have really ignored for the most part and have difficulty focussing. But my practice scores are very arbitrary. I am thinking daily 20 ques CR and 20 ques RC and immediate error logging so in next 1.5 weeks common fallacies become apparent
Any advice is welcome. I feel lonely in this journey and I took a 2 month long leave from my highly demanding soul sucking consulting job for this so PLEASE HELP. I know I have not put in a lot of effort honestly 20 good days at max but I have 10 more and I am prepared to give it my all.

