Don’t skip AWA in pratice tests

I wrote a Manhattan test today and the result was 620 ( q47 , v29 ) . Less compared to my previous Manhattan test where I got 650 ( q46 , v33 ) . The difference between both the tests is , I have written the AWA today which I skipped in the previous test. I am not sure if it has made a difference ,but I was certainly feeling very drained by the time I was half way through the Verbal section. I ended up not answering 5 questions in the in the verbal section which might have dragged the score down to 29.

One take away from this test was , never write practice tests by skipping the AWA section. I could make out a lot of difference between this test and the ones before. Writing those essays was not the difficult part , but I could feel the tiredness slowly increasing as I was going through the Quant section and was literally counting each question of verbal section. I can’t afford this in the final test , need to make sure I am very comfortable sitting for 4 hrs and writing the test.  I will increase the frequency of writing tests probably two per week , also will make sure that I do the AWA section.

But what’s happening with my preparation.I have given the first Manhattan test three weeks back in which I scored 650 and now I scored  620 . The scores are supposed to be reverse . Between both these tests I was preparing on quant and SC . I am not that worried on quant , as in the GMATPrep I scored 50 . I feel I am almost there when it comes to quant with a little work in some areas.

But with SC , I am still making lots of mistakes.I did put some effort in SC , by going through the entire SC OG for second time and also solving some online quizzes in Kaplan and Mahattan.But looks like I am still not there. I am in a kind of confusion now on how I can improve the SC scores,help me .

Manhattan 1 — 650 ( 46q , 33 v )  — 2nd May 2010

GMATPrep  1 — 660 ( 50q , 30v )  — 14th May 2010.

Manhattan 2 — 620 ( 47q , 29v )  — 21st May 2010.

…….

My first GMATPrep test

I started my preparation in January and was planning to write my gmat some time in April . Was planning to book the date once my preparation comes to a level . But neither happened. So on my friends push I booked the date ,it is Jun 23rd.Hardly a month left .

I wrote the GMATPrep today and scored 660 ( 50 quant , 30 verbal ) . Well the quant score looks good , But I still got 10 questions wrong in it. Considering the score of 50 , I will reduce my concentration on quant for couple of weeks now . Will only be reviewing the quant questions from the tests I write.

Verbal score of 30 was bad. On reviewing the questions I found that most of the SC questions were wrong , RC was average and CR was good.Also as I didn’t finish on time as a result I haven’t answered one question,would have paid penalty for that too.Will concentrate on SC for a week now and will check the progress in one week with the next test.

I have gone through the manhattan SC and completed the OG 12 SC questions. Even though I completed the OG SC , I don’t think I have really benifitted from that. As I couldn’t understand most of the answers from it. I have started with OG SC once again today. But I still don’t have the confidence , that I would make the most of it this time. I am taking the approach of looking up the OG SC questions in online forums of BeatTheGmat and Manhattan,its taking a lot of time though. But this is the best plan I have as of now for SC.

One more problem I am facing with SC is , while I am preparing,I am kind of cool and look out for different approaches to solve.But when writing the test with the pressure of time ticking away, I am not able to do that. I am just reading the answer choices and selecting the best I feel.