Welcome! Check out our free B-School Guides to learn how you compare with other applicants.
Login or Register

GMAT Practice Grid - Use this to analyze your errors

This topic has 10 expert replies and 52 member replies
Goto page Next
Bookmark
Previous Topic Next Topic

GMAT/MBA Expert

beatthegmat Founder
Joined
13 Feb 2006
Posted:
6296 messages
Followed by:
445 members
Thanked:
825 times
Test Date:
2005
GMAT Score:
720
GMAT Practice Grid - Use this to analyze your errors Post Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:27 pm
Here is a practice grid to help you work through your practice problem sets. I can't emphasize enough how important this grid was in helping me to identify where I was weak and prepare tactically.

When you open this spreadsheet, you will notice the following fields:

  • Start time
  • Question number
  • Answer choices (a, b, c, d, e)
  • Feeling on question (slow, not sure)
  • Result (correct, wrong, careless error, concept error)
  • Notes

Here is how you can use this spreadsheet to analyze your strengthes and weaknesses:

I would try doing forty problems each day of a certain type. For example, I would do forty SC questions, or forty PS questions--I wouldn't mix up problem types. I would give myself a time limit to answer the forty questions, usually an hour. I wouldn't take any breaks, I would just try to answer all the questions consecutively in the time I gave myself.

I would keep a clock nearby and write down the time after every 10 questions in the "Start Time" field to get a sense of how I was keeping pace. I would use this grid to mark off my answer choice, and if a problem was particularly difficult for me, I would sometimes mark the "Slow" or "Not sure" fields so that I could remember that a particular question was hard.

After I had gone through the 40 problems, I would go back and use the answer key to check off questions that were correct or wrong on my grid. If I got something wrong, I would try to classify what kind of error it was in my mind. If it was a stupid error that I shouldn't have made, I would check off "Careless error." If the answer was wrong because I didn't understand it fundamentally, I would check off "Concept error."

Additionally, for each of the 40 questions, I would try to classify the type of problem in the "Notes field." For example, if I were doing a set of 40 math problem solving questions, I would write down the topic being tested, like "Algebra," or "Combinations," or "Arithmetic."

I know that this seems like a really tedious method, but believe me, it helped my preparation dramatically--why?

By using this grid with many problem sets, I was able to identify patterns and see where my strengthes and weaknesses were. For example, perhaps I would notice that I consistently get every Algebra problem correct--this would indicate that I wouldn't need to devote much prep time to studying Algebra because my skills there were solid. On the other hand, I may realize that I got a lot of errors with permutation problems. I see that I mark off "Concept error" here consistently, so I know that I should devote more time to studying and practicing permutations. Just as one more example, perhaps I notice that I get a lot of errors with arithmetic problems, but most of these errors are careless. I would know that I need to slow down more when I do these problems because I'm likely doing them too fast, which tends to promote carelessness.

With regard to marking off time every ten questions, this is helpful to do because you can strategize your time more efficiently for the real test. Maybe you notice that you take a lot of time with RC questions, but breeze through SC questions. Knowing this will help you figure out how to allot your time when you are attacking the verbal section on the GMAT.

Just to reiterate, the grid is a tactical method for practicing/studying for the GMAT. I used it a lot to identify where I could improve. Also, I liked to save my grids so that I could go back and review my errors over and over again.

Here's one last handy tip: when you are reviewing your errors, don't look immediately at the explanations in the answer key. Try to solve the question again to see if you can get the right answer yourself before looking at the explanation. You will learn more solving something yourself than being told how to solve it.

This grid was one of my secrets to scoring well on the GMAT. So now you know!
Attachments

This post contains an attachment. You must be logged in to download/view this file. Please login or register as a user.


_________________
Eric
Founder of Beat The GMAT

MBA Watch - Your one-stop shop for all MBA program research



Last edited by beatthegmat on Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:31 pm; edited 5 times in total

Thanked by: newbie, mnjoosub, rebeccal220, vocuaox, eitak, rohit_arora86, fierymustang, chandnisaxena, nehaseth, batbond007, mipleo, klee, ninamehta, Shina, vis_44@yahoo.com, Rin12, bmgmat, dentobizz, winandos, soumya_s, billnepill, uzbdan, mehrabounr, mbond1224, satishvis, Tran Hung, karishmaaries, Anagha1506, nadinemcl, sivaelectric, irock, Rokita2465, worldpeace93, SIDHARTH, madhuparna.d@gmail.com, click2gunjan, Vivek Murari, samdighe, olegpoi, Eunji_kim, azizi2011, tandon7885, viannalin, dcobos, maryam34m, ellochewy, minhminh7884, TrueGritMick, RVerma, Asherseviltwin, rajeevrks27, brunodeepak, lifeisrocknroll, coolphoenix, mojjammil, goutigscharon, yesman238, chuckerb, pandit, elenaelena, chandroth129, florawynn, cnk_leung, Ridhwana, alnasser973
Need free GMAT or MBA advice from an expert? Register for Beat The GMAT now and post your question in these forums!
devansh_god Just gettin' started!
Joined
09 Apr 2006
Posted:
18 messages
Followed by:
1 members
Thanked:
4 times
Post Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:49 pm
hey eric,
thanx for the grid buddy...... Mr. Green

_________________
Eat like a Pig, Lift like a Demon & Sleep like the Dead.............

Thanked by: minhminh7884

GMAT/MBA Expert

beatthegmat Founder
Joined
13 Feb 2006
Posted:
6296 messages
Followed by:
445 members
Thanked:
825 times
Test Date:
2005
GMAT Score:
720
Post Thu Apr 13, 2006 10:53 pm
Happy to help. I hope others use the grid as well!

_________________
Eric
Founder of Beat The GMAT

MBA Watch - Your one-stop shop for all MBA program research

Thanked by: jongminkim, sunshine00
dkiran01 Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
09 Apr 2006
Posted:
27 messages
Thanked:
16 times
Post Thu Apr 13, 2006 11:51 pm
Hey Eric,

I have this advanced version of test grid,where u can keep a count of the time too. Just enable the macros.

Cheers,
Kiran
Attachments

This post contains an attachment. You must be logged in to download/view this file. Please login or register as a user.

Thanked by: vocuaox, cool, srs_2003, Nikhil Tayade, Rin12, ck_ey, azizi2011, vishal.pathak, jordan23, coolphoenix, mojjammil, yesman238, elenaelena
kulksnikhil Rising GMAT Star Default Avatar
Joined
23 May 2006
Posted:
58 messages
Thanked:
2 times
Post Sat Sep 02, 2006 4:12 pm
Hello Eric and dkiran,

thanks for your grids... this would prove very useful for me !!!

rgds,
Nikhil

Thanked by: PassionOnSleeves
zhangjun111 Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
26 Oct 2006
Posted:
6 messages
Post Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:39 am
hello Eric,thank you so much for your useful materials. Very Happy

gogetem Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
18 Mar 2007
Posted:
1 messages
Post Sun Mar 18, 2007 7:56 pm
Thanks for sharing this highly effective tool. I have less than a week until my test date, so everything really helps.

yangguo Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
07 May 2007
Posted:
1 messages
Post Thu May 10, 2007 7:43 pm
Thank you for all

LuxteK Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
26 Sep 2007
Posted:
1 messages
Post Sat Sep 29, 2007 9:50 am
dkiran01 wrote:
Hey Eric,

I have this advanced version of test grid,where u can keep a count of the time too. Just enable the macros.

Cheers,
Kiran
Kiran,

This code simplifies the a lot of busy work for everyone while taking the test. Thank you for making this available to everyone but could you update it so the user can choose a timelimit of preference rather than 75:00? If I didn't catch that this option is already available please let me know how to do it. Thanks! Also many thanks to Eric for creating this effective grid system.

-GX

newbie Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
04 Jun 2007
Posted:
5 messages
Post Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:06 am
Eric, thank you for the grid. It's clean and simple. I'll make the most out of it and update you with my progress later. Thanks~!

J

night Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
21 Nov 2007
Posted:
22 messages
Post Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:52 am
million Thanks. you did a great karma for all of us here ^ ^ I appreciate it. Thanks again. Very Happy

Partha Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
20 Jan 2008
Posted:
11 messages
Post Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:10 am
Hi Eric,

Thanks a ton for your practice grid.

Regards,
Partha

_________________
Partha Kumar Dey

croman Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
01 May 2008
Posted:
12 messages
Post Wed May 07, 2008 3:03 am
thanks eric,it will help us

agemroy Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
16 May 2008
Posted:
19 messages
Thanked:
2 times
Post Sun May 18, 2008 9:41 am
Thanks

gwendolinecn Just gettin' started! Default Avatar
Joined
31 Aug 2008
Posted:
11 messages
Post Sun Aug 31, 2008 3:26 am
It's useful indeed! Thanks a lot

Goto page Next

Best Conversation Starters
1 GmatKiss 152 topics
2 karthikpandian19 68 topics
3 fangtray 66 topics
4 ronnie1985 36 topics
5 amit.trivedi@ymai... 34 topics
See More Top Beat The GMAT Members...

Most Active Experts
1 image description Bill@VeritasPrep

Veritas Prep

 294 posts
2 image description GMATGuruNY

The Princeton Review Teacher

 202 posts
3 image description Anurag@Gurome

Gurome

 121 posts
4 image description Stuart Kovinsky

Kaplan GMAT Teacher

 90 posts
5 image description Jon@PrecisionEssay

Precision Essay

 80 posts
See More Top Beat The GMAT Experts