GMAT Strategy

I am scheduled to take the exam in a week. My test scores are as follows:

11/14/09 - 690 Q46; V38
11/8/09 - 700 Q41; V44
10/24/09 - 640 Q37; V40
10/10/09 - 600 Q43; V31

I am really hoping to hit the 700 mark and although I hit it in one practice test - I fear that that was a fluke (also the make-up is less than ideal).

Quant is definitely an area of weakness for me as it has been all over the board. I am pretty confident with the concepts - its just applying them that has been the challenge (esp. under 2 mins). Just seem to freeze when I see a problem in a way I havn't come across yet. Work/distance, percents, overlapping sets and general word translations are my Achilles' heel! I've somewhat ignored combinatorics / probability and employ a guessing strategy when they come up (can normally narrow it down to 2 or 3 choices) since I felt I had more urgent areas to attend to.

In verbal, I tend to get strengthen questions wrong (for CR) and inference (for RC). I fair well in SC except when it comes to the tough questions where meaning plays a huge role in right answers. It seems that gmat prep is the same difficulty as the real gmat in quant but real verbal is a lot more challenging ... Anyone have any insights?

Finally any advice / recommendations on how to efficiently spend these last precious days would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Good luck gurllll. We will be prayin for you! 740!!

Well in my opinion these last few days should be dedicated to a review of your strengths and official material. Fact is, nothing can really get you in the mindset for the test better than working on the real stuff that's out there.

There's not much else you can do concept wise, since absorbing information properly takes at least a few days. I'd say that working on strengths will get you all fired up for the test and will give you a positive vibe. If you do want to take a look at weaker areas too, then do so without stressing yourself too much. What's done is done and you have to squeeze the most out of your prep, which I'm sure will yield really good results.

Please don't forget to relax the day before - you really need to be rested and in a "happy place", since these will surely help you relax and do your best.

I did not feel that test day verbal was not in line with OG verbal - I think they were extremely comparable, so to speak. I felt like I was going through the OG again and this is why I advise you to do the same. I actually saw one question with the exact same pattern as one in the OG!

okigbo wrote:I am scheduled to take the exam in a week. My test scores are as follows:

11/14/09 - 690 Q46; V38
11/8/09 - 700 Q41; V44
10/24/09 - 640 Q37; V40
10/10/09 - 600 Q43; V31

I am really hoping to hit the 700 mark and although I hit it in one practice test - I fear that that was a fluke (also the make-up is less than ideal).

Quant is definitely an area of weakness for me as it has been all over the board. I am pretty confident with the concepts - its just applying them that has been the challenge (esp. under 2 mins). Just seem to freeze when I see a problem in a way I havn't come across yet. Work/distance, percents, overlapping sets and general word translations are my Achilles' heel! I've somewhat ignored combinatorics / probability and employ a guessing strategy when they come up (can normally narrow it down to 2 or 3 choices) since I felt I had more urgent areas to attend to.

In verbal, I tend to get strengthen questions wrong (for CR) and inference (for RC). I fair well in SC except when it comes to the tough questions where meaning plays a huge role in right answers. It seems that gmat prep is the same difficulty as the real gmat in quant but real verbal is a lot more challenging ... Anyone have any insights?

Finally any advice / recommendations on how to efficiently spend these last precious days would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

Agree with DanaJ - dwell in your strengths. Review old difficult problems you've solved - can you solve them again easily?

Also, let me throw in a simple way of doing permutations and combinations - knowing you can knock the problem out of the park if you get a problem like that will help your confidence as well.

1) Draw a line for EACH "slot" that will be filled. For example, if there's 12 stones and you're asked to find how many ways the stones can be arranged in four holes, you'd draw FOUR lines.

2) On the first line, write in the total number of items. In our example, you'd write "12".

3) On the second line, subtract one and write that number (11)

4) On the third line, subtract one and write that number (10).

5) Continue until all the lines are filled.

6) If you're calculating permutations, STOP. Multiply all the numbers together, and viola - you've got your answer. In our case: 12 x 11 x 10 x 9 = 11880.

More likely though, you'll get a COMBINATION problem, since the math is easier. This is when the individual order of the items doesn't matter. So the question would be modified to ask "How many different ways can the stones be arranged in four holes, if order doesn't matter?"

7) Write "1" under the first line.

8) Write "2" under the second line.

9) Continue adding 1 under each line until you run out of lines.

10) Now treat the numbers as fractions and multiply. So you have (12/1) * (11/2) * (10/3) * (9/4). The bottom numbers will ALWAYS reduce to 1. In our case, it can be reduced to 11 * 5 * 9 = 495 ways of arranging the 12 stones if order doesn't matter.

BTW: I'd say your verbal performance is just as inconsistent as math - I'd also dwell in your strengths there as well.

Hi okigbo,

I agree wholeheartedly with Dana J and cbenk121's comments. In fact, Dana J's comments are basically the spiel I give to any student whose test is just a few days away. Don't worry so much about concepts you are still weak in; no one has to know everything to get a good score. In fact, you can score as high as 760 knowing only about half the stuff that an 800 scorer would know!

I know the temptation will be to cover a bunch of material that you still need to work on; resist the temptation. The worst thing that can happen in the last few days is getting stumped on hard questions. While writing the test, if the question is too hard or unfamiliar, take an educated guess and exit the question in 2 or so minutes.

Don't think about how you are doing while you are actually doing. Because it is adaptive, everyone finds the test difficult; also many questions are experimental.

Look at questions that you used to find difficult and say to yourself: "wow, when I started studying that would have stumpted me, but now I know that concept or that tactic"--then, literally, visualize yourself using that concept or tactic on test day.

Regaridng combinatorics: don't worry about it. You are likely to only get one combinatorics questions, and it will probably be an easy kind where you just have to multiple the numbers through or else use the combinations fornula once or twice.

Focus on your strengths, dwell in everything you know, and get fired up. In the last few days, your attitude and mindset going in to the test can make a HUGE difference to your score; far more than learning another concept or two!

Thank you for DanaJ, cbenk and Testluv for the words. Unfortunately I just took the last gmat prep test and scored a 640 (39Q / 39V). This is beyond demotivating since I havn't scored this low in quant in over a month. My previous tests were with manhattan gmat and the math on those are soposed to be tougher than the actual gmat. Really not sure what happened.

My current game plan is to peruse every question from the test. Given I am 5 days away from the actual test, not sure what else I can do. Was hoping for 700 on d-day but that looks improbable now.

Anyone have any thoughts at all??

okigbo wrote:Thank you for DanaJ, cbenk and Testluv for the words. Unfortunately I just took the last gmat prep test and scored a 640 (39Q / 39V). This is beyond demotivating since I havn't scored this low in quant in over a month. My previous tests were with manhattan gmat and the math on those are soposed to be tougher than the actual gmat. Really not sure what happened.

My current game plan is to peruse every question from the test. Given I am 5 days away from the actual test, not sure what else I can do. Was hoping for 700 on d-day but that looks improbable now.

dude...you got a 700 on one of the GMAT preps. Maybe you just got a set of problems that disagreed with you - I know I got my lowest Q score on the practice test before my actual test.

Look at every question that you got wrong on the test. Did you simply make stupid mistakes, or were there conceptual gaps? In either case, rejoice! Stupid mistakes can be prevented on the real test by taking EVERY question seriously and taking a moment to check your assumptions, and its better to find out about conceptual gaps now than on d-day.

As shadow (770) said, he got 730s on his practice tests, he never lost hope that the practice tests were wrong. If you don't believe a 700 is possible, then it's not. If you believe a 700 is possible, you still may not reach it, but I can guarantee you'll be a LOT closer to 700 than if you believe it's not possible.

Analyze your incorrect answers, follow the thoughts from TestLuv and DanaJ, and go beat the GMAT!

I am new at this why are you taking the GMAT so many times?

InspiredCPA wrote:I am new at this why are you taking the GMAT so many times?

First off, whom are you referring to with "you"? I'm guessing okigbo, but unsure.

Secondly, taking practice GMATs can be beneficial for a couple of reasons. It can help you with your timing, help you get used to solving problems on a computer screen, and give you general problem practice.

However, blindly taking GMATs is a waste of time in my opinion. It makes more sense first to develop your strategies for each question type, practice these strategies on a lot of book problems, and only then take a few practice GMATs.

No kidding. You can't pass the CPA blindly either.

cbenk,

THANKS for the words!!! Needed them!

Unfortunately the 700 I scored was from MGMAT not gmat prep but I will certainly heed your advice and focus on my errors. Most of them were mistakes which is SOO nerve wracking since I took the test exactly like I would the real thing.
I just find GMAT wording to be quite challenging. Not given up though...

InspiredCPA wrote:No kidding. You can't pass the CPA blindly either.

I don't think cbenk121 was suggesting that you could pass CPA blindly. And nor do I think his comments were obvious.

@InspiredCPA - I don't know anything about the CPA test. But, I do know that many people blindly take practice GMAT tests as a significant portion of their prep for the actual test. Nothing in my post commented on taking the actual GMAT blindly.

@okigbo - Sounds good, good luck!