Journey from 650 - 700!

resilient · Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 11:59 pm Post subject: Journey from 650 - 700!

I am getting much better in my scores due to a strong analysis of my mistakes. However, I am not really able to get my scores up on the Sentence correction end of things. Everything else is pretty straightforward and self explanatory. Except SC. I have done a good amount of grammar work and also read the powerscore sc bible and manhattan gmat book. I think I am suffering from more of a strategy issue. Do you have any reccomendations on how to make my weakness my strength? Thanks in advance!

p.s. I went from 510 to a 650 (quant 38 and verbal 41) last week. THis week I got a 640 (quant 44 and verbal 3 Cool

. I have to fix this SC problem because my minor mistakes in CR are easy to fix!

lunarpower · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:23 am Post subject: Re: hello

sampleresume · Posted: Sun Apr 06, 2008 6:13 pm Post subject:

Based on my experience, the best way to improve sentence correction is to summarize the types of error appearing in GMAT. When you find a grammar error, just write down and categorize. You will find there are no more than 12 types of grammar errors.

resilient · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 1:23 am Post subject: sc and CR weakness

Facing my weaknesses and aiming for perfection has brought my scores up much higher. THe key is to fix the holes in your prep. My 41 verbal dropped to 31. In order to bring this up I focused heavily on SC and CR because CR is not problem.

I am changing my approach and not just trucking though questions but instead working more on getting a lesson on the 80% and can easily correct half of my mistakes. I also went through 65 kaplan sc questions and scored 55 and then quickly fixed 7 out of 10 mistakes right away. However, to keep up on my strenghts I am still solving those questions each day. So far this is working so I am going to solidify this this week and tyring to get max scores possible for verbal but I am having trouble beating the 80 % mark on sc and CR, any help?

ultimate take away- learn all common tested rules and stretch out for the odds and ends in SC grammar. THEN APPLY AND STICK THE SPLITS IN THE ANSWER CHOICES TO GUIDE YOU TO THE RIGHT ANSWER!

resilient · Posted: Tue May 20, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: latest mgmat score

OK, I just took n mgmat cat exam and scored a 630 (quant 44 verbal 32). I am so close to my 700 I can taste it. I took a few workshops on quant and scores have been consistently increasing very slightly for my quant. I have been doing verbal practice in the most precise ways possible and my scores are dropping. I am looking into getting a tutor strictly for Verbal. I am probably going to get a few hours with powerscore group. I read their CR and SC book and I can say they are really good.

What I'm learning and using for my success in
math:

SC:
1. boil question down to core elements of the sentence
2. Identify the differences in the answer choices (vertical scan)
3.Eliminate as needed by applying all the grammar used from manhattan gmat and powerscore.
4.Aggresively see the differences.
RC:
1. Boil passage down to main story and personalize the situation
2.always have supporting tet whenever you can. this is a guaranteed correct answer.
3.inference questions: choose question that MUST BE TRUE.
4. global/mainpoint/authors point questions: choose choice that encompasses story as a whole (lean towards first paragraph) but dont get too narrow.
5.fully understand why each choice is right and why each choice is wrong. Studying the wrong choices makes a very big difference.
CR:
1.Identify every question type
2.Personalize each question and argument (better comprehension)
3.again, study the wrong answer choices very closely.
4.Always separate conclusion from evidence and understand the conclusion very very well.
5. Keep a keen sense on the traps the writer has for you.

I honestly feel very comfortable and cant really seem to learn or find information to learn from for the content that is in verbal. However, my verbal skills are not reflected in my gmat. I did score a 41 once in verbal but then saw a drop in verbal and need to fix this. I am happy to say that everything is well within my grasp but a plan is needed.

What is interesting is that my quant scores creap up a point or two each time a take an exam but my verbal scores are slipping point by points. THe good news is that verbal is much easier and quicker for me to learn than quant.

1. stay as suspicous as possible and always anticipate one more trick that the writer has up his sleave.
2. simply stay clever and know that bits of seemingly uncorrelated information is really one big story.
3. check your answers
4.stay calm and not rush but move quickly.
5. apply all the math you know
6. never back down from a question because ina few seconds the whole question comes to you through recognitin of small details.
7. my main success: read the question a few times and write it down along with all accompanying equations and variables that you pulled out of the probem. (this yields many correct answers)

Verbal:
Ignoring my frustrations, I am in need of a master plan for verbal. I took a workshop for sc that deals with finding the basics of the sentence. THis class helped out enourmusly. I have a firm understanding of powerecores CR and SC books. I am scoring 6/7 correct for each lsat kaplan rc passage. I even explain to my friends where they are sometimes going wrong on verbal (RC and CR). BUt for some reason, I am having lower scores. My exam is on June 26 and have plenty of time to focus in on my mistakes.

my scores so far,

kaplan 340
kaplan 450
kaplan 510
mgmat 610
mgmat 650
mgmat 640
mgmat 630

All suggestions from the pros at Veritas, kaplan , mgmat etc. and other pros welcome.

Stacey Koprince · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:13 am Post subject:

You have made some great progress overall - keep up the good work!

I agree with everything you've written above in your "lessons learned" lists. The one thing I'd like to know more about is timing - are you sticking to all of your timing guidelines, consistently on EVERY question, on verbal? Or are you sometimes getting sucked into spending too much time? If so, when does this tend to happen?

Nearly everyone has to guess on something like 5 to 7 questions per section. For the area that is your weakness (in this case, verbal), give yourself maybe 4 "freebies" - that is, questions on which you say, "I just don't know - let me guess and move on." Eliminate anything you can through process of elimination but (a) DON'T go over time on that question (and, ideally, finish a little early) and (b) DON'T stress out or feel as though you're not doing well because you had to guess on one. EVERYone has to guess. Don't let the negative thoughts psych you out and cause you to do more poorly on the other problems!

resilient · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 10:06 am Post subject: Strategy

In looking back on my exams, I often noticed that I was leaving easy points on the table for just being careless with math. SO now I actually over write out the question and almost every mathematical step. The result consistent great points. At one point, I did have a 41 score for verbal. I need it back.

I bet there isn't much left to learn other than actualy seeing executing the skills I have learned. I am very familiar with the exams incorrect answers and common tricks. Honestly Verbal is my specialty and especially CR. BUt I end up getting tired and the overall color of the screen tires me down. However, I do know that I get very tired towards the tail end of the exam and need to fix this. Specifically, the RC passages literally make me tired. I enjoy them but for some reason they get me winded. So as the most logical remedy, I am going to do RC passages in 3-4 sets.

I was frustrated a bit because I thought that I was missing some specific topic and maybe I am. But finding the weakness is the hard part fixing it is the easy part. I know for sure if I was less tired, I would easily jump up 8-10 points for verbal. THis I am sure of. So the trick to learn is how to stay fresh throughout the exam.

In practicing timed situation and longer time blocks, I noticed that:
1. My scores are dropping when I do 3 or more rc passages in a row. My best score is the first of course then a steady decline.
2. Life would be a lot easier if I could get the correct textual evidence quickly. THis will increase accuracy and bring down time.
3. I am getting better at writing more concise and cleaner passage maps. I designed a system. A.) read the paragraph and write in a few words what the paragraoh just did and what author sis trying to do, draw a rectangle around it. B.) explain what is said in most boiled down version of what the content of the paragraph is. c.) Tie it all together keeping in mind where the story is in general and respect to where it can go later on. (broad view)

mayonnai5e · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 3:57 pm Post subject:

"2.always have supporting tet whenever you can. this is a guaranteed correct answer."

I just wanted to point out that this can also be a trap. The test writer's know that some people will think, "oh that line is straight from the text - it must be the correct answer!" but that is exactly the trap the writer wishes to exploit. For example, if the question is a "main point" question, one of the answer choices may be a direct quote from the middle of the passage and that answer choice may trigger this type of response. However, that direct quote may be a very specific and small portion of the actual passage and thus is the wrong answer. So be very careful about this "lesson" as it may very well turn into a trap in the higher difficulty questions.

Again Engin, you've mentioned the continuing problem with careless mistakes being made. You really need to focus on small tricks to minimize them. Think in small steps as careless mistakes by definition occur when you have overlooked something small that you normally would not. Try taking a look at all the careless mistakes you've made over the past few months and categorize them. For example, if you were doing a math problem and saw "3 * 4" but thought 7 instead of 12 then you've made a careless mistake where you've switched multiplication with addition. I've made this mistake more than once during practice =P. Then once you've categorize them, you can try to come up with solutions to fix them or, if you are really having problems, you can come onto the board and list out the categories of careless errors along with examples of the error and perhaps the community can come up with innovative tricks to overcome them.

Good luck once again!

Good luck!

lunarpower · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject: Re: Strategy

a few responses here.

lunarpower · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: Strategy

i forgot the footnote here:

resilient · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 7:02 pm Post subject: lunarpower

I went throught the first 80 questions of DS in the green og book today. Within timed standards (actually less than 2 minutes per question) I scored 65/80. The OG questions are becoming very easy in comparison to the mgmat math questions.

In review of the wrong answer choices, I redid the mistakes without looking at the correct answer and only knowing that I didn't get the question correct. I got half of the questions right just by being careful and paying ATTENTION TO EVERY DETAIL. Again, these questions were done under timed conditions. I used to make a lot of careless mistakes. However, I needed to disect this broad weakness even more. As a remedy, I know read the quesion twice, assign variables and make sure that my plan will actually answer the question. This has worked pretty well but rereading the question and checking I answered the question has eliminated this problem. THis works perfect as a measure against the pressure of the clock and overall test jitters.

THis may sound niave, but I think this means that I a don't have too many mathematical deficiencies but more of a deficiency in the way I approach the problem. I used to have this problem in SC because I learned the mgmat sc book inside out and powerscore sc book inside out. However, my scores didnt increase. Mayonaise explained that a carfefull analysis is needed of why. After some soul searching, I realised that I wasn't applying a mechanical/methodical elimination process that focuses on the differences. Now, I sift out the core sentence and identify the differences in a vertical scan and simply apply the rules I know. Now its safe to say that my sc biggest verbal weakness is my strength. RC is great if I can keep my energy up. CR is a hobby and I catch myself breaking peoples arguements in general life nowadays. lol

Mayonaise gave a great tip, which is to make the exam 37-2 minute tests and 41-2 minute tests. This works!

lessons learned:
read the whole statement before you eliminate
didn't know what root meant in equation.
didn't see final step in statement 2...i.e didnt fully check the statement with numbers
didn't fully consider the statement 2
couldn't pull equation out of the word problem. (getting better at this)

Again, if I am fresh I can do these easily and score like this when i do 10 quetion banks. I think i need to beef up my stamina because I start getting tired. The reading comprehension questions literally make me numb during the exam. If I were able to take the questions on an hourly basis I would be fine. The good thing about going through a multitude of questions today is that it made me feel like things are getting more routine and the og books dont challenge me too much unless when it comes to endurance. If I am interested or focused, then I can do very well.

I will employ every recommendation that Lunarpower gave and even be fashionably cool during my exam.

lunarpower · Posted: Fri May 23, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: Re: lunarpower

mayonnai5e · Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 5:10 am Post subject: Re: lunarpower