GMAT Strategy

Hi Sach,

Unfortunately, it's quite common to score lower on the real test than on practice test. The real thing adds a level of anxiety that's simply not there with practice tests, and it sounds like that may have happened with you. You say that you were "nervous and slightly unsettled" - that can make a huge difference in your score! It might have caused you to make a few careless mistakes that you wouldn't have in a less stressful setting. Here's what I'd recommend - make sure all of your practice test experiences are as similar as possible to the real test experience. Don't take the test at your own home; go to a library or testing center, and take all tests timed, without any extra breaks.

I also think it's really telling that you said that you didn't try to find different approaches to each answer. This probably had a big negative impact on your score. When the pressure is on, we tend to feel like "ah, I have to do this perfectly and quickly!" versus when we're studying comfortably at home, and can look at a problem from several different angles. You need to force yourself to have that same mentality on game day - don't dive right in, but step back from each problem, and ask yourself how many different ways there are to approach it.

Don't aim to solve every question "correctly." Do some sets - or perhaps even a whole practice test - where you just practice the art of good guessing. An educated guess that you feel 80% confident about after 1:30 min is better than the algebraically "correct" solution and 100% confidence after 3:00 min.

If you've gotten the 47 before, you can get it on the real thing! Good luck.

sachindia wrote:Yes, I have always been making a few careless mistakes even while I was practicing. To counter the careless mistakes, I tried to inculcate good habits but it seems nervousness got the better of me and I ended up committing careless mistakes.
Trust me when I say that SCs were very very strange compared to what I have seen in OGs and GMATPrep Questions compilations. I guess being strong in SC is the only reason why I have got 34. I do have problems in reading skills. Nervousness again caused me to read the prompt once, twice , thrice.. I ended up throwing 3 questions (not consecutively) to get back on track.

I will try to get a 49 in Quant on the real deal in a month or 45 days from now and I guess reading Economist thinking of it's articles as RC passages will help in bolstering my reading abilities.

Major problem is that I come from the IIM pool of candidates: IIM-Indian IT Male and even a 670 won't probably help me get into Tier 1 schools.

Also, what is your opinion about the Aristotle DS Booster?

Thanks again, Ceilidh for your time.

Sachindia:

One more thought for you here --- I'd suggest taking a look at this link to have some better ideas/process in mind to ensure you are minimizing those careless errors. Candidly, careless errors are no different than lighting points on fire.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Hope this helps. Good luck!!

-Brian

i received a private message about this thread. i see that a couple of my colleagues have already made it here, so i'll keep my comments brief.

sachindia wrote:I realize that the only thing I did not do for Quant is trying to know different methods to reach an answer.

the problem is, that should be the main thing that you do -- perhaps even the only thing you do -- if you are already scoring in the 40's on the quant section.

one thing a lot of posters here don't seem to realize, even though it's clear from a few minutes of looking through the math problems, is this: the math CONCEPTS on this exam are quite basic.
unless you've forgotten your first-year high-school algebra or geometry, the math part of this exam boils down to strategy (along with understanding the data sufficiency format, of course).

if you are going to keep studying gmat math, you should focus your studying almost exclusively on the following:
backsolving (for multiple-choice problems)
plugging in your own values for undetermined quantities (for multiple-choice problems)
estimation (for multiple-choice problems)
testing cases on DS

I have always tried to learn new concepts that were missing from my kitty

see, if you're scoring where you are, then i can pretty much guarantee you that you aren't missing any mathematical concepts from your "kitty". the concepts are, after all, basic -- that's not really what is being tested here, except at lower levels. at higher levels, the test is all about how well you can manipulate basic concepts, with a flexible strategy.

if you think that you are missing "concepts", then you are probably not thinking in the right way about what "concepts" even are in the first place. instead, you may be trying to memorize every possible individual fact about the behavior of these mathematical concepts -- which is a fool's game in general, not to mention underestimating your own brainpower and ability to recognize patterns.
here's a post (and following discussion) i wrote in response to someone asking about such a generally wrongheaded approach:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/my-gmat-new- ... tml#538786

shreerajp99 wrote:Hi Ron,
Can u share with us the top3 reasons that u believe because of which u scored a 800 on the GMAT

Thanks,
Shreeraj

I'll do my best to answer for Ron here...

1. Comfort with breaking social clothing trends;
2. Transparency around his personal protein sourcing; and,
3. His belief in the potential power sources that exist off of the Earth.

sachindia wrote:Frankly, Ron's the best and we all know that :)

... then maybe your standards aren't high enough.
|:

but srsly, thanks for the kind words all!

ngalinh wrote:In my case, my RC had been very bad for long time (my English isn't good). But after I discovered him (about 1 month ago) and watched 4 videos of his RC explanations, I tried 3 OG RC passages. I couldn't believe in my eyes when I checked answers "What happened?" 9 answers of 9 questions were correct! But still have to practice more to see what happens next :)

RC in particular is completely a matter of strategy -- you don't have to know stuff; you just have to approach the task in a way that's appropriate (and, well, not in a way that's inappropriate).

it takes many people a rather long time to realize that this is the case. apparently, you've learned more quickly than many others -- congratulations.