GMAT Strategy

Hi Yoshidos,

Here are my thoughts:

- - Error logs are always good. OGs are the best - - but if it's helpful, use all the material you work on b/c you want to identify if there are knowledge gaps and/or patterns in how you answer questions (incorrectly). You might want to identify by category what you're getting incorrect.

- - Curious why you're giving yourself a diagnostic a week...I think it's more productive to spend the first 3 weeks learning without doing a diagnostic test.

- - What is your reading speed? Since you finished 25 minutes early, but didn't score close to perfect, you need to not only engage more deeply, but identify why it was that you went so quickly, and what mechanisms will you have in place so you utilize all the time...that is...only if you think you USED the entire time that you'd actually improve.

-- GMAT test takers typically take the test at least 2 times...have you planned for this b/c I don't see that in your chart? Are you open to retaking and will you be able to retake it and if so, how does that configure into your study plan?

- -When students embark on self-study, I always encourage meeting with an expert, even a couple of times to make sure you're studying smarter, not harder. Best methods in strategy and form can make a difference in timing and accuracy.

- - I'd do sentence correction before CR

- - I'd combine week 1 and 2, quant

- - I'm not familiar with APPs, so I'll be interested in learning what you find out!

Good Luck and Keep us Posted~

Best,

Bara

Hi yoshidos,

To start, a 570 is a solid initial CAT score (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years) and a V36 means that you have a strong overall grasp of the Verbal section. This is important because many Test Takers spend 3 months (or more) of consistent study time before they hit their 'peak' scores. Since you have just 9 weeks of available study time, you might find it difficult to hit your score goal. However, if you only require a bit of time to boost your Verbal skills, then you can focus most of the next 2 months on building your Quant knowledge, Tactics and overall 'math skills.'

With those assumptions in mind, I think that you'll have to adjust your schedule a bit. For the first couple of weeks, you shouldn't plan on taking any CATs - you won't have put in enough study time at that point to have made an appreciable improvement to your Quant skills (and you would just end up 'wasting' a couple of CATs), so you should plan for your next CAT in 2-3 weeks time. You ask a number of good questions, but there's no way to properly answer them at this point (we'll have to wait to see how your studies progress before we discuss how you might adjust them).

Have you had a chance to do a full review of this CAT? Can you define WHY you got questions wrong? In real basic terms:

After reviewing the Quant section, how many questions did you get wrong....
1) Because of a silly/little mistake?
2) Because there was some math that you just could not remember how to do?
3) Because the question was too hard?
4) Because you were low on time and had to guess?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

yoshidos wrote:Hi Bara,

Thanks for the quick reply, and for your suggestions on how to modify the study plan. Very appreciated.

To follow-up on your other comments:

1) Do you have a recommended error log file/template I should use in order to track any and all problems (not only OG). All the ones I've seen on forums have been OG specific.

Are you a native American English speaker? If not you need to identify where on the spectrum you are in terms of formal written English. Tested less frequently, but still and issue, and learning SC may more challenging and not as straightforward as you'd imagine.

I'd encourage you to identify your wrong answers and put in a chart of sorts with the following columns:

Test Number/Origin
Time of Day taking test
Date
IDentify the question type.
Identify how you answered, ie. Quan question #,- Geometry - Data Sufficency - Right Triangles. etc. Do this for all sections and types, especially for the questions you answered incorrectly.

THEN see if you can analyze your performance by including these indentifiers:

1) knew how to do - got it right
2) knew how to do - got it wrong (careless mistake or something serious missing/though you knew but you didn't)

3) kinda knew but guessed - got it right
4) kinda knew but guessed - got it wrong

5) WTF - guessed - got it right
6) WTF - guessed - got it wrong

7) took too long
8) went too fast
9) went just right

10) Was nervous/triggered by question (and how)

GMAT study, you need to understand what you know/don't know, then address highest yield topics then work through to the less important ones. Based on WHAT you're getting incorrect, and how, would drive how to start studying. Hands down, studying concepts comes first, then practice, then quizzing, then diagnostic exams. Lather, Rinse, Repeat....

Do NOT go directly to practice questions...you need to create a kind of muscle memory before you play the game. It's the same reason people learn and master scales and chords before learning to play and read complicated music.

2) I was planning on doing a diagnostic because a lot of the advice I've received is that taking these practice tests really help with final performance. I have studied the past two weeks the Foundations of Math book, but I will definitely take into consideration holding off on tests early on.

Yeah: I would.

3) Not sure my reading speed!
Figure that out. Read a page from the Atlantic Monthly or The Economist, and time yourself for a minute. Count the words in the first three lines, then divide by 3. Multiply this by the number of lines you read, then add any outlier words.

4) I'm hoping I don't have to, but I think if needed I will re-take it in late June, to give myself enough time to focus on my problem areas.
Plan on it. Most students need to take at least 2x.

5) I'm currently abroad (India). Do you have any suggestions on experts to meet with here -- or if not,1-2 online meetings I can do with experts to discuss strategy for self study, etc?
I've spent time in India, albeit not that much. I also work with admissions consultants in India, who send us their students. I'd be happy to talk with you about working with one or two of our GMAT experts for a couple of online meetings. Contact me in a private message or via [email protected]

Really appreciate your feedback!

My Pleasure!