GMAT Strategy

Hey guys, I just took a Manhattan GMAT practice test (the free one) and I got a 580(37q 32v), which is very discouraging because I did the whole math part of the Princeton review book and all the questions in it and only improved my overall score by 30 points... I took a gmat prep CAT about 2 weeks ago before any prep and got a 550, and I was rushed for time and uncomfortable... Tomorrow I am going to work on the verbal part of the princeton review. Once I'm done with that though, what do you guys suggest?

OG 12th
OG quant
OG verbal
Kaplan 800

Also, when I was doing the math I just felt like some of the stuff (a lot of it) I had never seen before and was uncomfortable with; do you guys think I just need a lot more practice tests? Please chime in, thanks!

My advice is, with 2 weeks to go, that you take and thoroughly review as many GMATPrep tests as you can (maybe 2 or 3 tests a week, delete and re-take)

When you take the tests, have the following objectives in mind
1) Maintain Good pacing - keep track of which questions are throwing you off, or which questions you just rushed through. As you go through the test, develop approximate benchmarks for where you should be at specific times. for me, it was that I should be around question 30 with 30 minutes left in the Quant.

2) Minimize Careless Error - if you're at all like me, about 1/2 of the errors you commit could have been avoided if you were a bit more careful. The trick is to find the balance between being careful and moving too slowly. You will probably never totally eliminate careless errors, but if you can cut them in half your score will see an impact even though you're no better at the content than you were before the improvement.

3) Connect Concepts - This is the most important (unless pacing is a major issue) and makes up the bulk of the review. As you go through the questions, figure out what each question is testing. You can find the major categories that I kept track of in my debrief at www.tinyurl.com/gmatpost. This way you can keep a running count of the topics that are giving you trouble and address the problem.

I think that most improvement comes from performance reviewl Unfortunately GMATPrep doesn't help at all in that respect since it has no solutions. I used the Solutions Engine from GMATFix to generate and study GMATPrep solutions. I found it helpful because it includes strategies, tips etc... for GMATPrep questions. You could also ask for help in this forum.

Best of luck

Hey Guys, Since I started this post I rescheduled my GMAT and now I have it in 6 days!!! As previously states, I finished the Princeton book and am now working on the OG 12th.

Test scores as follows:
550 --Baseline, before I did anything
580 (37Q32V)---A few weeks after that after only doing the math part.
670 (41Q 41V)---Last night. Although I was happy, I want to do better than that and I had 2 questions that I had seen before.

I am only 50 pages or so into the OG. Since the book is broken up into sections (quant MC, quant data sufficiency, etc.), I plan on simulating the real test and doing 20 of each math type, then 15 of each verbal type, all timed.

Speaking of which, timing seems to be a big issue for me. In GMATPREP I always take too much time on the first few questions, and from then on I am battling the clock to make up the time. Sometimes, I get to a question that I have no idea how to solve, look at it for 2 minutes, and guess because I don't want to run out of time. Advice? I have this program for timing that tells me how long I spent on each question and shows me if im behind where I should be, but idk, maybe there is a secret I don't know.

Anyway, heres my question:
Where is my time best spent from here?
I got 41 on both, so where should I concentrate to make up the most amount of points? Is there a free test somewhere that will tell me what my specific weaknesses are?

Timing advice?

Thanks guys!

Hey Guys, Since I started this post I rescheduled my GMAT and now I have it in 6 days!!! As previously states, I finished the Princeton book and am now working on the OG 12th.

Test scores as follows:
550 --Baseline, before I did anything
580 (37Q32V)---A few weeks after that after only doing the math part.
670 (41Q 41V)---Last night. Although I was happy, I want to do better than that and I had 2 questions that I had seen before.

I am only 50 pages or so into the OG. Since the book is broken up into sections (quant MC, quant data sufficiency, etc.), I plan on simulating the real test and doing 20 of each math type, then 15 of each verbal type, all timed.

Speaking of which, timing seems to be a big issue for me. In GMATPREP I always take too much time on the first few questions, and from then on I am battling the clock to make up the time. Sometimes, I get to a question that I have no idea how to solve, look at it for 2 minutes, and guess because I don't want to run out of time. Advice? I have this program for timing that tells me how long I spent on each question and shows me if im behind where I should be, but idk, maybe there is a secret I don't know.

Anyway, heres my question:
Where is my time best spent from here?
I got 41 on both, so where should I concentrate to make up the most amount of points? Is there a free test somewhere that will tell me what my specific weaknesses are?

Timing advice?

Thanks guys!

Please take a look at my blog in my signature for some tips on timing. Timing is really about understanding your personal quirks and habits when approaching specific problems, but my own quirks may match yours.

You stated this:

"Sometimes, I get to a question that I have no idea how to solve, look at it for 2 minutes, and guess because I don't want to run out of time. "

For that point, my advice to really come up with firm understanding of your weaknesses and strengths. If you see something that falls under your weaknesses, you should spend some time up front analyzing it then move on. See my blog post "Quant Complexity" on the last page.

In all honesty, I believe no one should take the real GMAT until they've completed the entire OG book. Without doing this, you are at a disadvantage because other well prepared test takers will have gone through it all and have a solid understanding of how GMAC writes their problems. If you cant finish the book before your exam, I'd highly recommend postponing.

Lastly, verbal is weighted more so it has a greater effect on your score so strategically you should focus on that more, BUT I recommend focusing on the areas where you have the biggest weaknesses and thus have the best return on investment. I say this because missing an easy question in a weak area is much more punishing than missing a hard question in an area where you are pro. Think about it: if you get 3 hard questions right then miss an easy, that's going to seriously look bad.

Cheers!

Why did you reschedule your exam for earlier?

myohmy wrote:Why did you reschedule your exam for earlier?

I resheduled it for 2 months later than my original date, i wasnt ready

Oops, I totally didn't look at the dates of the post and thought you had rescheduled it from 14 days away to 6 which I thought was colossally stupid, but I was trying to be diplomatic.

Anyway, take a test and LIMIT yourself to 2min/question. No going over. No exceptions. Not even "But I can solve it with just a little more time!" See what that does to your score/timing issues.

You also need to recognize those problems that you could solve and those that are just complete doozies. Don't waste two minutes staring a question you'll NEVER be able to solve - guess and move on after one minute if you still have no idea how to solve the problem.

myohmy wrote:
Anyway, take a test and LIMIT yourself to 2min/question. No going over. No exceptions. Not even "But I can solve it with just a little more time!" See what that does to your score/timing issues.

I don't think this is true for everyone. Some of the math problems take longer by nature, whereas some only take a moment. As well, you will encounter some questions you might not have a clue on which you will get wrong, but will save the time.

If you encounter a difficult question, you have to decide whether more time will likely result in you finding the correct answer. if it is very unlikely, then don't waste the time and guess. If you think you can do it, then invest the time (max 4 mins).

So your date is coming up soon...too soon to make any big changes in your study or test taking strategies. My suggestion, if you cannot postpone, is to simply relax and study your notes, past exams, and error logs. With just days left, you shouldn't expect to learn a great deal of new stuff so my strategy at this point was to review all the stuff I had already learned to solidify it. It's time to hunker down and make sure that what you do know, you know it well and like the back of your hand.

I have been doing the problems in the OG 12th, doing 20 per section and timing each question (except in RC, in which I time it per passage and just get the average for the 3-6 questions related to the passage).

Are the ones in the beginning of each section the easiest ones? I haven't been having very much trouble with most of it. And my avg, time for data sufficiency is WAY lower than my average time for the ABCDE ones, does that mean I just need to work on my timing for ABCDE ones or is everyone like that?

Also, I took gmat prep 4 times already (550, 580, only took math(41), and 670), I want to take more practice tests on the computer because I feel like reading off the screen is completely different than reading out of the book. I will either take another gmatprep or a Manhattan gmat free one off their website, what other ones are free and accurate(ish) and where do I get them? How many times can you take the gmatprep before the scores become meaningless because of so many repeat questions?


Thanks all!

4seasoncentre wrote:

myohmy wrote:
Anyway, take a test and LIMIT yourself to 2min/question. No going over. No exceptions. Not even "But I can solve it with just a little more time!" See what that does to your score/timing issues.

I don't think this is true for everyone. Some of the math problems take longer by nature, whereas some only take a moment. As well, you will encounter some questions you might not have a clue on which you will get wrong, but will save the time.

If you encounter a difficult question, you have to decide whether more time will likely result in you finding the correct answer. if it is very unlikely, then don't waste the time and guess. If you think you can do it, then invest the time (max 4 mins).

I agree. I don't think it's a good strategy for the actual test, but I think it's worth trying on one practice test. That way you get a good sense from doing all those questions on roughly how much time you *should* be spending.

For instance -- if you go through the test and you spend only two minutes/question, obviously, you won't spend the full two minutes. Some will take you a minute, a minute and a half, etc. Let's say you finish your test in 60 minutes by spending max 2 minutes/question. You can go back and look at all those full 2 minute questions and figure out why those take you so long. That way, you can eliminate those areas that you're doing well with and zero in on what it is that takes you the longest.

I just took a Manhattan GMAT and got a 580 (Q 36 V 33), someone please tell me that their scoring isn't accurate...

I think you are too much relying on score of each test. Trying to be in balanced state of mind with high energy will be a good option. Results do get shaky sometimes. That does not mean you lose your confidence level. Just try to use some great advice from experts on this forum about last 2-3 days study & strategy.
All the best!

Hey mayonnai5e,
You mentioned before that Verbal count more, is that true? I always had that confusion. Is the proprtions just 37:41 or anything else? This could affect my study strategy slightly. I am already hitting 48-49 in Q with a confidence of getting same or more. So according to you as my V is about 30, I should devote most of my time to V section?
Please advice