GMAT Strategy

I took my second practice test today, and my score went down 40 points! What a motivation killer.

2/07/09 Practice Test 1: 640 (37Q, 44V) Kaplan Premier book full-length test
3/15/09 Practice Test 2: 600 (33Q, 39V) Kaplan Premier CD CAT1

I've been taking a GMAT prep course for the past month through the University of Hawaii. The course meets 3 hours per week, and I've also been studying with the Kaplan Premier book on my own. To be fair, I've only been really serious about it (2 hours of studying after work, Monday through Friday) for one week so far. I guess this is just good motivation to study harder. But still, aren't scores supposed to go up when you study?!?

Remember that there is a margin of error on any practice test (even on the actual GMAT, the margin is +/- 30 points!).

Also, sometimes students' scores will temporarily go down as they're getting accustomed to utilizing new tricks and tips, and will go up once they're more used to the new methods of solving problems.

Good luck!

Hi Jim,

Thanks for your feedback. I am going to cross my fingers that it's just an issue of getting used to new tricks and tips. I also think I am going to start taking practice tests more regularly so that I have a better pool of data with which to chart my progress. Hopefully that will help!

Courtney

Hi Courtney,

First of all I'll say that I havent taken the GMAT yet, but I have a few ideas about test practice.
1. Do you know some categories of your errors? Do you keep a error log? It is very helpful to know if you made a concept error, a careless error, of if you have trouble with a particular topic (e.g. geometry, ratio questions...)
2. How do you practice? Do you do as many practice problems you can? How do you read explanations (right after, a bit later...)? You need to consider that, take a step back and reconsider your methods just to make sure they are efficient enough for you to learn (i.e. up your score).

The error log is what I'd say is the best idea. You need to have numbers behind your performance improvement, and that's just a great way to do it.

Cheers.

Also, was it your first CAT? I just started studying recently and I've found there is a bit of a learning curve in terms of pacing and stress when dealing with the adaptive test.

Also, was it your first CAT? I just started studying recently and I've found there is a bit of a learning curve in terms of pacing and stress when dealing with the adaptive test.

mbawire wrote:Hi Courtney,

First of all I'll say that I havent taken the GMAT yet, but I have a few ideas about test practice.
1. Do you know some categories of your errors? Do you keep a error log? It is very helpful to know if you made a concept error, a careless error, of if you have trouble with a particular topic (e.g. geometry, ratio questions...)
2. How do you practice? Do you do as many practice problems you can? How do you read explanations (right after, a bit later...)? You need to consider that, take a step back and reconsider your methods just to make sure they are efficient enough for you to learn (i.e. up your score).

The error log is what I'd say is the best idea. You need to have numbers behind your performance improvement, and that's just a great way to do it.

Cheers.

Hi mbawire,

Thanks for your reply!

I have not been logging the questions I get wrong, but that's definitely a good idea.

Right now my study strategy is that I have been practicing for about 90 minutes per day, Monday through Friday. I am going through the Kaplan Premier book and reading the review at the beginning of each chapter and then doing the 50 practice problems. Then I go back and review the questions I get wrong and read Kaplan's explanation. It generally takes me about 2 days to get through each chapter. I am also going to start doing a practice CAT from Kaplan's CD every Sunday. Once I finish with Kaplan I will move on to a new book.

I think I want to start incorporating an error log, and also taking the time to read the explanations on the questions that I get correct, in case I am missing a more efficient way to solve the problem. I hope this will help to boost my performance.

JasonReynolds wrote:Also, was it your first CAT? I just started studying recently and I've found there is a bit of a learning curve in terms of pacing and stress when dealing with the adaptive test.

Hi JasonReynolds,

I took the GRE a couple years back before getting my MA, but this was my first CAT for GMAT. I hadn't thought about it, but you're probably correct -- I probably do need to refamiliarize myself with taking a test on a computer. Especially in since I am not very good at giving up and going to the next question if things are taking way too long, because I don't like knowing that I'm not allowed to go back!

Courtney

VP_Jim wrote:Remember that there is a margin of error on any practice test (even on the actual GMAT, the margin is +/- 30 points!).

Also, sometimes students' scores will temporarily go down as they're getting accustomed to utilizing new tricks and tips, and will go up once they're more used to the new methods of solving problems.

Good luck!

VP_Jim, thanks..I had the same thing happened to me where my score went from mid 600s to 600 over the course of 1 week, but it's partially due to the fact that I had just learned some new tricks from my tutor and I was trying really hard to solve every single problem on the CAT. Thanks for mentioning the margin of error..I feel MUCH better now!