I just Beat The GMAT!

I will try my best to keep my brief succint. Hence i will use bullets.
I wont dwell on my 1st attempt. after all , who wants to learn from other's mistakes!!
Make some of your own !! LOL
7th sep 710 (Q48,V40) -> could have done better but ran out of time on the quant section!


What worked for me section wise :
1. Critical Reasoning ( my weak section ):
- PowerScore CR bible - best and most lucid book available for CR. I made meticulous notes of all imp concepts from this book in my 'flash card diary'.
- LSAT papers - if you are like me and need some extra help with reasoning then pls use this great resource. surf online forums for online papers and solutions .
- OG 12 , OG 11, Verbal Review 2nd edition - needless to say , these are the Bibles for Verbal section. use these questions judiciously and after you've mastered the concepts for each question type.
- MGMAT online question banks - i had purchased the entire collection of 8 books and hence got access to its qB of 25 questions. if you dont have these books, dont fret. LSAT questions are tough enough and give you good practice.
- ETS paper tests - for some retired but official questions

2. Reading Comprehension :
- Note taking didnt help me. I only paraphrased each paragraph into 4-5 words and didnt write down too much. it wastes time!
- LSAT papers - This is a robust and real test of your RC skills. The passages are long and require a lot of attention. On the +ve side, GMAT passages will seem like a breeze once you are done with LSAT RC.
- Again, online MGMAT QB for RC ( didnt find the RC book very useful).
-OG 12 , OG 11, Verbal Review 2nd edition

3. Sentence Correction
- Spidey's notes
- MGMAT Sentence Correction book - note this is the best resource for SC available to date
- Sahil's notes and BTG SC flashcards
- For each question, i used to mark why each option is incorrect and why only one out of five is correct - note ,this is a good strategy when you are not timing the questions.
- ETS test papers - good SC questions
- OG 12 , OG 11, Verbal Review 2nd edition

Quant : I have always had fun with numbers but geometry made me bleed!
Best books : MGMAT Number Properties , MGMAT Equations & inequalities , MGMAT Geometry, Word Translations and MGMAT FDP guides < all 4 Quant guides>
Best question sources -
- MGMAT online QBs
- OG 12 , OG 11, Quant review 2nd edition
- purchase MGMAT Challenge QB if you have enough time. its an awesome test of concepts.

CATs:
MGMAT all 6 CATs - if you purchase 1 book you get access to 6 online CATs for free.
GMAT prep - download from www.mba.com
PowerPrep - search online on BTG forums.

[/list]

Could you share what methodology you followed for long detailed oriented RCs ?

Dear GMATMadeEasy,
Following points helped me
1. first para : try to get a feel of what this para is about. try to put it in 4-5 words mentally!
for example " the author is trying to dispel myths surrounding women's liberation in the 70s"
so you have a solid 4-5 words paraphrase for the 1st para

2. other paras : dont try to memorize minute details inside the paras. Try to get a feel of what the para is about by reading it once , mentally formulating a paraphrase as above. notice any change in direction of tone of the author.

this is the strategy i followed
personally, i feel there isn't that much time to write down a lot of points and that can distract you from getting a good overall feel of the passage
dont panic when the passage is long and convoluted. you can always refer back to the passage for answers to inference / specific detail questions.
IMP thing to note : you should KNOW in which para to look for an answer when dealing with non-general questions. that is the purpose of the 1st read . dont waste too much time in it.

GMATMadeEasy wrote:Could you share what methodology you followed for long detailed oriented RCs ?

Hey Pdgmat2010,

I have read your post after your first attempt. I am in the same boat and I am doing LSAT papers now.
Here's my question, did you do all of the 40 tests available, how did you feel about the correctness of your answers...

I am feeling good that I have improved CR but RC is still a pain area, I am done with 5 LSAT tests, have 20 or so....
What would be your suggestion, to complete all of them before booking a date?. Anything you could chime in, would be great.

Thank you.

First of all, focus on quality instead of quantity i.e. solve as many papers as you require to feel confident about tackling RC passages.
You might not get all answers correct but you should be able to see steady improvement.
If you feel your success ratio is decreasing i.e falling from say 21/25 to 18/25 then you need to introspect, find your pain areas and focus on these before you solve your next test.
Try to analyse an answer that you got wrong by finding out if it was
1. a silly mistake
2. you didn't go back to the passage for a specific question and got it wrong
3. inference question - again, each word in the answer choice should be justified in the passage. if you feel you are having errors in judgement, i would suggest you practice more and read explanations carefully. i did the exact same thing.
4. main point question - requires global understanding of the passage.

so takeaways
1. dont try to solve all LSAT papers, you might tire yourself out.
2. Focus on improvement
3.once you are happy with your improvement in RC and CR in LSAT, turn to GMAT questions. RC will be a breeze. Trust me.
4. I had solved about 15 papers. I stopped doing so when i achieved a good grip over the tough LSAT passages and CR questions.
5. Relax! LSAT passages are more fun than the GMAT ones. You get to learn so much more.
6. Try to master the questions - try to understand the author's logic in a passage or a CR question. think like the person who wrote the question. once you are able to manage that then handling reasoning questions becomes easier. this comes only with practice.
7. Try to reason why each wrong answer is wrong - this is helpful if you are stuck between 2 choices and are just eye-balling the question helplessly looking for an answer.
8. dont time the LSAT papers. Remember, you are trying to solve GMAT papers, not LSAT. Mastery of content comes first.
timing you can improve on GMAT questions.

hope this helps
feel free to ask more . if my experience is useful to you, i will be really happy!

Cheers!!
Pd

gtvisa2002 wrote:Hey Pdgmat2010,

I have read your post after your first attempt. I am in the same boat and I am doing LSAT papers now.
Here's my question, did you do all of the 40 tests available, how did you feel about the correctness of your answers...

I am feeling good that I have improved CR but RC is still a pain area, I am done with 5 LSAT tests, have 20 or so....
What would be your suggestion, to complete all of them before booking a date?. Anything you could chime in, would be great.

Thank you.

a 700+ is a good score
congrats for the score

thanks...

Hi Pdgmat2010,
Congrats on your great score.I have few questions & I am sure your valuable suggestion will help me the best.
I am preparing Gmat for last one month & planning to appear in Nov end.I am feeling pretty good with SC.But RC & CR are my weakest point.I have almost all the materials you mentioned & started with MGMAT 8 strategy books.Though have not finished CR bible yet.I am pretty sure CR will be improved after a lot of practicing.
Now,I believe improve quant score is much easier than improve verbal score.My problem is that,I have not done Math after 10th standard.So,what I should generally follow to improve my quant score.Do you think MGMAT books will be sufficient to brush off the dust & improve quant score by far.

Thanks.Really appreciate your help.

Later.

another question,where I will find the LSAT materials?

Pdgmat2010 wrote:First of all, focus on quality instead of quantity i.e. solve as many papers as you require to feel confident about tackling RC passages.
You might not get all answers correct but you should be able to see steady improvement.
If you feel your success ratio is decreasing i.e falling from say 21/25 to 18/25 then you need to introspect, find your pain areas and focus on these before you solve your next test.
Try to analyse an answer that you got wrong by finding out if it was
1. a silly mistake
2. you didn't go back to the passage for a specific question and got it wrong
3. inference question - again, each word in the answer choice should be justified in the passage. if you feel you are having errors in judgement, i would suggest you practice more and read explanations carefully. i did the exact same thing.
4. main point question - requires global understanding of the passage.

so takeaways
1. dont try to solve all LSAT papers, you might tire yourself out.
2. Focus on improvement
3.once you are happy with your improvement in RC and CR in LSAT, turn to GMAT questions. RC will be a breeze. Trust me.
4. I had solved about 15 papers. I stopped doing so when i achieved a good grip over the tough LSAT passages and CR questions.
5. Relax! LSAT passages are more fun than the GMAT ones. You get to learn so much more.
6. Try to master the questions - try to understand the author's logic in a passage or a CR question. think like the person who wrote the question. once you are able to manage that then handling reasoning questions becomes easier. this comes only with practice.
7. Try to reason why each wrong answer is wrong - this is helpful if you are stuck between 2 choices and are just eye-balling the question helplessly looking for an answer.
8. dont time the LSAT papers. Remember, you are trying to solve GMAT papers, not LSAT. Mastery of content comes first.
timing you can improve on GMAT questions.

hope this helps
feel free to ask more . if my experience is useful to you, i will be really happy!

Cheers!!
Pd

Initially I was worried about the time it will take to complete all LSAT papers... now I feel bit relaxed.

Thanks Pd. I can totally relate what you are saying... I will try your suggestions.
As you were in a similar situation and improved your score, hope I would also be able to hit 700......

Matter of fact, I decided to try LSAT papers based on your ealier post.. so Thaks for that too...

hey gtvisa2002
am so glad you found it useful to use LSAT papers
go for it!!
it wil change the way you view GMAT questions.. it will give you confidence and ammunition to tackle tough CR and RC questions..

also view advice i give with a pinch of salt..
some might work for you and in some areas you might find better ways to motivate yourself and others
the imp thing is to stay focused.
do stay in touch and let me know your progress.

but dont give up ))

gtvisa2002 wrote:

Pdgmat2010 wrote:First of all, focus on quality instead of quantity i.e. solve as many papers as you require to feel confident about tackling RC passages.
You might not get all answers correct but you should be able to see steady improvement.
If you feel your success ratio is decreasing i.e falling from say 21/25 to 18/25 then you need to introspect, find your pain areas and focus on these before you solve your next test.
Try to analyse an answer that you got wrong by finding out if it was
1. a silly mistake
2. you didn't go back to the passage for a specific question and got it wrong
3. inference question - again, each word in the answer choice should be justified in the passage. if you feel you are having errors in judgement, i would suggest you practice more and read explanations carefully. i did the exact same thing.
4. main point question - requires global understanding of the passage.

so takeaways
1. dont try to solve all LSAT papers, you might tire yourself out.
2. Focus on improvement
3.once you are happy with your improvement in RC and CR in LSAT, turn to GMAT questions. RC will be a breeze. Trust me.
4. I had solved about 15 papers. I stopped doing so when i achieved a good grip over the tough LSAT passages and CR questions.
5. Relax! LSAT passages are more fun than the GMAT ones. You get to learn so much more.
6. Try to master the questions - try to understand the author's logic in a passage or a CR question. think like the person who wrote the question. once you are able to manage that then handling reasoning questions becomes easier. this comes only with practice.
7. Try to reason why each wrong answer is wrong - this is helpful if you are stuck between 2 choices and are just eye-balling the question helplessly looking for an answer.
8. dont time the LSAT papers. Remember, you are trying to solve GMAT papers, not LSAT. Mastery of content comes first.
timing you can improve on GMAT questions.

hope this helps
feel free to ask more . if my experience is useful to you, i will be really happy!

Cheers!!
Pd

Initially I was worried about the time it will take to complete all LSAT papers... now I feel bit relaxed.

Thanks Pd. I can totally relate what you are saying... I will try your suggestions.
As you were in a similar situation and improved your score, hope I would also be able to hit 700......

Matter of fact, I decided to try LSAT papers based on your ealier post.. so Thaks for that too...

Pdgmat2010 wrote:hey gtvisa2002
am so glad you found it useful to use LSAT papers
go for it!!
it wil change the way you view GMAT questions.. it will give you confidence and ammunition to tackle tough CR and RC questions..

also view advice i give with a pinch of salt..
some might work for you and in some areas you might find better ways to motivate yourself and others
the imp thing is to stay focused.
do stay in touch and let me know your progress.

but dont give up ))

I would be in touch and let you know my progress... Hope you would continue to login once in a while...
Thank you...

700+ is an awesome score! Congratulations again dude.

Congratz for the great score.. Any idea whether difficulty level of GMAT questions was in par with the latter questions of OG verbal and did you see any idiom usage

Thanks "dude" .. am a Miss Dude.. but still appreciate your congratulations in the right spirit

gsbjake wrote:700+ is an awesome score! Congratulations again dude.