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Six Weeks to G-Day - From 700 to 750?

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Six Weeks to G-Day - From 700 to 750?

by zin1 » Wed Nov 19, 2008 9:15 pm
Hello gentlemen -

I'm looking to take the GMAT right around the New Year and have been preparing for the last month and a half. I need advice on how to push myself over the top in the home stretch here.

My study materials are as follows:
OG11 - Orange
OG11 - Green (Math)
OG11 - Purple (Verbal)
MGMAT CATs
GMATPrep CATs
Kaplan Math Review guide
BeatTheGMAT Flash Cards :D

I've studied the OG11 guide cover to cover and am working through the supplemental Math and Verbal guides each day at work, and have been taking about 1 CAT a week for the last few weeks under timed conditions.

My CAT scores are as follows
MGMAT Free CAT - Q40V36 - 630 (took at work, very rushed/distracted)
MGMAT Free CAT2 Q47V36 - 680
MGMAT CAT1 - Q47V35 - 680
MGMAT CAT2 - Q45V40 - 700
GMATPrep 1 - Q45V41 - 700

I'm hoping to keep moving up about 10 points per CAT over the coming weeks and peak out at 740 or 750. I'm very confident in my ability to maintain the 700 - my GMATPrep score from today left me with approx 20 minutes to spare on the quantitative and 37(!!) to go on the verbal. I definitely could've used this spare time to solve more of the 700-800 questions that I made educated guesses on :( . The 5 point jump in my V score was pretty much a result of slowing my pace down on those questions, but I still go way too fast.

As far as the mistake breakdown goes, I miss the more difficult DS/algebra questions and combinatorics on quant, and with the verbal I think I missed 2 or 3 of each type, so a fairly even breakdown.

Anyway, I guess I just want to know if "the experts" think it'll be possible for me to hit 750 in six more weeks, and what study guides I should purchase to really focus on the hardest questions.
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by Toph@GMAT_REBOOT » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:32 am
Based on what you wrote, I definitely think its possible.

This reminds me of something a high school teacher of mine who I had for both a World Culture course and a Sociology course did to pound home the importance of using your time wisely. He would give a couple of bonus points to people who didn't turn in their exams until the class period was over. It was a lesson that he had tought us earlier in the year. Then the rest of the year, he would give us points following through with it.

I think I had 18-20 minutes left on my verbal with 6 questions to go on the real exam, and you know what, I would double, maybe triple check every question. Why? Because I had the time. I don't remember how much time I finished with, but I want to say maybe 3 minutes... might've been even less. Could I have finished with more time on the clock? Definitely... but why. Practice your pacing with your remaining practice exams.

Good luck.
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by zin1 » Sat Nov 22, 2008 2:22 pm
Update:
Took another MGMAT test at work yesterday and the second GMATPrep practice..
MGMAT CAT3 Q43V38 680
GMATPrep 2 Q49V41 750 <-- WOOHOO.


I took my time much more thoroughly on the GMATPrep, ended with about 7 minutes to spare on the Quant and still 15-20 minutes on the Verbal. Definitely better than having 35 minutes left on the verbal though.
The last few days I went through several hundred data sufficiency and problem solving questions, which helped my speed and guess-work on the quant. Every quant question that I missed I knew I was down to an educated guess (f*** combinatorics), only one dumb mistake.

The bulk of my mistakes on verbal are related to rushing, still, goddamnit...
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by Toph@GMAT_REBOOT » Sat Nov 22, 2008 3:00 pm
Slow it down. That's the only advice I have for you at this point. No bonus points for finishing early. You know you're going to be ahead of pace. Don't be fairly sure of an answer... be sure. What was your pacing like on the MGMAT exam you just took?

Also, you may even want to consider moving the exam up. You could burn out or become complacent over the next 6 weeks if you continue go through lots of material and continue to score well.
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by zin1 » Sat Nov 22, 2008 6:05 pm
I did the last MGMAT in about 65 minutes Quant / 50 minutes Verbal. It's harder to gauge though, because I have to start and stop the test when I'm at work if I get phone calls.

I really don't like their (MGMAT) verbal questions; too many seem awfully vague and though this is a silly nitpick, I don't like using the scroll bar to look up and down the RC passage. When I run into a MGMAT math question that's too hard for me, I pretty much know I'm either going to burn 5 minutes to MAYBE get it, or just toss it from the start. I tend to get more combinatorics on the MGMAT CATs, too, which are where I burn up the most time on wrong answers :(

I reckon I need about three more weeks of study on the test, then a week or two for the essays ( I scored 5/5 on the two AP language/lit exams, so I'm sort of assuming my writing ability hasn't been completely pissed away after half a decade ).
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by Toph@GMAT_REBOOT » Sun Nov 23, 2008 5:31 pm
I agree with you that Manhattan (and really all the non GMAT Prep practice exams that I took) occasionally has verbal questions that are "nitpicky."

If you're writing AWAs during your practice exams (and you should at least a couple of times), then really all you need to do is look at the tips from a prep company and look at the examples in OG. After you look at the OG11 examples of essays that received 6s or 4s, you will not be that stressed out about it. I remember staying really relaxed during the AWA exam of my real exam, so that I did not become frustrated prior to the Quant Section.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmatprep1-73 ... html#91478

If you do decide to focus for a week or two on essays, continue to practice everything else as well. IT would be a shame to forget something during this period of time.
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by lunarpower » Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:27 am
zin1 wrote:Update:
Took another MGMAT test at work yesterday and the second GMATPrep practice..
MGMAT CAT3 Q43V38 680
GMATPrep 2 Q49V41 750 <-- WOOHOO.


I took my time much more thoroughly on the GMATPrep, ended with about 7 minutes to spare on the Quant and still 15-20 minutes on the Verbal. Definitely better than having 35 minutes left on the verbal though.
The last few days I went through several hundred data sufficiency and problem solving questions, which helped my speed and guess-work on the quant. Every quant question that I missed I knew I was down to an educated guess (f*** combinatorics), only one dumb mistake.

The bulk of my mistakes on verbal are related to rushing, still, goddamnit...
if you're finishing the quant with lots of time to spare, it's probably because you're ONLY trying to find "textbook" solutions, and, if you don't find those, you're immediately moving into guessing territory.

instead, you should try to go through the following hierarchy:

PROBLEM SOLVING:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that there are two kinds of "plugging in numbers" for problem solving:
(a) plugging in YOUR OWN numbers, and working through the problem in the normal direction with your numbers instead of variables (VIC style problems),
(b) plugging in the ANSWER CHOICES and working the problem backwards (used if the answer choices are numbers and there's a decently easy path "backwards" through the problem).
IF NOT,
3. can i estimate, or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- if the answer choices are NUMBERS and there's a decent spread - i.e., not all of the answer choices are extremely close together - then you may be able to eliminate answers based on estimation. this goes especially for geometry problems, which have DIAGRAMS and are therefore easier to estimate, but it goes for all sorts of other problems as well.
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.

DATA SUFFICIENCY:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that NUMBER PLUGGING WORKS DIFFERENTLY FOR DATA SUFFICIENCY. with problem solving, all you have to do is plug in one set of numbers (VICs) or plug in one answer choice at a time (working backwards). with data sufficiency, though, you have to plug in MULTIPLE numbers or sets of numbers, with the goal being to TRY FOR 'INSUFFICIENT'.
in other words, you should try multiple values, with your goal being to get both a 'yes' and a 'no' (if it's a yes/no question) or two different values (if it's a value question).
if it's a number properties problem, you should make sure that you figure out the TYPES of numbers being tested, and plug in accordingly. for instance, if the problem involves absolute values, then it's likely that you'll have to plug in both positive and negative numbers.
IF NOT,
3. can i use the "easy statement", or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- always use the "easy statement" first, if there is one, and choose the grid (ad/bce or bd/ace) accordingly.
ironically, the hardest problems commonly have one very "easy" statement out of the two (such as a statement that doesn't contain one of the relevant variables).
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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