Dealing with disaster

Hi hey_thr67:

Reading your post, I can't but help feel that may be you fell victim to just having a bad day. I can't possibly imagine how you must be feeling right now. But you've asked me to comment. So I will. Remember that, however, that I haven't written the GMAT myself yet. So this advice may be unqualified. However, I can attest to a few general things that may help you propel higher as I have always used them extensively.

This advice is specific as it comes from first hand experience of what has worked for me over the years. However, I sincerely believe that most people can use it to get their best exam score. So, here are my best principles of doing well in any exam:

1. Enjoy your preparation. If you feel genuinely happy at your improvements that you make during the preparation, you will make the fastest progress and more lasting mental connections. Get involved in your studying. When I was back in school, I used to play "solve the answer before the teacher does it on the overhead" game. It kept me interested in classes that I took and helped me do tremendously better. Get involved with the questions. Whenever you see a question, ask yourself, what are they testing? Even when you get it right, compare your answer with the Official Explanation. For every question, there should be something for you to walk away with. Maybe an insight. Maybe a new idea. Maybe the recognition of a mistake you made. Or maybe just happiness at the fact that your way of solving the problem was faster/better. Always walk away from EACH question with something!

2. You should care about the exam enough to prepare well for it, but do not get attached to the results. This is the most important principle that I re-discovered several years ago. It is only natural to feel anxiety before the exam. But do not let it turn into either confusion or a catatonic trance. You need to have a clear head for writing the exam. Again, I remember one instance in my life, where I had written an exam at night and had another one the very next morning. I chose (and rightly so) to not prepare that night for the second exam and decided to get a good night's sleep. I ended up doing really well on the exam. So, getting a good night's sleep is very important. During the exam, you rest on your preparation laurels. Be confident of doing well, because you have prepared well.

In my opinion, these are very important things that have accounted for my successes. I think they will work well for you too.

Now, for your specific situation, I can only tell you what I would do if I were in the same situation. I would do the following:

1. Take a break from preparing and go have some fun.
2. Come back and chalk out a plan for beating the GMAT.
3. Play some sport at least couple of times a week. Or workout. The physical activities keep you relaxed and energetic making your mind sharper. I enjoy playing and competitiveness so I am biased to sports.
4. From the OG, start re-prep using the following strategy.
GMAT is a race of mind against time. It tests your reasoning ability. So, work on improving your timing and your reasoning.

a. Do questions from OG in chunks of 15, and of the same kind. Start off with your strong suit, which I think is quant in your case. Do the questions timed. You should be able to most questions within 1:30 and each within 2:00. If you are unsure, or slow, or wrong in solving a question, make a note of it. Find out why you are slow, or unsure of a question. Do not leave the question, unless you have figured out why you were unable to solve the question correctly or in time. Keep all your learning and create a separate log of these questions. You will revisit them again later. Once you are finished a section, continue with the next section. For each question that you are unsure, figure out what you are missing. Doing better is a two part game. Figure out what you do well, and keep doing it. Figure out what you do wrong, what you are missing, and how to correct it.

b. For PS questions, see if you can solve using answer choices alone. Mitch does such a great job of showing alternative ways of thinking on this forum. Check out a few of his posts.

c. For DS questions, see if you can figure it out without solving or doing any math.

d. For sentence correction, go through the MGMAT book in detail and do their exercises. Then immediately after, do the suggested questions in OG actively looking for the mistake. Mark the questions that you get wrong.

e. For CR, go through the Powerprep CR Bible. It explains how to understand and critique the arguments and premises correctly. Then practice using the OG. Make sure that you can do each question in under 1:30. Do the questions exactly the same way the book teaches you.

f. For RC, I have just one advice. If you understand, how to do CR well as the CR bible teaches, you are 70% ready for RC. For doing well, get involved with the passage. Take the author's side. Practice more and you will keep improving. Read the Economist or Editorials of good newspapers. Enjoy the process.

Remember these are the books I have followed so far in my prep and found incredibly written. The OG is the best for practice, MGMAT SC guide is great for learning SC rules and Powerscore CR Bible gives you all the strategies of tackling CR questions.

It is a race as I said earlier, so you need to do some questions faster to leave time for other harder questions. The overall quality of preparation means that you work on your strengths and eliminate any weaknesses. You need to have a decent quantity too, but quality of prep means all the difference during the exam itself.

For around 80% of the questions, I have found that:
a. PS questions can be done faster than DS questions
b. CR and SC questions can be done faster leaving more time for the RC questions.
Remember this is specific to me, so take it with a grain of salt.

I will like to end this post by re-emphasizing the points I made right at the start.
Enjoy your preparation!
Have confidence in your preparation, and write the exam with a rested body and a clear head!

Good luck!

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