GMAT Strategy

Hello ,

I took the Gmat yesterday and had to settle for 580 ( Q46 v 24).

I was doing pretty good in quant during practice ( scores has been 49 consistently )however, somehow I could not deliver properly . I guessed many questions and could not recollect/apply some known logic that I already mastered .

The verbal section was a torture both mentally and physically .I started to breath heavily after 10 or mins of the test . This continued through out the test and in turn effected my thinking process . I wasn't able to read and comprehend the RC passages properly;moreover, the CR questions were nightmare .

In short my 7-8 months preparation was a waste of time .

I ordered the ESR today and received my analysis report a while ago . I request the experts to please have a look at my scoring chart ( verbal & Quant ) and give me a recommendation on how to study for the retake . what areas I need to work on and where should I concentrate more .

I have 4 veritasprep tests left and 1 gmatexampack 1( untouched) . I must take the exam in another 31 days . So please let me know where I should concentrate and how to gauge the progress .

Thank you so much in anticipation

I believe that you must work on Verbal with some experienced expert as it seems much easier in your case to improve score in Verbal than improve score in Quant.

And the the best area to focus is CR because it's not difficult for logical set of minds and your quant score shows that you think logically.

You are most welcome to take a free demo class with us and we can do the assessment of your weak areas that can be improved at the earliest.

great conversation, thanks for starting it and thanks Rich as always for getting a good insight.

It really looks like you need some serious RC strategy overhaul. HOW are you reading the passage? HOW are you dealing with the question-stem and answer choices? A good strategy will help you clearly navigate all 3 components of an RC: passage, question, and answer choices. Here's how I'd recommend:

Adjust your mindset. Every passage is the SAME passage. Details change, but organizational structure doesn't! Every passage has a Topic, a Scope, paragraphs with specific Functions, an Author's Point of View, and an overall Purpose. Find these things AS YOU READ, since those are the things the question primarily ask about.

You may only see ONE "Detail" question with a passage, so why laboriously try to summarize and fully comprehend the 30-40 details in a passage if you're only going to see ONE question on them?

Stop reading to understand the surface level details, and start reading for STRUCTURE.

I recommend you take very specific notes as you read, called a passage map. It should look something like this sample:

Topic: whales
Scope: whale-watching popularity
P.1: to introduce human fascination w/whales
P.2: to describe development of marine biology
P.3: to explain origins of whale-watching
P.4: to show how popular it has become/admit the risks
P.5: to argue in favor of protection for whales
Author's POV: + about whales, ambivalent (+/-) about whale-watching
Overall Purpose: to give history of whale-watching & suggest further protection for whales

Write down the function of each paragraph and NOT a summation (or a mere restatement of details), since that is already found in the passage. The idea is to use an infinitive verb; it forces you to think of the structure of the argument and consider the passage from the author's pov.

For each Q, (1) dumb it down by rephrasing it in very simple language. WRITE DOWN your rephrase to hold yourself accountable. Then use your Passage Map to make a PREDICTION. Basically, WRITE DOWN in simple terms the answer to the question. Finally, use process of elimination in the answer choices.

I'm happy to answer any additional questions you have. RC is a big passion for me, and I love it when students fundamentally adjust their strategy for it and see big gains!

Hi Vivian , Thank you so much for sharing a strategy to tackle my weakest area , i.e RC . To be honest I was not doing that bad in RC , though I used to take longer than recommended time during mocks . My accuracy was 50 % and never below that . I totally zoned out during the real test . Anyhow , whats done is done ..

I am going to have a different mindset while tackling RC questions and follow your strategy religiously ; I will report back here after a week's preparation .

Could you also share some effective ways to improve CR as well ? Appreciate you valuable guidance .

Thank you !

Hi Rich , thank you for taking time to address my query .Below are the answers to your questions .

[email protected] wrote:Hi gmat_guy666,

I'd like to know more about how this score (and Test Day itself) relates to your CAT scores (and how you took those CATs):

1) What were your last few CAT scores (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)? I wasn't scoring high; However, my score were in the range of 620-640 in veritas prep and 600 ( Q 49 v 24) from gmatprep exam pack 1 .

2) When did you take those CATs?gmatprep score was 4 days prior to actual test

3) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?Only the last CAT

4) What time of day and day of the week did you take your CATs and what time of day was your Official GMAT?
It was 1 PM . But I used to take CATs in the mornings and evenings .

5) What resources did you use during your studies? MGMT, e gmat

From your Verbal scores, it appears that you don't have a consistent, strategic way of dealing with RC and CR (that leads to the correct answer). You're likely running to the answers and picking the one that "sounds good", which isn't much of a strategy. The good news is that the Verbal section is as standardized and predictable as the Quant section is, so you CAN train to score at a high level. You just have to learn the proper way of "seeing" (and responding to) RC and CR questions.

Thank you for the advise and you are right about the approach . I did not have a proper strategy in place and when I started the verbal section within 10 minutes i started to zone out . I guessed 2 long RC passages as I wasn't able to understand the questions even though I understood the passage .Something terribly wen wrong inside my head .
Could you please share some strategy to improve RC and CR and ways to avoid the "zoning out"effect ?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Just to piggyback on two great points made by Ceilidh and Rich:

1:: A great way to combat anxiety is to see the test as a fun series of challenges for which you've prepared. After all, you've put in a lot of work and you've learned a LOT of great analytical tools: this is your chance to show what you can do! If you don't know the answer to a question, take a stab at something creative, and if that doesn't work, guess and put it behind you. Do the best you can to solve the problems you can wrap your head around, and enjoy the process of pitting your wits against the testmakers'. It's empowering, it's fun, and it gets you away from the debilitating perfectionist mindset that gets in the way of so many people's success. You may actually outscore a lot of "better" testtakers who are too nervous about getting a question wrong to answer everything in time - you'd be surprised how many people do much more poorly than they should because of a need to be sure about every question.

2:: If you aren't used to doing the essay and the IR in practice, you'll be exhausted early on the real thing. Make the test *harder* at home than it will be on test day; don't cut any corners! This way the test won't be scary, tiring, cruel and unusual, or anything else you can't handle.

gmat_guy666 wrote:
Thank you for the advise and you are right about the approach . I did not have a proper strategy in place and when I started the verbal section within 10 minutes i started to zone out . I guessed 2 long RC passages as I wasn't able to understand the questions even though I understood the passage .Something terribly wen wrong inside my head .
Could you please share some strategy to improve RC and CR and ways to avoid the "zoning out"effect ?

Hi,

We would advise you to start reading articles, science journals, business tabloids and read them online and figure out for yourself if you can understand the language and the main idea present in the passage. This will improve your performance in GMAT RC and CR.Rest all looks fine with your preparation.Work on the pacing of the questions & how much time you spend on each question.Do leave enough time to attempt the last few question & don't rush through these.

www.manyagroup.com