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The need for speed in quant section...kindly advise... TQ

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The need for speed in quant section...kindly advise... TQ

by tomhng » Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:33 pm
Hello everyone :) ....I have just joined the community and I feel very impressed with how everyone here share opinions and knowledge about gmat and b-schools.

I planned to take on GMAT in 1-2 months time but prior to that, i have a question. i have answered most of the practice questions in PR and OG11. From the way I see it, i think I can solve most of the quant questions but my problem is i am still not fast enough; meaning, i take more than 2 minutes to solve the harder questions. I think for too long. I would welcome opinions from you guys on how to tackle this pacing problem. Should I attempt on something harder like kaplan 800 as practice but will it be relevant to the actual GMAT? Or should I just repeat the practice in PR and OG11? Thank you very much!
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by gmat2010 » Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:17 am
well, you actually have more than 2 minutes for the hard problems. In actual GMAT, you'll come across some problems that you can solve under 30 secs. having said that, i recommend not spending over 3 minutes on any problem. if you can't solve under 3, just guess and move on.

the best way to improve your time is to understand the fundamentals and analyzing your weaknesses. There are so many different ways to solve quant problems that you need to figure out what works best for you. also, start solving problems and breaking down the question and once you get closer to your test date, always solve w/ stopwatch.

good luck!
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by bekkilyn » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:19 pm
Timing is a big issue for me as well. What I do is that I use a stopwatch and time every problem that I do. When I'm first going through a problem, I don't worry too much about the time, but I'll still record it on my problem spreadsheet. (I keep account of time, whether or not I got an answer correct, whether or not the problem was new to me, notes, etc.)

If I've gone over 2 minutes on a quantitative problem, I'll highlight that cell in red. I'll also highlight for incorrect answers. When I go back through the problems, I can look at everything in red and know that I have extra work I need to do for those particular problems.

I always make sure I give myself all the time I need to figure out the problem the first time though. I have a few highlighted problems that show I spent 5-7 minutes on it. Now on the real exam, I'd have just guessed at it and went on, but during practice, the point is to learn the problem.

After learning the problem, then it's time to learn how to do it faster.
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by tomhng » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:01 am
Hello there.....thanks a lot to both of you for your input :) I agree I should start to analyze my own timing when pursuing the quant section. And also, for those questions which are relatively easier, probably I will not check more than once. I wish to ask whether you do check the answer or quickly proceed to the next question once you have found the answer.

By the way, should I try Kaplan GMAT 800 questions? I have read some posts over here, some have said that the questions are tough but not really relevant to the actual GMAT but some have said that it will be a good practice book for those wish to score high. Not really sure as for myself.....
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by Toph@GMAT_REBOOT » Thu Oct 16, 2008 8:56 am
Nothing wrong with Kaplan 800. I went through all the math problems in the books. The thing about math is, you're not going to learn an incorrect concept. You may learn something that you won't need, but you're not going to learn something incorrect. I see very little downside aside from the potential for stress or anxiety if you struggle with the problems.
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by bekkilyn » Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:22 am
I've been going through the questions in smaller sets. For instance I'll decide to do 10-25 at a time, depending on how much time I have for study at that moment, and work through them using a timer. I don't try to "beat" the time, but I will record how long it took me to fully come to an answer. Only after I've gotten through the set will I check the answer.

Since I've been keeping track of the questions on a spreadsheet, I'll highlight in red the questions that I answer incorrectly or took more than 2 minutes to complete. Later I can go back through the questions and see if I can find any patterns to my mistakes or if there are certain types of questions that are taking me too long and why I couldn't get them done faster.

When checking my answers, I'll carefully go through the answer explanations for every question, whether or not I correctly answered the question.

Every so often I'll go back to questions I've already completed and test myself on them.

While I can't say if I'll get a high score on the actual GMAT, I have noticed a great deal of improvement since I started nearly two weeks ago. Even without the GMAT test itself, I am finding this study to be a valuable learning experience.

I've heard some good things about the Kaplan 800 questions. I wouldn't give them priority over the OG questions, but they may be helpful depending on how much time you have available for supplementary materials.
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by tomhng » Thu Oct 16, 2008 9:31 pm
Hello Riprop, first of all I wish to congratulate you for your ultra high score :) I really wonder how you made it to that score, you are one of the very very few for sure. Thanks for your opinion, I will get the Kaplan 800 and try the questions. It will at least give me additional practice before the actual GMAT. Like you have said, we will not be learning something incorrect although it may be additional. At the end of the day, it will be beneficial.

Thanks bekkilyn for the good idea. Small sets of questions will possibly work better in terms of timing practice for me since I do not really have 2-3 hours in a row. I probably can try to solve 20 questions in 40 minutes and see if I can get it done in time correctly :)
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