GMAT Practice Grid - Use this to analyze your errors

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by beatthegmat » Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:46 pm
Just tested this download and it's working fine for me. Maybe you opened the file before it finished downloading completely? That message appears for me too when I jump the gun a bit on trying to open a downloading file.

Try re-downloading. Let me know if that works.
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by pagalmes » Thu Mar 25, 2010 10:51 pm
I just downloaded the spreadsheet and it works for me. Could-you try to download it again?

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by mmcleod » Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:18 pm
I see that this spreadsheet was updated on 4/12/2010, and I have to say that I do not like the new version. I could customize the older version to what I needed. The updated version, however, seems to be completely locked out, which is making it a tremendous pain. I understand you want to protect your work, but I'm sure that most people would prefer to customize their spreadsheets.

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by bbakang » Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:14 am
Thks guys

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by aleph777 » Fri Jun 18, 2010 10:57 am
The Grid is an incredible concept! Fantastic way to gauge your specific strengths/weaknesses and monitor improvement.

One question, though: what resources would you recommend for isolating chunks of different types of questions? I've been out of school for 7 years, and I haven't touched a math book since 1999, so I'm starting with the Manhattan GMAT Fundamentals book. Things are going well there so far, but I definitely want to include a heavy warm-up with Math questions throughout my entire course of study, so I'd love to know where I can mine them.

Thanks!

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by torres.oriana » Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:01 pm
I found the GMAT Error Logs to be a pretty interesting tool to use to correct the CATs I plan to start doing weekly. Though I wanted to put them into practice first, to see how they really work and if my assumption of them being a great tool made sense. I did therefore 2 timed short tests today (one Sentence Correction and one Data Sufficiency, 20 questions each) in order to use the log afterwards and see how it felt.


The first doubt that came to my mind is on when exactly is one supossed to record on the log the feeling while answering the question: is it during the test itself (I mean, between the questions) or you do this afterwards? If it is during the questions, it´s a bit time consuming and you lose precious time when you are working on a timed test. Plus it´s a bit distracting ... If it is afterwards, that works better, however you might slightly forget what the feeling was. So the "middle" point I found was just to do it afterwards, but recording on a small paper I had close to me the feeling.


The rest of the features are quite useful, specially for the "after-test" identification of type of errors and the rehearsal of the respective notes, it will be a very useful tool to identify the trends of weaknesses one presents ... and this brings me to my next point. Is it really needed to also record every correct answer, specially those were one answers correctly for the right reasons and in the right timing? Just thinking out loud, if one records only the mistakes and only the right questions that were either answered for the wrong reasons or were the concept was not so clear (whose number in my case tends to cero) you have a more focused Error Log and less work to do. In the end, you can infer that your strengths are those that do not appear of the grid as often of do not appear at all.

What do you think?

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by beatthegmat » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:37 pm
Thanks torres.oriana for sharing your thoughts. The way that I used this GMAT Error Log during my prep was by printing out the log and writing down my answers into the log with a pencil while I went through my practice sets.

Recording your time for each question is a huge pain in the butt, so I would record my time on my stopwatch (worth buying) every ten questions. It was a fairly good proxy of how well I was pacing for my practice set of 40 questions.

With regard to writing down all your right answers--I tend to believe that it is good to do, since more data on what you get right and wrong is better, in my opinion. But it's really up to you on how you adapt these tools to fit your own prep style.

I hope I've addressed your main questions--thanks again for this feedback!
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by lordspace » Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:04 pm
dkiran01 wrote:Hey Eric,

I have this advanced version of test grid,where u can keep a count of the time too. Just enable the macros.

Cheers,
Kiran
Hi dkiran01,

What Visual Basic libraries do you have ?
I am getting this error in my Excel 2003

Code: Select all

You may encounter this error for the following reasons:
Macro security is set to:
Very High and the application encounters a signed macro, but the macro was automatically disabled. Use the following procedure to enable the macro:
Select the Tools menu option and then select Macro and Security. In the resulting Security dialog, set the security level to High by clicking the High radio button.
Close the file and any other instances of the application currently running on the computer (close all applications that also use the application you are currently running).
Open the file again and examine the certificate of trust details and set the Always trust macros from this publisher box if you trust the certificate issued by the publisher.
Click the Enable button to allow the macro to run.
High and the application encounters a signed macro, but you selected Disable when prompted by the macro warning dialog when opening the file. Use the following procedure to enable the macro:
Close the file and any other instances of the application currently running on the computer (close all applications that also use the application you are currently running).
Open the file again and examine the certificate of trust details and set the Always trust macros from this publisher box if you trust the certificate issued by the publisher.
Click the Enable button to allow the macro to run.
High or Very High and the macro was not signed and was automatically disabled by the application. Use the following procedure to enable the macro, if you have verified you can trust the source of the unsigned macro:
Select the Tools menu option and then select Macro and Security. In the resulting Security dialog, set the security level to Medium by clicking the Medium radio button.
Close the file and any other instances of the application currently running on the computer.
Open the file again and click the Enable button when prompted to allow for the unsigned macro to run.
When you have accepted the macro, return the macro security level to its previous setting.
Another instance of your application has a lock on the security settings and is disallowing any changes to security settings.
It is recommended to close all Office related applications or other instances of the same application when you attempt to make changes to your security settings.
Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is not installed on your computer.
If VBA is not installed, it is not possible to accept certificates of trust attached to VBA macros. Therefore, any VBA macro attempting to run, even with an attached certificate of trust, cannot be run because the necessary macro interpreter is not installed on the system. Two scenarios can cause this error:
Your administrator chose not to install VBA
The version of Office you are running does not install VBA by default
If you are running an instance of Office that does not provide VBA as an installable feature, you will need to upgrade your version of Office to run VBA macros.
The certificate of trust is invalid - (when this occurs, you cannot select the Enable button).
The certificate is no longer trusted, was revoked by the issuing authority, or is damaged. There are several other possibilities which you may need to explore as to why the certificate is no longer recognized as valid by your system. It is recommended that you not trust or run a macro that has an invalid certificate.
A troubleshooter help topic is available online regarding this issue.
More information about this error message online. 

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by MFaulkner » Tue Jul 27, 2010 11:14 am
Hey Eric,

I have a question.

When you say that you did 40 questions a day of a certain problem type...are you referring to OG problems?

I ask because the first half of the OG problems are extremely easy and if you're doing 40 problems a day you could fly through the book in a matter of a couple weeks.

So how long did you do this 40 probs/day practice?

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by beatthegmat » Tue Jul 27, 2010 12:44 pm
Yes you should be practicing primarily with OG--but I was referring more to just doing 40 problems from any reference.

I kept up this practice for several weeks until my pacing was perfect! Good luck!
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by ab1uno » Wed May 04, 2011 3:17 am
Thanks a million, Eric

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by beatthegmat » Wed May 04, 2011 9:09 am
ab1uno wrote:Thanks a million, Eric
You are welcome!
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by ahmed.taha » Thu May 05, 2011 7:26 am
Dear Eric,

it's very useful of course, I will make sure to make the most of it ISA..

Thanks a million.....

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by IWillSurvive » Wed May 18, 2011 3:51 pm
Eric,

I have been on this site for some time now, but am now trying to really strategize my practice.

It appears that you focused your time on doing blocks of problems, as well as familiarizing yourself with all the OG problems.

Would you recommend doing ALL the problems in the OG? I am taking a Veritas Prep Course, and they have a lot of their own questions as well.

Also, was this your primary method of study - blocks of problems with timed strategy. I like the error tracker, and plan to utilize it. I also like the pacing strategy, as well as focusing in on what errors I am really making.

If I may ask, what materials do you feel are most helpful (out of this list):

-Veritas Books (Live Online Course - large set of books!)...pretty different from all the ones I have tried.

-Power Score Sentence Correction & Critical Reasoning

-Manhattan: Set of 8. I plan to utilize the Veritas books now, since I am taking a class.

-Official Guide (newest version)

-OG Verbal/OG Quant Review

Also, practice tests...my test is in three months. How many is sufficient? I have a phobia/anxiety about taking these!

Thank you,
A

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by beatthegmat » Wed May 18, 2011 7:41 pm
I'm a big believer in doing blocks of questions timed. I would highly recommend doing the whole OG, since it featured real but retired questions--you may want to ask your Veritas teacher about how to go through OG along with the course, I'm sure that he/she will have great advice on doing both the course and the whole OG together.

For some thoughts about the GMAT books, I highly recommend you check out our book reviews: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/store/books

Dana, our resident GMAT expert, has done a thorough review of each and has ratings for each of the books you mention.

With regard to practice tests, if you suffer from test anxiety I highly recommend that you do plenty of tests. Like 6-8 prior to your test. This strategy isn't for everyone, but I'm a big believer that you can overcome test anxiety by doing lots of practice. Make sure you do your practice tests in a simulated environment--something as close to the actual testing center as possible. My favorite area is a relatively busy area of a public library. It helps you get used to ambient noise.

Good luck!
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