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Error Patterns and Retake Strategy Help!

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Error Patterns and Retake Strategy Help!

by mars27 » Sun Feb 22, 2015 1:37 am
I have taken the GMAT thrice so far. (580,530,640). I come from a completely non quant background and am not a native english speaker. My Q score has been averaging around 44 and verbal around 34. Initially I took the MGMAT course and used their strategy guides to understand the basic concepts that are tested. After my first two attempts, I religiously maintained an error log and made note of my timings. I identified a few topics in Quants where I made most of my mistakes and identified CR as my weakness in verbal. Overall I need to work on my timings as well, as I noticed that I tend to stress more on the finer details during the actual test and end up losing time.

As I'm only planning to apply for the 2016 intake, I have decided to retake the GMAT again, before considering the GRE. I am aiming for 680-700. My third GMAT attempt was in the first week of December. Now after a two month break I've decided to start my GMAT prep again. I was wondering where I should start and any tips or strategies I could use to enhance and make of the most my time would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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by [email protected] » Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:44 am
Hi mars27,

I'd like to know a bit more about your studies and each of your GMAT scores:

1) When did you take each of your Official GMATs?
2) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each?
3) How much time did you spend studying before each of your exams?
4) What resources have you used during your studies?

If you've never taken a GRE before, then you can download 2 for free from www.gre.org. Before you shift gears to study for that Test though, we should see if we can make the necessary adjustments to how you deal with the GMAT.

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by manyaabroadtpr » Mon Feb 23, 2015 11:07 pm
Hi mars27,

You would have to be able to devote plenty of time to read and understand the content strategies and rules.

Join an online study group. One challenge in self study is sometimes you may get stuck with a doubt or a test taking strategy and you may need to sit and discuss the same with someone.

Second challenge is to be able to prepare for GMAT, it is critical to stay committed and motivated throughout the duration of your preparation. Joining an online study group helps in both ways.

Apart from the study material, do ensure that you appear for lots of mock tests. And spend as much time in analyzing your performance in the test. Typically if you spend 2 hours in a mock test, spend 4-5 hours in analyzing your performance and take a note on how to attempt each question better, faster and smarter.

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 would improve your vocabulary on the GMAT.

Let us know if you would have any questions for gmat preparation and we would be happy to guide. Wish you the best.
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by JTuquero » Sat Feb 28, 2015 4:27 pm
mars27 wrote:I have taken the GMAT thrice so far. (580,530,640). I come from a completely non quant background and am not a native english speaker. My Q score has been averaging around 44 and verbal around 34. Initially I took the MGMAT course and used their strategy guides to understand the basic concepts that are tested. After my first two attempts, I religiously maintained an error log and made note of my timings. I identified a few topics in Quants where I made most of my mistakes and identified CR as my weakness in verbal. Overall I need to work on my timings as well, as I noticed that I tend to stress more on the finer details during the actual test and end up losing time.

As I'm only planning to apply for the 2016 intake, I have decided to retake the GMAT again, before considering the GRE. I am aiming for 680-700. My third GMAT attempt was in the first week of December. Now after a two month break I've decided to start my GMAT prep again. I was wondering where I should start and any tips or strategies I could use to enhance and make of the most my time would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Mars27

Glad to hear that you plan to retake the exam!

Here are a few tips as you prepare to retake:

1. Close knowledge gaps. If you were scattered in your studies and used multiple sources without a proper pedagogic line to follow, find a prep plan that works for you. This will streamline your learning and boost confidence.

2. Practice all parts of the exam. Focus on your weaknesses like CR, but hone your strengths too.

3. Take several simulation tests in real conditions and at roughly the same hour of day. On exam day, do exactly what brought you success on sim tests.

4. Improve your time management. This is a key factor on the GMAT, and I understand that this was a struggle for you the last time around. Try grouping five verbal questions together and spend no more more than 9 minutes on them. Use this strategy on both practice questions and simulation exams. If you fall behind schedule, make a strategic guess or two to catch up. Make strategic guesses on questions that you aren't confident on or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer.

Hope this helps. Best of luck!
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by mars27 » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:20 am
@ MANYAABROADTPR

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have already taken the MGMAT online course and e-gmat verbal course. So to be honest I'm not very sure how more I can get out of joining another online course. And I am still very much motivated to study and give the GMAT again just that I am a little unsure of where to start. How do I come up with a study plan once I've identified my weakness? I'm also not able to figure out how to identify patterns in recognising the correct answer for verbal. If you have any thoughts on this let me know.

Thanks!
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Sun Mar 01, 2015 8:52 am
Hi, Mars27.

If you've already taken two full classes, it seems to me that the most sensible way to restart your prep would be with a quick review of everything you've covered thus far. Rather than redoing all the drills in the curricula, note broader patterns, be conscious of which conceptual areas need strengthening, what kind of questions you could attack more effectively if you utilized a particular kind of strategy etc. Distill all of this into one or two pages of strategic takeaways, then consult this sheet often.

Once you've reviewed your classwork, you'll want to incorporate a mix of official questions and practice tests. If you've already done the MGMT books and the e-gmat class, my guess is that you've worked through much of the Official Guide by now. If so, do a quick review of the OG and consider how you'd attack each question, again noting areas that need strengthening while considering which strategies would work best in given contexts. If you don't have the new question pack and practice tests from GMAC, they're well worthwhile to pick up, provided that you've already thoroughly worked through the OG: https://www.mba.com/us/store/store-catal ... ction.aspx

(And this probably goes without saying, but anything in the OG/question pack that gives you trouble you should feel free to post here!)

Last, keep an error log. The more data you have on the kind of questions you struggle with, the more detailed feedback we can give you here to address those issues.
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by manyaabroadtpr » Thu Mar 05, 2015 3:16 am
Hi Mars27,

Attend our GMAT live online demo session, details are as given below

Topic: GMAT SC, CR and Quant Math overview and Problem Solving

Date: 8th March

Time: 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Register here Now: https://www.manyagroup.com/gmatvirtualdemo/

Good Luck
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by VivianKerr » Fri Mar 06, 2015 1:12 pm
First off, congrats on all the progress you made! It sounds like you've come a long way on your own!

You mentioned you identified CR as a weakness, but can you specifically rank ALL the CR question-types from your strongest to weakest? Your Error Log should help you get THAT specific! Same thing with RC and SC, how MANY of each Q-type or Content-area have you missed, let's say, on your last 5 CATs?

This is the basic template I usually share as a jumping off point. It's not enough to use an Error Log to mark timing. You need to know what types of problems you're missing, WHY you're missing them, and what you need to do in the future so that you do not miss a similar question.

Remember on the GMAT: the PROBLEMS change, but the LOGIC behind the problem repeats! :-)
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by mars27 » Tue Mar 10, 2015 5:53 am
Thanks David and Vivian!

I think I'll start with analysing my previous error logs and making note of specific areas and types of questions especially for verbal where I need to improve. Will get back to you guys if I have more questions once I do that. Thanks for the Error Log Vivian. That definitely gives me a better idea of how I should go about identifying and strengthening my weakness.
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