BREAKING: Target Test Prep releases Brand New 2026 On Demand GMAT prep course

Redeem

Master each Topic

This topic has expert replies
Post new topic Post Reply
Previous Topic Next Topic
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

Master each Topic

by Azizakaria » Mon Dec 07, 2015 4:25 am
Hello,
I read what experts write in this forum and many says that while studying for GMAT "Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it, Then, and only then, move on to the next topic" so how i can tell that i mastered a certain topic, i study each topic solve some questions from OG and move on to the next topic, sometimes no matter how many question i solve i just keep missing things and answer wrong, but i have to move to the next topic otherwise it would take me three to four days to study each one.
my test is in March 12 and i don't have that much time to give each topic a 3 days to study, and i think that after i finish all the topics and start focusing on practising only, i would really master these topic, so what do you think ???
i want to study for a month and practising and solving tests for the remain 2 months .
Top
Source: — GMAT Strategy |
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2135
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am
Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/
Thanked: 955 times
Followed by:140 members
GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Mon Dec 07, 2015 4:55 am
Hi Azizakaria.

There are multiple things going on when you don't get the right answers. One of those things may be that you have yet to develop sufficient depth of understanding of a certain topic. Another may be some flaw in the way you handle questions, something about what you are doing that generates silly mistakes. The latter is something you can work on more generally. The former is something you would address by working topic by topic.

While it is true that you would to a degree get back to certain topics as your preparation progresses, you may be better off doing more topic focused work than you have described.

Funnily enough, what you describe, working on topics for three to four days each, is similar to what I did during my own preparation, more toward the end, and that worked really well. You have about 90 days. 90/3 = 30. So over the next three months you could literally work on 30 topics for three days each, and there are somewhere around 30 main GMAT topics, depending on how you count them.

Ok fine, maybe you don't want spend every day of the next three months working on GMAT topics, and you will be taking practice tests somewhere in there. Also, before you take practice tests, you may not really be clear about what exactly you need to work on anyway. One of the values of the tests is their providing indications of which topics you should work on more.

Overall, I think that you would be better off mixing your tests and your topic based work more than you said you were going to. In other words, start taking practice tests sooner, and keep working on topics the entire way through.

So how about this?

You work on the topics as you have described, maybe for one or two days each, rather than for three or four.

Then as you take tests, you assess what topics to work on more to get the best ROI. It is at those times that you would really master topics. Then you would be seeing things the second time around and would be more set up to master the topics anyway.

Also, the point is not to learn all kinds of stuff. The point is to hit your score goal. So really what you work on ideally depends on how the tests are going. If you were to take a test and hit your goal, maybe you would be done, unless you were to then decide to increase your goal score. If you were not to hit your goal, then would be the time to figure out which topics to master in order to hit that goal.

You might get some additional insight from this post.

https://infinitemindprep.com/raising-you ... the-board/
Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:22 am
Marty Murray wrote:
Funnily enough, what you describe, working on topics for three to four days each, is similar to what I did during my own preparation, more toward the end, and that worked really well. You have about 90 days. 90/3 = 30. So over the next three months you could literally work on 30 topics for three days each, and there are somewhere around 30 main GMAT topics, depending on how you count them.

Ok fine, maybe you don't want spend every day of the next three months working on GMAT topics, and you will be taking practice tests somewhere in there. Also, before you take practice tests, you may not really be clear about what exactly you need to work on anyway. One of the values of the tests is their providing indications of which topics you should work on more.
i don't mind working everyday for GMAT till the test day, but if I applied this method three or four days for each topic I wouldn't have much time to focus on practising only.
what I understood from your reply ( and thanks for that) is that I shouldn't separate between the time to study and practice I should use those three months to do both mixing study plan between practising and studying?
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2135
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am
Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/
Thanked: 955 times
Followed by:140 members
GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:31 am
what I understood from your reply ( and thanks for that) is that I shouldn't separate between the time to study and practice I should use those three months to do both mixing study plan between practising and studying?
Yes, and also, just to be clear, I will reiterate that to some degree the results generated by your practicing will indicate what you should be working on.
Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Mon Dec 07, 2015 5:46 am
Okay, but in that way if i started with arithmetic for example and developed a way to mix between verbal & math by the end of my studying & practising method i would forget what i have studied first like Arithmetic for example. of course i would practice on tests in during my study but that wouldn't be enough, right?
Top
User avatar
Legendary Member
Posts: 2135
Joined: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:26 am
Location: https://martymurraycoaching.com/
Thanked: 955 times
Followed by:140 members
GMAT Score:800

by MartyMurray » Mon Dec 07, 2015 6:20 am
Azizakaria wrote:Okay, but in that way if i started with arithmetic for example and developed a way to mix between verbal & math by the end of my studying & practising method i would forget what i have studied first like Arithmetic for example. of course i would practice on tests in during my study but that wouldn't be enough, right?
Some things you may remember well enough, and some things you may not. You can get a sense of how you are doing and what you are remembering by reviewing your practice test results as you go along.

Also, a key thing about GMAT preparation is that the GMAT is not really a test of knowledge of certain information. While there are certain concepts that are used in building the questions, The GMAT is more a test of vision, reasoning skills, and skill in using available resources. So taking practice tests is very useful for assessing whether you have learned what it is you need to learn in order to score high on the test.

So the point is not to remember enough about, for example, arithmetic. The point is to be able to get right answers to questions you see in the quant section. As you take practice tests you will see what types of questions you are finding challenging and what you see will guide what you work on and review.

So I guess the short answer to your question is that ideally you would cover most topics well before the end of your preparation time and then during the remaining time review and do topic based practice as necessary.

Having said that, in a way it does not matter what you are working on as long as whatever you are working on is increasing your expected score.

Right?

Let's say you were to prepare some and on your second practice test you were to generate a 60% hit rate in CR. If you could increase your verbal score significantly by continuing to work on CR and getting that hit rate to 100%, then doing that would be just as valuable as working some on SC, some on CR and some on RC. As long as your scores are going up, you are being productive.

If working on arithmetic will increase your score, then work on that. If working on geometry will increase your score more than working on arithmetic will, then work on geometry first.

You will be stronger in some areas and weaker in others, and after you have done some initial preparation, whatever will increase your score most is what you should be doing.

So to sum up, maybe your preparation would go something like the following.

You start your topic based preparation, spending a day or two on each topic. A couple of weeks into that, you take a first practice test, getting a sense of how the test works and how you are doing so far. Then you continue to spend a day or two on topics, until you have covered pretty much everything and taking practice tests regularly as you go along.

At that point, maybe you will be a month and a half into the next three months. After that, you could continue to work topic by topic as indicated by ROI. If you have forgotten how to handle a certain type of question, work on that. If you don't get something, work on that. What you do should depend on what will increase your score the most.

By the way, for topic by topic quant practice, you could set up a practice account in the GMAT section here. https://bellcurves.com
Marty Murray
Perfect Scoring Tutor With Over a Decade of Experience
MartyMurrayCoaching.com
Contact me at [email protected] for a free consultation.
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Mon Dec 07, 2015 6:45 am
Thanks a lot, that's really helpful
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Mon Dec 07, 2015 9:21 am
Hi Azizakaria,

It would be unrealistic to think that you could master any topic in 3 days, so that should NOT be the goal. Instead, your goal should be to learn and practice (and retain) the primary concepts/ideas/formulas/logic behind a category and revisit those concepts periodically. There should be consistent review of past subjects, including revisiting questions from early CATs and quizzes that you got wrong, so that you can re-attempt questions, hone your skills and improve your pacing.

In that same way, you shouldn't expect to properly deal with ALL of the major concepts in just 1 month of study. Your GMAT training is an ongoing process, so you should take FULL-LENGTH CATs at regular intervals (1 CAT every 1-2 weeks) while you study - and not just during the latter phase of your studies.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Tue Dec 08, 2015 2:51 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi Azizakaria,

In that same way, you shouldn't expect to properly deal with ALL of the major concepts in just 1 month of study. Your GMAT training is an ongoing process, so you should take FULL-LENGTH CATs at regular intervals (1 CAT every 1-2 weeks) while you study - and not just during the latter phase of your studies.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
i was thinking about 1 month to cover the content and the other two months just practising what I learned, or you think that i should spend the whole three months mixing between studying and practising and taking full length CATs ? i just don't want to be studying content till the end of the three months, Also when i take a full length test there's a lot of topics I haven't covered yet so my score isn't accurate.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
Elite Legendary Member
Posts: 10392
Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pm
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Thanked: 2867 times
Followed by:511 members
GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Tue Dec 08, 2015 9:24 am
Hi Azizakaria,

As you continue to study, your emphasis on learning 'new' things will be replaced with an emphasis on honing your skills. You will inevitably end up continuing to study just about right up to Test Day - there's no way around that (since if you truly were a master of all the material and skills, then you could just immediately stop and take the GMAT).

To re-emphasize a point: you should be taking CATs at regular intervals, even if you don't understand every single concept that you face on the CAT. We're looking for some type of progress in the areas that you DO know. There are also skills that you can only develop when taking CATs on a regular basis, so not taking those CATs actually works against your progress. As long as you take the FULL CAT (including the Essay and IR sections), and do so in a realistic fashion, then the score result (as an assessment of your skills at THAT moment) WILL be accurate.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
Image
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Tue Dec 08, 2015 3:12 pm
Thanks a lot, that's really helpful.
Top

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 383
Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:20 pm
Location: Online Conferencing - in person in select cities.
Thanked: 55 times
Followed by:21 members

by Bara » Wed Dec 09, 2015 11:41 am
Hi Azizakaria,

3 months is typically more than enough time to prepare and excel on the GMAT, and we recommend that a person plan on taking the GMAT at least 2 times. Is this in your plan as well? Keep these things in mind:

1) To maximize ANY kind of learning process, one should be conscious of 'how' this best happens. This is the order in which it happens: one learns, practices, integrates, then accesses. Your 1 - 3 days of learning material can do this. But remember, you're going to want to dip back into the material you learned prior to your 3-day sprints, to make sure you've really integrated what you learned prior. If you keep moving forward with no looking back, the earliest material may become rusty.

2) Bell Curves is an EXCELLENT resource online, especially for math, however, there is not as much great verbal material out there...so do keep that in mind. Very few resources comprehensively address what is necessary on SC, for example, and this is the easiest area to bump your score up.

3) I also believe you need to master the highest yield topics first, ie. make sure you have arithmetic down, completely, more than statistics or combinations....

4) Finally, keep an eye on your timing. At first it's not as important to have speed with the material, but to have accuracy. But with accuracy increasing, you'll want your speed to increase so you have more time to answer questions that are more difficult...SO, to this end, how fast do you read? If it's 150 - 250 WPM, you're going to improve your score, overall, if you have more dedicated time to answer questions - - so speed reading might be in order.

Keep us posted on your progress!


Best,

Bara
Bara Sapir, MA, CHt, CNLP
Founder/CEO City Test Prep
Maximize your Score, Minimize your Stress!
GMAT Badass and Test Anxiety Relief Expert
SPEEDREADING: https://citytestprep.com/mindflow-workshops/
ANXIETY RELIEF: https://citytestprep.com/mindfulness-therapy/
BOOK: https://tinyurl.com/TPNYSC
TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McA4aqCNS-c
Top
User avatar
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 76
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 11:19 am
Thanked: 3 times

by Azizakaria » Thu Dec 10, 2015 3:25 am
Bara wrote:Hi Azizakaria,

3 months is typically more than enough time to prepare and excel on the GMAT, and we recommend that a person plan on taking the GMAT at least 2 times.
unfortunately, i can take GMAT only once, i don't have time because deadline is in early April, also i can't afford a second trial,and i want a score above 650 that's why i want to make the best out of these 3 months i have, because this is my only shot.
Thanks for your help.
Top
Post new topic Post Reply
• Page 1 of 1