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Improving 20 points in 23 days

Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic (GMAT Focus Edition)
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Improving 20 points in 23 days

by nicole.witkowski » Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:47 pm
Hi all!

I'm taking the GMAT for the second time in 23 days. The first time I took the test 2 years ago I scored an dismal 500. The MBA program to which I'm applying requires at least a 600 to be considered competitive. I'm hovering at 580 after 42 days of covering every single topic (for AWA, IR, quant and verbal) and would like to know how I should focus my efforts (on quant exclusively) to get at least a 600.

I don't want to focus too much on the verbal section, because on my last practice exam I scored 37 in this section.

In Quant, I vary anywhere from 33 - 36 based on my last 3 practice CATS. While I do feel more confident after having reviewed all the material, the time restriction coupled with my general uneasiness in math cause me to consistently freeze up when trying to answer a question. I also noticed that, in the first 42 days of my study, I quite quickly forgot what I studied on a certain math topic once I moved onto another math topic.

Is there a particular way I can approach reviewing quant in such a way that I don't forget concepts? For me, the key to succeeding is having a good understanding of how math operations work and why certain formulae work -- memorization is useless for me without understanding.

I've gone through all the Manhattan GMAT Study Guides (5th edition) to get a good understanding, and I have done literally hundreds of practice questions to test myself. I'm also working with EGMAT's Online Quant program. But I notice that there are still very few quant questions I can answer in under 2 minutes. I would say I spend at least 10-15 minutes per question on harder questions in OG 13.

Again, suggestions for a new/ different approach to these last 3 weeks are most welcome!
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by [email protected] » Thu Apr 09, 2015 9:08 pm
Hi nicole.witkowski,

You're actually remarkably close to scoring 600+ right now, but you have to make some changes to how you "see" (and respond to) the GMAT to pick up those missing points.

After your last CAT, did you take the time to do a full question-by-question review of your work? The big thing to try to define is WHY you're getting questions wrong. Is it because of a silly/little mistake, because you don't know the formulas/grammar/rules or because the question is too hard? A big chunk of your missed points likely come down to the silly/little mistakes that you make, so fixing THOSE little things is the first thing that you should focus on. You might also be able to quickly squeeze your missing 20 points out of the Verbal section alone, so I'm not sure why you don't want to spend any more time in that area.

As a general pacing rule, you should NOT be spending more than 3 minutes on ANY Quant question, so for the sake of dealing with the entire Quant section in a timely fashion, you have to be comfortable with the idea of "letting questions go...." Spending 5 or 10 minutes on 1 question is unacceptable and you cannot allow that to happen. Better to just take a guess and move on than spend 5+ minutes on a question that you're probably going to get wrong anyway.

When are you planning to apply to School?
Would a 580 keep you from applying?

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Rich
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by nicole.witkowski » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:33 am
Hi Rich,

Thanks for your advice. To answer some of your questions/points:

1) Today I am planning on going over the quant section of my last practice CAT (which I took yesterday) to determine exactly where I went wrong. However I wasn't planning on looking over the verbal section at all. Perhaps, like you suggested, I could squeeze those last 20 points out of this section (but I'm not sure how many overall score would look if I scored perfectly in verbal while maintaining the same quant score?).

2) With regards to pacing, on the practice CATs I NEVER spend more than the suggested time per question (2-3 mins for any section). The 10-15 minutes I spent on OG 13 Questions was when I was learning all the quant topics and trying to burn them into my brain and really understand the processes. I still spend way too much time on OG questions even today.

3) During all the practice CATs I've done, there were plenty of quant questions that I "let go" and answered with an educated guesses or a totally blind guesses (I understand even 700-level test takers do this sometimes). I find that I freeze up mentally and am unable to even attempt to answer the question, so I actually guess quite a bit.

4) I'm mostly done my application to B-school (it's due June 2nd), but I will focus on finishing up after I take the GMAT. Regardless of whether or not I get the 600 needed, I will still submit my application because a 580 is much better than my initial 500, and I firmly believe that I am a good candidate for other reasons.

Again, thank you for your help!
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Apr 10, 2015 5:33 am
As this board's self-appointed meditation advocate (along with Marty), I'm going to make my daily argument for the benefits of mindfulness meditation. You've noticed that a good portion of the GMAT battle is psychological - patterns that you recognize when you're comfortable can prove more elusive when the pressure is amplified. There's plenty of good research about how a mindfulness practice can boost test scores in as little as two weeks: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/

Happy to pass along my favorite guided meditations if you're interested.

(There are also the ancillary benefits of a consistent meditation practice: small things like being healthier. happier and living longer...)
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by nicole.witkowski » Fri Apr 10, 2015 4:03 pm
Hi David,

I've seen posts on this and would love to get your favourite guided meditations so I can start using them ASAP. I'm a big believer in mastering your mind so this should be right up my ally! Fingers crossed that this helps!

Thanks in advance :)
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Apr 16, 2015 8:37 am
Nicole, I apologize that I didn't see this until now! Here is a link to my favorite guided meditation: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=jon ... 9A10BE1560

I'd shoot for doing this at least four times per week.
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by nicole.witkowski » Thu Apr 16, 2015 2:28 pm
Hi Dave,

Thank you *so* much. I'm going to do this exercise every day. I sincerely hope it makes a difference!

Also, do you recommend a time of day to do this? It would be easiest to do before bed, I think.
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:37 pm
You might also try doing a few easier (timed) tests to get used to math under pressure before graduating to the GMAT. I really like the AMC 8, a junior high school math aptitude test given here in the US to discover budding math talent. The questions are similar to those on the GMAT, but generally a little easier, and they help develop a lot of fundamental skills. Check out a few of these exams: they're free, they're designed to take 45 minutes, and they should help you get used to timing/stress/lots of guiding math ideas.
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by Rich@EconomistGMAT » Tue Apr 21, 2015 1:40 pm
Hi nicole.witkowski,

I don't think you're asking to make an unreasonable jump. Improving by 20 points in a little less than a month is absolutely attainable.

That being said, you mentioned focusing a little less on verbal because you have a good handle on it, but how much time are you spending on quant concepts you're comfortable with. I'm curious to know if the formulas you're reviewing have actually stuck more than you realize. I know it's intimidating to tackle a set of questions that have historically taken you 10-15 minutes/per, but if you're not already focusing a large portion of your attention to those question types, your timing issues will still persist.

However, we're talking about a 20 point jump. As Rich already mentioned, it's extremely possible to get a boost from an even stronger verbal performance. Take a deep breath, settle in for the next 23 days and attack your prep with the amount of ferocity you've had all along.

Best,
Rich
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by nicole.witkowski » Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:14 am
Hi Rich,

I have actually taken the above advice and worked even harder on improving my verbal skills. I've taken another few practice CATs and have seen my verbal scores vary quite a bit (maybe I'm not as strong as I thought?). I'm dedicating a good portion of my day to strengthening my weaknesses in verbal with the hope that this will give me the boost I need.

With regards to formulas sticking, I am now focusing on trying to remember formulas that I constantly see myself forgetting during practice CATs and OG questions. It's *very* frustrating at times, and I am being quite hard on myself if/when I can't recall them, or mix up variables. Blind memorization rarely works for me; I really need to UNDERSTAND how the formulas are derived in order for them to "stick". I'm making sure to find explanations on formulas so that I can better remember them.

However, on my last practice CAT almost ALL of the quant questions I got wrong required back solving/ plugging in answers. I'm not sure to strengthen this area as I don't know which OC questions require that strategy.

Also, I've found myself losing a lot of steam lately. I'm down to 14 days before the GMAT and there are days where I am absolutely petrified of how my performance will be. I'm noticing that my mood has a lot to do with how I perform. Staying calm isn't my forte (I'm a huge stress ball) but, following Dave's above suggestion, mindfulness meditation has helped keep me grounded and expel a lot of the negative thoughts and feelings that are weighing me down.

Hopefully I can squeeze out just a bit more energy and BEAT THE GMAT.

Thanks for your help.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:48 am
Nicole,

You've seen what can make the GMAT such a maddening test. At times, questions can be solved using formal algebra. Other questions are better solved using a strategy, such as picking numbers or back-solving. (And, in truth, most questions can be solved either way. The challenge is determining what will be best, and least time-consuming for you.)

The somewhat unsatisfying answer is that the best way to improve on utilizing strategies is to practice them. When you're working through practice problems, do them once under testing conditions with a time constraint, then come back to them and try to solve them a different way. Make notes about structural clues that may have indicated that another approach could have been preferable. ("There were variables in the answer choices, so that should have tipped me off that picking simple numbers was an option." "The algebra yielded a nasty quadratic, so that was my indication that maybe back-solving was the way to go.") I wrote about this in some depth here: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2015/02 ... questions/

Just remember this: there are no style points on the GMAT. We're not shooting for perfection here. The exam often involves some messiness. You may start a question one way, realize your approach isn't ideal, and have to try something else. Sometimes you'll have to guess. This is entirely normal. The important thing is to stay composed, keep working methodically, and remind yourself that the algorithm is designed in such a way that it guarantees that most test-takers will miss a certain number of questions.

(And glad to hear that the meditation is working!)
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