GMAT Strategy

I have been trying to give the GMAT for over a year and gave it (rather unsuccessfully) in August this year and scored an unceremonious 620 (39 Q 35 V)! I have started my prep again and have to give the test in a month from today. I have taken off from work to solely focus on GMAT. I just gave the practice test today and scored a paltry 540 (42Q 22V) and now I am freaking out. I am aiming for at least 700+ (who doesn't?) and don't know how to go about it. I have all the M-GMAT strategy guides and LSAT (RC+CR) and SAT(Verbal guides) I don't know what to do next. Please help!

Could you write in more detail how you have been preparing so far?

You have mentioned the materials that you have -- perhaps too much material with the LSAT stuff in there - but nothing about what you are doing to practice. What you have learned, what your weaknesses are, etc.

Do you have methods and techniques for each of the question types? That is the first place to start.

Here is an article that talks about developing your own procedures https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/10/ ... -handrails

As far as your practicing goes:

Here is an excerpt from an upcoming article that will be on the Veritas Prep Blog. You can read the full article in the near future at https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/


The Good Errors and the Bad Ones

As you are practicing for the GMAT and you miss a problem, you probably already try to figure out why you missed it. However, you can improve the quality of your practice - and ensure that you are making progress toward test day - if you will also categorize your errors. On Test Day any "scored item" that you miss counts against you, but when practicing there are actually reasons to be happy when you miss a question. In fact, the ratio is pretty good: there are two types of "good errors" and only one category of "bad errors".

The Good Errors

It is never fun to make a mistake. So let's not label these errors mistakes, rather let's call them learning opportunities.

� Learning the Concept - This is the first of the "opportunity errors." If you did not know that formula or concept then it is no shame to miss the question! It is an opportunity to learn the concept. There are only so many so formulas, equations, grammar rules and concepts to learn. This is one more concept down and one step closer to earning your score!

� Applying Skills and Strategies - The second of the opportunity errors involves what I call "recognition and application." This is all about learning to recognize how to use your concept knowledge, when to apply that strategy you learned, and, most importantly, how to recognize this same underlying setup in future problems. It is the job of the test writers to try to make you think that every problem is unique; it is your job to see that they are not.

The Bad Errors

Unlike the first two errors, which were really opportunities, this type of error can undermine your practice, sap your confidence, and eventually severely limit your score.

� "Silly Mistakes" - Silly mistakes are those avoidable sorts of errors that result from hurrying or lack of concentration or improper techniques. Examples from the Quantitative section include answering the wrong question, stopping too soon on a problem solving question, calculation errors, and making assumptions on data sufficiency. Verbal "avoidable errors" include answering with a weaken answer on a strengthen question, losing concentration when reading a passage, and using outside knowledge.

You know that making silly mistakes on test day can be a problem, but did you know what these errors do to the quality of your practice? Missing questions for this reason can lead to frustration as you miss practice questions that you should get right.

"Silly" Mistakes and Practice Tests

These avoidable errors can have a particular effect on your practice tests. When you make "silly mistakes" the Computer Adaptive Test adapts to those errors by presenting you with less difficult questions. Meaning that the limits of your concept knowledge and your ability to recognize and apply skills and strategies may never be tested.


Limiting the Bad Errors

Everyone makes some silly mistakes in practice, and most people make at least a couple of these mistakes on the test. After all, the GMAT is in part designed to test your ability to avoid these mistakes. However, when you see that you have made a silly mistake in practice take it at least as seriously as you would a lack of concept knowledge. You know that minimizing silly errors is crucial to your score but it also crucial to getting the most out of your practice!

Kasia@EconomistGMAT


Could you write in more detail how you have been preparing so far?

My Prep is somewhat like this : 3-4 hours in the morning is dedicated towards a single topic in quant and generally afterwards solve about 50 problems related to that topic (generally of 700-800 range) of which I get about 80% right. I take a break afterwards and revise what I had studied in the morning. Then on another couple of hours towards sentence correction and follow the same pattern as qant.Evenings again, is dedicated towards either SC or Quant. I am yet to begin my prep on CR and RC. I used to think I was pretty good at verbal and thought that I could scale up from 35 to 42 at least but now I feel it is a herculean task to go from 22 to 42. Presently I am using M-GMAT books for RC and certain Qant sections, Writing Score for Sentence Correction, Powerscore Bible (LSAT) for CR. I also use Quant for CAT (For Indian Competitive Exam), which I do believe is a notch higher than GMAT, for majority of my Quant prep. I have to slog it out and do anything humanly possible to break the 720 barrier (min of 80Q-70V split). Any suggestions? Please!

David@VeritasPrep wrote:You have mentioned the materials that you have -- perhaps too much material with the LSAT stuff in there - but nothing about what you are doing to practice. What you have learned, what your weaknesses are, etc.

Do you have methods and techniques for each of the question types? That is the first place to start.

Here is an article that talks about developing your own procedures https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/10/ ... -handrails

As far as your practicing goes:

Here is an excerpt from an upcoming article that will be on the Veritas Prep Blog. You can read the full article in the near future at https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/


The Good Errors and the Bad Ones

As you are practicing for the GMAT and you miss a problem, you probably already try to figure out why you missed it. However, you can improve the quality of your practice - and ensure that you are making progress toward test day - if you will also categorize your errors. On Test Day any "scored item" that you miss counts against you, but when practicing there are actually reasons to be happy when you miss a question. In fact, the ratio is pretty good: there are two types of "good errors" and only one category of "bad errors".

The Good Errors

It is never fun to make a mistake. So let's not label these errors mistakes, rather let's call them learning opportunities.

� Learning the Concept - This is the first of the "opportunity errors." If you did not know that formula or concept then it is no shame to miss the question! It is an opportunity to learn the concept. There are only so many so formulas, equations, grammar rules and concepts to learn. This is one more concept down and one step closer to earning your score!

� Applying Skills and Strategies - The second of the opportunity errors involves what I call "recognition and application." This is all about learning to recognize how to use your concept knowledge, when to apply that strategy you learned, and, most importantly, how to recognize this same underlying setup in future problems. It is the job of the test writers to try to make you think that every problem is unique; it is your job to see that they are not.

The Bad Errors

Unlike the first two errors, which were really opportunities, this type of error can undermine your practice, sap your confidence, and eventually severely limit your score.

� "Silly Mistakes" - Silly mistakes are those avoidable sorts of errors that result from hurrying or lack of concentration or improper techniques. Examples from the Quantitative section include answering the wrong question, stopping too soon on a problem solving question, calculation errors, and making assumptions on data sufficiency. Verbal "avoidable errors" include answering with a weaken answer on a strengthen question, losing concentration when reading a passage, and using outside knowledge.

You know that making silly mistakes on test day can be a problem, but did you know what these errors do to the quality of your practice? Missing questions for this reason can lead to frustration as you miss practice questions that you should get right.

"Silly" Mistakes and Practice Tests

These avoidable errors can have a particular effect on your practice tests. When you make "silly mistakes" the Computer Adaptive Test adapts to those errors by presenting you with less difficult questions. Meaning that the limits of your concept knowledge and your ability to recognize and apply skills and strategies may never be tested.


Limiting the Bad Errors

Everyone makes some silly mistakes in practice, and most people make at least a couple of these mistakes on the test. After all, the GMAT is in part designed to test your ability to avoid these mistakes. However, when you see that you have made a silly mistake in practice take it at least as seriously as you would a lack of concept knowledge. You know that minimizing silly errors is crucial to your score but it also crucial to getting the most out of your practice!

I do think my weak areas are Combinatronics in Quant & probably Pronouns, Modifiers, Verbs in SC & my readiness in CR + RC has been nothing less than shocking. I used to be good at them but I guess I overestimated myself. I am very prone to silly mistakes because of some silly assumptions I make. Right now I need a guideline on how to approach GMAT given that I have exactly one month' time and I have taken off from work.

Dear David,

I also have the habit of writing things down. I have posted my prep in detail in the post above. I do hope you and Kasia would be able to help me out. Desparate situations call out for desparate measures and I guess my measure is to slog it out, work as hard as possible.

Kris,
Don't postpone working on CR and RC. Try to be in touch with all three parts of the verbal section every day. Since you have a month, I would suggest doing a GMAT Prep test and taking careful notes about your mistakes and question types that you find more challenging or that take you too long to solve. Then I would prepare a detailed plan of what I need to cover every day in terms of theory in the next 20 days. I would do just a few questions per topic when learning theory and move on to the next one. I would postpone real practice until the next step (last 10 days) when you are going to take tests and work with the Official Guide.

Kasia@EconomistGMAT wrote:Kris,
Don't postpone working on CR and RC. Try to be in touch with all three parts of the verbal section every day. Since you have a month, I would suggest doing a GMAT Prep test and taking careful notes about your mistakes and question types that you find more challenging or that take you too long to solve. Then I would prepare a detailed plan of what I need to cover every day in terms of theory in the next 20 days. I would do just a few questions per topic when learning theory and move on to the next one. I would postpone real practice until the next step (last 10 days) when you are going to take tests and work with the Official Guide.

Dear Kasia,

I skipped the part where I would have known where my mistakes lay the last time I gave the prep test (yesterday). I do want to believe that the score I dream of is achievable. I think doing a portion of everything everyday would work if I detail out my study plan. Since I don't have an eidectic memory, I write down everything I learn every single time I read. So the process takes long. Hopefully I will be able to finish the "portions" in the next ten days and move on to harder problems.

Thanks a ton!

Kris, I am sure your desired score is achievable. However, it will definitely take some hard work and it might be really challenging to achieve in a month. Anyway - I keep my fingers crossed for you. If you prepare your plan wisely and then follow it diligently, your chances of succeeding are really high!