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GMAT Advice Needed

by hcruz21 » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:02 am
Hi Guys,

I took a Kaplan GMAT Prep class last year from Aug- Nov and took the GMAT in Dec. The result was not good at all. With Kaplan I was scoring in the mid 500s. Once I finish the actual test, I saw my score drop 100 points compared to the CAT's I was taking with Kaplan. It felt like the material Kaplan (mid-high level questions) gave were much easier than the test.

I just signed up for the class again but I wanted to know if I should postpone the start date of the class and work on stuff on my own for a month or so before going back to Kaplan. I keep reading about the different test study material and see that many people have good things to say about Manhattan GMAT. I was thinking of getting their books (especially Math) and working on them for a bit and combine that with the Kaplan class later on.

Any thoughts on this? I really don't want to go and take the test again and get a horrible score.

Thank You!
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by Tommy Wallach » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:16 pm
Hey Hcruz,

Here's the thing to remember. Every company out there has enough to offer that you should be seeing improvement. So the issue has to be on your end. How many hours a day/week were you putting in for homework. Did you take on board all the methods/techniques that were recommended in class? If were to ask you RIGHT THIS MOMENT for the exact definition of the past perfect tense, or a participle, would you know the answer? What if I asked you your exact technique for a strengthen CR question, or what the primary difference between a Data Sufficiency question that is Yes/No and a Data Sufficiency question that is Valued-based is?

If you don't have an immediate, concise answer for these questions, you didn't fundamentally change your process while taking the class. Obviously, I'm a big fan of ManhattanPrep, but I know plenty of people who've taken classes with Kaplan and seen fantastic improvement results. So by all means take their class again, or switch to another company, but make sure that YOU are doing something different, or the second time around will be just like the first.

By the way, your problem is totally common. Often people don't totally plug in the first time through a class. What you want to avoid is hitting the same cycle again!

Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions!

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by ceilidh.erickson » Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:42 am
Totally agree with Tommy. It's not about needing more materials/instruction, but about analyzing who you are as a test-taker, and where your mistakes lie. As T said, you need to know the content and strategies fully. But there could be other explanations for you score fluctuation.

How thoroughly did you analyze the results of your practice tests? Would you be able to tell me how many questions you got wrong because you didn't know or understand the rule/formula, versus how many you got wrong because of careless errors? If you're making careless mistakes (we all make some, but you don't want to make too many), all the instruction and studying in the world won't make a difference, because you'll still be getting easy questions wrong. So, go back over your practice tests if possible, and try to analyze what kinds of mistakes you were making, and what areas will need more work.

Here's an article with more info about how to track those mistakes: https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -studying/

I agree with Tommy that taking the class a 2nd time (or perhaps a different one) would be beneficial. Sometimes things don't sink in until we've heard them twice!
Ceilidh Erickson
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Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by brianlange77 » Sat Jan 26, 2013 7:49 am
HCruz:

Agree with my compatriots here -- this is about looking at yourself in the mirror and finding out "What are my strengths, what are my weaknesses, where do I need to focus, etc?"

I'll share one extra link beyond the one C just shared -- https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/ -- take a moment to read through that article and really ponder where you think you need to focus the majority of your efforts.

Simply, I'll share two analogies. The first is asking yourself -- is this just a matter of learning how to use the tools I already have in my toolbox? Or, do I need to go to the store and buy some tools? Too often, I think that people think they need to 'focus on these X areas' and then I'll be set ... and miss the fact that they might have significant foundational work that they need to bolster/improve upon before they even think about narrowing their focus.

Second -- I love thinking about GMAT prep using a traffic light analogy... we want as many green lights as possible. Do a self-assessment of your work on the GMAT. "Green" means that you are complete in that area and never need to do any more work there. "Yellow" means you are making progress, but still need some refinement. "Red" means that you are basically are starting from scratch. What would your traffic light assessment look like?

Good luck!!

-Brian
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