How Should I approach GMAT

This topic has expert replies
Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

How Should I approach GMAT

by maihuna » Sat Aug 29, 2009 8:42 am
Hi experts,
Please suggest how should I approach GMAT. I am trying to ace this exam since long and the process has been very painful slow and hearting me on all fronts.
I started preparing for GMAT long back in early 2007 after a dissapointing performance in Indian CAT. After seeing the difficulty level of these two exams I thought I will ace the GMAT exam in a month or so. I went to the bookshop picked OG-11 and completed the math on Day1,2 itself. Then I went ahead of scheduling the exam thinking another few weeks will be sufficient. When the date started approaching I found I am not prepared and need some more time, I rescheduled it for a month or so keeping that year PGPX(1-year courses in Indian Universities). I appeared and was thrashed (590).
After this exam a friend cum competitor cum jealous person became aware of my plan, as we both were targeting for some financial certifications and he was already having a very good gmat score. In a bid to confuse me he ensured I forget GMAT for the time being and clear those certifications, as I later realized his plan was to ensure I shoudn't be able to compete with him in those PGPX courses the same year. Though he was more senior to me and well suitable for selection but somehow he might have thought of any possibility of sharing the same course. Anyway, those certifications needed me four long months and it was almost year end, he got his selection. And I started thinking again for GMAT around 2008 beginning. 2008 was a troublesome year and several attempt to sit for the exam failed because of a reason or another. Finally I got sick due to slip disk which was severe and took me month to be thinking again. I took a few month in pain and appeared finally in March 2009 scoring another dissapointment 680(Q-47, V37). Out of several reason job pressure, there was layoff rumor, I got unfortunate job related circumstances just before the exam, back ache was again daunting but I showed courage to sit for the same, I was knowing I am not at my best but thought of seeing where do I stand.

After that fateful March I am again staring at GMAT since, for a last chance, I know I have troubled myself, and every one in my surrounding is disgusted with my efforts to this exam. All these are sufficient enough not to think for the next chance, in case I fail again. My family is fed up with my attempt and efforts towards this exam seeing me doing the same chores for year after year and leaving so many other priorities neglected. I have not been promoted since long, again thanks to this exam. I use to think about GMAT while in office and about office when at home.

So I am in very much in need for experts help about what should I do for this time. I need a 740 at least to keep my hope for a good MBA. Nothing less than this score is going to help me. I have done the following for this attempt:

OG-11, verbal and math supplement.
OG-12: I kept it for late attempts, I did the new Q in OG12 and had the following hit ratio(only new Q not OG-11)
DS-97% PS-99% CR-96%

I did only 3 para from RC and did all correct, has kept 4 passages for date near exam dates. I did a little bad in SC attempted 20 Q and got only 15 correct. After that I thought of doing another round of review and then attempt the remaining 30.

I have done the following:
English Grammar: Wren and Martin
Math: Hall and Knights : Advance and beginner algebra And Geometry books. Plus 10th books for math.

Where I am lagging actually. If I remember my last exam, I did first 15Q of math in 10 minuted then realized the difficulty level is not rising then started concentrating and started panicking. I was knowing in break that I have done bad and verbal too went with all this thinking. Time pressure in verbal is always an issue.

After this exam I attempted two Manhattan tests and got 740 and 710(these are repeat tests as I have already taken them as part of my earlier attempts). I have not tried any other exam.

Thats what I can share about my weaknesses that I am aware of. Please provide your valuable inputs on what all should I do to keep my hope floating.

Best Regards
Charged up again to beat the beast :)
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

User avatar
Site Admin
Posts: 2567
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 2009 10:05 am
Thanked: 712 times
Followed by:550 members
GMAT Score:770

by DanaJ » Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:33 am
First of all, give yourself a pat on the back for the score improvement.

Wow I'm sorry to hear that the preparation for GMAT is impacting your personal and professional life... I'm wondering whether you are overdoing this whole process. Just studying and studying all the time will surely lead to fatigue...

My first observation is that although your English grammar is not horrible by any means, it does need some polishing. Unfortunately, the GMAT tests this aspect in its finest details. Maybe you should properly review that grammar book that you were talking about before focusing on GMNAT-style SC.

That said, you've already improved your score by 90 points, so another 60 point jump won't be impossible to attain. I can't really say anything about resources, since you've been using all the good stuff. I could only suggest the MGMAT SC guide, maybe it will help with that section. Other than SC, your hit rates for the rest seem pretty good... You might only need to do some review of problem spots (i.e. permo-combo for quant or assumption questions for CR).

Other stuff to use:
- LSAT sets for CR and RC (you'll find a free test on the LSAT official page)
- just reading stuff
- searching the forum for hard questions

One last thing: when you're taking the GMAT, FORGET about the level of the problems you are solving. Their difficulty level is established by "poll" (you know, the experimental questions), so something that seems easy to you might be hard for the masses.

Good luck and I'm sure we're going to see a great review pretty soon!

User avatar
Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 472
Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:54 pm
Thanked: 56 times

by ssmiles08 » Sat Aug 29, 2009 1:55 pm
Sorry to hear about your story. In addition to DanaJ's excellent advice, I would also FORGET all your personal problems for the moment. It seems like when you are preparing for the gmat, you have all these personal issues lingering at the back of your head. Just clear your head...forget the past...whats done is done, you cant change it, forget the present problems and just have a clear mind to focus on the gmat. Go away to some special place like a lake or any other place you can get away from all your problems and just reflect on your personal goals and what needs to be done to ace the gmat. It can be done!

The gmat tests your mental ability and when you conscious is not clear, you cannot do well on the test.

-get yourself mgmat SC book and powerscore CR book if you are really weak. Other than that just practice practice practice. try different tests. Kaplan, princeton, veritas. there are free ones available on their websites.

GOOD LUCK!! You can do this! :)
You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:53 am
Thanks DanaJ and ssmiles. You both have provided wonderful insights. Thanks for your good wishes as well hope I get my target score soon.

I am still hoping other experts too to come and suggest some further strategies.

Best Regards
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
Posts: 186
Joined: Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:57 am
Thanked: 7 times
GMAT Score:720

by gmat_dest » Mon Aug 31, 2009 6:30 am
@mainhuna...

till 2 weeks back, i was in the same situation...

my 3rd attempt was when i scored v40 or above across 10 full length exams...be prepared ...dont think abt any specific score..just give ur best...

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:37 am
gmat_dest wrote:@mainhuna...

till 2 weeks back, i was in the same situation...

my 3rd attempt was when i scored v40 or above across 10 full length exams...be prepared ...dont think abt any specific score..just give ur best...
Thanks Gmat_dest, I will follow ur advice.

Best Regards
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:20 am
Received a PM asking me to respond.

I want to echo what Dana said: nice job on your 2nd test! That's a really great improvement and shows that you can do this work!

And another thing Dana said: don't think about difficulty levels. It is next to impossible for a non-expert to look at a question and accurately evaluate the difficulty level while actually trying to do the question in the heat of the test. It's hard enough for experts to do this - I've seen plenty of questions that looked really easy but were highly-rated and vice versa.

A few questions for you. You mention some stats on your percentage correct in OG12. Did you time yourself on those problems? Did you do the problems as sets (10 or 20 problems all at once) or as individual problems?

The percentage correct info, by itself, does not tell us much. If you weren't also holding yourself to the timing constraints, then the percentage correct data actually tells us very little. If you were doing one question at a time, then stopping and checking answers, etc, then the data is also of limited usefulness.

Next, what are you using that teaches you how to handle the specific material tested on the GMAT - material that was written for the GMAT itself? The reference books that you cite can be good complements to your GMAT study material, but it's not enough to use non-GMAT-specific material. Part of your task is to learn how to take this test - how to answer GMAT-format questions. Regular math and grammar texts won't teach you that. (And, obviously, CR and RC can't be found in any textbooks - for those, all you have is GMAT-specific books.)
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

Legendary Member
Posts: 1578
Joined: Sun Dec 28, 2008 1:49 am
Thanked: 82 times
Followed by:9 members
GMAT Score:720

by maihuna » Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:38 am
Thanks Stacey for detailed and helpful suggestions. I will try to follow your advice on difficulty level. Please find my response to your query as below:

OG-12: I did the 300 odd new questions of OG-12(different from OG-11) on 3-days trying roughly 100 a day. I did 20ps 35DS and 20 CR a day. I earlier thought of doing 20 SC and 2 RC a day but after dissapointing performance on first 20 Q on SC I left SC and RC and tried only PS DS and CR.
All the wrongs that I got were on last days i.e. last 15 CR last 30 DS. I did only 1 or so wrong in PS. Regarding timing, I think I was already ahead of time on most of the Q and similarly gave some untimed time to a few difficult one, so I did suffered on timing front. Some of the CR Q were 2 close and I think I was plain lucky to choose a right option many a time.
I was doing one set of Q at a time like 20 PS and then checking answers then seeing eplanation and then moving on to the next section.

In addition to the Math and Grammar books I have all OG's and SC MGMAT guide and LSAT/GMAT powerscore bible for CR. I went through the LSAT bible a year ago and have repeated the GMAT powerscore CR bible recently. RC is still a big weakness. In addition I have 2 ETS paper sets for GMAT.In other books I have Prienston book for GMAT 2007.

I also have access to MGMAT 5 tests. I wrote them the last time in Jan-Feb this year and scored 710-740 with Q varrying from 48 to 51 and verbal from 38-41. I am again using those tests and repeated two but most of the Q are repeat and I so though I score d 710 and 740 that doesn't gave me much confidence.

I also have access to 4 Preinston tests, last time I wrote them as well and got 590 to 690 with 690, 680, 590, 670.

Do let me know if I can provide some more info that helps you evaluate a further strategy for me.

Best Regards,
Charged up again to beat the beast :)

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Sep 16, 2009 8:28 am
Stop doing so many problems! Doing the problems doesn't teach you much - you learn from all of the analysis you do after trying a problem.

In a 2-hour study period, only about 30-40 minutes of that should be spent doing problems (which means only 15 to 30 questions depending on question type and length of time!). The remaining time should be spent reviewing and analyzing those problems.

When reviewing a problem, ask yourself these questions (on every single problem - even if you got it right):

- Was I able to CATEGORIZE this question by topic and subtopic? By process / technique?
- Did I make a CONNECTION to previous experience? Or did I have to do it all from scratch?
- Did I COMPREHEND the symbols, text, questions, statements, and answer choices?
- Did I understand the CONTENT being tested?
- Did I choose the best APPROACH?
- Did I have the SKILLS to follow through?
- Am I comfortable with OTHER STRATEGIES that would have worked, at least partially? How should I have made an educated guess?
- Do I understand every TRAP & TRICK that the writer built into the question, including wrong answers?
- Have I MASTERED this problem? Could I explain every aspect, fully, to someone else?
- How will I RECOGNIZE similar problems in the future?

On verbal questions, also ask:
- why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible) [Note: do this even if you got the problem right - pick the wrong answer that you think is the most tempting]
- why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
- why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay - what was my error in thinking that they were wrong?
- why was it actually right?

If you got something wrong, also ask yourself:
- Why did I get it wrong (as specifically as possible)?
- What could I do to minimize the chance of making that error (or those errors) again? 
- How will I make whatever that is a habit so that I really do minimize chances of making the same error again?

You can see why it takes so much time to review problems - but remember that this is how you actually learn to get better.

You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

Practice tests should be taken only once every 2 to 3 weeks until you get very close to the test, when they should be taken about once a week for the last 2-3 weeks before the official test. CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving - similar to what I said above about practice problems. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve. Take a test, analyze it extensively, spend 2-3 weeks working on improvements based on your analysis, and only then take another practice test.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Jul 18, 2009 11:58 pm
Thanked: 1 times

by Beat-D-GMAT » Sat Sep 19, 2009 4:48 am
Thanks Stacy. It was really nice post. I will work on problems.

Thanks.

Junior | Next Rank: 30 Posts
Posts: 25
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 4:50 am
Thanked: 1 times
GMAT Score:700

by theK » Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:20 am
maihuna wrote:...I have all OG's and SC MGMAT guide and LSAT/GMAT powerscore bible for CR. I went through the LSAT bible a year ago and have repeated the GMAT powerscore CR bible recently. ...
maihuna, did you find the additional chapters in LSAT PowerScore Logical Reasoning Bible valuable for GMAT CR? I've read PS CR Bible, and am curious about PS LR Bible.

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:17 am

by ruwan » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:13 pm
Hi Stacey,

I love your posts, especially the idea about quality over quantity, but my biggest problem is remembering what I have studied previously and applying it in the real exam. I think you framed it perfectly when you talked about a CR problem, but I am sure this can be applied to Quant:
3. How do you analyze problems? Here are some questions you'd want to answer on that CR problem:
- Was I able to CATEGORIZE this question by topic and subtopic? By process / technique? (eg, CR, draw a conclusion, look for something that must be true according to the argument)

- Did I make a CONNECTION to previous experience? Or did I have to do it all from scratch? (eg, the question wording is a little funny, but I remember seeing this wording before for a draw a conclusion question, so it's probably the same type this time)

- Did I COMPREHEND the symbols, text, questions, statements, and answer choices? (eg, I didn't quite understand what answer choice C was saying)

- Did I choose the best APPROACH? (eg, I narrowed it to A and C but then I read those two choices about 4 times each and wasted a lot of time trying to decide between them)

- Am I comfortable with OTHER STRATEGIES that would have worked, at least partially? (eg, how should I have made an educated guess on this problem?)

- Do I understand every TRAP & TRICK that the writer built into the question, including wrong answers? (eg, specifically why are the 4 wrong answers wrong? which is the most tempting wrong answer and why - literally, how do they write an answer to be tempting even though it's wrong? why would someone be tempted to eliminate the right answer - again, how do they make an answer seem wrong even though it's right?)

- If I got it wrong, WHY did I get it wrong? (eg, I overlooked an important word in the argument and chose an answer that is actually wrong if I remember that important word; or, I chose something that sounds true / good in the real world... but that isn't what the argument literally said)

- Have I MASTERED this problem? Could I explain every aspect, fully, to someone else? (if you can, get together with others to study; explain a problem from start to finish - every single piece. If you don't have study partners, talk out loud and pretend someone's listening to you - if you haven't mastered a problem, it's really hard to do this effectively, even if no one is really listening to you!)

- How will I RECOGNIZE similar problems in the future? (how will I know, immediately, when I see this type of problem again? How about this particular argument structure or this particular type of wrong answer choice?)

- During the test I can't seem to make a connection to my previous experience, or if I do I only have a vague memory, therefore on test day I seem to be doing everything from scratch!

- During the review of my question, I can only make a basic link to the question topic. I will recognise questions that come from similar topics, but questions are never really that similar. Also I am nervous of trying to memorise questions as I guess I will never see questions I have already seen on test day.
- I don't know how to 'recognize similar problems in the future'. In an effort to 'remember and use lessons learned from this problem the next time I see a new problem' I tried to create an error list or flash cards. If I got a ratio question wrong, my first approach was to copy that question out. But it took a long time to copy them out and secondly when I came to reviewing them I wasn't recalling the method to solve it and it seemed just as hard as before therefore I was just doing it again! Hardly the best way to read a flash card on the way to work! My next approach was to learn the underlying concept. However, when I reviewed the concept a few days later it I was just reviewing a concept and I wouldn't be able to recall how to apply it? I then tried to read pre-created flashcards, but I feel these aren't really addressing my specific weakness?

Therefore after following your excellent approach, how do you recommend putting these methods into your long term memory so you can apply them to new questions on test day?

RJ7 - Trying to stay positive!!! B-)

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:34 pm
Great questions. Yes, what I described can be applied to any kind of problem, quant or verbal.

So, how to recognize similar (but different) problems in the future. You mentioned a ratio problem. First, how did you know it was a ratio problem? What kind of ratio problem was it? Did it have just one two-part ratio or just one three-part ratio? Did it have multiple ratios? What did it ask you to solve for?

Let's say that you had a problem that used the word ratio (so that's how you knew), and it included one three-part ratio (eg, 5:4:1). Let's say the "5" part of the ratio represents the number of oranges and it asked you to solve for the maximum possible number of oranges you could have.

So, now we know we have:
- ratio problem
- one three-part ratio
- find an actual number
- maximize that actual number

First, I'm going to need to know how to use ratios to find an actual number (this will be about finding the "unknown multiplier," a concept that comes into play on many ratio problems. Second, I'm going to need to know how to maximize that actual number.

Perhaps I've never seen a ratio problem that asks me to maximize before, but I have seen percent or other problems that ask me to maximize. So I could make a connection: on the other "maximize" problems, I had to figure out what else we had to either maximize or minimize in order to maximize the one desired variable. So I'll do the same process here.

Let's say I'd never seen a "maximize" problem before (or didn't remember seeing one, or just didn't have a good process in place yet for doing "maximize" problems). So, I figure out what I need to do to solve this one and then I ask myself, "What would I have to see in a future problem that would tell me that's a "maximize" problem too? Which parts are necessary to any "maximize" problem and which parts are just individual details for this particular problem?"

Now, this particular example might not be too challenging for you to learn, because the language is typically going to be pretty similar and straightforward. Let's say you have another problem that's asking you about the concept of prime numbers, but never actually mentions the word "prime." How could a question do that?

How about:
Does x have a factor, y, such that 1 < y < x?

What does that mean? A factor is something that "goes into" another number. For example, 3 is a factor of 12 because 12/3 = an integer (4). And this question is asking whether there's a factor, y, that falls between 1 and the original number, x.

Well, on what kinds of numbers does that happen? And on what kinds of numbers does that not happen?

Any number has 1 as a factor. Any number also has itself as a factor. Do all numbers have factors between 1 and themselves? What do you think? Try to figure it out before you keep reading.

In the example above, we know that x and y have to be greater than 1 and we also know y has to be less than x.

Here are some numbers that do have a factor, y, that is between 1 and itself: 12, 4, 20. What do these numbers have in common?

Here are some numbers that do NOT have a factor, y, that is between 1 and itself: 2, 7, 13. What do these numbers have in common?

Okay, so the distinction between prime numbers and non-prime positive integers > 1 is that prime numbers ONLY have 1 and themselves as factors. Non-prime positive integers > 1 have 1 and themselves as factors, but they ALSO have additional factors between 1 and themselves. For example, 12 has 2, 3, 4, and 6 in addition to 1 and 12.

So one way that a problem can make a distinction between prime and non-prime integers is to make a distinction between the numbers that DO have factors between one and themselves (the non-prime numbers) and teh numbers that do NOT have factors between one and themselves (the prime numbers).

Now that I've figured that out, I can be on the look-out for future problems that try to make that same distinction. That future problem may not be worded in the exact same way as the problem I just did.

For example, a future problem might say:
Is x the product of two integers, each of which is greater than 1?

This doesn't look identical to that first one, but what do they have in common?
"product of two integers" = "2 factors"
"greater than 1" = "1 < y < x"
Put that together: does x have factors that are NOT 1 or itself?

See how they're basically asking the same thing? So you'd need to ask yourself: how else could they word this? And put that on flash cards to help you remember.

As you see new questions, if you recognize a similarity, go back afterwards and just reinforce what you recognized. If you didn't recognize any similarities with previous problems, go back afterwards and ask yourself whether, know that you're done with the problem, you can think of any similarities with previous problems. Go look up old problems, if necessary, and compare to find problems that match (at least in part - they don't need to match completely). And, as you find more things, make those flashcards to help you remember.

You can also the OG problem sets in the MGMAT guides to help with this (if you have the guides). After you're done with a bunch of, say, "divisibility and prime" questions from the Number Properties book, you could sit down one day and compare the problems in that set to see which ones are ultimately testing the same things. I've gone through all of the quant in OG12 and V2 of the quant supplement and connected almost every single problem with at least one other problem (there are a few, though, that don't really connect with any others).

Hey - you could even start a new thread here, where you and your fellow students post connections you think you've found and ask others what they think and to post connections they've found! Just remember two things: (1) do this with OG questions, not questions from other sources, and (2) don't actually post the text of the OG questions; just post the book, section, and problem #.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:21 pm

by ruwanj » Sun Dec 20, 2009 11:10 am
Hi Stacey,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but Wow! This is a great response - Thanks. I am trying your technique and it seems to work. I particularly like the idea of recognising questions from OG and then 'grouping' them together after you have reviewed a question in this way so you can see all the different ways a topic can be asked as you said...
You can also the OG problem sets in the MGMAT guides to help with this (if you have the guides). After you're done with a bunch of, say, "divisibility and prime" questions from the Number Properties book, you could sit down one day and compare the problems in that set to see which ones are ultimately testing the same things. I've gone through all of the quant in OG12 and V2 of the quant supplement and connected almost every single problem with at least one other problem (there are a few, though, that don't really connect with any others).
However, I have a quick question, Mayonnai5e advocated a similar approach to group questions and his method is below is this also what you mean:

Here's how I did this:
1) Pick a particular math fundamental (hopefully one that you are weak at)
2) Go through your resources for questions and find questions that involve that fundamental.
3) In a log book , copy these questions for that topic, but only copy the ones that are asked in a format that has not already been noted earlier (i.e. you do not already have a question copied that is basically the same question)
4) Write down the answers for each question and how the fundamental topic was applied and used to solve each.
5) Review your notes in fundamental topic sets
I think that both of you were saying that the GMAT is a standardized test and will only test a few fundamental concepts a limited number of ways. I just need an approach to nail it!

I look forward to hearing from you...

Kind regards,

Ruwan - Looking forward to getting my life back after the GMAT!

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Sat Dec 26, 2009 9:46 am
Mayonnai5e's approach sounds like a way to get each "generic topic" down once, so that you have a set of topics (maybe to build notecards or something). That's one great thing to do. Then you'd just want to make sure that, for each new problem you do, either you can point to the one on the list that the new problem resembles or you can't - in which case, you then add that new one to the list.

You may also find that some problems will "cross" categories. Sometimes, I can point to two different problems that one problem resembles - in two different ways. (eg, maybe problems 1 and 2 both use smart numbers, while problems 1 and 3 both use ratios (and problem 2 used percentages.)
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me