The Last 14 Days before Your GMAT: Building Your Game Plan – Part 2
As we discussed in the first half of this series, Building Your Game Plan, during the last 7 to 14 days before you take the real test, your entire study focus changes. In this article, were going to discuss the second half of this process: how to review. (If you havent already read the first half, do so before you continue with this part.)
What to Review
Part of the game planning process is determining your strengths and weaknesses. Map these against the frequency with which various topics or question types tend to be tested on the real exam. You want to spend the bulk of your time reviewing the material that is most likely to appear on the test.
If an infrequently-tested area is also a weakness (Im looking at you, combinatorics), drop it entirely. If you get an easier one on the test, try it for up to 2 minutes. If you get a hard one, call that one of your freebies: guess quickly and use that time elsewhere.
If youre not sure how frequently a particular type of content or question appears on the exam, ask on the forums. Im not going to provide a list in this article because these frequencies can change over time; I dont want people reading this in future to be misled when things do change. The General GMAT Strategy folder in our own (MGMAT) forums has a bookmarked threadit always sits at the topthat discusses this very issue. If Ive commented on the topic or question type mix within (at least) the past 6 months, then youre up to date.
How to Review
How you review is going to vary somewhat depending upon whether youre reviewing a strength or a weakness. You do NOT want to do the same kind of review for everything, but you DO want to review both strengths and weaknesses. Im going to make a distinction between the following categories:
Easier-for-you: you find the question fairly straightforward and you expect to answer it correctly without needing extra time, though you may sometimes make a careless mistake.
Harder-for-you: this question is more of a struggle, though you still will answer some of these correctly.
TOO-hard-for-you: you will spend way too much time to get this right or you will get it wrong no matter what. Way too much time is 1+ minute over the average for that type of question.
Overall, your review will include several consistent components:
- For RC and CR: review the major question sub-types, including how to recognize them, what kind of reasoning to use to get to a correct answer for that type, and how to avoid the common traps for each type.
- For SC: review the major strategies for answering any SC question, as well as the major content areas. At the time of this publication, the four most important areas are Structure, Modifiers, Meaning, and Parallelism. The next tier of topics includes Subject-Verb Agreement (a subset of Structure), Verbs, and Comparisons.
- For PS: review and practice the major math skills (formulas to memorize, how to manipulate equations, how to translate from words to math, etc.) and the major standardized test solving techniques (choosing smart numbers, working backwards, testing cases, estimating, etc.).
- For DS: review the overall solving strategies for this question type (rephrasing, using the answer grid, and so on) and common traps (for example, the C trap), in addition to a general review of the major math skills and standardized test solving techniques (similar to PS).
Weaknesses
For weaknesses, your goals are (1) to answer easier-for-you questions correctly in roughly* the expected time; (2) to make a reasonable educated guess on harder-for-you questions in no more than the expected time; and (3) to identify too-hard-for-you questions quickly so that you can guess, move on, and use that time elsewhere. Review all of the basic content and techniques for answering questions of that type; dont worry about more advanced material. (Remember, these are your weaknesses.)
Know what you can do and what you cannot do; know how to tell within about 45 seconds whether you need to make an educated guess right now. Then, review how to make educated guesses on problems of that type. (Note: an educated guess is just a fancy way of saying identify and cross off any identifiable wrong answers before you guess. It doesnt always work, but its worth 30 seconds of thoughtas long as youve actually studied how to do this in advance of the test.)
*Note: Roughly the expected time means within 20 to 30 seconds of the average time you are supposed to spend on questions of that type. Dont rush so much that you save 45 seconds on the problem and then make a careless mistake. Also dont take 30+ seconds extra on any weakness problem. If its going to take you that long just to have a chance on something thats already a weakness, its better to make a guess now and use that time elsewhere.
Give yourself permission to dump any of these questions when necessary, especially if you are already behind on time (the Game Plan part of the article talks more about this). Most important of all, do not lose time on questions that are in an area of weakness for you. You can still spend the normal time, but do not spend extra time on these questions.
Strengths
For your strengths, your goals are (1) to answer easier-for-you questions correctly and somewhat faster than the expected time (but dont rush and make mistakes!); and (2) to have a good shot at harder-for-you questions in roughly the expected time. (Again, recall that roughly the expected time does allow you to take up to 30 seconds longer on some problems.)
For the easier-for-you problems, review how to be more efficient with the questions you can already do without much trouble. How can you shave 10, 20, 25 seconds without affecting your accuracy? How will you be able to spot the same shortcuts in future; what are the clues that should make a shortcut or an obvious wrong answer jump out at you? Also, review both the basic and advanced material for questions on the easier-for-you side, with more emphasis on the advanced material.
For the harder-for-you problems, depending upon your scoring level, you may need to review only the basic material or a combination of the basic and advanced material. Most people will need to do some combination of the two. Again, know what you can and cannot do; you may receive something thats too hard for you even in an area of strength. How will you recognize that this one isnt going to happen in the expected timeframe? How will you make an educated guess?
You may have some too-hard problems even in your areas of strength! If you find yourself approaching the average-time mark for this type and youre still thinking, But Im good at this! I should be able to figure this out! let it go. Even though its a strength, its still a bad opportunity at this moment in time.
Pacing Plan
Youll also need to review your pacing plan. How are you going to check yourself periodically to make sure that youre on track?
Some people like to check the clock every 10 or 15 minutes; they know what question they should be on at certain time intervals. Others like to check based upon the problem number; at problem 10, for example, they know how much time they should have left, and at problem 20 and so on. You can use whichever method works best for you, but do have some way of checking to make sure that youre on time; you need some method to check periodically and keep track on your scratch paper. Practice your pacing plan during whatever practice tests or practice sets of questions you do during your final two weeks.
What are you going to do if you discover that youre ahead of time or behind?
In general, if Im within about 2-3 minutes of my pacing plan, I just keep going as usual. If I discover that Im 3+ minutes behind (that is, Im too slow), I guess immediately on the next ugh! question that I see. (You know what an ugh! question is, right? Theyre those ones that cause you to say ugh! when you first read them. :)). If I need to guess quickly a second time, I do sowhatever it takes to get back on track. I dont even worry about whether I do this twice in a row. I mightve guessed right on one (I have a 20% chance!) or one might have been experimental.
If I discover that Im 3+ minutes ahead (that is, Im too fast), I make sure that Im writing down all of my work on quantI dont want to do anything in my head! I also check that Im taking adequate notes on CR and RC, that Im going back into the passage to check for proof on RC, and that I am systematically crossing off answers on my scrap paper for all of verbal.
Take Aways
1) Change your focus during the final two weeks of study: away from learning new stuff and toward reviewing material and developing your Game Plan.
2) Set your goals. For your weaknesses, aim to get the easier-for-you questions right in normal time, but make educated guesses on the harder-for-you ones and move on. For your strengths, get the easier-for-you questions right in less time than normal (whenever possible and without artificially rushing!), and try your best within the expected timeframe to get the harder-for-you ones rightbut still let go and guess when you need to do so.
3) Have a pacing plan and stick to it. Know exactly how youre going to fix the situation if you find yourself ahead or behind on pacing.