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what am I doing wrong, unable to cross the 600 mark!

by Someone.on.task » Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:59 am
Dear All,
Pls help.




Hi Ron,
I've gone through your posts & really liked the way you identified the problems in the prep strategies various students - what, where they are wrong? I got few answers in the posts that you have written for others.
But need your advice, specifically for my case. Hope to hear from you on this.
I'm an Asian GMAT aspirant, who has been trying to crack the GMAT since 2006. I've appeared for GMAT once in 2006, scored 500 (actual GMAT test) . I stopped preparing thinking that I will prepare for it with my job. Lots of ups & downs in my life (that may sound like an excuse), also personally never attempted to prepare later. In 2009, I again started preparing for GMAT but in my mocks never got more than 500-510. Again gave up! Recently in 2010, something really drastic happened in my life, which changed my outlook towards life, now my approach to life is not lukewarm any more. I know that I have to crack this exam, if I want to move out of this chaos. I again started preparing for it, got 570 in GMAT Prep1, after preparing for 2 months whereas I thought I could easily get more than 600 as I was feeling comfortable with GMAT prep stuff, OGS, MGMT guides etc. I took leave for 15-20 days from work to prepare, but what I see is that my score is not at all improving; instead it is decreasing. Sometimes 42-41-40 in quant; 25-26 in verbal. My target score is 650-680 & I really want to get this score. That's the MISSION of my life now.
I don't think taking leaves in any case helped me. Like you said in your posts I couldn't spend more than 4-5 hours on any given day. I have referred all the resources that have been mentioned on BTG. I can't postpone my exam now, which is scheduled for 18th Jan'2010. In any case I had the opportunity to reschedule but I didn't want to give-up. The point is that I'm not improving! What to do that I can at least cross this barrier of 600? I have never seen a 600 in my mocks ever.
My prep:
1) I finished all the OGs 11th edition. (Quant/verbal/verbal review etc)
2) All MGMATs guide including Manhattan SC, which I completed.
3) Power score guide- CR
4) Kaplan Verbal/Math review etc.
5) SC notes, flashcards etc
6) Practice material from MBA.com
I need a 100 point jump, could you please help me identifying how & where I can improve.
My assessment about my weaknesses:
1) Quant- I'm slow at basic calculations, most of the times I know concepts but at the end some calculation mistake & I don't get the answers matching in any of the five choices.
2) Verbal- Reading fast with good comprehension.

Thanks for your help.
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by Someone.on.task » Thu Jan 13, 2011 7:49 am
I have gone through the video recording of Feb 4th, very useful especially for DS. I'm looking if I get more practice/videos for DS there (anything that you can suggest for DS practice?)- I didn't discover this useful resource before. Also I knew about Beat the GMAT for long time, but I never tried to use this as a part of my prep, but its never too late.

Keeping in mind the time constraints (i.e. effectively 4 days) & my intention to put my best foot forward for this attempt, I'm planning the following:
a) Review my SC flashcards/notes again from Manhattan- I've prepared during my prep. My accuracy is usually more than 70% in this. (Since I have already exhausted all my OG practice material so don't feel like going back to it again, instead I'm using BTG SC/CR forums for practicing, is this okay? Its time consuming though I should have done it with my prep...but at least not something which I have done before) - will do verbal bins from Princeton as these I didn't do before.
b) Read as much as I can (esp. - science content, which scares me!) from University of Chicago magazine, Scientific American & national daily - The Economic Times.- Practice RCs from books, I have some unused material.
c) Practice AWA daily for next 4 days as I never did before (but have a feeling that I can do it well) - (1 issue + 1 argument)
d) Quant - all my flashcards/BTG Flashcards - Practice all the wrong questions of OGs again. (PS+DS)- Plus I will see more questions on these forums & the quant bins from Princeton + Manhattan+Kaplan.
That's it, I will keep the generic advice in my mind that everyone has posted on this forum- not to mentally exert too much! Will try to be relaxed. I completely understand GMAT test is a test of competency not knowledge, which one needs to inculcate; it can't be faked with few days practice! Thanks for your time Ron, do let me know your feedback.
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by Someone.on.task » Sat Jan 22, 2011 7:15 am
HI Ron,
I had totally a different approach to GMAT, before you gave me the link to your study hall recordings.
In the last few days I had gone through almost all the recordings, I realized how much I didnt know.
My grip on concepts was totally hollow. I have started liking this stuff. But couldnt practice the learnings of those concepts.
I was waiting for some reply from you- but understand you must be busy.
Hope you will help me in establishing stategy for my next GMAT prep (if I have to re-appear ;)) Thanks a lot!
for this attempt, wish me luck!

===============================================================================
Wrote on - Jan 18th'2011


I appeared today for GMAT today & got a horrible score, which I could have got without even slogging myself for the last 2-2.5 months. I scored (510- 42Q,19V), this was a shock to me as I during my exam I had a feeling that I was doing good in verbal & bad in quant. Also in my prep I never scored less than 25-26.
I know, I have heard you saying in one of your recordings for study hall that details actually throw you off. You are big picture person. Therefore here are some bulleted facts about me:
1) (As you are aware from my previous posts) I really want to crack this.
2) I have will & determination, I'm ready to give my 100% dedication.
3) On the intuition-memorization scale- I'm in middle, inclined towards memorization. I can't totally rely on memorization. I try to understand the basics but not good at memorizing things. But yes, I'm more of an Algebra person than an intuitive thinker.
4) I think, my reading skills are not that great - faster reading impacts comprehension.
5) My Target score-650-680
6) All my previous strategies have failed to improve my score.
7) After watching your videos, I know one thing for sure that I don't know a lot.
Keeping in mind all these points could you please let me know, what should I do to get my target score.
I have finished the following already:
1) Kaplan Premier.
2) Kaplan verbal/quant workbook.
3) OG11- Big book
4) OG- Verbal Supplement (2nd Ed)
5) Manhattan Strategy Guides -2007 (All 8 books)
6) Power Score CR Bible.
Like you said that I have just jumped into the boxing ring, without learning how to fight.
Doing these problems was kind of an in-justice to the above mentioned resources, as my fundamentals were so weak. Is there any tutoring that you offer online (private coaching) for GMAT?
Where is the problem? I'm unable to understand. I can't accept this that I can't learn, I know I can, but don't know how?
I have my very strong WHYs, WHATs but still unable to find an answer to HOWs. At this moment I really need some HELP. Please advice.
Appreciate your time. Many thanks.
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by lunarpower » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:44 am
Someone.on.task wrote: Hope you will help me in establishing stategy for my next GMAT prep (if I have to re-appear ;)) Thanks a lot!
here are some very general guidelines:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/550-to-720-i ... tml#330724

these guidelines are *extremely* thorough -- especially for sentence correction, on which it won't be uncommon for you to need 30-60 minutes to review a single problem (if you have to do some research to figure out some of the constructions). should take you a while, but the learning will be valuable.
3) On the intuition-memorization scale- I'm in middle, inclined towards memorization. I can't totally rely on memorization. I try to understand the basics but not good at memorizing things. But yes, I'm more of an Algebra person than an intuitive thinker.


especially for quant, then, that's your challenge -- try to learn at least one intuitive takeaway from each problem, at least one way in which you can better conceptualize the material. you can add this dimension into what's written about takeaways above.
4) I think, my reading skills are not that great - faster reading impacts comprehension.
well -- normally, reading speed is something that takes a rather long time to improve -- individuals vary greatly in this respect, but i haven't heard of any faster-reading programs that have consistently excellent (and fast) results. i did note that you named a program below, in which you're interested -- i really don't have much knowledge of these programs, so i'd be interested in hearing your review once you have done the program.
7) After watching your videos, I know one thing for sure that I don't know a lot.
heh.
well, i don't pick easy problems for the videos -- i don't want to waste people's time.
I have finished the following already:
1) Kaplan Premier.
2) Kaplan verbal/quant workbook.
3) OG11- Big book
4) OG- Verbal Supplement (2nd Ed)
5) Manhattan Strategy Guides -2007 (All 8 books)
6) Power Score CR Bible.
there's a very high probability that, when you say "finished", this just means that you went through the books and did all the problems -- i.e., solved problem after problem after problem.
this isn't really "finishing" the book(s) -- you aren't really finished with the books until you have done everything listed in this link (this is the same link given earlier):
https://www.beatthegmat.com/550-to-720-i ... tml#330724

again, there is a *lot* to do in this link -- if you are that thorough in your review, the OG alone could easily take you a couple of months. if you apply this level of review to the extensive library that you've listed above, you could probably study for up to a whole year.
Is there any tutoring that you offer online (private coaching) for GMAT?


i do private tutoring through MGMAT, yes.
my schedule is *very* restricted (i only have a few select time slots available -- at really weird times, if you're in the u.s. -- and i currently have a waitlist), but, if you're interested, shoot me a PM and i'll give you more details.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.

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