GMAT Strategy

buddyme wrote: I got 14 questions wrong in Quant this time. and around 8 of them were silly mistakes.

I am working on developing an accuracy based mindset. I think this will give me most returns on my test day.
BDW, What is the highest raw score in a section and how good/bad is 49?

I agree. An accuracy mindset will give you high returns. If you had just gotten those 8 quant questions right, maybe you would have hit 51.

The highest raw score is 51. Q49 is good and indicates that you are ready to handle the mathematical aspects of any MBA program. V49 is rare.

- What is your accuracy rate in each type, SC, CR, and RC?

It is not constant and highly fluctuating. But one thing i know is that I am at 50 percent mark in all these things.

Ok, you need to get that hit rate higher by adjusting how you are handling those questions, and don't blame language issues. Your English is good enough for you to be scoring higher than that. Likely you just have not really figured out how to hack you way to the right answers, partly because you have not learned to see the right details.

- Are you mostly having trouble with speed and efficiency, getting right answers but not completing enough questions, or are you also having trouble getting right answers?

Both. Speed is a bigger problem. I have subcribed for 6 free veritas cats, do you suggest me to try an untimed test in verbal section and see how i perform?

I absolutely do suggest that you do a verbal section untimed and see how you perform. I have seen people spend 10 minutes per verbal question and still not get right answers, because the methods they are using are just not effective. So at least by doing a section untimed you will get a sense of whether you even have effective ways to get right answers.

- You mentioned using the splits method for SC. Is that working for you, or are you finding that by being too mechanical you are choosing wrong answers?

Yes it is working for me. It helps to find the possible faults and then narrow down.

If your SC hit rate is 50% then maybe the splits method is not working as well as you think it is.

- Do you often succeed in narrowing down to two verbal answers?

In SC and CR mostly yes. in RC either i get the answer or will have no clue at all. For RC i am noticing few things related to reading speed. If I try to read very slowly and try to note down the important points, my comprehension is less and when I read fast my overall comprehension is better and i get to understand the passage but again I am not able to answer the questions without referrng to passage. I really dont have a working strategy for RC. Currently I am trying both of them at test time. If one is not working I am trying to do the second. I think i have to work on it.

Referring back to the passage is a good idea in RC. Often the answer choices are tricky, and what they say can sound like something that was said in the passage when actually what they say is different from what the passage said. So often you almost have to refer back in order to avoid getting smoked.

I find I do best in RC when I read the passage fairly carefully but without noting and remembering every detail. Then if I have to refer back while doing the questions, that's fine.

- How much have you actually worked on GMAT verbal. In other words, to what degree is the issue here simply that you have not worked on verbal much?

I have covered the video lectures of veritas and I have read the MGMAT SC book(read it 2-3 times) but i am not remembering them. But undoubtedly i have improved my accuracy in SC but I dont remember thecomplete stuff i read in it. I am solving questions in prep4gmat while travelling to office. This is prettymuch the stuf I have done so far for verbal section. Apart from this, I am reviewing my mistakes in the tests.

You don't have to remember every little thing said in those books and lectures. GMAT verbal is not really an English test. It's more a reasoning game. So your figuring out your way to play the game is what's most important. In fact I have worked with people who do remember like everything in verbal prep books and still get smoked right and left. Why? Because those rules and strategies are not all it takes to win the GMAT verbal game. You just have to train and become a gamer.

If you get a verbal question wrong, then maybe you need to refer back to the MGMAT guides, especially for SC questions, and see what you might need to get straight. Your performance can be your guide as to what you need to get more clear about.

Other than that, likely you mostly just have to get better at seeing details and hacking your way to answers. There is only so much a book can teach you. At some point you just have to become good at seeing all the details of a situation and at making good decisions based on what you are seeing.

From what you said, it sounds as if you need much more practice playing the GMAT verbal game. Prep4GMAT sounds good. You could also try the Veritas Question Bank, and maybe some other online bank.

Hi All,
Thank you for the advices. I have taken anoher test after spending 10 days on verbal. but there is no significant improvement.

I am planning to change the date so that i can target to get the desired scores(720+) and focus on round 2 of universities. According to available dates as of today, I am planning to take it on sep 27.

Is it really bad to apply for colleges in round 2? I have no idea on selection chances in each and every round.
My target colleges include kellog(has 3 rounds) and insead(has 4 rounds).

Please advise.

Best Regards,
Sandeep Kumar

Thank you for the advices. I have taken anoher test after spending 10 days on verbal. but there is no significant improvement.

This is quite common. As Marty noted, there's a difference between absorbing a concept in the abstract, and applying it to a novel situation with a time constraint. The benefit of the practice test isn't that you get to feel great about the score each time - few people do - it's that you get to dissect what happened and use whatever takeaways you derive in the future. Some test-takers come away knowing that they need to be more mindful about parallel construction in Sentence Correction. Others come away realizing that they need to pay more attention to the subtle differences in language among Critical Reasoning questions. Your takeaways will be unique to you. Just make sure that you analyze the test thoroughly enough to have adjustments in mind for your next one. If you keep doing this with each successive exam, eventually it will pay dividends.