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Acing verbal, hit and miss on math

Problem Solving — algebra and arithmetic (GMAT Focus Edition)
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Acing verbal, hit and miss on math

by mathiask » Thu Jan 14, 2016 12:05 am
I've been studying for a month when the gmat hits in 10 days. Studying every day consecutively for 3-8 hours (i have to work) has been hard but I am extremely determined. I need to hit a 550 minimum to get into the uni I want and I'm sure that if I hit that number, I'll get in due to my work experience and sublime college references.

However, my math is hit and miss. Really, hit and miss.

Questions that are hard, easy and medium seem all hard to me... and on gmat prep i solve an equal amount of them. One day, I have a 42% passing rate on math, the other day 75%. No consistency whatsoever.

It seems that sometimes I just see it, and sometimes I don't. Prime factorization is a massive problem for me, and yes / no data sufficiency isn't easy either.

My expected gmath score is 600. The app prep4gmat (wonderful btw, expects my score to be around 540 due to the bad scores on prime numbers).

My problem areas:

- Prime factorization
- Square roots
- Yes/no data sufficiency

I am studying the flash cards, I finished the princeton review and doing GmatPrep and Prep4gmat. However, due to some consecutively bad results on tests (I've been scoring an average on math of around 42% for the past three days) I am getting down. I try to take in the theory but it's just not working for me. I don't see it.

Should I move on from these subjects and take my chances on other subjects or keep hammering until it just hits me? January 25th is my exam... Verbal is not really a biggy, I've been getting maximum scores on that ever since I opened the book even though I'm not a native english speaker. But math has always been hard to me.
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by mathiask » Sun Jan 17, 2016 7:51 am
So I chose a different strategy...

I went back to basics, taking the time to understanding the theory and making all exercises on the gmathprepnow video series. I now have a solid understanding on square roots and inequalities (the latter was causing my issues at data sufficiency.

Due to the fact that it was all so easy to understand I gave up exercise time to really try and understand everything again, concerning arithmatics and algebra. Even though geometry was not really an issue, I did that again too.

I just don't get one thing with probabilities.

Is it a us thing to note a probability calculate as 6c2 / 10c2

How can THAT lead to 15/45 ?

Thank you very much for replying.
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by [email protected] » Sun Jan 17, 2016 9:59 am
Hi mathiask,

I have a few questions about your studies so far and your timeline/goals:

1) What is the application deadline for the School that you're interested in? Is that the last application deadline for this cycle (when would the next application deadline be?)?

2) Have you taken any FULL-LENGTH CATs (with the Essay and IR sections)? How did you score (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?

3) Do you have the flexibility to push back your Test Date or retest later (if needed)?

Neither prime factorization nor square roots are a big category on the GMAT, so your score inconsistencies are NOT due to those subjects. You'll likely see about 5 YES/NO questions on the GMAT though, so there are some points to be gained in that area.

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by mathiask » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:22 pm
Hey there

There's no flexibility. The deadline for the application is the 1st of february. My gmat date is next week monday. Yesterday, I scored a 600 and was asked to move up to the hard questions by the princeton review gmat test in order to further enhance my mathemnatical skills.

I now master algebra and prime factorization, probability and geometry are still an icky point so my focus will be on question in these areas.

I took the full gmat test, including the essay and everything. Weirdly enoughm i got all hard questions. I don't think this shows much since the test would better zone in on myy skills.


If i score a 600 i will be extremely happy. Due to rigorous studying the past few daysm trying to master key concepts, I managed to up my score by 40 points still making some very stupid mistakes due to time pressure,
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by anayak.88 » Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:50 pm
Hi Mathiask,

As someone who is struggling with Quant as well, I am no expert to speak on this, but I would like to share two things that have helped me grasp the basics on Quant. I would strongly recommend signing up for the EmpowerGMAT course, Rich's classes really help you brush up the important topics as well as teaching you certain essential strategies. Secondly, the Kaplan GMAT Math Workbook helped me a lot with in-depth review of essential math concepts. So try these, won't hurt.

Hope this helps, good luck!
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by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Jan 21, 2016 8:13 am
Hi Mathiask,

You mention that you have no consistency in your math performance. You've been working hard to solidify your concept knowledge, which of course is necessary.

There's one other thing that you should be paying strict attention to: careless errors. I find that the simple mistakes are the #1 source of inconsistency for my students. You have to make sure that you are:
1. reading carefully and identifying the right question
2. solving carefully and accurately
3. quickly double-checking to make sure that you're answering the question asked

Start tracking your careless mistakes (even if it's just a jot-list on a post-it note). Are there mistakes that you make over and over? Figure out how to fix your process to avoid those mistakes before you take the test next week. More here: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -studying/
Ceilidh Erickson
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Harvard Graduate School of Education
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by [email protected] » Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:29 am
Hi mathiask,

Since your score goal is relatively 'modest', you shouldn't be too focused on the 'implied level' of the questions that you're answering. Just because a computer program labels a question as 'hard' doesn't actually make it so. The knowledge you have and the Tactics you use should help you to define what is difficult and what is not. To that end, your focus should be on the 'gettable' questions - if you answer too many of those incorrectly, then you won't hit your score goal. By extension, anything that feels 'really hard' isn't worth your time (since your score goal doesn't require that you get those harder questions correct).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by mathiask » Fri Jan 22, 2016 2:22 am
Progress report:

Took a quantative-only test. Aced 80 percent of the quantative questions. Average difficulty was medium-hard. The advice to focus on questions within my difficulty level is a good one, as i probably won't get to the really hard ones anyway.

Mastering the key concepts is one of the best things i could have ever done. I now solve questions within just a few seconds sometimes... the danger being that I do not read the questions well enough. But I have a hard time with some questions, in which i exceed the 2 minute window by 1 or 1,5 minutes sometimes.

People still give me the advice to try and move up in the beginning. Taking my time to really try and get the answer correct even if I think i know the answer.

In the princeton review book, i succesfully answered 8/20 of the highest level math questions. This sounds bad, but these questions are not on my level so I will not encounter them. Of the bin 3 questions, which are in my range and will help me get a 550, I got 16/20 correct. Mistakes were made due to speed and not due to a lack of knowledge.

I sometimes try to evoke panic to simulate the testing environment. I do notice that it's harder to think, but all in all I calm down pretty fast. This is why I'm happy that the essay is first. It gives me a chance to settle down.
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by Matt@VeritasPrep » Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:16 pm
Great work, keep it up! In my experience, it's MUCH easier for high-scoring verbal students to learn quant than the other way round: after all, math is logical! :D
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