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GMAT in 2 weeks...HELP!

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GMAT in 2 weeks...HELP!

by GSB12 » Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:57 pm
Hi,

I'm taking the GMAT on July 9th and I am facing a crisis. My exam scores have been 650-690 on 2 MGMAT and 2 Grockit tests, my quant tends to be weaker. I am hoping for 710-750. What is killing my score is TIME MANAGEMENT in Quant, verbal is fine. I can never get to the last question of quant without guessing on the last 5-10. I am doing drills of 5-10 questions from the harder questions of the Official Guide but I don't know what else to do.

I am also practicing the MGMAT method of calibrating my internal clock to know when 2 minutes have passed but I don't know why I think the pressure gets to me and my brain refuses to perform as well.

My accuracy rate is 90%+ on hard PS questions (from OG12) when I'm solving them 1 at a time, and I can solve them under 2 mins but as soon as I try to do 10 questions in 20 minutes my accuracy falls and I can't finish the questions in time.

Please help....I'm so nervous that my time management will do me in....help. Thanks.
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by vineeshp » Thu Jun 23, 2011 6:37 pm
WEll, OG questions are not that hard. If you are really not getting to the 27th question in time, then you may want to reschedule your test to a later time.

For Quant, there are many sources, try more questions and once harder than OG. That way your brain will tune to easier questions.

Set up a table with timings.

When you have 55 minutes left, you should aim to reach question 11-12.
When you have 45 - you should aim to reach 16-17
Similarly 35 min and 22-23
25 min - qn 27
15 min - qn 30-31.
Now you have 15 minutes to solve the last 6-7.

Take drills of 37 questions instead of 5-10.
Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert. :)
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Thu Jun 23, 2011 10:40 pm
I think my remarks here are relevant for you as well.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/quant-maximu ... tml#379966

Make up for lost time not by rushing on all the questions and getting them wrong because of misreading the question in your haste, but by sacrificing a few carefully chosen questions along the way to make sure that you approximately on track, and can devote your full focus to the job of solving the question in front of you.
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by Ashley@VeritasPrep » Fri Jun 24, 2011 5:35 pm
I'd echo pretty much everything Geva said. And I'll try to add (or repeat :)) a bit:

Since all GMAT problems are designed not to require tedious calculations (you will never even be required to multiply three digit numbers, for instance, or to add more than maybe three things together, tops), it seems to me there are at least two possible explanations for why one might have trouble finishing in time, and it's important to determine which applies to if only one of them does. Those two explanations are (1) it's taking you too long at the beginning of each problem to decide on a strategy to use, so you wind up starting down a few false paths that don't lead anywhere before you head in the right direction; and (2) you're doing problems the tedious-calculation way rather than exploiting the shortcuts the test builds in (e.g. you're taking the time to multiply out $432 * 28, rather than capitalizing on the fact that the answer is guaranteed to end in a 6 and only one of the answers does so... or you're using the Pythagorean Thm. on all right triangles rather than recognizing Pythagorean or special-triangle triples, etc.). Actually another common timing problem, which is related to these but maybe kind of its own thing, occurs when people do more work on Data Sufficiency than is necessary -- always remember that you don't ever have to report a numerical answer on DS, so you can stop as soon as you know you have sufficient information. (For instance, I see a number of people spending time working out a system of two equations with two variables on DS, when in fact they could stop as soon as they noticed the existence of a system of two equations with two variables, since we know that two equations are always sufficient to solve for two variables. Things of that sort.)

None of these problems is necessarily super-easy to shape up, but if you feel your problem is mostly the first one, I'd shift a bunch of practice time to simply setting up problems as quickly as possible -- you can still check your setup even if you don't take time to get all the way to the answer, since solutions should describe the processes as well. If you feel your problem is mostly the second one, I'd make sure you're totally solid on any "flashcard"y shortcuts AND I'd just try really to be actively on the lookout for shortcuts. That means using the answer options to your advantage along the way to give you hints as to shortcuts, rather than solving all the way through and only at the end looking for your answer among the choices. Finally, if you find that you're frequently working all the way to numerical answers on DS, I'd make sure to read ALL explanations of DS solutions thoroughly, even on problems you've gotten right. Good explanations should (ideally) stop at the point of sufficiency, rather than working all the way to the answer. If they don't, just examine the problem (or solution) closely yourself and ask yourself at what point you could have answered the question, ideally short of specific numerical certainty.

As others have said, there's no reason to save all your guessing till the end (and it's in fact unwise to do so). If there's a particular type of problem you tend to miss with great frequency, and you see one of those come up, let that be a guess. If on the last practice CAT you take before the GMAT, you're still running 5 questions short of finishing, then you have five guesses to use during the test. So the second you see a problem come up that looks insanely tough -- or if after 30 seconds max you still don't know what strategy you'll use to approach it -- guess on it, regardless of where it is in the test. That way you can make sure the problems you will get right, given sufficient time, are ones you actually have time to work through.

Best of luck!
Ashley Newman-Owens
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by ls413 » Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:12 pm
I, too, had some difficulty with time management on the quant section. I'd be able to a whole slew of practice questions in a row and in a timely manner, but under actual testing conditions the pressure somehow got to me.

It's imperative to identify questions you are unable to solve as quickly as possible. The likelihood of correctly solving a question that you have been struggling with for several minutes is slim. That being said, there is also an art to guessing on the questions that you know you cannot solve. Manhattan GMAT just came out with an Advanced Quant book, and there is a whole section about how to make smart guesses on the exam. You might want to check it out. Good luck!
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by GSB12 » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:39 pm
I wanted to post an update and say thank you again for helping me out. I took the GMAT today and I got a 740(Q46/V46)!!!!!

Thank you so much for the helpful advice. I found that taking practice test under real conditions is the best way to go. Manhattan Gmat material was really really useful and lastly, a good night's sleep, a healthy nutritious breakfast (I had oatmeal and eggs), and good snacks (I had a banana, 5-hour energy, and a chocolate stroopwaffel (look it up :)) go along way to sustain your performance on test day. Good luck to all future test takers!!!!
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by Geva@EconomistGMAT » Sun Jul 10, 2011 2:57 am
Hooray!

I think a debrief on time management in each section can help the rest of the forum users.
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by IWillSurvive » Thu Jul 14, 2011 1:29 pm
I agree with the time management comment. I am also very happy for you, GSB12! Congratulations.

Okay, if you dont mind, I have a few questions:

1. If the problem is content in some areas AND time management issues, what do you reocmmend? I liked Ashley's comment about practicing set up and utilizing flashcards. I have many flashcards, and I will time myself in terms of set up. What's a good timing scheme? Should I use one minute to time my set up for each question?

2. Is it true a student can achieve a high jump in soore without a private tutor? I simply cannot afford a tutor. I did take a Veritas Prep class, but still feel incredibly unprepared.

Thank you,
A
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