Suggestions and Feedback

vscid wrote:How about a 'countdown' (like the actual gmat) instead of a 'stopwatch' , however, this one being user-adjustable based on the skill level of the user. So for example, a begineer can set the countdown for 3 mintues, an intermediate skill level user can set it for 2 and an advanced user can set it for 1.5 and so on. Once 'time's out', screen will refresh to show 'time out' and then user can go 'back' to the original question to futher ponder (or check the OA). This way, the user will always be under simulated conditions, even while practicing and wont be able to cheat himself !

Hi vscid,
This seems to be a nice idea. I see the value in your suggestion.
[Edited: I had written something else.. ]
Here are some thoughts on the entire GMAT preparation process and role of the timer.

A beginner, i mean a real beginner, should not start training using stop watch. He/she should focus of getting the concepts right before timing himself. In my mind, here are the stages of preparation for GMAT.

Stage 1. The beginning: learn the concepts and get them down to the pat.

Stage 2. Browse forums like BTG and get alternate methods to solve similar problems. Here you focus on each problem type. eg. After knowing how to solve problems involving set theory, I will search BTG for 20 problems on sets and learn all the alternate methods (good ones and bad ones). Also I will focus on how the question type varies. At the end of this exercise, I am aware of a) almost all variations of questions in Sets b) more than 1 way to solve for each variation (if possible)

Stage 3. Now that I have figured this out. I will start timing myself so that solving the problem is a just a mechanical activity. Here the timer becomes very useful. If I find out that I am taking way too long to solve a problem, I will start going down to the details on where I am spending the time. Is it in reading and understanding the question? Or is it in translating the question to one of my known methods to solve it? Or is it that I know so many ways to solve this problem and I waste time to figure what is the best way? (this can happen. So beware) Or the mechanics of getting the solution. Here u can use the Lap counter to nail the sub problem timing.


Hope this helps.

DavidP wrote:Thanks for the nice posts. And thanks again for the great suggestions. I'm really excited that we were able to help everyone with the new stopwatch feature.

The countdown feature that @vscid mentions sounds interesting. How do others feel about it?

David

David I think countdown feature is excellent idea. and thats why I shared a time scale in band of colours (yellow, green and red) which users can set according to their need and aptness to solve the problem. As I shared the pic of sliderin the above post. This slider is user adjustable. The red yellow and grren colour is set by user only. and according to thetime set on slider the stopwatch responds to the user while solving the problem.
If a person wants to set only one single time he can slide all sliders on same point and hence can set only one single time.so it would not be a distraction for him/...

money9111 wrote:oh wow I like that suggestion! right now I just use the timer on my iphone

I also think there should be a separate place for 1 liners and appreciations. Certainly it would help a lot of people. As some people use iphone, some use phone, some use blackberry, some use wrist watch, some use table watch, some wall clock...may be someone use sand watch ...music watch...some might be using clock on big ben ..etc...and some really need to express what they actually use.

well if you want to go there!... you can... i won't follow down the same road, but at least ask me the reason why I mentioned it before trying to slam me. that would be the most civil action.

now before you get defensive again and jump down my throat.. I will give you the reason why I said that... i was listening to a podcast by MBA Podcaster of a MGMAT 1st class, and the instructor actually called out the stopwatch on the iPhone because it has a lap button... iphone - has lap button, phone - i wouldn't know, blackberry - definitely wouldn't know because I'm against them, wrist watch - well some have lap buttons, table watch - what is a table watch?, wall clock - doesn't have a lap button, sand watch - again no idea what this is..., music watch - what?, big ben definitely doesn't have a lap button... so you know what.. yes i did feel the need to express exactly what I use...

MAYBE it will help someone else in the future! Enjoy

Could there be a button to hide the clock while its running?

Thanks for the great suggestions all. I spoke with Eric and we've decided to leave the stopwatch feature as it currently is. We thought for a while about changing colors and realized that just having a standard set of times didn't make sense because there's too much variation between different types of questions, especially in areas like RC. Also, adding sliders might actually make the feature less user friendly because the stopwatch app could become more complicated.

Most importantly, we wanted to move on to our next feature, which I think you'll all like... TAGS!

I agree with leaving the stopwatch as it is so we can learn to have a feel of how long we take without the color telling us : 'hey it's time to stop'. That way when we go into real GMAT, we have a good feel of when to move on because there is no color reminder in the GMAT stopwatch.