GMAT Strategy

So I am taking a Kaplan class, studying 5 hours a day and everything has been going good, I understand the quantitative concepts well. I just took my first practice test yesterday and WOW time went by FAST I ended up guessing on the last ½ of the quantitative section. This makes me extremely nervous. I can get most of the questions right, but not in 2 minutes, 2 minutes seems like just enough time to write down the material. I had no problems on the verbal section my score ended up being a 45 (I think that’s how its stated, by percentile) I know that there are a few that I will need to strategically guess on come test day, but I am in need of some other time strategies. Or will my efficiency increase after taking several practice tests?

Are you sure you're doing most problems the best way? Many problems have an "official" way and a "short" way. That's where a lot of people who are good at math get hurt on the GMAT; with unlimited time, they would get every question right, but with time pressure, people need employ tricks and shortcuts.

Other than that, another way to speed up is to work on your mental math and, especially, your estimating skills. You probably know by now that you need to lots of relatively simple calculations on the GMAT. If you can do them without writing notes, you'll save loads of time.

Hi Jim - Thanks for your reply

I find that most questions require that I jot something down maybe for my own organization of the data. DS are the ones that usually require the least, but I aim to write something down for every problem. Is that wrong? The question levels that I am referring to are hard-medium level questions. The Kaplan methods that I have learned have helped a lot (picking #’s, eliminating answers, WOTF, etc) but I am at still unsure about backsolving, whenever I do that I end up wasting a lot of time. The majority of my methods are “solve the equation” or “solve ½ the equation” then guess.

Maybe I'm just odd, but I don't write down very much on the quant (or verbal) section. I'd say that I write notes/calculations for maybe 1/5 of the math problems. I think that taking too many notes is too big of a time killer. In fact, I'd say that I write less on hard questions since they typically aren't just calculation problems; instead, they require that you see the theory or properties behind the question.

You goal when studying needs to be to stop doing whatever you're doing (since it's not working) and to start doing whatever prep guide you use recommends. It's not easy, and you'll get lots wrong at first... but eventually, it will be a lot easier and faster.

So I'm guessing that you still have a fair amount of time before your exam.....in which case, a few recommendations.

1) Part of building up your test-taking skills is by actually taking tests, so yes, the more timed online practice you do, the better. You'll want to try to do all of your CATs in your course, to really build your time management skills and stamina and make progress. Be sure to then study each exam AFTER you do it to learn from your mistakes under test-like conditions.

2) As you study, both when you review your CAT questions, and when doing other assignments and sets of practice, do try to learn from each question and as Jim mentioned, where possible, try to see how to approach each question from both a "traditional math" approach and an alternative approach (such as some of those Kaplan strategies you mentioned, or just estimating, eliminating, etc). Your goal is to have options on test day, and to develop the ability to decide which approach is best for YOU on any given problem based on a number of factors.

3) Work on timing even for shorter question sets, give yourself approx 2 min/question and force yourself to learn what 2 minutes "feels" like and to move on when you are stuck.

4) Remember that EVERYONE will get stuck at some point, and it's better to make strategic guesses where appropriate and save time for questions you CAN do, rather than trying to do every problem full-out, and running out of time for the last 1/2 or 1/3 or ANY portion of the section. People who score really well will generally have guessed on multiple questions, so reassure yourself knowing that and allow yourself to guess strategically/move on quickly after starting a problem that you really don't see a way forward with. Be proactive with choosing when to guess, instead of being forced to guess for all remaining problems if you spent too long early on.

5) As Jim said, it's less about writing things down just to write things down...some people write a lot, some a little, but no one is looking over your shoulder giving you extra points or partical credit on test day for what you write down or don't. So figure out what works best for you in terms of getting these questions done in a timely way, and use that approach.

Overall, the more you practice under timed conditions, the more you will potentially improve, yes. Good luck to you!!

Thank you soo much Jen!!

I noticed that I am doing these problems like they are homework assignment questions. Which obviously is a huge error. A couple of questions regarding your suggestions:
1. I am taking Kaplan CAT’s should I mix it up and try other ones? If so which ones would you suggest?
2. I have working on timing for shorter sets (sets of 5-10) of only medium and hard difficulty questions. Is that ok? I don’t want to practice easy ones because I hope that I won’t have to see any on test day!

Hi there,

Glad to be of help.

1. Generally it's good to do approx 1 CAT/week, though that may vary based on your time til your test and how much time you can devote to prep, etc. And keep in mind that you should spend a decent amount of review time after each CAT. So many preppers find that 6-10 CATs is plenty over their study period. You have 9 with Kaplan, and I of course also recommend the GMAT Prep software put out by the test makers, for 2 additional CATs. Beyond that, I can't comment on other software; you may want to try another source just to see, but make sure you are really learning from all the CATs you take and focusing on specific areas in between them (i.e. don't just do a CAT a day forever, focus on the quality of your studies too).

2. It's likely ok to focus on medium/hard question sets; I'd also do the easy ones SOMEtimes to make sure you are on track-- remember you have to do well on easier q's to get to harder questions, and just in case you make a few mistakes here and there you could still see the "easier" q's.

Good luck to you!