GMAT Strategy

Hi all,
exclamation points drew you in, huh? i knew they would...

not sure if this is the appropriate place for this, but i've decided to keep a log of my GMAT preparation. (don't delete me!) i've noticed that i come to this forum a lot (lurkers, lurkers everywhere) and often in panic when i feel my GMAT preparation is not going well or i am not particularly motivated. so, why not give back a bit and in the style of my beatthegmat hero: Mayonai5e, keep a (b)log of my progress as well as what i've learned.

a little about me:

i rarely capitalize letters so i hope this doesn't get anyone riled up (don't make faces, its been an issue in the past!)

i am taking the gmat 12/18 so 65 days to go, a little over 9 weeks.

i'm an african american male, aged 31, from brooklyn, nyc, usa. i've worked in city government for 6 years and before that got a master's degree in public policy from a city university here in the city, Baruch. i've been thinking about an mba for the past 2 years, but always put it off because i was unsure of my career path and whether it would be useful. and to be honest i was afraid i wasn't up to the task intellectually. but, i've decided entrepreneurship is for me and an mba would help in a career shift towards that purpose. so pox on those low intellectual self esteem issues!

my target gmat score is 700+. i know, very unique. thank you.

i am terrified of math. no, really. when i sit down to do practice quant problems my heart races and i pull out a cigarette. sigh, but demons must be faced on the path to riches and advanced degrees from good schools, so, here i am.

part of the reason i am writing this blog is to help keep myself accountable in my gmat study. its too easy to come home from work, eat, watch some hulu (go GLEE!, uhm i meant The Unit, eat, watch some dancing cats on youtube, look at the clock, sigh, get up, go to study, smoke a ciggie, do a few problems, get frantic b/c it took me a half hour to figure out a problem i solved with ease the week before, log online to read gmat strategies, read beatthegmat in terror, go to sleep exhausted and have nightmares of poverty and repeat the cycle the next night. i'm not exaggerating...

if i don't get into a good business school i don't know what i'll do. i'm too fat to join the circus (and they have age limits can you believe that?!!) and marrying rich is a long shot, despite my oodles of charm (see fatness issue described earlier).

so, here's the study plan:
i'm studying quant and verbal in a 80%/20% split. i am actually very strong at verbal. but i won't sleep on that...

i've got a bunch of stuff from gmathacks: math bible, and his 8 challenge questions sets and one other standard set: rates, ratios, and percents, number properties, arithmetic, geometry, word translation, algebra, problem solving, data sufficiency, and extreme questions (hard questions, supposedly), MGMAT's books,(all), powerscore critical/logical reasoning behemoth, and OGs# 11 and 12 and grockit (on a random whim... are they any good???). i think this is really all i need.

i've gone through the MGMAT books in depth, except for geometry, and have learned quite a bit. they have really helped my basic math and reasoning skills.

i started by doing a bunch of questions from the og#11 guide in the, "do all the questions you can get and you'll get an 800 score" tradition. this did not work. then i turned around and did the questions according to how MGMAT states, first doing the relevant chapter in the MGMAT book and then the corresponding questions in the OG #11, quite a bit better, but i felt i wasn't learning all that i should and my commitment (read consistency) began to lag.

if i'm not learning and progressing then i get depressed, do less, learn less, get more depressed, eat (see fatness issue described above), sound familiar? no, just me? fine...

anyway, then i read on the forums here about error logs and really analyzing and revisiting your questions after you've done them. also looked at stacey koprince's article: https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09 ... ce-problem on how to revisit questions, (its got like 1,087 words and she looks so authoritative so it must be good advice!) and decided to incorporate it into my study. by doing this i am bringing down my 30,000+ questions in 60 days to a more manageable 1,400 or so which is a bit frightening but everyone keeps saying quality over quantity, (saboteurs!) so there it is.

i will do 10 questions on three gmathacks challenge questions: currently: arithmetic; rates, ratios and percents; and algebra for two days (a grand total of 30 - 40 questions a day), log detailed questions and thoughts, issues, concepts, etc. each day for those two days and then solidly review the 60 - 80 questions on the third day. after that i will do a new set of questions from those same sets for two days, review, etc.

when that is over i will do the rest of the sets in the same way. finally i will go over the OG#11, all questions after 100, and OG#12, all questions not in #11. after that i will register for the mgmat tests and the gmac prep tests and approach them the same way, (with screen shots of the gmac tests to keep a log) error logging and hitting what i got wrong (and right, stacey!) over and over again, drawing every last detail and lesson to be learned. then i'll take the gmat, get an 800 and start my gmat blog!!! heh. me funny. heh.

so that's where i am now. i am doing a two day new questions, one day full review split. i will post my schedule, the number and type (source) of questions that i am working on, when i take my first test...

no i haven't taken my first test yet. i know, bad test taker! its simply due to fear. b/c i'm convinced that i will receive a 400 and then i won't possibly be able to get a 700+ by the day of the exam 12/18 and the circus is out and i can't marry rich... which i know is silly and i will be taking my first practice test this weekend.

uhm ok, that's enough. see you all tomorrow. any thoughts on what i'm doing right, wrong, etc. more than welcome.
Joel/enturio

I might read your blog just for the language alone. Very witty indeed.

... and know what? I was pretty much born without that part of the brain that processes numbers. so the 80-20 split in favour of quant is very close to my prep ways. took me a long long time - 11 months of prep - to get quant in a bit of order. i still guess whenever there's a permutation & combination or probability question. and inequations still need improvement. and ... ahem ... i did get a bit, weeee bit, too overconfident in verbal and got only a 40. hey! that's like what i got through out all the 16 mock CATs and again on the final day. jinxed you say?

try out the OG11, then the OG Quant and the OG Verbal, then give one of the GMAT Prep tests. you'll see how tough the questions r in the GMATPrep to the OG questions. spare the wall and your head. REPEAT the entire OG series. Then buy a Manhattan Strategy Guide to get the 6 mock MGMAT CATs. i loved them, their explanations too.

try sticking to the OGs and Manhattans. don't cram in too many books and techniques or they'll confuse you.

good luck.

This indeed looks like a blog. no worries enturio, we dont delete this.
I'm moving it to GMAT strategy section for time being, so I hope like mayo you would share your 'lessons learned'.

So i started my new study session today and immediately saw some issues with my plan. oh, and review is awesome. all you need to succeed in the gmat and in life itself, is review! review is better than crack! no that i would know. about the crack. seriously. let's move on.

my initial plan was to focus on two or three sets of gmathack challenge questions: say word translation, algebra and arithmetic, and solve 10 - 15 questions from each. i would then repeat this for the next day, totaling about 50 - 60 questions over the course of two days. the third day i would review the questions solved over the past two days, really sit down with each one and analyze it.

however, after looking over people's notes and blogs, i think it would be more helpful to have a sustained and in depth work with each one of the sets, completing it, before i moved to the next. today i tried doing algebra and rates and ratios problem sets. there are some obvious connections between the two, but i found the switching of one to the other to be disruptive.

i'm convinced that material needs time to settle on my mind to properly grasp. by throwing too many different topics at it at once, it gets confusing. in addition, i've decided that every day should consist of at least some review. i completed about 30 algebra questions today and will be doing another 10 - 15 later this evening (no work today, LOVE working in city government!!!) now, on to the magic of review.

the first part of my work today was a review of about 10 questions in algebra that i had done earlier and were either unsure about or gotten incorrect. this was a great success as i not only got to review those questions and understand them better, but also going back and reviewing those questions first then allowed me to then move forward and have the absolute best quant. session i have ever had! it was better than that first cigarette you have after quitting five years ago due to gmat study stress! it was better than GMAT! not only did my mind feel nimble and fresh, even when faced with new questions but i was able to see patterns that i hadn't seen before, even on the brand new material!

i know this is the WHOLE POINT of quant review but its a first for me, so just let me have the moment, alright??

the interesting point about review is that i didn't even do the in depth and exhaustive revew that stacey koprince suggests in her article, essentially all i did was review the question, redo it, look for a general lesson that i can use on other questions of the same vein and mentally check myself to make sure that i felt totally comfortable with the material.

i still intend to do a more in depth review session of all questions twice a week, sunday and wednesday of each week. during this time i will redo questions, analyze errors (conceptual, etc.) seek comparisons to other questions of the same type, draw lessons, make notes on formulas i need to know, etc. there i will focus on squeezing every last bit of information from my analysis, leaving the questions shivering and feeling just a little bit violated on the page by the time i'm through. but i find it interesting that even general redoing of questions and drawing lessons from them is quite a powerful tool. makes me wonder how in depth analysis can assist in comprehension.

because, i just know you're dying to know, these are the questions i will be asking in my review analysis: * question right/wrong? (bet you didn't see that one coming, huh?)
* if right was there any way to solve it faster, more accurately?
* how many other questions did i get like this topic in my study so far? is it new? if not new and incorrect is there another way to change my approach to this topic? other resources, etc.?
* if i got it right, was it luck? did i guess between two answers? which ones and why?
* if i got the question wrong, why? was it racism? is the question not liking a black man trying to solve it? (kidding!!!) was it a conceptual error, a calculations error? did i get "simple error calculations" wrong on other questions of this type? could this mean i am nervous or unsure of the question or topic?
* is there any part of the conceptual framework unsure or missing?
* does a flashcard need to be made or a formula or rule need to be recorded in my formula book to cover issue?
* can i create another question similar to this one and understand how to solve it?

that's it. if there anything else i am overlooking, let me know.

Joel/enturio

Turnpike wrote:... and know what? I was pretty much born without that part of the brain that processes numbers. so the 80-20 split in favour of quant is very close to my prep ways. took me a long long time - 11 months of prep - to get quant in a bit of order. i still guess whenever there's a permutation & combination or probability question. and inequations still need improvement. and ... ahem ... i did get a bit, weeee bit, too overconfident in verbal and got only a 40. hey! that's like what i got through out all the 16 mock CATs and again on the final day. jinxed you say?

try out the OG11, then the OG Quant and the OG Verbal, then give one of the GMAT Prep tests. you'll see how tough the questions r in the GMATPrep to the OG questions. spare the wall and your head. REPEAT the entire OG series. Then buy a Manhattan Strategy Guide to get the 6 mock MGMAT CATs. i loved them, their explanations too.

try sticking to the OGs and Manhattans. don't cram in too many books and techniques or they'll confuse you.

good luck.

thanks turnpike! i am making sure that i'm not too overwhelmed with stuff. i agree that too much can be a lot more detrimental than too little. and its nice to know there is at least one other person out there who doesn't see the world in 1s an 0s. its really amazing/depressing when i read people saying, "i got a 730 on my gmat with only 87% quant! should i retake?!!" sigh.

thanks for the message and for reading!