GMAT Strategy

I know this is the wrong place to post this topic, but then i want this to be read by everyone and thought it would get good visibility if posted here. So Mods please spare this post

Although i did flunk in GMAT test, i still want to clarify some myths that most of the earthlings believe to be true. And Yes! I dont say that these are Facts but again i am somehow convinced that what i believe is true.
Some of you might agree or disagree with this and Yes, I welcome your comments on my reasoning part .

Myth vs Fact 1: "If i get a boldfaced CR in Verbal that shows that i am doing good in Verbal".

FALSE, this is to be interpreted something like this - "If i get a boldfaced CR in verbal that shows i am doing good in Critical Reasoning but not necessarily in SC and RC"

Yes, in Verbal part I believe that GMAT tests you on three topics - SC,RC and CR individually. So say that Test taker X faces the first question on SC (of 500-700 range) or say he starts off with a SC question of medium difficulty range and answers this correctly, he would get the next SC question of 700-800 range and so on. Then for the first time X answers a CR question that would again start from 500-700 range and if answered correctly will move to 700-800 range.
But say X does not do well in SC thereafter but does extremely well in CR, he would still continue to see those bold faced questions in CR (for the time being assumed as a 700-800 range question). Now this misleads many of the test takers as they think that they are doing well in the verbal part. No! It only means that they are doing well in CR but not necessarily in SC and RC. His answers might still be wrong in SC and RC. Also, atleast for most of the people(including me - especially non native english speakers) out there ,all we know is that a boldfaced CR means 700-800 range question, but can never assess the level of difficulty of SC and RC questions. So people when faced with a boldfaced CR assume that they are doing good and fall into a sort of comfort zone and later will be shocked to see their score . I believe GMAT tests on all three topics and gives a cumulative score finally.

Myth vs Fact 2:"The first ten questions are the most important and are to be given the maximum time to achieve the best score"

I know that there has been a long debate on this and GMAC officially (in their OG's and many other sources) stated that this is a Myth and all the questions carry equal weightage. I just want to reiterate that this is a Myth. Never, I repeat Never think that the first questions if done correctly raise your score bar and ensures you a good score irrespective of the number of mistakes you do at the end. All questions carry the same weight and help you in getting a good score (except the experimental questions that are included in your test which are evenly distributed and are not scored. Again your first questions might be those experimental questions and you CANNOT predict which question is experimental and which one is not experimental.)
But remember that a wrong EASY or MEDIUM range question affects your score more than a wrong HARD level question. So getting those EASY and MEDIUM questions right should be any test takers first priority.[/b]

aapegasus wrote:I know this is the wrong place to post this topic, but then i want this to be read by everyone and thought it would get good visibility if posted here. So Mods please spare this post

Although i did flunk in GMAT test, i still want to clarify some myths that most of the earthlings believe to be true. And Yes! I dont say that these are Facts but again i am somehow convinced that what i believe is true.
Some of you might agree or disagree with this and Yes, I welcome your comments on my reasoning part .

Myth vs Fact 1: "If i get a boldfaced CR in Verbal that shows that i am doing good in Verbal".

FALSE, this is to be interpreted something like this - "If i get a boldfaced CR in verbal that shows i am doing good in Critical Reasoning but not necessarily in SC and RC"

Yes, in Verbal part I believe that GMAT tests you on three topics - SC,RC and CR individually. So say that Test taker X faces the first question on SC (of 500-700 range) or say he starts off with a SC question of medium difficulty range and answers this correctly, he would get the next SC question of 700-800 range and so on. Then for the first time X answers a CR question that would again start from 500-700 range and if answered correctly will move to 700-800 range.
But say X does not do well in SC thereafter but does extremely well in CR, he would still continue to see those bold faced questions in CR (for the time being assumed as a 700-800 range question). Now this misleads many of the test takers as they think that they are doing well in the verbal part. No! It only means that they are doing well in CR but not necessarily in SC and RC. His answers might still be wrong in SC and RC. Also, atleast for most of the people(including me - especially non native english speakers) out there ,all we know is that a boldfaced CR means 700-800 range question, but can never assess the level of difficulty of SC and RC questions. So people when faced with a boldfaced CR assume that they are doing good and fall into a sort of comfort zone and later will be shocked to see their score . I believe GMAT tests on all three topics and gives a cumulative score finally.

Myth vs Fact 2:"The first ten questions are the most important and are to be given the maximum time to achieve the best score"

I know that there has been a long debate on this and GMAC officially (in their OG's and many other sources) stated that this is a Myth and all the questions carry equal weightage. I just want to reiterate that this is a Myth. Never, I repeat Never think that the first questions if done correctly raise your score bar and ensures you a good score irrespective of the number of mistakes you do at the end. All questions carry the same weight and help you in getting a good score (except the experimental questions that are included in your test which are evenly distributed and are not scored. Again your first questions might be those experimental questions and you CANNOT predict which question is experimental and which one is not experimental.)
But remember that a wrong EASY or MEDIUM range question affects your score more than a wrong HARD level question. So getting those EASY and MEDIUM questions right should be any test takers first priority.[/b]

Completely agree, good post. In my practice math section (official GMAT #1), I got the very first question wrong...but I ended up with a Q48, even though I missed several other questions (some of which I'm sure were experimental). So even though I missed a "medium" question, I likely got the remaining easy and medium questions right, and simply missed a few hard questions. Work efficiently, but NEVER gloss over a question: one word can make all the difference in math or verbal (the reason I missed that first question was I mis-read what number the question asked for).

(I've been finding quite a few of CR wrong answers try to take advantage of people who skimmed over stimulus - one changed word from stimulus to answer choice can be wrong lol)

And for the record...it's a waste of mental energy to figure out if you're doing well or not. Sure it could be encouraging, but then you might feel pressured. or, suppose you recognize you get easy questions, then you might feel "OH FUCK" and again feel pressured. Take each question as its own, and do your best by reading the question carefully and the answer carefully...I'm finding quite a few answer choices can be eliminated just by doing that on Verbal .

Yes, there is one more thing to be noted here. Experimental questions are a mix of low, mid and high level range questions. So never think that a hard question only falls into experimental category.