GMAT Strategy

i received a PM regarding this thread. i have a couple of responses.

sam2012 wrote:Hi,
I started my preparations in November 2011 till Feb 2012 mid, putting 8 hours daily.

these numbers don't seem to match up. if you spent eight hours a day (!!!!! -- this is an insanely long time) for 3-4 months, then that would correspond to much more than the amount of work you've listed... especially since, as you wrote, you only went over the problems 1 time each.

what did you actually do for eight hours in a day?
this is an important question, because it will provide a window into how you think about this test. this is NOT a test on which you can work and work and work your way to a high score -- because it's primarily a test of how you think, not a test of knowledge. (on the RC and CR sections, in fact, the total amount of memorized knowledge that's necessary is zero.) if you are actually studying for eight hours a day, then you will just get worse and worse at those sections, since you will be destroying your ability to actually think.

OG 12, QR+VR 4edn

the quant and verbal reviews exist only in 1st and 2nd editions, so i assume you meant to write "2nd" rather than "4th".

I solved close to 50 problems on each topic like (50 problems on inequality, 50 problems on speed, rates, etc)

problems from where?

I did not take full length test.
...
I was so tired that i skiped all RC passages.

um ... i think it's pretty clear that this, right here, is your problem.
you skipped ALL the reading passages?
if so, then your score is completely meaningless.

also, why didn't you take any practice tests?

you don't need to take too many practice tests -- 1 or 2 per month is enough -- but, frankly, i find it incredible that you took none of them at all, especially if you were (supposedly) studying for eight hours every day. (again, please see the question above, about what you actually did during those hours.)
there are certain experiences -- most notably, the overall rhythm and timing af the exam -- that you can't replicate outside the environment of a practice test. if you just solve a bunch of individual questions all the time, you will be unprepared for the time-management and stamina aspects of the test (each of which is just as important, if not more so, than the objective content of the exam).

Questions to Experts-
-How often should i review once im done with a particular topic, say if im done with Number property today, should i review them every day till the exam day or once in a week?
-Should i redo all the problems again and again, or just a view is enough?

Thanks In adv
Sam

well...

* if you have actually been studying for eight hours a day, the first thing you should do is close the books and walk away from this test for at least two weeks (preferably at least a month). at this point, if that's the case, your brain will be absolutely fried; you will be swimming in fake "rules" that you've attempted to memorize, and you will have absolutely no capacity left for thinking. in a state like that, you simply won't be able to change the way you think, so studying would be pointless until you give your brain some detox / recuperation time.

* when you say "review", what exactly do you mean? i.e., what constitutes "review" for you?

* when you say "redo the problems", are you talking about solving them in different ways[/i] when you go back and redo them?
if so, that could be a very fruitful endeavor. in fact, this should basically be your NUMBER ONE GOAL when you review math problems -- try to find as many ways as possible to solve the problems. in general, if you've only found 1 way to solve a problem (especially one of the later problems in the book), then you are not "done" with that problem; you should try to find other ways.
on the other hand, if you're talking about going back and using exactly the same process you used the first time you solved the problem, then that's a waste of your time -- and, if done to excess, will ultimately work against you by making your thought processes less flexible.

well, sam, there is at least one piece of good news here, and that's this: you've basically answered most of your own questions. in other words, you've already identified basically all the major problems in your approach. now you have to fix them, at least as far as possible at this point.

sam2012 wrote:i solved close to 3000 problems in quant alone till Jan (but randomly reviewed as i was running short of time), and later on i picked up SC did MGMAT SC, OG, VR, moved to CR, Did MGMAT CR book, CR bible and OG, VR, and during the last week i solved few RC passages and worked on AWA.

i'm genuinely interested in what your thought process was here. specifically, if you were literally solving thousands of problems, weren't you at some point motivated to take a practice test/assessment of some sort, in order to determine whether those practice problems were doing anything for you?

it's really an issue of balance. you don't want to go bonkers in the other direction, either -- in other words, you don't want to be one of those guys who takes twenty practice tests in a month -- but it's interesting that you didn't take even a single practice test to evaluate the effectiveness of all that practice.

All the above exercise were never under timed situation, i used to take my own time (this is one more flaw as i never trained my brain to solve them under time pressure)

well ... now you've got yourself in a fine situation here: you've basically trained yourself -- quite thoroughly, most likely, given the quantity of problems you described -- to work under the assumption of unlimited time.
i think this is perfectly clear already, but just in case it isn't: your first challenge is to un-train the "unlimited time" instinct ... which means that absolutely everything you do from this point onward must involve strict time limitations. at this point, you will probably have to overcompensate a little bit to restore the balance.

also, why didn't you take any practice tests?

I was under an impression that the score algorithm wont be as good as the gmat prep, and i was scared that this score will demotivate my learning, i did not try gmat prep software as most of the question collections i had were all from that software so did not do it either.

well, at least we know what the problem is now.

... and now it's time for the bad news: from what you've written here, it's going to take nothing short of a complete personality transplant for you to succeed at this test.
right now you've got this problem with perfectionism -- that's "problem", as in crippling problem. unless something is absolutely perfect, wonderful, hearts and flowers all day, you've basically decided that you aren't going to do it.
the problem is that this test, the gmat, is specifically designed to kill test takers with perfectionistic attitudes. there is intense time pressure; you can get lots and lots of problems wrong and still end up in the highest percentiles; etc. the only thing you really can't do is hesitate, stare at problems that you don't know how to solve, or generally have an attitude of "i have to get everything right".

in order to succeed at this test, you will have to destroy every last ounce of perfectionism that remains in your mind, and replace it with a sense of trade-offs and priority setting.

that's not necessarily going to be easy, but, now, the good news: that's exactly the same kind of thinking you're going to need if you expect to be a business leader someday.
if you read just about any autobiography of a successful businessperson, one theme is pretty much constant: fail! fail! fail! ... and then maybe succeed after a bunch more failures.

if your attitude is "i'm not going to try anything that isn't perfect, in case it might demotivate me" -- well, guess what: if you have that attitude, then you're already demotivated!
you have to allow things to go wrong -- you have to allow lots and lots and lots of things to go wrong. that's the only place from which any genuine success ever comes: the sum total of lessons from an innumerable number of errors, mistakes, and failures.

Different way! I used to solve each problem the way i learnt in the first place most methoods are from fourm experts.

i don't really understand what this sentence means. however, if it means "i've dedicated a significant part of my study to finding as many ways as possible to solve the problems", then good. if it doesn't mean that, then bad.

for instance, consider problem #227 in the problem solving section of the official guide 12th ed. (i'm not allowed to reproduce official guide problems here.)
until you have worked out ALL of the following methods for this problem --
* traditional algebra solution, solving for x and y in terms of a and b and substituting into the target expression
* plugging in your own specific numbers for a, b, x, y and working out the problem in terms of those specific values, rather than with variables
* taking the given expressions for a and b and substituting them directly into the answer choices, seeing which answer choice reduces to the target expression
-- you can't really say that you are truly "done" with REVIEWING the problem. if you just solve the problem in one way and then declare yourself done with it, that's not a very useful review.

good luck.

hi,

sam2012 wrote:Thanks So much guys..I will be starting my preparation again soon.

Here is the summary of guidelines to follow while preparation.
1- Quality matters not quantity.
2- practice under timed situation.
3- Take couple of tests to see the progress.

this much is encouraging.
however, what's still unclear at this point -- especially given the remainder of what you wrote -- is whether you have a sufficient grasp on what "quality" means on this exam.
have you ever taken a little time to think about what this exam actually is -- about how it works on an essential level? if not, then you should do so, it seems that certain core facts about the exam, such as the fact that you'll never see exact replicas of previous questions, are still eluding you.

Need clarity
1-Most of the questions i solved on 1st try, went wrong and i found them all unique, so if i solve these questions in more than 2 ways will this fix the issue?

it will help to fix the issue, but you won't be able to fix the issue unless you learn to generalize the methods that you use. for instance, if you solve a problem by using algebra, and then go back and solve it by plugging in your own numbers for the unknowns, that practice won't become truly useful until you figure out the general aspects of those techniques that can actually be used on future problems.
e.g., if you substitute values for unknowns, how will you recognize future problems on which that is possible? if you use a particular algebraic formula or a certain type of organizational chart, what are the clues that suggest the use of that particular formula/chart? etc.

if you just solve individual problems and then move on to other individual problems, you will not make any meaningful progress.

2-Also should i keep redoing problems which are done or just rereading the solution is enough

3- For me review constitutes rereading the steps which i have written under each problem, do you mean review is to redo problem in different ways?

from what i've written above, you should know what the answer to this question is.
this is an exam on which no two questions are the same -- in other words, an exam that always tests the same basic concepts, but always mixes those concepts together and tests them in ways that, superficially, are new every time.

imagine that you're a chess player and your opponents use different strategies every time they play you. if that's the case, will it be enough simply to revisit previous games and go over the same strategy that you already used? or will you have to come up with new ways to counter your opponents' tactics.
same here.