GMAT Strategy

Hi Community,

I started my prep 2 months ago with

GMAT CAT 1
Q38, V26

MGMAT1
Q39, V26 || 540

MGMAT2
Q43, V 27 || 580

MGMAT3
Q48, V 37 || 700

MGMAT4
Q44, V38

So I am quite happy, with my improvements on the Verbal part. They seem to become quite consistent - and the score itsself is good enough (for me).

However, my Quant score fluctuates a bit too much - 43, 48, 44 - comparing 43 and 44 is too low overall and again at the same level as on the second cat ( I don't emphasize the first one too much). Getting consistently above 45

My main problems are:
- I have a huuuge pacing problem. Time ran out on the last question. Within 30sec or so I tried to eliminate at least some answer choices (was a roman question), but I couldn't click on one solution because no time was left
- For some reasons (probably connected to the first one) I work very sloppy.

Less of a problem in my opinion:
- Question that I guessed because I knew I can't how to solve them were in the 700-800 Range. Furthermore, even if I have an idea how it might work, I sometimes think, solving the problem will take too much time (which I don't have) so guess.

It is a bit frustrating and I don't know what to do?

Hi there,

So a few thoughts:

1) You've only been taking MGAT CATs lately, and while they make some great challenging questions, they scores they churn out aren't going to be quite as on-par with your actual GMAT score as the GMAT Prep's. I'd suggest taking the GMATPrep 2 next so you can get a more realistic idea of where you're at.

2) Pacing matters a LOT. Here's how you rock it: pacing drills and benchmarks.

At least every day you should carve a few minutes to do some pacing drills. How long are you taking on average to read and notate an RC passage? How long does CR take you? SC? It might be worth it to re-eval your strategies and making sure they're getting you to the correct answer in the fastest, most decisive way. You really should vary up the pacing drills in terms of content and length. For example, try 10 easy CR in 20 minutes. If that's no prob, try 10 harder questions. Or 5 tough DS in 10 min. Since Quant's an issue, you can even create a mini Quant section of mixed-difficulty and see how it goes.

The idea is to know exactly what types of questions, both format (DS, PS, SC, etc.) and concept (inequalities, word problems, assumption, inference, etc.), that bog you down.

For benchmarks, these are the ones I'd recommend you use. Have them in front of you for EVERY practice CAT. Check it a LOT. In the beginning, it's better to be way too anal about it than ignore them. If you're 1-2 questions ahead or behind, no need to worry. If you're suddenly 3+ questions behind, it's time to do the "guess/attempt/guess/attempt" strategy until you catch back up. Never let yourself fall behind, or as you saw, you'll never get caught up since the questions only get harder.

3) Identify your 5 Weakest Quant Concepts. What if you ONLY studied 5 Quant concepts in the next 2 weeks? If you narrow down the scope of your focus to only your weakest areas (and nothing else!) you can seriously improve. Are you keeping an Error Log for these CATs? Document exactly what you're missing and you can systematically address it.

Good luck!

I agree with much of what the others have said - but I humbly disagree with the emphasis on keeping a close track on the clock.

You are not suffering from "huge pacing problems" just because you had to guess at the last question. I had to guess at the last question on a test where I got a 770.

I agree with Rich that your biggest problem is likely that you "work very sloppy"

This is a much bigger problem then having to guess at 1, 2, or even 5 or more questions.

Your job on this exam is to get the questions right that you can get right. Before you turn your attention to pacing, you need to make sure that you can eliminate those "silly mistakes" that are no doubt killing your score.

ANYTHING that takes your attention away from the question in front of you is a problem - and that includes the timer. You can get a 48 on the Quant section even if you are only able to get to 30 questions and have to guess at the last 7.

Your problem is most likely those silly mistakes and if you are thinking to yourself "I need to go faster" you will just keeping making more of those errors. And by the way, how does thinking "I need to go faster" help you to go faster? Have you been intentionally going slowly?

Pacing drills are one thing and I definitely advocate those. You need to know what 1 minute feels like and what two minutes feels like. It should be a sort of internal clock that tells you that it is time to guess and move on.

Please read the following quote from a student who earn a verified 800 on the exam. This was not one of my students (I am not even sure he took a course at all) but this is the zone that any test-taker should try to reach:

"It was at this point that I realized I hadn't looked at the timer throughout the entire verbal section. Thinking back, I only glanced at the timer two or three times during the quantitative section. I realized that over the course of the test, I had become a kind of question-answering zombie--I had no awareness of anything besides the present question. I didn't even recall the question immediately prior to the current one. As the exam had worn on, I came to be entirely focused on the current prompt, what it was really asking, and which answer choices were viable and which were nonsense. I took my time and ended my exam with about 3-4 minutes remaining.

To those expecting scores of 700+, I would say do not pay too much attention to the clock. You have the ability to identify the correct answer, you just need to do it without second-guessing yourself or getting distracted. It might seem counter-intuitive, but I really believe my time management was better because I wasn't paying attention to the time. Don't calculate how much time per question you have remaining. Don't determine whether you are ahead or behind schedule. Focus instead on identifying what the question is asking and which answer choices are decoys or traps. It's important to avoid diverting your attention from the question at hand and losing your train of thought (on the current question) and your momentum (on the test section)."

Confirmed 800 perfect score from "nonyankee" debrief posted on GMAT Club website. https://gmatclub.com/forum/long-debrief- ... 35-40.html


Others have different opinions, but in my opinion this is the state you are trying to reach!