Practice CAT #4 - Ready to Break Something

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maus: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 44; Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:29 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 2 times

by maus » Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:51 pm

Hi All,

Hope you're having a wonderful Saturday - mine started out not so great. I just took my Practice CAT #4 (23Q/35V) and scored a very low score on my quant. As the title says, I'm ready to break something!

Surprisingly, scored a 35V (77%, up from 69%)! Silver lining! (Is a 8% increase a lot?)

I'm TOTALLY prepared now to attack this Quant section - I'm not the best at math, but I CANNOT be scoring a 12th percentile. NO FREAKING WAY.

Sorry if this is the wrong forum - please let me know if I should post in the Quant section (it looked like most people were asking about specific problems). I'm here now to see if any of you have a suggestion for aggressive Quant study strategies or even a study guide of sorts. I know the general suggestions of analyzing your tests and picking problem types or concepts to review, but once I've figured those out, is it best to just do as many practice problems as possible in those areas? I review my tests and try to analyze and understand the explanations during my practice, but it seems that I can't make that connection during the test. For example, I will recognize a type but forget what to do what the parts...does anyone know of some good study guides that attack quant in particular or that I can modify? I just have always been told just do a TON of practice problems, but given that I cant seem to translate that over to my score during the tests...wondering if I'm doing something wrong..

I am taking the test on June 18th and I really am feeling queasy on this Quant section. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes for the next two months.

Suppose i'll coontinue doing small verbal sets in all the types, but my main focus is to be in Quant.

:twisted: Bring it, Quant. :twisted:

Maus
<:3)))~~

Source: Beat The GMAT — GMAT Strategy | Sat Apr 09, 2011 12:51 pm

therealtomrose: MBA Student; Posts: 91; Joined: Wed Apr 06, 2011 5:54 pmFollowed by: 26 members; Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts; Thanked: 46 times; GMAT Score:760

by therealtomrose » Wed Apr 13, 2011 6:27 am

Maus,

Haha, don't panic. You have plenty of time, and it sounds like you have some good options for changing your studying mechanics going forward as well.

I don't know why people always recommend doing tons of practice problems. I have over 1000 hours teaching the GMAT, and I have only seen that strategy work for people who already know the techniques and simply need execution practice.

Here are some important things for you to do:

(1) Slow down. Review your problems deeply and act like a detective. Whey did I get this wrong? What could I have done differently? Did I identify the problem correctly? If I saw this problem again, would I get it right?

(2) Make sure you are using a single comprehensive methodology for studying content. I am partial to ManhattanGMAT (but I work there.) What ever you use, it's important to stick with a single brand. The methods don't mix and match well.

(3) I encourage you to divide all quant problems into three stages: (A) categorizing the problem type, (B) picking an appropriate strategy, and (C) executing that strategy.

(4) Figure out which stage is causing you trouble, and then drill that stage only until you feel comfortable with it.

It sounds like you are having trouble with stages A and B. I suggest that you try drilling stage A. Go until you are able to categorize problems efficiently. That is, don't do the problem, just read it and try to figure out what category it fits into. When you are killing stage A, then drill on stage B. Do you have a strategy and back-up strategy for every type of problem? You should. Try writing down your personal methodology. Only after you master stages A and B does it make sense to really start drilling lots of problems for execution.

(When done correctly, this should only take a couple of days. Maybe a week?)

Ask me again when you get to stage C and I'll give you some great tips on how to get better quickly there as well.

-Tom Rose
www.TheMBAShow.com

Full Disclosure: I work for ManhattanGMAT

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-Tom Rose

MIT Sloan MBA, Class of 2011
The MBA Show: https://www.TheMBAShow.com

Full disclosure, I work for
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