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Going Crazy - Looking for Advice

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Going Crazy - Looking for Advice

by kramerkt » Fri Mar 11, 2011 10:18 am
Hey All-

I have been studying for about a month now with the Kaplan on demand program. I am learning a lot and get 70% right on all my quizzes. But when I go to take the GMAT, I am hovering below 50% in every area.

I tried to focus this past week on SC, which as been my weakest point. Did really well, 70% plus, on quizzes and the questions in the OG, go to take the test, less than 40% correct. The scores for the four CATs have been 490. 570. 540. 570.

When reviewing my answers and why I missed them, I understand why I missed them. Just having trouble translating that moving foward.

My goal is to get a 650, mainly to prove to myself that my GPA in college doesnt reflect who I am as a potential student.

Anyone have any ideas or advice that worked for them to help translate practice into test? Advice on different study tactics? I use the flashcards from this forum to review. I am thinking about signing up for one-on-one lessons.

My test date is the end of April.

Thanks

Kyle
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by jk2010 » Sat Mar 12, 2011 9:31 am
Try your hand at one of the GMAT practice tests from MBA.com. My experience with the Kaplan CATs is that they are scored very low. In fact, I find the Kaplan tests much harder than the actual GMAT (which I have taken twice) or any of the other GMAT CATs (like Manhattan, 800 score, etc). Also, don't dismiss the Official Guide. Those questions are actual GMAT questions so they are a great tool for practice. Good luck!
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by Dan@VinciaPrep » Wed Mar 16, 2011 3:40 am
Hello,
When it comes to sentence correction there are basically two parts: knowing the grammar and recognizing the rule tested. Every time you do a SC question and get it wrong you should figure out which one of these two parts went wrong. If you didn't know the rule tested then you need to study that area of grammar again (I think the best book for SC in Manhattan GMAT's). If you didn't figure out what was being tested but knew the rule after you checked your answer then it's more of a question of practicing more questions.

Also, I agree that MBA.com's tests are the most accurate. You should take both tests at least twice.

Cheers!
kramerkt wrote:Hey All-

I have been studying for about a month now with the Kaplan on demand program. I am learning a lot and get 70% right on all my quizzes. But when I go to take the GMAT, I am hovering below 50% in every area.

I tried to focus this past week on SC, which as been my weakest point. Did really well, 70% plus, on quizzes and the questions in the OG, go to take the test, less than 40% correct. The scores for the four CATs have been 490. 570. 540. 570.

When reviewing my answers and why I missed them, I understand why I missed them. Just having trouble translating that moving foward.

My goal is to get a 650, mainly to prove to myself that my GPA in college doesnt reflect who I am as a potential student.

Anyone have any ideas or advice that worked for them to help translate practice into test? Advice on different study tactics? I use the flashcards from this forum to review. I am thinking about signing up for one-on-one lessons.

My test date is the end of April.

Thanks

Kyle
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by KapTeacherEli » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:33 am
Hi Kramerkt,

Don't focus too much on percentages on your GMAT score! Remember, the difficulty of your Sentence Correction question will depend on your overall performance--that means if you're doing particularly well on Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension, you might be facing harder SC questions than you were expecting to practice on!

As for specific SC advice, remember to stick to the Kaplan method. Sometimes an error will jump out of the original sentence, but it's not worth reading and re-reading the question hoping to find an error (sometimes there isn't one!). In SC, the answer choices are your most powerful tool--look at what word, phrases, and grammatical constructions differ between the various answer choices, because those changes will identify all of the potential sources of error.

Best of luck with you studying.
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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by KapTeacherEli » Thu Mar 17, 2011 11:36 am
Hi Kramerkt,

Don't focus too much on percentages on your GMAT score! Remember, the difficulty of your Sentence Correction question will depend on your overall performance--that means if you're doing particularly well on Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension, you might be facing harder SC questions than you were expecting to practice on!

As for specific SC advice, remember to stick to the Kaplan method. Sometimes an error will jump out of the original sentence, but it's not worth reading and re-reading the question hoping to find an error (sometimes there isn't one!). In SC, the answer choices are your most powerful tool--look at what word, phrases, and grammatical constructions differ between the various answer choices, because those changes will identify all of the potential sources of error.

Best of luck with you studying.
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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