How to proceed ahead!!?

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How to proceed ahead!!?

by Spiritus » Thu Dec 26, 2013 6:01 am
Hi,
I started off with my prep on july-August. After had to take a break due to certain family reasons.
Anyhow I resumed my prepration on 1 dec(3-months gap) by giving a Power prep-1 in which I score Q37-V28.
After the test I started revising old topics, them again I took the following tests-
(Repeat)Power Prep 1 Q48 V30 -23 Dec (a lot of repeat question )
Power Prep 2-Q36 V24 -25 DEC
After getting such a low score I am totally confused how to proceed.
Maximum I have to take my GMAT paper in Feb last week, so as to apply in the may deadline.
Considring my shortage of time how should I continue my prep??
Regards,
Spiritus

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by Mike@Magoosh » Thu Dec 26, 2013 9:06 am
Spiritus wrote:Hi,
I started off with my prep on july-August. After had to take a break due to certain family reasons.
Anyhow I resumed my prepration on 1 dec(3-months gap) by giving a Power prep-1 in which I score Q37-V28.
After the test I started revising old topics, them again I took the following tests-
(Repeat)Power Prep 1 Q48 V30 -23 Dec (a lot of repeat question )
Power Prep 2-Q36 V24 -25 DEC
After getting such a low score I am totally confused how to proceed.
Maximum I have to take my GMAT paper in Feb last week, so as to apply in the may deadline.
Considring my shortage of time how should I continue my prep??
Regards,
Spiritus
Dear Spiritus
I'm happy to help. :-)

Here's a GMAT Idiom ebook you may find helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-idiom-ebook/
Here's a post on CR with links to other posts with CR strategy:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/save-time- ... questions/
Here's a post on SC with links to other posts with SC content:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-grammar/

I realize you have fewer than three months, but here's a three-month study plan absolutely designed for someone in your position---- struggling with Verbal:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/3-month-gm ... l-focused/
Because you are not beginning from scratch, you could shave some time off that schedule and accommodate it to your time constraints.

I hope all this helps. Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Mike :-)
Magoosh GMAT Instructor
https://gmat.magoosh.com/

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by arun@crackverbal » Fri Dec 27, 2013 4:29 am
Hi,

I think you have posted WHAT the problem is but you would need to give more details of WHY you have that problem. There has to be a few more details so we can delve in to help you better :)

Here are some points that come to my mind when I read your post:

1) Remember Getting a Good GMAT score >> Applying this year. In the ideal world you would get the score you hope to get (<- how much is that?) by the deadline for the schools you are planning to apply to (<- which are they?). But if you have a choice take a good GMAT score - you can always apply later. So instead of panicking about the Feb deadline (which btw I think is ample time to prep) try to focus on what you can do to improve your scores.

2) If you are consistent in the mid-20s in Verbal then just stop practicing for a day and instead pick a clean sheet of paper and write the following:

a) My top 3 Problems in SC are.......
b) My top 3 Problems in CR are.......
c) My top 3 Problems in RC are.......
d) My strategy on the test is........
e) While solving a question I tend to do ....... (mistake)
f) I analyze the answers this way......


If you honestly answer these questions (you can even post it on the this thread) then we can help you. But I bet you will have a better clarity of what you need to do :)

3) GMAT is a thinker's test and not a doer's test. So I would suggest you take a hard look at the way you approach solving the questions (both in Verbal and in Quant). I have blogged a lot about GMAT mental strategies here: https://www.crackverbal.com/category/gmat/ You can revisit the tests you took and ask yourself "What was going on in my head when I solved this question" or "Could I have guessed this one" or "Could I have solved this faster" or "Is there a better approach to this question". You can even revisit your scratch-pad/paper to see what you did while solving the question. This can give you some insights that help.

I will wait for you to do the analysis so we can help you with the next-steps :)

Arun
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by Spiritus » Fri Dec 27, 2013 11:54 pm
arun@crackverbal wrote:Hi,

I think you have posted WHAT the problem is but you would need to give more details of WHY you have that problem. There has to be a few more details so we can delve in to help you better :)

Here are some points that come to my mind when I read your post:

1) Remember Getting a Good GMAT score >> Applying this year. In the ideal world you would get the score you hope to get (<- how much is that?) by the deadline for the schools you are planning to apply to (<- which are they?). But if you have a choice take a good GMAT score - you can always apply later. So instead of panicking about the Feb deadline (which btw I think is ample time to prep) try to focus on what you can do to improve your scores.

2) If you are consistent in the mid-20s in Verbal then just stop practicing for a day and instead pick a clean sheet of paper and write the following:

a) My top 3 Problems in SC are.......
b) My top 3 Problems in CR are.......
c) My top 3 Problems in RC are.......
d) My strategy on the test is........
e) While solving a question I tend to do ....... (mistake)
f) I analyze the answers this way......


If you honestly answer these questions (you can even post it on the this thread) then we can help you. But I bet you will have a better clarity of what you need to do :)

3) GMAT is a thinker's test and not a doer's test. So I would suggest you take a hard look at the way you approach solving the questions (both in Verbal and in Quant). I have blogged a lot about GMAT mental strategies here: https://www.crackverbal.com/category/gmat/ You can revisit the tests you took and ask yourself "What was going on in my head when I solved this question" or "Could I have guessed this one" or "Could I have solved this faster" or "Is there a better approach to this question". You can even revisit your scratch-pad/paper to see what you did while solving the question. This can give you some insights that help.

I will wait for you to do the analysis so we can help you with the next-steps :)

Arun
1) Following colleges + courses I plan to apply-
Mannheim (Masters in management)-- deadline --March 15 - may 31 (no toefel)
RSM (Msc. Strategic Management) -- deadline --May 15 (require toefel/ielts)
WHU (MIM) -- deadline --May 5th, 2014 (require toefl/ielts)
I have not given any toefl/ielts test for which i am keeping March & April
GMAT score target-670+

2)a)SC-1)generally take 2 min+ 2)modifiers is a weak area
b) CR-1) Again take more time to solve the questions
c) RC-RC is the main problem in my verbal section. I generally take too much time in this section.
Problems-1) In long passages I am not able to grasp the required detail. Sometimes in pressure I tend to go blank after reading long complicated paragraphs.
Btw I try to follow Manhattan's strategy for reading comprehensions.
d) I don't have any fixed strategy. But many times when I take too much time in one question and then move too quickly in the next few questions to make my time.
e) While solving questions tend to make many silly erors despite knowing the correct answers. Sometimes I also rely on guesses incase of less time
Thanks!!

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Dec 28, 2013 6:40 am
Please allow me to jump in with two brief pieces of advice . .
Spiritus wrote: d) I don't have any fixed strategy. But many times when I take too much time in one question and then move too quickly in the next few questions to make my time.
Keep in mind that the GMAT is a test of your math and verbal skills AND it's a test of your test-taking skills (time management, endurance, proper mindset, etc). I see a lot of students neglect this important aspect of there preparation.

Regarding time management: I suggest that you use a Milestone Chart to keep you on track. This is covered in our free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Spiritus wrote: e) While solving questions tend to make many silly errors despite knowing the correct answers. Sometimes I also rely on guesses inc ase of less time
If silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes during your prep so that, during tests, you can easily spot situations in which you're prone to making errors. I write about this and other strategies in the following article for BTG: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2012/09/ ... n-the-gmat

Cheers,
Brent
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by arun@crackverbal » Wed Jan 01, 2014 5:42 am
Thanks! My response inline:
Spiritus wrote: 1) Following colleges + courses I plan to apply-
Mannheim (Masters in management)-- deadline --March 15 - may 31 (no toefel)
RSM (Msc. Strategic Management) -- deadline --May 15 (require toefel/ielts)
WHU (MIM) -- deadline --May 5th, 2014 (require toefl/ielts)
I have not given any toefl/ielts test for which i am keeping March & April
GMAT score target-670+
Cool! For these schools actually a mid-600s should be doable. A split of Q46 V31 should give you a 670. Not too hard. Your goal now is to:

Step 1: Reach Q44 V30

Step 2: Reach Q46 V31

Take it one step at a time.
Spiritus wrote: 2)a)SC-1)generally take 2 min+ 2)modifiers is a weak area
b) CR-1) Again take more time to solve the questions
c) RC-RC is the main problem in my verbal section. I generally take too much time in this section.
Problems-1) In long passages I am not able to grasp the required detail. Sometimes in pressure I tend to go blank after reading long complicated paragraphs.
Btw I try to follow Manhattan's strategy for reading comprehensions.
Again - the focus is on WHAT i.e. you take more time. But why do you take more time :) Esp for RC you should not at all spend time trying to "grasp the required detail". If you are not able to understand - just gloss over it. You will ALWAYS come back to the passage when you solve the question. This is the biggest mistake people make on the RC i.e. try to read the passage as they would read in normal life. I never read RC passages the way I read my Sunday morning newspaper. You will have to just skim through. This is an art you will pick up through practice.

For SC why are you taking more time? If you use the vertical scan then you should be able to solve the question in under 90seconds. In fact with SC - you either solve it under time or you don't. Maybe you need to get better at managing the overall timing: https://www.crackverbal.com/time-management-on-the-gmat/

Here are some general suggestion posted by my colleague Gowri: https://www.beatthegmat.com/stuck-at-28- ... 72946.html

Spiritus wrote: d) I don't have any fixed strategy. But many times when I take too much time in one question and then move too quickly in the next few questions to make my time.
e) While solving questions tend to make many silly erors despite knowing the correct answers. Sometimes I also rely on guesses incase of less time
Thanks!!
So if you look at it there are a few reasons you make mistakes:

1) You didn't know the concept tested or were not able to identify the concept tested. This should be easy for you since you need to just go ahead and make an educated guess.

2) You understood the underlying concept but misunderstood it so picked the wrong answer/took more time identifying the right answer. This is the one that usually takes more time. identify such rogue questions which can suck up your time. It follows the pareto principle i.e. 20% of the questions will take 89% of the extra time. With practice you need to get better at identifying such questions.

3) You understood everything but did not consider a corner case (not really a silly mistake but looks like one). In such cases you just have to see what you missed out and remember to consider it the next time you encounter a similar situation.

That's about it. Keep practicing and you will see your scores go up!

Happy new year 2014 :)

Arun
Founder of CrackVerbal - India's fastest growing GMAT Prepration and MBA Admissions Consulting Company. https://gmat.crackverbal.com

Free Ebook on GMAT | GMAT Scoring, Study plan, top study mistakes etc
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