GMAT Strategy

lunarpower wrote:

sachindia wrote:Keeping an error log helps a lot

well, sure, that kind of thing can be valuable -- as long as you actually do something with it.

i.e.

* just realizing/recording what kind of mistakes you made --> not useful

* realizing/recording what kind of mistakes you made, and then changing the way you do things so that you don't make the same mistakes again --> useful.

in one sense this point is really obvious -- but a lot of people ignore it, especially when it comes to "silly" or "routine" mistakes.
for instance, let's say someone does some step of arithmetic/algebra incorrectly. the problem is, most people just say "oh darn, I did xxxxxx wrong, I feel so dumb" and then just move on to the next thing.
that's not going to accomplish anything. what's going to accomplish improvement is taking the next step -- changing whatever techniques/behaviors/etc. actually caused the problem in the first place!
-- if the person made the mistake during "mental math", then the plan could be "ok, no more mental math -- i need to write down all the steps when i do stuff like that."
-- if the person made the mistake because of a lack of organization, then the plan could be "ok, from now on i'm going to organize my work like _____."
etc.
the point is, you won't derive any value just from identifying errors; you have to react to those errors, by actually changing the ways in which you do stuff.

lunarpower wrote:

sachindia wrote:As I continue to be intrigued by the different types of silly mistakes I am committing, I realize that most of them happen on those that we think we are confident of but are actually over-confident. Trick to avoid the silly mistakes ,I believe, is giving the same amount of importance to simple deductions such as addition and subtractions as much as for deductions that involve exponents.

there's a reason why the math on this test doesn't go beyond first-year algebra and geometry ... and this is it.

lunarpower wrote:

sachindia wrote:Thanks Ron.... If it get it correctly, thin line between confidence and over-confidence is tested on this test?

that's not entirely what i meant, though it's a valid observation -- there are a lot of "trap answers" there, waiting for people who don't exercise due diligence. the connection is, of course, that overconfidence often leads to skimping on due diligence.

what i actually meant, though, is this:

the main point of the GMAT math component is *not* to be a math test. in fact, the math itself is entirely incidental -- they only chose math because (a) it's a logical system, in the formal sort of way that, say, CR isn't, and (b) it's something that everyone taking the GMAT may reasonably be assumed to have seen.

in other words, the point of the math section isn't to test math; it's only there because everyone has had math. (this is the reason why the test stops at first-year algebra and geometry. beyond that point, you're going to start encounting concepts that candidates might legitimately never have seen before, thus lending an unfair advantage to candidates with more advanced math knowledge.) if everyone in 1st grade through high school studied, say, chess instead of math, then the GMAT would almost certainly have a chess component rather than a math component.

the real point of the math section -- especially the DS problems -- is to test everything else, besides the math:
* organization
* mental flexibility
* due diligence
* watching your assumptions
* reading the material carefully
* testing relevant cases
* relating different concepts to each other
* understanding the goal of the problem
etc.
you'll notice that these things are especially true for DS. when a high-scoring test taker gets a DS problem wrong, it's almost never because of any mistake that has anything to do with mathematics. instead, he/she will get the problem wrong as a result of not paying attention to the details in the problem, or not understanding exactly what "sufficient" and "insufficient" mean for that particular problem, or not organizing the work adequately, or not showing steps, or making careless assumptions, or ... you get the picture.

lunarpower wrote: the main point of the GMAT math component is *not* to be a math test. in fact, the math itself is entirely incidental -- they only chose math because (a) it's a logical system, in the formal sort of way that, say, CR isn't, and (b) it's something that everyone taking the GMAT may reasonably be assumed to have seen.

in other words, the point of the math section isn't to test math; it's only there because everyone has had math. (this is the reason why the test stops at first-year algebra and geometry. beyond that point, you're going to start encounting concepts that candidates might legitimately never have seen before, thus lending an unfair advantage to candidates with more advanced math knowledge.) if everyone in 1st grade through high school studied, say, chess instead of math, then the GMAT would almost certainly have a chess component rather than a math component.

the real point of the math section -- especially the DS problems -- is to test everything else, besides the math:
* organization
* mental flexibility
* due diligence
* watching your assumptions
* reading the material carefully
* testing relevant cases
* relating different concepts to each other
* understanding the goal of the problem
etc.
you'll notice that these things are especially true for DS. when a high-scoring test taker gets a DS problem wrong, it's almost never because of any mistake that has anything to do with mathematics. instead, he/she will get the problem wrong as a result of not paying attention to the details in the problem, or not understanding exactly what "sufficient" and "insufficient" mean for that particular problem, or not organizing the work adequately, or not showing steps, or making careless assumptions, or ... you get the picture.

sachindia wrote:If it get it correctly, thin line between confidence and over-confidence is tested on this test?

lunarpower wrote:
yep -- those things are all integral components of what's being tested here. if you understand that, then that's one big step on the path to doing better (not just on the exam, but in lots of other areas in life in general).