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Strategy for 4 weeks before test

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Strategy for 4 weeks before test

by drgmatIL » Wed Sep 03, 2008 4:16 am
Hi guys,
I plan to take my second GMAT on 24th of September.
the first one was trouble, I got 450 (q48\V10) while my GmatPrep's were between 580-640.
now I focus most of my time on Verbal sessions (75% of time) working 1.5 hours on each topic (CR\RC\SC).

RC
I changed the method to skim the passage, so far I have 75-85% correct questions. the total time is between 15-25 minutes for the all passage + questions. is it OK? do I need to change something (in my method) in order to answer the question in the same correct rate but in less time?

SC
I made FlashCards which were very helpful but my correct rate is 70%. how do I Improve it? I spend a lot of my time to review my errors and also review what were the errors in other questions.

CR
this was my big problem and I review again all types of questions. my correct rate is 80%. how I improve it?

it's funny to write but I afraid to take another GMATprep becuase I afraid that my grade will not change and I will feel like someone who worked and practice for a few weeks without any change.

thanks a lot!
D
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by RevRockSteady » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:23 am
Let me know if you find any good strategies for the next 4 weeks...

I am shooting to take the exam at the end of this month, so 3-4 weeks, but I work long hours during the weekdays... With my Quant, I keep making careless mistakes, but I know the material...

I am scoring around 600, but need to score a 700 on the exam. 100 in 4 weeks is going to be near impossible from what people say, but I am still going to try to get passed all these ridiculous "I should have paid attention" quant mistakes and see where it puts me.

Let me know what you come up with in your strategy!

How many hours a day are you studying? And how many times have you gone through the OG?

So far, I have only gone through OG math sections 2 times - broken up into different sets of questions. OG verbal I have only gone through once, so now I plan to get through it at least one more time while repeating the math more and more. Do you have any good tips on the Quant section? In all my life, math was my strong point, but being so out of practice, I keep making careless errors and shake my head in frustration when I review my answers.

I don't know if other people would agree, but I think it is easier to raise SC accuracy in a short period of time. The flash cards really help with that. Go through them each day, and do sets of 30-45 questions from the OG each day. I do each set of specific questions types, then switch.
Have you used the Kaplan CD? It has verbal quizzes on it that you can reset and redo as many times as you want.

There are a few posts on this site about increasing reading speed. How do you feel about the time it takes you in your sections? Are you rushing through at the end?

From what you said about your % correct in practice, but then also noting a V:10 in your practice score, something isn't translating from casual practice to testing.

What test prep are you using?

Don't be discouraged that you have been studying for weeks without any change. That just means that you need to tweak HOW you are studying so your mind can adjust with the material. Same as working out at the gym and varying workouts so your muscles continue to respond...
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by Stacey Koprince » Fri Sep 05, 2008 9:30 am
FYI - don't focus on percentage correct out of a static book (such as OG) - that's not how the test functions and the scoring is only loosely based on percentage correct. On an adaptive test, most people get about 50-60% of the questions right regardless of scoring level.

Look at the data from adaptive tests that you do (GMATPrep is the best in terms of being most like the real thing, but it does not give you any analysis, so I recommend using a test prep company's test for this exercise). How much time are you spending, on average, per question? Within each question type? At the beginning of the section vs the middle vs the end? What are the difficulty levels of the questions? (Again, by type and location - are the levels rising, staying the same, or dropping as you move further into the test? Be concerned if levels are dropping - you're running out of time, energy, or both.)

Here's a link to a question I answered re: what to do for the final 2 weeks:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/last-14-days ... t5680.html

Before the T-2 weeks timeframe, you should basically be learning and reviewing whatever it is you're still struggling with - what you've been doing all along during your prep (and, obviously, that's different for each person).
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nadontheway

by nadontheway » Fri Sep 05, 2008 1:29 pm
Hi Stacey,

I am taking the test soon as well. could you check the link below. We had an interesting discussion on how a Cat works. I will be happy to have your view.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/verbal-corre ... 89-15.html


thanks a lot!
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by Montreal06 » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:24 am
I have about 4 weeks to go (D day = October 4th!).

I've done PR and the green and purple quant and verbal books. Started OG this week as I wanted the information as fresh as possible in my mind when I'm this close to D day.

I completed the diagnostic test in the beginning of the book (something I didn't do while studying for my first GMAT back in May)...and surprisingly, my DS was pretty good, but their PS had some tricky questions (far trickier than the first half of the PS section!!).

Stacey (and others) - a few questions for you. :)

1.)Do you think completing the OG over the course of the next 2.5 weeks (I am devoting a lot of time to analysis after each 1 hour session of 40 questions) is a good idea?

2.) Currently, it's pretty hard for me to break the 640 threshold - very frustrating. My hit rate on practice questions is usually over 90%. But when it comes to the practice tests.....careless bloopers - i get jitters during the first 10 minutes and then things go downhill.

It's very frustrating when I take the practice test on the weekend and score in the same 630/640 range while my practice during the week has a really good hit rate. Any suggestions to remedy the early few minutes jitters?

3.) I'd like the last week to be more of a review of my errors, weaknesses and strengths. I'd also like to skim through the Kaplan 800. But should I consider this if I'm still swimming around in the 600s?

Thanks in advance! ;)
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Sep 11, 2008 6:27 am
The OG has 800 questions. That seems like a lot for 2.5 weeks. Are you doing nothing but GMAT, all day long?

Limit study sessions to 2 hours max. If you want to study more than 2 hours in one day, take a break of at least 2 hours before you start studying again. DO NOT study 8 or 10 hours straight - you will not retain this material adequately.

It's a good idea absolutely to review OG, but don't do the whole thing! Concentrate on those questions that are in your "range" - so if you're scoring 650-700, start with problem maybe 50-75 in each section and ignore the lower ones. If you're scoring 550-600, don't do the last 50-75 problems in each section. That sort of thing.

It sounds like you're in the low 600s right now but want to be in the high 600s (since you want to break 640), so I'd say don't do the first 50 questions or the last 50 questions in each section. Concentrate on the ones in between.

What you describe (doing better on individual practice questions than on tests) is not uncommon. Think about these things:
- overall time management: you need to be able to manage across the entire section. A lot of people break things down into groups of, say, 10 questions and they make sure to manage their time well for each 10. Also DO NOT let yourself go way over time on problems - that's what happens on a test when people get nervous (they can't "let go") and then everything goes downhill from there.
- stamina: you have to make sure you can maintain that performance over a 4 hour period; easier said than done. Make sure you are practicing with the essays on the tests, make sure you have things to eat and drink on the breaks, get up and walk around, etc.
- nerves: these can be a huge problem on the test. Take a look at this article to see if there's anything in there that can help you. https://www.beatthegmat.com/stress-management-t4167.html
- careless mistakes: go back and review the kinds of careless mistakes you tend to make. Keep a log in which you write down the error you made, WHY you made it, and what habit(s) you can implement that will cut down on the chances of making that particular careless mistake again in the future. Simply being aware of a tendency to make a certain kind of careless mistake will, by itself, cut down on the chances you make that mistake again!

Also, try doing some VERY easy practice problems about half an hour before you start a practice test. Do 3-4 quant, 3-4 verbal, whatever question type is your favorite, EXTREMELY easy (think 1-25 from OG), and DO NOT look at the answers. This is the equivalent of running around the track to warm up before a game - you don't try anything crazy and hurt yourself right before the big game, nor do you psych yourself out by doing something wrong right before the big game (so if you get a problem wrong, you don't want to know it - which is why you don't look at the answers).

In terms of what to do for your last week, most people don't learn much new stuff at that point - this isn't the sort of test for which you can cram last minute. The last week should be to review your overall strategies for the different question types and content areas, including techniques to recognize and answer the questions, make educated guesses, etc, as well as your overall pacing plan, and anything you need to do to reduce stress both before and during the test.
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by Montreal06 » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:08 am
Hi Stacey,

Thanks SO much for this. It's extremely helpful advice!

I work full-time but have been squeezing in 2 - 2.5 hours every morning. Per my OG schedule, 40 questions a day (with two such sessions on the Saturdays) should let me complete the full OG by the 28th, which gives me a week till D-day.

However, I will definitely take your advice and skip the first 40-50 in each section as they are usually very breezy for me, and I could much more effectively spend this time on the mid-upper tier questions.

Regarding time management, I have exactly the problem you described (that I also read on mayonnai5e's blog) -- not being able to "let go" of a question! I haven't been doing the essays during the last 2 practice tests. I'll be sure to do these too going forward.

My 2 hour study sessions have been 1 hour of 40 questions of a certain type. Then 1 hour of analysis and notes.

Any other tips I should consider during these last 3.5 weeks that would be most effective to push me into the late 600s?

Also, should I not attempt to shoot for a 700 within the timeframe I have left? They say reach for the stars and you'll almost get there, so I've been telling myself to shoot for 700 and hoping I get there or get very close. Realistically, what do you recommend?

Thanks again Stacey. This is really helping me!!

Best,
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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:24 am
Certainly shoot for it! I didn't mean not to try to do your absolute best. I just meant that the last week is usually best spent reviewing and solidifying your "current state" to make sure you can perform effectively on test day.

Re: not being able to let go, here are some things to try:

- remind yourself that there's about a 25% chance that this question doesn't count towards your score
- remind yourself that the longer you spend, the less likely you are to get it right
- remind yourself that if you spend 3 min on one problem, that leaves you only 1 min for some other problem (in order to maintain that 2 min average) - so you're really hurting yourself on 2 problems (at least), not just one, when you go too far over on time
- remind yourself that you only need to get about 60% of the questions right
- remind yourself that it doesn't actually hurt you to get questions wrong that are too hard for you; what hurts you is getting questions wrong that are at or below the level at which you want to score.

Learn about how long one minute is without looking at a watch or stopwatch. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a stopwatch with lap timing capability. When you go to do a set of problems, start the stopwatch but turn it over so you can't see the time. Every time you think one minute has gone by, push the lap button. When you're done, see how good you were - and whether you tend to over or underestimate. Get yourself to the point where you're within 15 seconds either way on a regular basis (that is, you can generally predict between 45 sec and 1min 15 sec).

Then, when doing problems, if you're not on track by one minute, make an educated guess and move on. (The general idea is that if you're not on track by the halfway mark, you're unlikely to figure out what's holding you back AND have time to do the whole problem in the 1 min you have left.)

Remember that, no matter how good you get, you will still have to guess on something like 5 to 7 questions in the math section.  You don't want to be forced into making those guesses in a row at the end of the section, so choose the 5-7 hardest questions AS YOU SEE THEM throughout the section.  Remind yourself that you CANNOT get to the point where you can answer everything given to you in 2 min - that's just not how the test works.  You have to let those go. Instead, learn how to make effective educated guesses, in particular on those types of problems for which you tend to get sucked in.

("educated guess" just means - identify some wrong answers and cross them off, so you improve your odds of guessing right when you make a random guess from among the remaining answer choices.)
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by Montreal06 » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:41 am
Re: not being able to let go, here are some things to try:

- remind yourself that there's about a 25% chance that this question doesn't count towards your score
- remind yourself that the longer you spend, the less likely you are to get it right
- remind yourself that if you spend 3 min on one problem, that leaves you only 1 min for some other problem (in order to maintain that 2 min average) - so you're really hurting yourself on 2 problems (at least), not just one, when you go too far over on time
- remind yourself that you only need to get about 60% of the questions right
- remind yourself that it doesn't actually hurt you to get questions wrong that are too hard for you; what hurts you is getting questions wrong that are at or below the level at which you want to score.


Thanks very much! This is seriously invaluable. As I was reading these points, particularly #2, #4 and #5...I'm realizing the majority of the reasons for being pigeon-holed into the 630-650 range!

Thanks again. I'll be sure to report back for the benefit of anyone else who may be experiencing the same problems! :)

Best,
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