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700 to 800

by Gnial » Sun Dec 07, 2014 2:51 am
Hello everyone (long time reader, first time poster),

A while ago I took my first GMATPrep practice exam. I scored a 700 (1 IR wrong, 11 Verbal wrong, 13 quant wrong).

I compared every question that I had difficulty with to the question breakdowns on this site. This site is freakin awesome for its explanations, but I felt like I was swimming in an endless stream of principles and knowledge without any sort of base reference point for where it all fits.

I am NOT looking for advice on study habits or exam writing techniques - I am looking for advice about where to learn the substantive material.

Since writing the exam I have read a bunch of guides and notes online, and I have purchased the Official GMAT Guide and Kaplan 800. I have felt disappointed and without a clear curriculum. Khan Academy also reviews easier questions, but doesn't help build a knowledge framework. I am worried that even if I study these materials thoroughly, I will not learn all of the fundamentals that could be used to answer questions most effectively.

I am looking for some guidance for the best way to learn all of the fundamentals, particularly related to the Quantitative and Sentence Correction sections. Is there some extremely detailed and fully comprehensive guide or outline to the material? I am looking for a core resource that, if known in its entirety, could enable an exam writer to score an 800. If such a resource doesn't exist, then is there at least a list of all the subjects and principles that might be tested on the exam? The more specific the better.

For reference, my problem areas were as follows:
Verbal: I had difficulty with 11 questions, 8 of which were sentence correction.
Quantitative: My errors were very widespread. My main problem areas, if I had to pick, would be:
Arithmetic:
-Exponents
-Fractions
-Ratios
-Decimals
-Percents
-Integers
-Divisibility
-Multiples
-Inequalities
-Remainders
Algebra
-Functions
-Factors
-Exponents
Geometry
-Triangles
-Lines
-Coordinate
Word Problems
-Logic
-Distance
-Rate

My background: I am a business lawyer that studied thoroughly for the LSAT and scored very well on it. I have found that studying for the LSAT and practicing law has left me very strong at (1) GMAT exam pacing, (2) reading comprehension and (3) critical reasoning. However, law has done nothing to help me in the quantitative sections and has been completely detrimental with respect to sentence correction (ironically). I have an undergrad in economics and was good at math in high school, but after 5-10 years that knowledge has faded. I am aiming for top 10 MBA programs.
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by MartyMurray » Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:05 am
Gnial wrote:I am worried that even if I study these materials thoroughly, I will not learn all of the fundamentals that could be used to answer questions most effectively.
My take is that maybe you are being over reliant on an outside resource.

I have largely achieved your goal, I have scored 780 and expect to soon score 800, and what I did was accumulate for myself a sense of what it is I need to know and made sure I learned it.

By taking an official practice CAT, and a couple of other CATs, I quickly got a fairly clear picture of what the test is like and what material and skills I need. To this I added the OG, as you have, along with a few other resources, and I was pretty well on my way.

So my best resource is my own assessment and this has worked out well.

From what I can see, you too are well on your way in this regard.
Gnial wrote:I am looking for some guidance for the best way to learn all of the fundamentals, particularly related to the Quantitative and Sentence Correction sections.
So I had a list, in my head, and constantly being updated and rearranged, and I just attacked it, especially questions that make me feel queasy. The more I hate a kind of question, the more of that type I do. Recently I realized that I am all shook up when I see a sequence question. So that is my latest project.

It sounds as if you have the beginnings of a list.

One resource you could use to expand that list are the PowerPrep exams that are on an older software made by GMAC. You can find and download them and have two more official CATs to use, so that along with GMAT Prep, you will have four official CATs, the taking of which will give you a great sense of what to learn.
Gnial wrote:
Is there some extremely detailed and fully comprehensive guide or outline to the material? I am looking for a core resource that, if known in its entirety, could enable an exam writer to score an 800. If such a resource doesn't exist, then is there at least a list of all the subjects and principles that might be tested on the exam? The more specific the better.
I have not seen such a resource. At the same time that does not mean there is not such a resource. I wasn't looking for one.

Having said that, here are three that I used, among others, to pretty well fill in my body of knowledge. My studying was quant heavy. So SC, an area where you want to work is not well covered here, though it is covered.

The BellCurves quant question bank - This question bank is pretty complete and extensive, thousands of questions, and is broken down into many categories. Those categories are pretty much the quant list you are looking for. One issue is that there are errors in some of the questions and explanations. At the same time, having read your list of quant stuff to work on, I can say that the BellCurves question bank will address much of it rather well. For instance they have hundreds of algebra and arithmetic questions that will be just right for you. Their geometry questions are some of the best I have seen and they just have way cool questions all around. Just be careful of their errors. If you get one wrong, it might not be you. I don't recommend their verbal question bank, except possibly as a great reference for building your own list of what to know about.

The Veritas Question Bank and Practice Tests - If you can do all the questions in the question bank and if you can rock a Veritas practice test, you should do well on this test. Combined with the OG, and the BellCurves quant, you will be pretty smoking good. Also Veritas has a great, GREAT, set of IR questions. This set is separate from the question bank and practice tests. I found that doing that set of IR questions even helped me with the other quant.

Another resource that looks tempting to me is the Question Packs from GMAC. The GMATPrep software is a good start, and now you can buy Question Packs, which from what I have read sound pretty good.

Anyway, those resources, plus BeatTheGMAT and GMAT Club are most of what I used to achieve your goal, although I have to admit that my process could have been more efficient and could have addressed sentence correction more.

For sentence correction specifically, here are three things that can help you.

A message from GMAC:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/idioms-and-s ... 92022.html

A video from Veritas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2uz7DmQpbA

A group of exercises that while it is focused on one topic somehow made all of sentence correction much clearer for me.

https://owlet.letu.edu/grammarlinks/modi ... ier2d.html

Also, find Spidey's sentence correction list, Sahil's sentence correction list and similar lists and you can get a good sense of what you need to know.

Would one of the sentence correction bibles help you? or one of the quant ones? Maybe. Maybe the Magoosh question bank, just one example, is better than any I have mentioned.

Still, at least I hope from what I have said you can move forward in achieving what you have set out to achieve.

For a little more on my process and things I have learned you could check out this post.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/780-debrief- ... 80962.html
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:55 am
Gnial wrote: I am looking for some guidance for the best way to learn all of the fundamentals, particularly related to the Quantitative and Sentence Correction sections.
I suggest a systematic (even methodical) approach, in which you take the time to master each topic/concept (e.g., percents, ratios, comparison questions in sentence correction, etc).

So, for each topic/concept, you should:
1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
2) Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it
Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

To help you focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

While completing questions from the Official Guide (OG), you should you use an Error Log (aka Improvement Chart). You can find a free downloadable Improvement Chart here: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log. This will help you identify and strengthen your weak areas.

You should also spend a lot of time reviewing the responses from the Experts on this site. They model the steps one should take when tackling math problems.
Gnial wrote: Is there some extremely detailed and fully comprehensive guide or outline to the material? I am looking for a core resource that, if known in its entirety, could enable an exam writer to score an 800.
You might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide). Over 40,000 Beat The GMAT students have already done so.
Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

Here's an outline of all 60 emails: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide-outline

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by Gnial » Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:29 am
Thanks guys, these answers are extremely helpful - I will take both of your advice!
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by [email protected] » Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:29 pm
Hi Gnial,

I'd like to know a bit more about your practice CAT; the extra information should help me to provide you with the pointed advice that you are looking for. I'd also like to know a bit more about your plans/goals:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on this CAT?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay)?
3) When you reviewed this CAT, how many times did you get a question wrong because of a silly/little mistake? How many times did you narrow a Verbal question down to 2 choices, then "guess" (but still get the question wrong)?

4) What Business Schools are you planning to apply to? And when?
5) Why do you want an 800?
6) If you scored 790, would you test again?

With your admission that you got so many SCs wrong, that is clearly an area for you to work on. To get more of those questions correct, you'll need a mix of grammar/idiom knowledge and pattern-recognition (using the answers to your advantage, knowing the patterns that the GMAT writers typically use, etc.). Some of this work will be pure academia, but the rest will be repetitions and building up your memory.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Contact Rich at [email protected]
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by manyaabroadtpr » Thu Dec 11, 2014 7:39 pm
Gnial wrote:Hello everyone (long time reader, first time poster),

A while ago I took my first GMATPrep practice exam. I scored a 700 (1 IR wrong, 11 Verbal wrong, 13 quant wrong).

I compared every question that I had difficulty with to the question breakdowns on this site. This site is freakin awesome for its explanations, but I felt like I was swimming in an endless stream of principles and knowledge without any sort of base reference point for where it all fits.

I am NOT looking for advice on study habits or exam writing techniques - I am looking for advice about where to learn the substantive material.

Since writing the exam I have read a bunch of guides and notes online, and I have purchased the Official GMAT Guide and Kaplan 800. I have felt disappointed and without a clear curriculum. Khan Academy also reviews easier questions, but doesn't help build a knowledge framework. I am worried that even if I study these materials thoroughly, I will not learn all of the fundamentals that could be used to answer questions most effectively.

I am looking for some guidance for the best way to learn all of the fundamentals, particularly related to the Quantitative and Sentence Correction sections. Is there some extremely detailed and fully comprehensive guide or outline to the material? I am looking for a core resource that, if known in its entirety, could enable an exam writer to score an 800. If such a resource doesn't exist, then is there at least a list of all the subjects and principles that might be tested on the exam? The more specific the better.

For reference, my problem areas were as follows:
Verbal: I had difficulty with 11 questions, 8 of which were sentence correction.
Quantitative: My errors were very widespread. My main problem areas, if I had to pick, would be:
Arithmetic:
-Exponents
-Fractions
-Ratios
-Decimals
-Percents
-Integers
-Divisibility
-Multiples
-Inequalities
-Remainders
Algebra
-Functions
-Factors
-Exponents
Geometry
-Triangles
-Lines
-Coordinate
Word Problems
-Logic
-Distance
-Rate

My background: I am a business lawyer that studied thoroughly for the LSAT and scored very well on it. I have found that studying for the LSAT and practicing law has left me very strong at (1) GMAT exam pacing, (2) reading comprehension and (3) critical reasoning. However, law has done nothing to help me in the quantitative sections and has been completely detrimental with respect to sentence correction (ironically). I have an undergrad in economics and was good at math in high school, but after 5-10 years that knowledge has faded. I am aiming for top 10 MBA programs.
Hi Gnial,

I think you would have to approach the GMAT preparation without a pre-conceived mind. Often when we do practice material on our own we never get to know how to prioritize the different rules and strategies since all the tips seem important. I sincerely think you need to take some instructor's help by joining a test prep coaching center . Meanwhile you could improve your grip on grammar with special reference to verbs, participles conjunctions, modifiers , nouns and pronouns. Work on spotting errors in these fields. The best part is that if a few rules in grammar are understood, Sentence correction becomes the easiest to tackle on the test.

Let us know if you would have any other specific question about GMAT preparation and we would be happy to guide.
www.manyagroup.com
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