GMAT Strategy

skins81 wrote:so far I have gone through all the MGMAT guides (8) and almost done with OG 11. I have SC and DS problems left in that. I am planning to take 3 more practice tests. My goal is to finish SC, DS, and review problems I got wrong for the other sections in OG 11. The last GMAT prep test I took a month ago I got a 550 (M35/V31).

Is there anything else I should do to be ready for the test in 3 weeks? Do you think I am sufficiently prepared for the test? My weak areas are SC and Math word problems. Experts weigh in also please. Thanks.

well, honestly, there's not much information here from which i can really make a judgment. in particular, i have absolutely no idea what your goal score (or goal range) is, so it's really impossible to say whether you are ready to take the test. for instance, if your goal score is 700 or higher, than your current score of 550 seems to indicate that you are not quite ready to take the exam yet; on the other hand, if your goal score is 600 or lower, then you may very well be ready.

also, you haven't really given any indication of your strengths and weaknesses, so it's hard to say whether your study plan is appropriate. you've given a breakdown of your score into quantitative and verbal components, but you haven't indicated whether those components are good, bad, or average performances for you.

--

still, even though there's not much here in the way of specific information, i do want to emphasize one thing: quality is much more important than quantity.
i'm a little bit worried that you have only indicated that you are going to "review problems that [you] got wrong"; this makes it sound like you are just going to check why you got the problem wrong, and then move on.
a thorough review will go much, much deeper than this. if you review the problems thoroughly, you will wind up looking at problems that you got right in addition to problems that you got wrong -- and you will look for TAKEAWAYS from those problems. in particular, it really doesn't matter why you've missed problems, from a perspective of hindsight; the ONLY thing that matters is lessons that may be useful on future problems.
see a post i wrote about takeaways here:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/need-tips-fr ... tml#107595

on sentence correction in particular, you need to review every problem -- even the ones you got correct.
this is super important, because, unlike most other problem types, the process by which you solve sentence correction problems is almost completely divorced from the process by which you review them.
specifically, the process of solving sentence correction problems is almost entirely elimination of wrong answers, but the process of reviewing sentence correction problems should concentrate on the structures in the correct answer.
i've had plenty of students who can solve sentence correction problems in the OG -- mostly by eliminating choices that are incorrect -- but are completely unable to explain the structures in the correct answer. if this happens, that's a very incomplete review.

the short version: make sure that you review enough (you should spend, roughly, 3 times as much time reviewing as you spend doing the problems).

Received a PM asking me to respond.

Agree with Ron that there is not a lot of info here that we can use to advise you. For future reference, please give us as much information as you can about your work to date, your strengths and weaknesses, HOW you are working, etc.

Your current scoring range is in the mid-500s. Most people would not achieve a 100 to 150 point score increase in 3 weeks. If you really want to hit your goal, then you should consider postponing your test. If you really want to take the test in 3 weeks, then you should consider lowering your goal score.

What do you suggest I study before my test in 3 weeks?

I suggest that you study the areas that are weak for you, whether based on content, technique or timing. You haven't given much information about your weak areas - it's far too general to say that your weakness is SC, for example. Are you weak with content, timing, technique? All of the above? Probably not literally EVERYthing - so which things are giving you trouble in terms of content, timing, technique or some combination? (For example, someone might say: I tend to get pronoun questions wrong, though I don't take extra time on those. I tend to take extra time when the entire sentence is underlined or when there are big chunks of words moving around or changing. That person would then need to study content - grammar rules - for pronouns and timing and technique for modifier questions - because sentences in which big chunks of words are moving around or changing are typically testing modifiers.)

If you have taken an MGMAT practice CAT, you can use this article to analyze your results and gather a lot of data. If you would like more specific advice from us, then post your analysis here. (Note: don't just post all of the data from the reports; use the article to do an analysis and post that analysis. Then you will know how to diagnose your own strengths and weaknesses in much greater detail - that's an important skill.)

https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

Also, this article might be helpful for you; it discusses what Ron was talking about in terms of reviewing your work:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09 ... ce-problem

Here are a few articles on SC, CR, and DS (which you mentioned as weaknesses):
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... on-problem
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... -reasoning
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... -questions

skins81 wrote:Hi Ron, thanks a lot for your reply! I will take your advice and review every problem. My last test I got 540 on GMATPrep (41Q/26V). I am trying to get a 700 or at least a a 650 on my first attempt which is in 3 weeks. My wain weakness is verbal SC and CR and also Math DS.

After I finish and review all the answers in the OG (have SC and DS left), should I go through all the problems again in OG 11? What do you suggest I study before my test in 3 weeks? Thanks for your help.

two things:

1) if you want to try to get a 700, and your current best score is 550 with a 26 in verbal, then you definitely shouldn't take the test in three weeks -- you are probably going to have to pick up at least 10-12 verbal points to get to that level (and that's even with the assumption that your quantitative score is also going to go up).
i suppose that anything is possible, but i don't think i've ever seen anybody pick up that many verbal points in that short a period of time.

if you are going to go ahead and take the test anyway, you should not take the test with the expectation of scoring near 700; if you do, then you will probably get a score that will be a huge blow to your ego and confidence. instead, if you're going to take the test, you should go in and take it as a sort of "dress rehearsal" or "warmup" -- i.e., you are probably going to score closer to your gmatprep score than to 700, but you should view this first administration as a chance to gain valuable experience on the exam.
again, it's not impossible that you might reach your goal score, but i don't think i have ever seen that large again in a verbal score in 3 weeks.

2) you've listed a LOT of material -- frankly, too much material for three weeks. if you are listing that much material, that it's almost certain that you are just going through and doing lots of problems, with a review process that is limited to just seeing why you got problems wrong.
go back and check out my advice above regarding takeaways, and also check out stacey's advice. you should spend about three times as long REVIEWING the problems as you spend DOING the problems; if you follow this guideline, you'll probably need more than three weeks to do all the work that you have cited above.

thoughts?

good luck.

skins81 wrote:Hi Ron and Stacy. Thanks for the great advice! Really appreciate it.

I will use this first test in 3 weeks as a dress rehearsal. Assuming I review all the answers carefully, I wanted to see if the materials I have is enough to do well on the exam. The books I have are:

1) all 8 MGMAT guides.
2) OG 11

Should I purchase any other books such as the Quant and Verbal Official Guides?

this seems like enough material, if you only have three more weeks in which to prepare. in fact, you probably don't want to purchase any more books, at least until you take this first administration of the exam -- if you do, then you will be too tempted to spread yourself too thin. i.e., the more books you buy, the more tempted you will be to assume that "quantity = quality", and the less likely you will be to review the problems thoroughly enough as illustrated in the posts above. remember, you should spend 3-4 times as long reviewing the problems as you spend doing them!

again, it all depends on what you mean by "doing well on the exam". as both stacey and i have stated above, it's not realistic to define "doing well" in terms of a 700 score, so this prompts the following question: how are you going to define "doing well" on your first administration of the exam? given that we are regarding this administration as a stepping stone to future administrations, with what score would you actually be happy? 600? 620? 640? etc.

skins81, agree with what Ron said.

suryapal, I think I just answered a PM from you. Go take a look at that.

For others reading this, if you want advice from the experts, here's the process:
1. Start a post in the strategy forum. Describe your current situation in as much detail as you can - what you have, what you've done, what your scores have been, what your strengths and weaknesses are, etc. Don't forget to include your goal score and your target official test date.
2. Send a PM to any experts you like and include the link to your post in the PM.

For #1, you can use this article to help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses; this is the kind of data we need to have in order to help you.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests