GMAT - Last Moment Study Tips

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GMAT - Last Moment Study Tips

by Arunima01 » Tue Sep 27, 2016 1:58 am
Hello everyone,

I have been preparing for GMAT since August,2016. So far I have covered the following study materials:
a. Official Guide 2016 (~800 questions)
b. The Princeton Review drills and books (~300 questions)
c. MGMAT Question Bank (~200 questions)
d. GMAT Prep Question Bank (90 questions)
e. Pocket Prep GMAT question bank [iPhone App] (~500 questions)

My accuracy rate is:
a. Problem Solving (80%)
b. Data Sufficiency (80-90%)
c. Sentence Correction (50-60%)
d. Critical Reasoning (70-75%)
e. Reading Comprehension (70-80%)

Results of the practice tests are:
a. TPR Test 2: 580 [taken in April]
b. TPR Test 3: 650 [July]
c. GMAT Prep Test 1: 680 [August]
d. MGMAT Test 1: 680 [August]
e. GMAT Prep Test 2: 690 [September]

I feel that even after putting a lot of effort in the practice questions, I am not getting better at the practice tests. I do not have an issue with the speed, as I am able to do all the questions within the dedicated time. Can you please suggest me ways to improvise on Sentence Correction. I have flash cards for Idioms and read a lot about GMAT Tips for Verbal, in my free time.
Since I am working full time, I am able to dedicate only 2-3 hours per day, on week days and 4-5 hours on weekends. Please give me some last moment tips as my exam is scheduled in three weeks.

Thanks,
A

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by ceilidh.erickson » Thu Dec 21, 2017 9:44 am
Whenever students tell me "I've been studying for months but I haven't seen any improvement!" usually the missing factor turns out to be that they haven't been REVIEWING deeply. Reviewing well isn't about just tabulating your accuracy. It's about deeply analyzing each problem, right or wrong.

To do well on verbal, you need to do the following:
- read strategy guides from some major prep company. You need to know your SC grammar rules backwards & forwards, and get expert insight into CR & RC process.
- practice OG problems, accurately timed.
- keep an Error Log to review your mistakes: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -studying/

Here's how to thoughtfully review each question type:

For SC, you want to ask yourself:
- was I thinking about the MEANING of the sentence?
- did I identify the overall structure of SUBJECT + VERB?
- did I identify markers of particular grammar issues: parallelism, comparisons, modifiers, etc?
- did I get distracted by meaningless differences in the answer choices, or did I focus on ones that spoke to clear rule violations?

For CR & RC, ask yourself:
- did I identify the question type?
- did I identify the LOGICAL GAP in the argument (for CR assumption, strengthen, weaken, and evaluate questions) before looking at answer choices?
- did I thoughtfully predict an answer before looking at the answer choices?
- can I identify why each wrong answer is wrong?

Start recording & tracking the kinds of mistakes you make, and you'll start to see improvement.
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education