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The "EASY" Problems are Killing Me!

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The "EASY" Problems are Killing Me!

by Strauss » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:45 am
I have been studying for the GMAT for a while, and I keep scoring within the same range. My problem is with the so called "easier" questions on the test. I know that easy is relative in that what is easy to one person may be hard to another, but I am talking about statistically easy GMAT questions.

When I study for the test I use both the OG and GMAT Prep tests (Official). From what I understand, the questions in the OG are ordered by difficulty. When I practice with the book, I find that the most questions I get wrong are towards the beginning of the book and have long strings of correct answers later in the book. This trend continues through each section I finish (PS, DS, SC, etc.).

This is where my dilemma comes to fruition. As I am sure everyone on this site knows, the GMAT is an adaptive test. If you can't answer the middle range and easier questions correctly, you do not have a chance to answer the "harder" questions which bring up your score dramatically. In other words, no matter how much I study and try to hone my reasoning skills, I keep getting stuck in my "easy question trap."

At this point in my study, I am at a loss as to what I can do to improve my score. I haven't been able to search for an answer to my problem because it may be an atypical issue. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me with my complication.
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by gsbjake » Thu Dec 02, 2010 8:55 pm
Hey Strauss, I agree with you and I actually think that the mid-upper portion of the GMAT is the most important part of the exam cause it's where the majority of people get stuck in terms of questions and scoring. But it's a great sign if you're getting the more difficult questions right. What you have to do is sit down and analyze what portions of these questions you're getting wrong. Is it that you're making silly mistakes, overthinking questions, or just not good in one group of questions. I think you have to figure it out and tackle it head on. Good luck bro.

JL
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by rishi raj » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:44 pm
I think that your problem has more to do with the psychological aspect rather than being good in concepts. As you're already doing well in higher difficulty level questions, the possibility that you aren't good enough in concepts can be, to an extent, ruled out.
Try this experiment to confirm whether the conclusion you've come to-the easy problems are killing you-is actually based on the right premises.


Take around 40 questions arranged in decreasing order of difficulty level . Firstly try the difficult questions and then move on to the easy questions . Basically you've to reverse the order in which you usually attempt the questions i.e instead of moving from higher difficulty level questions ,do vice versa.
Now check your accuracy and see the graph.
if your accuracy level increases or at least remains constant, that will indicate that your fears are unfounded and just because you observed a certain pattern more than one time, you arrived at an invalid conclusion.
If your accuracy level decreases ,then it would substantiate that there's really a problem and you need to pay attention to the psychological aspects such as poor concentration at the beginning, initial anxiety etc.
Let us know your inputs ,if you happen to try this experiment.
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by gointobeready » Fri Dec 03, 2010 12:34 pm
Rishi,

I like your approach to this test. The first time I tried taking it I went about it the wrong way. I took it far too seriously and in the end crashed and burned. Put it down for a year and now finally picking it back up.

For me, this time around, I need to be more adaptable so I can address my problems instead of trying to blow right through them. I just hope it actually works. I plan on starting with 2 hours a day on the week days and 4 hours on the weekend. We'll see how that works out for awhile.

Cheers,
Anosh

rishi raj wrote:I think that your problem has more to do with the psychological aspect rather than being good in concepts. As you're already doing well in higher difficulty level questions, the possibility that you aren't good enough in concepts can be, to an extent, ruled out.
Try this experiment to confirm whether the conclusion you've come to-the easy problems are killing you-is actually based on the right premises.


Take around 40 questions arranged in decreasing order of difficulty level . Firstly try the difficult questions and then move on to the easy questions . Basically you've to reverse the order in which you usually attempt the questions i.e instead of moving from higher difficulty level questions ,do vice versa.
Now check your accuracy and see the graph.
if your accuracy level increases or at least remains constant, that will indicate that your fears are unfounded and just because you observed a certain pattern more than one time, you arrived at an invalid conclusion.
If your accuracy level decreases ,then it would substantiate that there's really a problem and you need to pay attention to the psychological aspects such as poor concentration at the beginning, initial anxiety etc.
Let us know your inputs ,if you happen to try this experiment.
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