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Target - Q51/V43

by bits.pankaj » Thu Oct 29, 2015 5:00 am
All,

I am Indian male engineer with about 4 years of work experience and planning to take the exam in Dec end. I have been studying for GMAT for about a month now (joined BTG around the same time and must say this place is full of motivation and has helped a lot in formulating strategy for the prep! :)).

Till now, I have managed to go through the first iteration of concepts and problem solving in quant, given that I need to focus more on verbal I plan to give 2/3rd of my time the next month to verbal and keep on coming back to quant whenever I need to change things up a bit.

I have taken 3 prep tests so far and managed to get 47-49 in quant. Verbal is more fluctuating and I need to stabilize it to a 40+ before working towards getting it higher. I think given the background I can make the kill in quant by targeting a 51; what I am not able to figure out yet is if I need to change my approach to getting that score. Additional material (if required) and practice questions to refer to, evaluating the pacing strategy to be able to quickly solve the easier questions and take a little bit more time to work on the harder ones? Can anybody help me out here?

Thanks much!
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:52 am
- Make sure you're up to speed on the principles tested in Sentence Correction. Here's our free SC lesson: https://www.veritasprep.com/gmat/free-gmat-lesson/

- Do all the SC questions in the Official Guide and make sure you understand them thoroughly. Post any questions you have here.

- Read voraciously everyday for two weeks. (Anything challenging will do.) There's research suggesting that the physiology of our brains changes when we read more: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/ar ... in/282952/

- Consider incorporating some mindfulness meditation. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archi ... on/275564/
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Thu Oct 29, 2015 7:57 am
Regarding time management: I suggest that you use the following Milestone Charts to keep you on track:
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These times are easily remembered so you can quickly jot them on your noteboard on test day.

This (and more) is covered in our free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Also, early in one's studies, it's a good idea to use a stopwatch to help get an idea of what 2 minutes feels like. This tip and others can be found in these articles on "making friends with time on the GMAT"
https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/mak ... %93-part-i
https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/mak ... 93-part-ii

Regarding getting your Quant score to 51: I also suggest that you spend a lot of time reviewing the responses from the Experts on this site, since they often model the steps you should be taking when answering questions.

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 29, 2015 11:38 am
Hi bits.pankaj,

Since you're still fairly early-on in your studies, you shouldn't be concerned about your pacing just yet - at this point, learning the proper Tactics and working on your accuracy is more important.

1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) Have you taken the FULL CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?

3) What resources have you been using?

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by bits.pankaj » Fri Oct 30, 2015 1:08 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi bits.pankaj,

Since you're still fairly early-on in your studies, you shouldn't be concerned about your pacing just yet - at this point, learning the proper Tactics and working on your accuracy is more important.

1) How have you scored on each of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores)?
2) Have you taken the FULL CAT each time (including the Essay and IR sections)?

3) What resources have you been using?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Thanks Rich!

1. My score on the 3 CATs that I have taken - 700 (Q49/V36), 670(Q47/V35) and 650 (Q48/V32) - first one is official GMAT test and other two are MGMATs.
2. I have done IR in two out of 3 tests, haven't taken AWA - I will be including all sections in the next 4-5 CATs that I write till GMAT date!:)
3.For preparation, I am using all 3 OG guides and Manhattan's SC Strategy Guide. Any recommendation for firming up the CR section? I feel I lack the concept understanding to tackle the problem efficiently, have gotten better in SC using Manhattan SC!

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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:33 am
Hi bits.pankaj,

Since you've skipped the Essay section on each of these CATs, you've taken a shorter (and arguably easier) Exam. As such, these scores are likely a bit 'inflated.' To properly train for what you'll face on Test Day, you have to be sure to take the FULL CAT each time and try to make it 'match up' with what you'll face on Test Day (take it away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

From what you've described, it sounds like you've been working through lots of practice problems and trying to learn the logic/concepts/Tactics from the prompts (and their explanations). That's not necessarily the best way to learn how to properly deal with CR and RC, so you'll likely need to invest in some new resources to help you deal with those subjects. Considering how well you've scored so far, you're clearly a strong thinker, so there are a variety of resources that could teach you what you need to know. Since you've taken a 'book-heavy' study approach so far (and scored well), you might be able to stick with that approach; however, many Test Takers who study in that way tend to get 'stuck' at a particular scoring level, so using a non-book resource might be advisable.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by bits.pankaj » Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:34 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi bits.pankaj,

Since you've skipped the Essay section on each of these CATs, you've taken a shorter (and arguably easier) Exam. As such, these scores are likely a bit 'inflated.' To properly train for what you'll face on Test Day, you have to be sure to take the FULL CAT each time and try to make it 'match up' with what you'll face on Test Day (take it away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

From what you've described, it sounds like you've been working through lots of practice problems and trying to learn the logic/concepts/Tactics from the prompts (and their explanations). That's not necessarily the best way to learn how to properly deal with CR and RC, so you'll likely need to invest in some new resources to help you deal with those subjects. Considering how well you've scored so far, you're clearly a strong thinker, so there are a variety of resources that could teach you what you need to know. Since you've taken a 'book-heavy' study approach so far (and scored well), you might be able to stick with that approach; however, many Test Takers who study in that way tend to get 'stuck' at a particular scoring level, so using a non-book resource might be advisable.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Thanks again Rich for your candid feedback about the strategy. Does EMPOWER GMAT provide section based lessons? Would love to give it a try.

Although my approach hasn't been completely book based! Crack Verbal (https://gmatonline.crackverbal.com/) has this amazing series of video based SC lesson which has helped me drastically in understanding the fundamentals - approaching the problem, elimination the wrong answer choices. It has improved my efficiency drastically and has helped in arriving at the right answer in a considerably less time (my accuracy has increased from 50% to about 85%). They are offering a free trial verson of the whole lesson till Sunday! I would recommend folks to give it a try.
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by bits.pankaj » Fri Oct 30, 2015 6:52 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi bits.pankaj,

Since you've skipped the Essay section on each of these CATs, you've taken a shorter (and arguably easier) Exam. As such, these scores are likely a bit 'inflated.' To properly train for what you'll face on Test Day, you have to be sure to take the FULL CAT each time and try to make it 'match up' with what you'll face on Test Day (take it away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

From what you've described, it sounds like you've been working through lots of practice problems and trying to learn the logic/concepts/Tactics from the prompts (and their explanations). That's not necessarily the best way to learn how to properly deal with CR and RC, so you'll likely need to invest in some new resources to help you deal with those subjects. Considering how well you've scored so far, you're clearly a strong thinker, so there are a variety of resources that could teach you what you need to know. Since you've taken a 'book-heavy' study approach so far (and scored well), you might be able to stick with that approach; however, many Test Takers who study in that way tend to get 'stuck' at a particular scoring level, so using a non-book resource might be advisable.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Thanks Rich for the candid feedback. Does EmpowerGMAT provide section based lessons? Would love to give it a try!

Although my approach is not completely book based, especially in Verbal section where I am looking at going through some good online material - need to shortlist though for the sections! For SC currently I am referring to Crack Verbal SC lesson, a video-based series of lectures which has worked really well for me. My efficiency and accuracy in SC has gone up (from 55% to 80% correct) and the time taken has reduced drastically, I am able to get most of the questions in under 1min15sec. They are in fact offering the SC lesson trial free of cost till Sunday, anybody interested (and I would highly recommend it to folks facing challenges in SC) should definitely try that out!

Thanks
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by [email protected] » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:28 pm
Hi bits.pankaj,

Yes, we do provide specific section-based lessons and Study Plans.

Before investing in any new resources though, it would make sense to see how you handle a FULL CAT (with the Essay and IR sections). That score result will go a long way to determining what adjustments still need to be made to your study plans. You should plan to take that next FULL CAT sometimes in the next week or so, then report back here with your scores.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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