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Word Problem Trap

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Word Problem Trap

by minnich49 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:57 pm
Hi Everyone,
I am currently using the MGMAT method of analyzing my problems and I have definitely discovered the following.

My biggest weakness is word problems. I have quite a bit of test anxiety and this causes me to rush through the word problems where usually one of two things happens.
1. I write down something incorrect and I get an answer that is in the multiple choice, but wrong.
2. I write down something that is incorrect and I get an answer that is not even in the choices!
Each of these have their problems but the 2nd really takes a lot of time for me and throws off my timing because then I have to go back and solve it again.

I would love to hear any tips or suggestions!
Good luck to everyone's studies.
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by brianlange77 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:03 pm
minnich49 wrote:Hi Everyone,
I am currently using the MGMAT method of analyzing my problems and I have definitely discovered the following.

My biggest weakness is word problems. I have quite a bit of test anxiety and this causes me to rush through the word problems where usually one of two things happens.
1. I write down something incorrect and I get an answer that is in the multiple choice, but wrong.
2. I write down something that is incorrect and I get an answer that is not even in the choices!
Each of these have their problems but the 2nd really takes a lot of time for me and throws off my timing because then I have to go back and solve it again.

I would love to hear any tips or suggestions!
Good luck to everyone's studies.
Good to hear from you -- and good to recognize you've got some things you need to focus on. I'd suggest you start here -- https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... into-Math/

Then, head here -- https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

The biggest thing is that I think you need to allow yourself to slow down a bit and let the problems sink in. Tell yourself that you are going to 'take notes' at a speed that is 25% of your current speed. Real specific and measured. Does this help?

Try these things out and let me know what you think.

-Brian
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by Tommy Wallach » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:10 pm
Hey Minnich,

One other thing to keep in mind. The great Ron Purewal has a great saying about the GMAT, "If at first you don't succeed, don't try again."

I noticed your saying that if you got a question wrong, you had to go back and figure out what you did wrong...no you don't! If you take one run at it, and you're 1:15 or 1:30 into that question, it's time to make an educated guess and move on. If you take a second run at it, there's still a very good chance you'll get it wrong (or else you would've gotten it the first time), and you'll also be way over time. Instead, let that one go, and make sure you get the next one right!

Hope that helps!

-t
Tommy Wallach, Company Expert
ManhattanGMAT

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by brianlange77 » Tue Jan 22, 2013 8:28 pm
Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey Minnich,

One other thing to keep in mind. The great Ron Purewal has a great saying about the GMAT, "If at first you don't succeed, don't try again."

I noticed your saying that if you got a question wrong, you had to go back and figure out what you did wrong...no you don't! If you take one run at it, and you're 1:15 or 1:30 into that question, it's time to make an educated guess and move on. If you take a second run at it, there's still a very good chance you'll get it wrong (or else you would've gotten it the first time), and you'll also be way over time. Instead, let that one go, and make sure you get the next one right!

Hope that helps!

-t
Tommy's spot on here -- he's brought up a great point that's been talked about at many other points in the forums. You need to think of each section of the GMAT as a long war, with somewhere between 37 and 41 battles :-). Sometimes, to win the war, we all know that we might need to lose some battles along the way. In fact, there may be battles we 'decide' to lose, knowing full-well that if we spent more time/resources, we might just win it. But, the cost of winning that one battle is not worth the impact it has on our chances of winning the war.

For more thoughts here -- take a look at a few articles our team has authored around educated guessing on quant and verbal.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... s-on-quant

https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/e ... verbal.cfm

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have more thoughts/questions.

-Brian
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Merci, Danke, Grazie, Gracias -- Whichever way you say it, if you found my post helpful, please click on the 'thank' icon in the top right corner of this post.

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