Need Advice from 570-700+ (Using OG and MGMAT SC)

[vineetbatra]

Hello All,

I started preparing for GMAT 2 months ago, and it has been only 3 weeks that I have been serious.

I took a Test Prep 2 weeks ago and scored 570 (Q24, V36). It was a pleasant surprise (not the overall score but my score in Verbal), I am horrible in SC, out of 41 Q's I had one CR wrong and 1 RC wrong with some 9-10 SC wrong.

After this test I finished some 150 OG 11 Q's under timed condition with a success rate of 90% and average time under 1.40 Minutes. I know they are all extremly easy (except after 110)

In the meantime I bought MGMAT SC Guide 4th Edition and OG12 (MGMAT refers OG 12 only)

I took another MGMAT test this weekend. I scored 590 (Q43, V29). This kind of represents my true abilities. MY Quant result was strange (high) because I had 17 wrong questions, and all questions in 700-800 range were incorrect. In Verbal I had 22 incorrect.

My weak areas in Quant are Arithmetic i.e. dividing and myltiplying faster, Inequalities, Geometry. SC is my biggest weak area in Verbal and that is why I bought MGMAT SC guide.

To improve inequalities I saw a post where another prospective test taker is suggesting to read
https://questionbank.4gmat.com/mba_prep_ ... 0605.shtml

My questions are as follows
1. How to increase calculation speed i.e. multiplication and division.
2. Inequalities, specially Mods is a disaster
3. P&C - what level of depth do I need, many people in the forum have advised to go easy with P&C
4. In SC I usually loose focus, so anyone with any advice on SC will be great

Lastly I wrote 2 Essays, would appreciate if anyone could rate these Essays.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/my-first-ana ... 40091.html

https://www.beatthegmat.com/my-first-ess ... 40090.html

Thanks in anticipation.

Cheers,

Vineet

[Osirus@VeritasPrep]

1. Do more math, there is no magic bullet

2. Consider buying MGMAT Equations, Inequalities and VICs

3. Not sure what P & C is

4. If you're having a focus issue, no one can really tell you what will make you focus better. I would try doing the SC after maybe 2 or 3 hours of intense study. This way it is guaranteed that you will be mentally somewhat tired, and it forces you to be conscious of this fact and really battle yourself in order to keep focus. It might help on test day.

[vineetbatra]

Thanks for the reply. P&C is Permutation and Combination.

Well with SC let me rephrase the problem, its less to do with focus but more to do with not being able to identify the problem. I find SC so convoluted, I just get lost in it and forget where to start from.

Please review my Essays if you can.

Thanks,

Vineet

[myohmy]

1. How to increase calculation speed i.e. multiplication and division.

You need to know your multiplication tables up to at least 13 cold. It's one of those things you don't pay much attention to after middle school, but when taking a test without a calculator, will serve you well. As has been said, it's really a "do more math" kind of thing -- no real shortcut, but do remember the tips and tricks (dividing by a decimal, move the decimal place over so that you can use whole numbers), which should improve your time.

2. Inequalities, specially Mods is a disaster

Learn all the inequality rules is the only advice I have. I didn't remember any and made some flashcards with some of the rules about what I could add/subtract, multiplication within inequalities, etc. It might be worth buying a basic math book like your 8th grade math textbook and just rereading it.

3. P&C - what level of depth do I need, many people in the forum have advised to go easy with P&C

I spent a lot of time studying P&C with my tutor before the GMAT, since I just did not understand it at all. However, I only saw one P&C question on the actual GMAT (as my tutor advised me I probably would). I found MGMAT tends to go a little heavier on the P&C, especially when you get up to the 700-800 level questions, than GMATPrep or the actual GMAT did. Learn how to solve them, but your time would be better spent on group problems, which seem to be becoming more popular, than focusing hard on P&C.

4. In SC I usually loose focus, so anyone with any advice on SC will be great.

Again, the only tip I have here is to know what the GMAT is usually looking for -- a lot of the time, it will be a modifier error, or verb or tense agreement, etc. There are certain grammatical errors they reuse regularly, and knowing and being on the lookout for those can save you some time on SC. As for losing focus -- you just have to keep practicing.

Good luck!

[vineetbatra]

1. How to increase calculation speed i.e. multiplication and division.

You need to know your multiplication tables up to at least 13 cold. It's one of those things you don't pay much attention to after middle school, but when taking a test without a calculator, will serve you well. As has been said, it's really a "do more math" kind of thing -- no real shortcut, but do remember the tips and tricks (dividing by a decimal, move the decimal place over so that you can use whole numbers), which should improve your time.

I think it makes sense to remember the tables, so should I remeber the tables up to at least 13 with multiples of upto 10 or upto 20. I am looking atleast and ideal.

Thanks a lot for the reply. Also if you could look at my essays then it will be great.

Vineet