Refocusing

[igalbraith]

Here is my situation, I am open to any advice.

After months of studying I finally took the GMAT last Wednesday. I entered the exam confident and eager to take the test once and put this stage behind me. After 3.5 hours I was sorely disapointed with my score of a 530, although I was not completely surprised with my results. I was confident during practice problems and getting between 80-85% of these problems correct all my practice test scores fell into the low 500 range.

I think I fell into the category of focusing on the number of problems I did each night rather than the quality of problems. Your tips on spending more time reviewing problems rather doing each problem were helpful.

Leading up to the exam I took a Princeton Review course and studied on my own (1.5-2 hours during weekdays and 7-8 hours during the weekend). If you add the time I thought about and worried about the exam my totals would probably double.

I have spent the past couple of days processing the exam and I have come to the conclusion that I was not focused enough and did not have the stamina needed to stay focused for the 3.5 hours. The exam seemed to move very quickly and once I started receiving harder questions in the 15-20 question range lost confidence and the test went down hill.

My goal score is in the 630-640 range, I believe this will make me a competitive candidate at the schools I am interested in applying.

So my questions are how should I approach a second test, with my desired score increase how long should I study before taking a second test? What study habits should I add, subtract, or leave the same? I do not want a poor GMAT score to hold me back from applying to my desired schools.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long message and my numerous question. I look forward to hearing suggestions.

[Bryant@VeritasPrep]

Normally I would recommend a prep course, but since you have done that and also studied extensively, it sounds to me like you are scoring in line with your GMAT ability. Perhaps not what you wanted to hear, I realize, but not everyone is able to achieve high scores on that confounded test. You could try some different prep materials and take it again, but if you continue to score in the same range, then guess what? That's your range. You need to start making lemonade out of lemons here and see what you can do with your application package to balance out a lower GMAT score. Did you go to a top undergrad institution? Perhaps you had really good grades in tough courses? Do you handle complex quantitative problems at work? These kinds of things can demonstrate your ability to handle the academics at b-school without falling behind and hurting yourself and your classmates. That's really all adcoms want to know: can you handle the program and excel in the face of strenuous academic circumstances. As a former adcom member, I saw students admitted to top programs even with GMATs below 500...there are outliers on both ends of the spectrum. Your job is to construct an application package that convinces the committee you deserve a seat. There are myriad components to building such a case, so don't let the GMAT get you down. Hope this helps.

[Osirus@VeritasPrep]

No offense to anyone but I don't buy that you are scoring in your range and that your current range is your ceiling. There are enough stories of people going from 500-650 that you do not and should not believe that you are not capable of achieving this same increase. The issue is really about the time you have and are willing to put in. If you can put in 4 hours of studying a day I think your goal is possible. I would recommend doing the following. Review your score. See if there were any areas that you were satisfied with. After you review your score, I would not even begin with a test prep book, but I would start with high school math books. Take your time and go through an algebra, geometry, and pre calculus book. This will help you just with basic fundamentals. After you do this, I would also make an effort to read more. The LSAT students read the Economist in an attempt to boost their reading comprehension scores. I would recommend that for you as well. After doing all of this, I would then get the following test prep books: Manhattan GMAT Sentence Correction, Princeton Review Math workout (If you only want to get into the mid 600s this book will suffice and will be easy enough for you to really comprehend it, if you want a higher score then get all of the MGMAT math guides), and Powerscore Critical Reasoning Bible. Don't just go through all of the books, really know all of the books, to the point where if I say a sentence from one of the books you should be able to tell me the chapter and have a pretty close guess as to what page number its on. If you can do all of this, you can raise your score to above your target, but what I outlined is not easy, and it will be very time consuming. If you did everything I suggested studying for about 4 hours a day 5-6 days a week, it would take you about 3 months just to get through the material. You then have to add on another month taking CATs to practice timing and pacing. So you're looking at about a 4 month commitment. If you can do this and if you want this it is possible, but know that there is no magic bullet.

[Alpha800]

I want to say that I'm happy to see the posts of both bryantmichaels and osirus0830. I believe there is some validity to both points of view. There should be enough hope, optimism and encouragement for an individual to attempt to better his or her score, but at the same time, an individual should not be deluded into thinking that every single person out there is intellectually capable of achieving an 800 on the GMAT so long as he or she is putting in enough effort. If the latter was completely true, then a mentally impaired (IQ of 70) person should be able to obtain an 800 on the GMAT if he or she simply put in enough effort. But that simply is not going to happen.


igalbraith, stay hopeful and study smartly, but also be realistic of your true potential. Study smartly! Don't dwell on how many hours you've spent studying, or ask others how long you should be studying. It's not a matter of duration; it's a matter of quality. Study in a smart way. Understand--and I mean truly and fully understand--why you picked an incorrect answer. It's not enough to go through 1000 questions and just note you missed 200 questions. You need to spend time--quality time--to fully and completely understand why you answered a question incorrectly, i.e. the reasoning behind what makes the answer wrong. I can't stress to you how important it is for you to understand that the quality of studying is more important than the quantity of studying.

Good luck on the re-take.

[igalbraith]

Thank you for the replies and the advice, the posts went from both sides of the spectrum. I think I need go back through the OGs and use different study habits to gain a better knowledge of the information. A 100 point increase is daunting but possible.

[Stacey Koprince]

Received a PM asking me to respond.

Alpha, nice stuff on quality vs. quantity of study.

igal, it sounds like your practice test scores were relatively in line with your official test score? If that was the case, just know for future that our expectations generally should be similar to our practice test scores - so if your practice scores are significantly below where you want to score, then that's not a good time to take the test.

I would like to know, though, what your quant and verbal subscores were on the official test and on the 2 or 3 most recent practice tests before the official test. I also have a bunch of other questions for you.

On any particular part of the test, are you struggling with content, technique, timing, or all of the above?

If content, what specifically is giving you the most trouble? (eg, in SC, modifiers and verbs) Include in this category the different types of questions for CR and RC (eg, find an assumption vs. weaken or inference vs. main idea).

On what types of questions or content areas are you struggling with technique or timing? (Technique is knowing how to identify / categorize a particular type of question and knowing what you're expected to do / answer as you move through the problem.)

Also give us any other detail you have noticed about your own strengths and weaknesses and the kinds of errors that you tend to make repeatedly.

When you took the practice tests, did you also take the essays? Did you spend as much time and mental energy on the practice essays as you did on the real essays? Did you take the practice tests under full official conditions?

How was your timing? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (2m for quant, 1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered? Alternatively, did you move too quickly and finish with a lot of time (>3min) left over?

How was your stamina? How did you feel toward the middle and end of the verbal section? Did you have something to eat and drink on the breaks? Did you get up, walk around, and stretch?

[igalbraith]

Stacey-

Thank you for your response and taking the time to help. You asked multiple thought provoking questions and I hope I respond to all of them.

Test Recap
On July 1, I took my first official GMAT and scored a 530 with a quant score of 30, verbal score of 34, and a AWA of 5. This score was disappointing, I was hoping I would achieve my goal mt first try. However, in the back of my mind I could feel that I was not ready and scoring a 630-650 was not going to happen.

On test day, I was excited and nervous, I received all the “You will do great and good lucks” from friends and family, but as I mentioned early I was not a 100% confident. I was not fully confident in my abilities and believed I was not in the best mental shape to sit for a 4-hour exam.

As my score reflects I am most concerned about quant, during the exam I quickly became flustered and my confidence waned. I was not identifying the path towards the solutions. Between PS and DS, PS is more of a struggle. I began guessing at multiple questions and spending excessive amount of time doing math calculations to determine an answer. I did not spend the time per problem as you noted above. I finished the Quant section with under a minute left, however I felt rushed and believed substantial time was wasted. I finished within the proper time limits, because I guessed on probably 10 questions and then spent a long time on 10 questions equaling the time distribution out.

For verbal I am most confident in RC and CR. Sentence correction has always been a concern of mine and an area I have just come to assume will be hit or miss come test day. In the final two weeks I began to break-down the SC into very basic parts so I would feel strong in a couple of the areas.

My timing in Quant felt strong and I was moving along at the right pace. I do not remember spending extended time on any one type of question.

My stamina began to wane at the end of both sections, I began to lose concentration around this time. I took most of the allotted break time; eating, drinking, and wandering around the test complex.

Study Recap
I have been studying for the GMA on again, off again since last winter. I have been thinking about business school for a long time due to my own interest and external pressure. (This topic is for a different time and post)

I began studying on my own last winter, 1.5-2 hours a night four days a week and then 3 or so hours on the weekend. This lasted about a month until I realized I needed help. So I took about 2 months off and started working with a tutor one-on-one, after a couple of sessions I realized the tutor and I were not a solid fit. (I needed a specific plan to follow and the Princeton Review tutor was not doing this). After the tutor I enrolled in one of PR’s 6-week classes, having an assigned study plan was helpful but I missed the individual focus. I completed the class about two weeks before the actual exam. In the final few weeks, I increased my study time and began to feel more confident in my knowledge. Answers to the practice questions were coming more easily and my confidence was increasing.

Leading up to the exam I took four practice tests, my scores were all around 530-540 with quant and verbal subscores nearly identical. On all the practice tests I skipped the essays, during the actual test I realized this was not a good decisions. The teacher during the class spent very little time on the essays and did not stress the importance of taking the essays during the practice tests.

As I look back, the practice tests were no more than a large number of questions in a timed period. I had the wrong mindset during the practice tests and did take them with a very focused approach. Princeton Review practice tests and tried to follow the official conditions as much as possible. Their practice site did freeze up and I would have to reload multiple times during the test.

As I look back on all my hours of practicing I stressed the number of problems I was doing and not the quality of my studying. I usually spent about 1.5 hours on the weekdays, excluding Friday, and about 3-4 hours on the weekend. Studying on the weekdays would be from 8-10 in the evening after a long day of work. I would complete as many problems as possible, not very concerned about timing and then breeze through the explanations. From all the posts I have read in the last week trying to find the answer to my poor study habits I realize this is not an effective way to study. My study sessions were not under the timing constraints. I believed with more knowledge I would speed up my time on practice and actual tests. If I could sum up the study efforts, I believe I put a large amount of pressure on myself to sit-down every night to study for X amount of time even if I was tired or unfocused. This caused me to race through as many questions as possible in a short amount of time in an unfocused manner.

Conclusion
I know this is a long response to your question and I hope I answered all your questions. I look forward to your response and insight.

A big fear of mine is spending hours ineffectively studying and not make the progress I know is possible and do poorly on my second sitting. I am open to revamping my entire study mindset and following a new plan. Recapping my past months of studying I realized I did not use my time or energy most effectively and it is pretty disheartening. I have two goals this year and own of them is getting into business school, in order to do this I know I need a strong GMAT score. To give you an idea of my schedule, I plan to apply to business schools this fall and of the schools I plan to apply to the first application is due at the end of October. I am open to all ideas and if need be I am open to hiring you as a tutor to help in this process. I know raising my score will not be easy, but I am willing to do what is necessary to make this happen.

[Stacey Koprince]

On quant

I guessed on probably 10 questions and then spent a long time on 10 questions equaling the time distribution out.

My timing in Quant felt strong and I was moving along at the right pace. I do not remember spending extended time on any one type of question.

I'm confused. Which is it? Did you mean to say Verbal in your second quote? I'll assume so.

So, the not-so-good news: the ones on which you spent way too much time? You probably got most of them wrong anyway. Think about it logically. The question is designed to be done in 2m. There is a 2m solution. Some people - not many, maybe, but some - can do it in 2m. If you cannot do it in 2m (maybe 2.5m at the outside), then you don't really know, fully, how to do this question. Spending 4m when we don't really know how to do it - well, that doesn't improve our odds.

And, of course, you probably got most of the guesses wrong as well.

Now. No matter how much you study, you are going to get stuff wrong. Lots of stuff. No matter what you can do, the test can give you something harder. Don't waste a bunch of time when the test gives you something that's too hard. Learn to recognize when that happens, make an educated guess, and move on without losing time on that question.

Think of this as a tennis match, not a test. You're going to win some points and the other guy is going to win some points; you're not going to win them all, right? Your goal is to put yourself into position to win the LAST point. Translated, that means you have to put yourself in position to answer the last question - you have to have time to address it. Otherwise, you've lost the last point, and by extension the match. When the other guy hits a winner, don't go running after it so fast that you hit the fence and injure yourself, thereby hurting your chances on the later points. (Translation: don't go way over when the problem is too hard.)

Most people have to guess on something like 5 to 7 questions in the math section.  You don't want to be forced into making those guesses in a row at the end of the section, so choose the 5-7 hardest questions AS YOU SEE THEM throughout the section.  Remind yourself that you CANNOT get to the point where you can answer everything given to you in 2 min - that's just not how the test works, ever, for anyone. You have to let those go.

I really like your self-analysis of your study habits and why they weren't all that helpful to you in the end. Think of it this way: all of these practice problems we do, we're never going to see those actual problems on the test, right? So what are we really doing? Well, we're going to see different problems that test similar things. So how am I going to recognize a different problem that tests the same thing I'm studying on the problem in front of me right now? What are the clues that tell me what a problem is really asking me? How do I properly interpret what the problem is telling me and avoid traps do to weird language or set-up? Do I have the necessary skills to execute once I've figured out what the problem is really about? How do I minimize careless mistakes? How do I make an educated guess? What's NOT the right answer and why? Etc.

We can easily spend 5-10 minutes studying one problem that took us 2m to do!

There are a ton of useful resources and posts here at BTG about HOW to study, what questions to ask ourselves when reviewing a problem, etc. It sounds like you've already been reading these and I encourage you to continue to do that as you move forward. Keep this in mind: you aren't done with a problem until you can fully explain in words that would make sense to someone else (1) how to recognize what you're supposed to do, (2) how to actually do it, (3) better / more efficient ways to do it, (4) how to avoid traps / minimize careless mistakes, (5) how to correct errors, (6) how to make an educated guess, (7) for verbal, which wrong answer is most tempting and why it's so tempting, (8) for verbal, why someone would be tempted to eliminate the right answer.

Re: tutoring, there are tons of great tutors out there. I don't make specific recommendations in this area because I have an obvious conflict of interest, but here's how to find a tutor who is a good fit for you:

- you should have access to a bio or other information that will let you know the tutor's experience before you officially agree to the tutoring (in other words, you should be able to check the person out and decline to work with that tutor if you don't want to for any reason).

- you should have an email or phone conversation with the tutor before you officially meet for a paid tutoring session, and the tutor should give you some kind of work to do before the first meeting (I personally ask my new students to take an MGMAT practice test with 2 weeks of our first session; they then have to email me after they've taken it so I can go in and look at their results before we meet).

- your tutor should ask you enough questions to know your situation to a certain extent: how long have you been studying? what have you done so far? what do you think your strengths and weaknesses are? what is your goal score? when do you want to take the test? do you have any deadlines you have to meet? (these questions might come before the first session or at the first session - the point is, the tutor should be developing a strategy for your specific situation, not just applying a one-size-fits-all approach.)

- you and your tutor should set up a general game plan at the first meeting: what your goals are and the general plan for how to accomplish that, including what you'll do on your own, how often you'll meet, etc. This game plan then gets adjusted over time based on where you are and aren't improving.

[igalbraith]

Stacey-

Thank you for all your insight. I am kicking off my next stage of studying this week, I am going to use the tips I have read on this forum to slow down and focus on quality rather than quantity. I will keep you posted on my progress and will probably have further questions.

Thanks again,
Ian