Can you help? - Need some high-level advice

[Bansamit]

I had a few quick questions I was hoping you could help me with. I've been studying for the GMAT's for about 1.5-2 months now, and I've seen some notable improvements in certain areas (SC and CR). I've taken two MGMAT practice tests within the past 2 weeks, I scored 630 the first time and 620 the second time (within two weeks of each other)

Each time I take the exam I have a very similar breakout (40/41Q and 35V). However, my percent on the Q is extremely low (~60's) vs. the Verbal (~77). What's odd is when I go through the problems in the MGMAT guides or do OG problems for Quant, I typically don't have many problems with the content and I understand the concepts. During the exam, however, if I see one difficult problem I tend to freeze up and just stare at the problem rather than writing it out and trying to solve it. When I analyze my scores, I'm noticing a lot of problems in data sufficiency, word translations, and number properties, so I plan to spend more time studying those topics in the upcoming weeks. What's boggling my mind is I don't have too many issues when I go through the material in the OG.

In terms of studying, I started out by going through the OG and solving almost all the problems and then going back to see what I was getting wrong and doing those questions again to understand what my mistakes were. Then I went through the MGMAT guides for both CR and SC, which seems to have helped me quite a bit. Reading comprehension is seriously suffering, I got 3 out of 12 questions right on the last CAT I took. For Math, given that I feel comfortable with the material in the OG but freeze up on the test, I'm not sure what the best approach is to increase my score. I feel like during the test I'm not doing something correctly because I end up with a few minutes to spare at the end which means that I must be rushing through the questions.

I'm currently scheduled to take the exam on August 30th, in order to get my applications in time for R1 deadlines the first week in October. I know a 70-80 point jump in three weeks is not characteristic, so I wanted to get some of your thoughts on what I should do in the upcoming weeks.

My plan of attack is to:
1) Review the MGMAT Reading Comp Guide, Word Translations Guide, Number Properties Guide, and Inequalities Guide
2) After reviewing take another CAT to see where I stand
3) Go through the OG Verbal and OG Quant books which are an additional 600 questions with timing and long sets
4) Continue taking Practice tests

If there is any advice you can offer, in terms of what might be causing me to get stuck on the math section within the MGMAT and ways to score better on reading comp, it would be extremely helpful.

[gmatpill]

Have you tried timing yourself?

With data sufficiency, you'll save a lot of time if you find the smartest way to answer the question without actually solving the math equations. It's a bit tricky but it might be a good idea to get a sense of how someone else thinks through a DS question live.

Be careful about continually taking practice tests. You can take hundreds and still keep scoring the same unless you rigorously review what you got wrong and constantly ask yourself--how could I have answered that more efficiently? Why did I miss that question? What could I have done to not fall into that trap?

As for plan of attack: You might want to consider this 1 month study plan: https://www.gmatpill.com/the-gmat-pill-m ... tudy-plan/

Good luck! Focus. Focus. Focus. Get rid of all other distractions (IM/Email/etc)

[Bansamit]

So, now I'm completely stuck. I just took my third MGMAT CAT and I'm a bit unsure on how to proceed:

MGMAT 2 - 630 (79%) - (Quant - 41 (64%), Verbal - 35 (77%))
MGMAT 3 - 620 (76%) - (Quant - 40 (61%), Verbal - 35 (77%))
MGMAT 4 - 620 (76%) - (Quant - 45 (77%), Verbal - 31 (62%))

For the first two exams I consistently did bad in the Quant section, and I knew a large part of it was anxiety during the exam and not focusing enough on the questions and using proper strategies. I spent a lot of time completing timed problem sets (MGMAT Question Banks, OG Questions, etc.) and I saw an increase in my Math. For Verbal, in the first 2 exams I was doing decent in the Critical Reasoning and the Sentence completion but poor in Reading Comprehension. I spent the last week focusing on RC. This past exam my scores flipped and Math has gone up but Verbal went the other way. I'm completely stuck right now and not sure how on how to proceed.

If anyone has any advice, what might be causing this flip, or anything else I would really appreciate the help. I can post screenshots of my assessment summaries for each of the exams if that helps.

[ptandon]

I hear ya. I just took the MGMAT practice test and got the same issue in Quant. My Quant score was 45, which improved 2 points from 3 weeks ago when I had taken the first Manhattan GMAT test. During those 3 weeks I had gone through all the Math sections in MGMAT study guides and practiced OG 11 questions.
I got about 16 incorrect out of 37 in the Practice test this weekend. I decided to start attempting the questions I got incorrect with a fresh mind the next day. To my surprize, I got 60% of those incorrect questions, correct on the very first attempt. I think my issue is I freeze up when I see a hard question that I am not sure about how to tackle and spend way too much time on it, which in turn gives me less time for the questions to come. So I have decided to time myself while doing the OG questions, doing at least 15 questions in one go.

Have you tried attempting the questions you got wrong? See how long it takes you to attempt those outside of the test environment. Your problem could be similar to mine.

Hope this helps.

[Stacey Koprince]

Received a PM asking for my reply.

In your first post, you describe a timing issue on quant, and the timing issue is really due to your mindset while taking the test (freezing up, staring at the problem, and losing time). So let's talk about that first.

You need to change your mindset. 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 just isn't clicking for you. Make a guess. Move on.)

It would be a good idea for you to study how to make educated guesses; this will give you another line of attack when you feel stuck. Read this article for some ideas:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... s-on-quant

You mention that RC is a major weakness; the below articles may help. Go back to those questions and try to figure out WHY you missed them. Did you have trouble comprehending the passage? Did you miss the main point? Or was it more about the question - you weren't sure what they were asking, or misinterpreted the question, or struggled to choose from among the answers? If you can figure out what's giving you so much trouble, then you know what to attack!

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... mp-passage
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... rc-passage
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/02/ ... e-question

I know a 70-80 point jump in three weeks is not characteristic.

No, it's not. You should think now about whether you would rather (a) postpone your test, if necessary, and keep your goal score, or (b) keep your test and, if necessary, lower your goal score. You don't need to make a decision about this now, but you should think about what decision you would want to make if you have to make that choice. That way, when the time comes, you won't agonize over it and possibly make the wrong choice due to stress.

Interesting. On your last cat (MGMAT#4), your quant jumped but your verbal dropped. Go try to figure out why. What did you do better in quant? What didn't go as well in verbal? Did you have timing issues? Did you have strings of wrong answers (4+)?

You can use this article to help you analyze the data in detail:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/09/23 ... tice-tests

Then, come back here and tell us your analysis, and we'll help you figure out what to do about it.

[Bansamit]

Thanks for your help Stacey!

I started analyzing the questions in both Verbal and Quant and I found something really interesting in both cases:
Quant: Started out getting the first 2 questions right - and then proceeded to get the next 5 questions wrong bringing my percentile from a 99-> 12. Then I started getting the questions right and brought my percentile back up to an 80% where it fluctuated for the rest of the exam. I know for Quant my biggest weaknesses are data sufficiency, number properties, inequalities, and word translations. They tend to give me the most difficulties.

While reviewing DS, I noticed a lot of the questions I get wrong are where the data allows me to sufficiently say "No" to the question, but I put down E because I was unable to find a value. If there are any tactics or strategies to help with this that would be extremely helpful. I've grasped DS, but during the exam, with the added time pressure, I think I often overlook small details like this and pick the wrong answer. For the other weak areas in Quant, I'm reviewing the MGMAT guides again to refresh the concepts and going through the OG questions. I think the jump in quant is probably because I wasn't properly focusing on the questions the first time I took the exam because of anxiety. Rather, I was rushing each question as opposed to actually solving it. I'm hoping with the proper prep the next few weeks I can pull my percentile to above 80%.

For the verbal section, I saw the same problem as I did in the Quant. At Question 11 I was at 80%, and then I got 8 out of the next 9 questions wrong, bringing me to 20 percentile. I then proceeded to get the next 9 questions right, bringing my percentile to 71, but I think by that point the damage had been done. I'm not sure why I flopped so bad in the verbal, I think part of it was I was more focused on the quant then verbal this time. I also noticed that those 8/9 questions I got wrong, for the most part I spent less than 1.5 minutes on each question.

In verbal, on my first two CAT's, I did relatively well on CR and SC with 75% correct, but did terrible on RC (25%). On this past CAT, I did poorly across the board in CR, SC, and RC. I think a huge part of it has to do with psychology or possibly even stamina and not focusing on concepts and strategies which I use when I'm doing drills.

I know it seems like a bit of a long shot, but I'm still aiming for 700+ on August 30th, and I think it's possible. Any advice, feedback, or guidance would be extremely helpful!!

[Stacey Koprince]

and then proceeded to get the next 5 questions wrong

WHY did you get each of those 5 wrong? Content? Timing? Careless mistakes? Maybe multiple reasons? Note down every single reason - then you can figure out what to go do about those things. You can't figure out what to do if you don't know why!

I know for Quant my biggest weaknesses are data sufficiency, number properties, inequalities, and word translations.

And how is your timing in these areas? Too slow? Just right? Too fast? There are differences (in terms of what to do) based upon the timing, so let me know.

Re: DS, there are two broad types of DS questions: "value" and "yes/no." The very first question to ask yourself is: is this a value question or is this a yes/no question? Then note that down on your scrap paper.

The process you then follow is somewhat different for each. For value, your focus is on finding that one value. For yes/no, your focus is on answering "always yes," "always no," or "maybe." The first two are sufficient; the last one is not. Keep track of this on your scrap paper, using Y, N, and M, and then S / NS. After you've decided something is "always no," immediately write down S and put a circle around it. These little details will help you to avoid making the kind of mistake you describe. Then drill this till you don't make mistakes like this anymore!

And see - it's good that you figured out why you were making that mistake, because then I could tell you something to do about it. It's really important to figure out why!

Ditto on verbal - go figure out why. Ah, and you were moving pretty quickly on those, it sounds like. Less than 1.5 is okay on SC, but if you had to read an RC in there, or do CR... that's too fast. You move that quickly, you're going to make careless mistakes.

Stamina might be an issue as well, yes. Timing certainly was. Why did you speed up? Were you behind? Or did you speed up without knowing it? (If the latter, then stamina might be more of an issue.)

Similarly to what I was describing above for quant, you need a set process for each verbal Q type as well. What you're going to do and how you're going to do it, every single time. And then you have to be really systematic about doing it on every question. Feeling burned out / tired in the middle of the section? Blow off one problem and rest your brain for 60 seconds. Then start up again - same process, same way to set up your scrap paper, same way to keep track of your answers, same way to take any notes... every single time!

I gave you some RC articles last time; here are some on SC and CR:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... on-problem
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/05/ ... -reasoning

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/03/ ... c-question
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/01/ ... r-question

Okay, that should give you some work to do.

[Bansamit]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for all your guidance and the articles. I read through them and I definitely think they helped (while I was doing practice problems from the OG or problems sets). I took a practice test this weekend (GMAT Prep1), and I was devastated when I saw my score (620 - 47Q, 30V). I thought I did much better in the verbal versus the Quant, but it was the other around. In the Verbal, I got 3 RC wrong, 4CR, and 7 SC. I went through my mistakes and most of them were careless because I didn't spend enough time reading the question and the answer choices (going to fast).

In previous Manhattan GMAT exams I had a completely different split with only 3RC right, and I did great in the CR and SC. After going through the exam and looking at my mistakes, I think another problem I may have identified during practice exams is timing. Because of my fear that I'm spending too much time on any one problem, I tend to look at the clock twice during every problem, so in any given section I'm glancing at the clock nearly 80 times which can't be good for focus.

The day before the practice test, I was completing timed problem sets in both SC and CR from the OG and I had a pretty good hit rate (+85%) on questions towards the end. The day of the exam though, I almost felt as if I wasn't fully focused on the questions because I was fearful I would run out of time. I really do feel strong in terms of the foundation of content, but during the exam itself I think the clock gets the best of me.

I'm shooting for a 700+ and my exam is on August 30th, so I know it's a stretch. I still think I have a shot, if I can overcome this timing/anxiety issue during the exam. In practice problem sets I haven't had an issue thus far, I wanted to know if anyone had any advice or a similar problem. I would go through my error logs, but there aren't any real patterns that I've seen. One exam I do well in SC and CR, the next exam I do well in RC. Quant seems to be somewhat consistent and hopefully that will remain, but I need to spend more time to ensure I do well on the Quant the day of the exam itself.

The second practice exam (MGMAT) I took I got a 77% in the Verbal section (35V), but I didn't do well in the Quant. So I know I'm capable of doing better in verbal. Any and all advice would be helpful!

Thanks

[Stacey Koprince]

Agreed that looking at the clock that frequently will just drive you crazy! Try to break that habit.

Timing is a tricky thing on this test - it's easy to go too far in the opposite direction when you're trying to fix a timing problem. I like that you're going through your practice exams problem by problem to figure out what went wrong and why - if you don't figure that out, then you don't know what to do to fix your weaknesses!

Now, take it to the next level. What can you do with respect to your process to ensure that you don't lose points in future to speed? What do you need to read more carefully? What do you need to write down? What do you need to double-check? How are you going to do this in order to minimize careless mistakes without taking too much time and causing a different set of difficulties to occur?

This article can help you with that:
https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... our-errors

Yes, given the amount of time you have until the real exam, a 700+ is a stretch. You will need to think about whether you would rather keep the test date, just go for it, and be okay with a lower score if that happens, or whether you would rather postpone the test date until your practice test scores are more in line with your desired goal score.

Also, my next article is about how to make educated guesses on verbal - I think that's being published on the 26th. Keep an eye out for it; that may be helpful for you!