Need Advice

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Need Advice

by Trainee » Sun Aug 15, 2010 10:19 am
Hi Everybody,

I just wrote my first GMAT prep practice test and got a 710 with the following breakdown.

Q 48 (13 incorrect) had to guess on the last two questions because I ran out of time.

V 39 (3 incorrect) this time never even got to see the last four questions because I ran out
of time.

I have a little less than three weeks for the test date.

As you can see, I seem to have serious issues with time management. What do you guys suggest I do keeping in mind the amount of time I have until judgement day?

I'm also super curious to know what I'd score on each section if I had been able to finish them on time. Thanks a lot guys. Please help this lost soul.
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

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by spark » Sun Aug 15, 2010 1:07 pm
First of all, nice job on getting a 710 on your first practice exam! Actually, your time management wasn't too bad. You can tweak your pacing a bit, but what's even more important is to be sure to fill in answers for each of the quant and verbal problems. It's better to guess on the last few vs. leave any blank. To the extent the practice exam you took reflects the GMAT's actual scoring algorithm, you may have been penalized for not answering the last four verbal questions.

If you are taking the exam in three weeks, I recommend that you map out a day-by-day study plan, scheduling a mix of content work (to cover specific topics), practice exams, and speedwork (limit each question to 2 minutes using a timer). I think it's also a good idea to take at least one day a week off, so your mind can re-energize and stay sharp.

What's also really important is to analyze every question in each practice exam you take. For each one you got wrong, was it a careless mistake, a content topic that needs more attention, or just a problem where you ran out of time (and therefore need to get faster)? For each one you got right, does the solution provide any shortcuts or alternate approach for how you could have gotten it right faster?

If you map out a study plan and stick to it, you'll avoid one of the biggest pitfalls I see when people prepare for the GMAT: kicking themselves for what they could have done. (e.g. "I should have studied that book, taken 3 more practice exams, etc.") This usually "kicks in" about a week before the exam, and it saps people's confidence (and therefore speed). Of course, you could study forever for this exam, so the key is to set yourself up to know that you made the best use of the time you had available. Also, be ready for the fact that "life happens," so if you have to miss a day of studying, try not to make it two.

Hope this helps. Good luck on your next practice exam!
Stuart Park
Simply Brilliant
Stuart is a Harvard grad GMAT expert who scored 760 the first time he took the exam, with 99th percentile quant and verbal scores. He has extensive experience teaching for one of the "elite" GMAT prep companies. Through https://www.simplybrilliantprep.com he offers online classes, private tutoring and MBA application consulting for clients worldwide.

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by mbrown10012 » Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:34 pm
13 wrong and you got a higher score than your verbal ( only 3 wrong).

I'm guessing you got your first 3 wrong in verbal? How can you get 13 wrong on quant ans score higher, 49?

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by Trainee » Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:38 pm
Thanks there spark. Appreciate all the advice. What do you(or anybody else) think I would have scored if I had finished the questions on time(especially on the verbal section where I left four questions unanswered, but had only three questions incorrect on the 37 questions that I did answer and ended up with a 39)

Actually, this was my third practice test. I have taken two MGMAT CATs. What I meant was that this was my first official mba.com GMAT prep practice test. However, I had the same problem in the MGMAT CATs - I always ran out of time. If there is one thing I am worried about right now then it has to be time management on the real day. I seem to be running out of time in literally every section(even awa). Any advice would be helpful guys!

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by Trainee » Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:45 pm
mbrown10012 wrote:13 wrong and you got a higher score than your verbal ( only 3 wrong).

I'm guessing you got your first 3 wrong in verbal? How can you get 13 wrong on quant ans score higher, 49?

I have no idea. I actually got question number 4, 20 and 26 wrong on the verbal. I have heard that you get more heavily penalized for incorrect answers in the verbal section or maybe its all because I left the last four questions unanswered. Either way, you got me more confused!

I say I got 48 not 49 in quant in my first post by the way(not trying to be rude, but I don't want other people to think I got 49)

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by spark » Sun Aug 15, 2010 6:08 pm
Because questions are assigned a range of weights, it's hard to project what would have happened if you were able to answer the last few questions correctly. Of course, you do not know whether you guessed correctly or incorrectly on the last two quant questions, so it's hard to know whether having the time to work on them would have helped your score.

If, however, you were able to at least answer the last four verbal questions (even incorrectly), I think you could very well have seen at least some increase because the GMAC makes it clear that guessing and getting them all wrong is better than leaving any blank. Since you would have had a 20% chance of guessing correctly on each question, you might expect to have gotten one out of four correct with pure guesses. I would guess that together those two effects could have raised your score 10-20 points.

If you actually had the time to consider each of the last four verbal questions and if you could keep up your high success rate - perhaps only getting one incorrect out of four - then I think you would see a more significant increase. I would guess that the difference could have been 20-40 points. To re-balance your timing, however, would require that you take about 8 minutes to answer the last four questions. To pull 8 minutes from the other 37 questions would require shaving 13 seconds from each on average. Of course, this in turn would have made it more difficult for you to achieve your high success rate on those first 37 questions, so you may have missed a few more.

One of the best discussions of scoring details I've seen is "The GMAT Uncovered," which is a free PDF available at https://www.manhattangmat.com/Store.cfm. In particular, see pages 18-23.

Since you are already at 700+ on practice exams, I recommend the following to improve your speed on the verbal section:

1. Focus on improving your SC skills and target 90 seconds or less per SC question
2. Minimize and preferably eliminate note-taking on RC
3. Cultivate your ability to absorb information and think critically when you are focused 100% on what you're reading. The GMAT requires a different kind of reading from what we normally do in our daily lives. So when you study, don't slog through problems for 3 or 4 hours straight. Take breaks every 75 minutes, as you would on the exam, and make sure you're always a focused, "active reader" on verbal questions.
4. If you are not someone who reads very much, then take a page from Nike's playbook and "Just Read." If you read just one 300 page book, you may notice that your reading speed increases appreciably - at least temporarily. Even a 10% improvement can make a significant difference. (In rough terms, 10% of the time on the verbal = 7.5 minutes, which is just about what you'd need for those last four questions.)

There are other strategies that might be relevant based on your particular situation.

Hope this helps. Once again, good luck!
Stuart Park
Simply Brilliant
Stuart is a Harvard grad GMAT expert who scored 760 the first time he took the exam, with 99th percentile quant and verbal scores. He has extensive experience teaching for one of the "elite" GMAT prep companies. Through https://www.simplybrilliantprep.com he offers online classes, private tutoring and MBA application consulting for clients worldwide.

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by TheCloakedMonk » Tue Aug 31, 2010 7:03 am
The actual link to "The GMAT Uncovered" is https://www.manhattangmat.com/gmat-uncovered.cfm[/url]