Mid Prep Crisis - Need Advice

[i.dreem]

Hi Everyone,

I am facing what you can call is Mid Prep Crisis. I need advice of the people of this forum.

I started my prep in late march 08. I have done the following till now

- Princeton Review (except AWA)
- Kaplan Premier - SC, CR
- Manhattan SC
- OG 11 - 64% of all the questions
- OG 10 - 29% of all the questions.
- Kaplan 800 - PS and DS.
- Extra Practice of Probability from some maths book

(I am not planning to do PS & DS from OG 10, as i feel OG 11 is sufficient for me in case of PS and DS).

Results so far,
- SC Accuracy rate from OG and other stuff - around 80%
- CR Accuracy rate from OG and other stuff - around 85%
- RC Accuracy rate from OG and other stuff - around 80%
- PS Accuracy rate from OG and other stuff - around 95%
- DS Accuracy rate from OG and other stuff - around 90%

Tests taken so far

- Powerprep 1 - taken as diagnostics - without any prep - 630

- Princeton Review 1 - after 1.5+ months of prep, after Manhattan and half of OG - 560. - It was very disappointing for me. I found out that concentration levels were not there during test and i was very tired or sleepy after long day of work.

- Princeton review 2 - around 1st June - 690. This time i was very relaxed and focussed.

Now the Crisis which I am facing. After all this preparation, i was feeling very confident and focussed. So i registered for the test. The earliest date which i got is 2nd Sept08. which is 2.5+ months away. (I realize my mistake,I shud have registered earlier.)

Until now, i felt that my prep was quite on track and i was planning for august 1st week. Now I have 2.5+ months on my disposal. I am trying to make a plan which keeps me going for next 2.5+ months and also keep me motivated.

I read "TwinnSplitter" strategy for working out each topic for 2 weeks and then generalizing the prep at the end. But in my case, I have already prepared quite a lot and my prep was now meant to be in closing laps. But i find myself back in the race again.

What I am planning to do:
- OG 11 36% left + OG 11 redo.
- OG 10 SC, CR and RC. Skipping PS and DS as i feel I am ok with these 2 sections.
- Kaplan 800 complete.
- Revise Manhattan
- Revise the questions i got wrong or i had trouble with ( I have been maintaining the error log).

What I am not sure about:
- 1000 RC, SC, CR. Having time at my side, will it b a good idea to do these. Or i shud i just stick to the above material and do it the right way.

Moreover, I am planning a CAT every weekend. I have 4 Kaplan tests left + 2 PR + 2 GMAT Prep.

One more problem is how to schedule the material left. Should I do OG10 first, then Kaplan 800 and then OG 11. These things have left me confused.

Also, this long prepping time (2.5 months gone and 2.5+ months to go) has left me a bit dull and de focussed.

I am looking forward for the people of this forum to suggest and help me solve my mid prep crisis.

Thanks to all of you,
i.dreem

[erjamit]

Hey dude, you just told my part of the story. I am also facing the same crisis and don't know what to do. My accuracy is not good.

[VP_Tatiana]

Hi guys,

It is very important not to overstudy, as I have seen this result in test takers becoming overconfident and making silly mistakes. 690 is a pretty good score. If you want to raise it even more, I would suggest spending the next two months mainly focusing on very hard problems, 700+ level. Do not go in circles answering easy problems, or you will just be wasting your time, burning out, and getting overconfident. The hard problems will keep you humble. Sit down and try 5-10 a couple times a week, nothing big. Do hard problems in ALL areas covered by the test, so that you don't lose familiarity with any area. You might also want to try non-GMAT puzzles, like the IQ tests in the back of the Sunday paper's magazine or something... things to keep your brain sharp but that won't burn you out on GMAT questions.

So that you don't lose your speed, and so you can measure your progress, you should take regular CATs. However, weekly is a little excessive. I think every other week will suffice for now.

When you get a few weeks away from the test, if your CAT score isn't where you need it to be, then go through the material you planned. If it's where you need it, stay on the same plan. If you have certain areas of weakness, then go learn some tips and tricks for those areas. Take it easy and don't burn out or get overconfident.

Then again, if you think you're just going to drive yourself crazy, then switch your test date! It may very well be worth the $50 (which is the fee if you switch your date 7 days or more before your test.) You may want to put this in perspective with your hourly wage, and how much time you think you will waste doing repeat studying.

Best wishes,

Tatiana

[erjamit]

Thanks Tatiana for the response. When you say "hard", how do we know which questions are hard. For OG10, there is a xls sheet which organises by hard, medium and easy bins. What about the other material. Also, I have a dilemma here. I have finished OG10, and I am doing Kaplan 800, CATs etc. I feel I havn't fully utilised the OG. Shall I redo the OG10 hard questions few weeks before the exam. Or do I need to try some other material.

Amit

[i.dreem]

Hi Tatiana,

Thanx for your advice.

There are a couple of things which still bother me at this stage

- Accuracy rate - especially in RC. While practicing OG10, 11 my average accuracy have been 75-80%. I dont think it is good enugh for 700+ scores.

-Accuracy rate for SC is approx 80% and CR abt 85%. Is it good enugh for 700+ scores.

- Hard problems as u said. Material wise I am only left with OG10, 11. Kaplan800 is under progress. So, what else classifies under 'hard'.

Originally I had planned for the test 4 weeks earlier than now what it is. I didnt get the date. The earliest i got is this one. !

Looking forward to ur response.

Thanx.

-i.dreem

[VP_Tatiana]

Hi guys,

Different prep systems classify the hard problems different ways. I know our Veritas materials have challenge problems in each book after the homework problems.

I'm not familiar with how other systems classify the hard ones, but I would guess there is some sort of differentiation. I think I've seen some discussion of this on this forum, so either a search or another thread would help answer this question.

i.dreem, you mentioned getting a 690 on your last practice test, so that is why I suggested 700 level+ type questions. Of course, everyone is stronger in some subjects than others. If you're still missing quite a few easier questions in RC, then don't focus on the 700+ questions yet. My point was that you should focus on questions that really challenge you and stretch your abilities, so that you don't get overconfident and so that you keep improving.

erjamit, you didn't mention your current score, so adapt the advice I gave to i.dreem to your specific situation. Work on problems that stretch you, but that you can make decent progress upon. You should be able to solve many of the problems but not all of them. (If you can't solve any, you might get demotivated about the test as well!) If the problems are too hard and you can barely begin, you won't learn very much.

When doing the hard problems, don't worry about speed at first. Speed is something you can fine-tune in the last few weeks. Accuracy and true understanding are what matter first.

There's so much material out there that I only recommend redoing questions if you have gotten them wrong. Find out the right answer and the right way to do the problem, then rework it. That's important for improvement. Once you already know a problem, though, you won't get much value from doing the exact same problem again. Just look for some similar ones. There are a plethora of questions in this forum, for instance.

Best wishes,

Tatiana

[erjamit]

Hi Tatiana,

I have few queries about your response:-

"Find out the right answer and the right way to do the problem, then rework it. That's important for improvement. Once you already know a problem, though, you won't get much value from doing the exact same problem again. Just look for some similar ones."

I can understand this in terms of Quant and SC, where the questions will follow a pattern (ratio, geometry etc, or in SC idioms etc). But can you explain how will this work for CR and RC. The passages will keep on changing.

amit

[VP_Tatiana]

Hi Amit,

Good prep books should explain the logic behind every problem's answer. For RC problems, the answer guide should explain why the incorrect answer choices are incorrect, and why the correct choice is correct. Make sure you understand the explanation well, then read back through that section of the passage to see if you can use that logic to arrive at the right answer.

Yes, all passages are different... but there will be common reasons why some choices are right and some choice are wrong (ie out of scope, wrong tone). Same goes for CR. Each question will fall in one of a handful of categories, and being able to identify type of question and method of solving is half the battle.

Hope that helps,

Tatiana

[tmmyc]

OG 11 questions are ordered by difficulty. If you can do the problems at the end of each section with no problems, then you are well on your way to improving your score.

MGMAT CAT exams are also considered quite difficult. I believe they offer one for free on their website so you can try that out.