Best way to review the questions

[Nina1987]

Hi,

I am planning to write the GMAT soon. However, before the exam, I would like to review about 500-600 questions I've marked out of almost 2500 official questions. What's the best way to review all these questions? I don't have enough time to solve these questions again. Thanks

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Hi,

I am planning to write the GMAT soon. However, before the exam, I would like to review about 500-600 questions I've marked out of almost 2500 official questions. What's the best way to review all these questions? I don't have enough time to solve these questions again. Thanks

It's tough to answer this question in the abstract, but one approach some students find helpful when reviewing a large batch of questions is to focus on pattern recognition rather than re-solving every question. In other words, each time you see a problem, you'll mentally consider what approach would work best (algebra? picking numbers? back-solving? chart?) If you're comfortable that your approach is a good one, keep moving. If you're not sure, then dig in and redo the question. The hope is that you'll be able to flip through 80% of the questions fairly quickly, leaving you 100 questions or so to resolve, a more reasonable amount of work considering your timeframe.

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Hi Nina1987,

It's important that you clearly define the parameters of what you're talking about:

1) When are you scheduled to take the GMAT?
2) What type of availability will you have to study up to that time?
3) When you say "review questions", what does that mean to YOU? Do you want to redo them from scratch? Flip through your old notes? Just reread them?
4) How much are you looking to improve your score?

There's a 'mechanical' aspect to Test Day that can really only be improved by doing the physical work, on the pad, to answer a given question. You have to factor that type of training into your practice.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ceilidh.erickson]

If you don't have time to "solve" these questions again, then you don't have time to review them. You'll never see a question on the test that's identical to ones you've seen from the OGs, so your goal is not to memorize the questions. The goal is to use each question as an opportunity to learn the following:
- how does the GMAT structure questions?
- how do they test content?
- what mistakes have you made, and how can you avoid them?

If you spend ~2 minutes doing each question, you should spend ~5 minutes reviewing each question. Otherwise you're simply confirming the answer, without learning any larger lessons. Your score is unlikely to improve this way.

Look at your practice tests and run an Assessment Report. Identify the topics or question types that need the most work, and aim to deeply review just a handful of questions in each topic.

[Nina1987]

Thanks for your reply @DavidG@VeritasPrep. That looks like a good strategy. But what do you mean by 'It's tough to answer this question in the abstract" What more information do you need? I am specifically talking about quant questions. I am trying to improve from 49 to 51 on quant. I need Q50/51 as I am targeting financial engineering programs. Thanks

[DavidG@VeritasPrep]

Thanks for your reply @DavidG@VeritasPrep. That looks like a good strategy. But what do you mean by 'It's tough to answer this question in the abstract" What more information do you need? I am specifically talking about quant questions. I am trying to improve from 49 to 51 on quant. I need Q50/51 as I am targeting financial engineering programs. Thanks

I just mean that different students require different approaches to crafting study plans. I recently had one student who was shooting for 780, and she could solve problems incredibly quickly. So quickly, that she could probably have ripped through 500 questions a day without breaking a sweat - it was often enough for her to eyeball a problem and recognize that she knew how to do it. However, another student was struggling a bit, and if I'd suggested more than 10-15 questions a day, he'd have been overwhelmed. Rather, we had to really dissect a handful of questions and then do some drilling to build up his fundamentals. It sounds as though you're closer to the former student than the latter, but the point of my post was to try to offer abstract parameters for finding that balance between quick review and thorough dissection, rather than offering prescriptive concrete advice, such as "do 125 questions a day.'