GMAT 570. Need a strategy. Help. Thanks.

[superrrom]

Took GMAT 2 days ago. My score is 570 Q 40, V 28, which reflects previous prepGMATs. The Q portion on GMAT was very hard, I felt like I had to guess 40% of the questions, I was late with timing as well. The V portion seemed easy, I was ahead. The results show that I actually scored lower in verbal.

I can identify most of the types of questions. I think I don’t use any serious available techniques, maybe I do but unconsciously.

Timing is my struggle especially on Q part. When I took GMAT I got discouraged on the first Q question because I couldn’t solve it, though I knew it wasn’t difficult and the result was so obvious but I couldn’t find it and had to move on. I needed more time to crack that one and I didn’t have it. I also noticed that my weakness is DS.

Verbal part during the actual test went quite smooth and I thought it wasn’t difficult. Well, I was wrong. I finished verbal a little earlier and scored lower than Q. I’ve been in English speaking environment and culture for 3 years, which makes all the idioms questions just a sad experience. I tried to use flashcards and stuff but it didn’t help. I guess, again, I can identify the key types of the questions but have no clear technique in mind how to crack them, I guess I do it by looking at that SC and try to figure out if it sounds correct or whatever.

People say that it is a good idea to make a chart with all the problems you solve to see your weaknesses. Well, I solved all the problems in 3 OG books, Princeton and Kaplan 800. So I don’t have a lot of choices and sources to get problems anymore to actually identify where my weak points are right now??? I went through prepGmat test 4 times as well.

I also feel that I need to strat solving much more challenging problems not just for the average score.

I studied for 4 months. Unfortunately OG guides prepare you for average result of 550. I see that I need way better results in Verbal and higher in Math to achieve 650+.
I'm not going to give up.
I would really appreciate your precious help!

[bekkilyn]

Are you able to do all the problems in the OG books with 100% accuracy and within 2 minutes for quantitative and less time for the verbal questions (minus the reading passages)? I define doing the problems as not just knowing the answer, but fully knowing every step to getting that answer and why that step is necessary. If not, then those books are still helpful to you in learning your weaknesses.

I have seen posts from people who have used nothing but the OG books and scored over 700, so I don't particularly believe that the theory that the OG is only good up until 550 or so.

From your post, it sounds like you are solving some things unconsciously without fully knowing why they work on don't work. It would probably be helpful to keep brushing up on those techniques.

[superrrom]

Are you able to do all the problems in the OG books with 100% accuracy and within 2 minutes for quantitative and less time for the verbal questions (minus the reading passages)? I define doing the problems as not just knowing the answer, but fully knowing every step to getting that answer and why that step is necessary. If not, then those books are still helpful to you in learning your weaknesses.

I have seen posts from people who have used nothing but the OG books and scored over 700, so I don't particularly believe that the theory that the OG is only good up until 550 or so.

From your post, it sounds like you are solving some things unconsciously without fully knowing why they work on don't work. It would probably be helpful to keep brushing up on those techniques.

thanks for reply.
I didn't do them with 100% acuracy, but I went through my mistakes couple times. I definetely can do that again. But at this point the questions are not new, I remember the answers without even solving questions. I still belive that OG is a general preparation test. And if you don't have good background within math or verbal stuff, just by solving OG you will not score higher than 600. Only 10-15% of the questions in GMAT could target you above 600. But those are the type of questions I saw all the time on my GMAT in the test center. I think I don't have stamina and experience in solving real GMAT difficult questions.

[bekkilyn]

You remember the answer, but if you are not solving the problem with 100% accuracy, then it sounds like you are not fully remembering how to get to that answer (without first looking at the answer description). If you can't take a problem, new or old, and write out every step of how to get to that correct answer, then you don't yet know that problem well enough, and you won't be able to apply those steps to unfamiliar (and possibly more difficult) problems. When reviewing for the GMAT, it's the process, and how you can apply that process to other problems, that is the most important because you will never see any of these practice problems on the real exam.

Learning the problems in the OG is almost like getting into the minds of the people who created the GMAT. You can't get closer than that.

I'd suggest mixing up the problems. Keep doing some new problems for practice with the unfamiliar, but keep going back and reviewing those old problems for what you can still learn from them.

[boatracers]

I posted this on how I raised my score. Perhaps it can help you as well!

https://www.beatthegmat.com/how-i-scored ... 20514.html

Good luck!

Paul
[email protected]
www.EssayMatch.com

Took GMAT 2 days ago. My score is 570 Q 40, V 28, which reflects previous prepGMATs. The Q portion on GMAT was very hard, I felt like I had to guess 40% of the questions, I was late with timing as well. The V portion seemed easy, I was ahead. The results show that I actually scored lower in verbal.

I can identify most of the types of questions. I think I don’t use any serious available techniques, maybe I do but unconsciously.

Timing is my struggle especially on Q part. When I took GMAT I got discouraged on the first Q question because I couldn’t solve it, though I knew it wasn’t difficult and the result was so obvious but I couldn’t find it and had to move on. I needed more time to crack that one and I didn’t have it. I also noticed that my weakness is DS.

Verbal part during the actual test went quite smooth and I thought it wasn’t difficult. Well, I was wrong. I finished verbal a little earlier and scored lower than Q. I’ve been in English speaking environment and culture for 3 years, which makes all the idioms questions just a sad experience. I tried to use flashcards and stuff but it didn’t help. I guess, again, I can identify the key types of the questions but have no clear technique in mind how to crack them, I guess I do it by looking at that SC and try to figure out if it sounds correct or whatever.

People say that it is a good idea to make a chart with all the problems you solve to see your weaknesses. Well, I solved all the problems in 3 OG books, Princeton and Kaplan 800. So I don’t have a lot of choices and sources to get problems anymore to actually identify where my weak points are right now??? I went through prepGmat test 4 times as well.

I also feel that I need to strat solving much more challenging problems not just for the average score.

I studied for 4 months. Unfortunately OG guides prepare you for average result of 550. I see that I need way better results in Verbal and higher in Math to achieve 650+.
I'm not going to give up.
I would really appreciate your precious help!

[Stacey Koprince]

I received a PM asking me to respond.

bekkilyn is offering some good advice. It is absolutely not the case that OG only prepares people up to about 550 or 600. OG does, of course, include a range of questions from very easy to difficult, so you have to account for that in your study. For example, if you're hoping for a 700, then you should not only have 100% accuracy for the first 50 problems in each section, but also be able to answer those in half of the usual time. And you should be able to get to an answer on any question, even the hardest ones, within two minutes. (Note that I didn't say you should be able to get to the right answer - just an answer. You're not going to get everything right on the test itself.)

I don't think your issue is that you've "used up" a lot of the available problems. I think your issue is that you didn't study what you needed to study the first time through those problems. Lots of people don't - this isn't uncommon - but what you don't want to do at this point is just start going through a bunch of new (likely lower quality) problems and still not study what you need to study. You're not likely to get a different result if you do that.

For those OG questions you studied, can you answer the following questions (about every single problem)?

For the ones you got wrong:
1) Why did I get it wrong (as specifically as possible)? This could have to do with not knowing content (math or grammar), not recognizing what content they were talking about (same), not knowing how to use the content, not knowing or recognizing the techniques / approaches available to use for this type of problem, making some kind of careless error when you actually did know how to do the problem (and, if so, name the specific error(s) you made), falling into a trap, and so on.
2) What could I do to minimize the chance of making that error (or those errors) again?  How will I make whatever that is a habit so that I really do minimize chances of making the same error again?
3) What are the right / best ways to approach it?
4) Of the right / best ways, which one is the best way for me (combining both efficiency and effectiveness) given my strengths and weaknesses?
5) How will I recognize problems of similar type in future so that I can apply that "best way" to the problem?

For ones you get right:
1) Did I really know what I was doing or did I get lucky?  If I got lucky, review all of the "wrong answer" questions, above
2) If I did know what I was doing, did I also do it in the best way (for me)?  If not, figure out the best way for you.
3) How will I recognize problems of similar type in future so that I can either repeat my original success or apply my new "best way" to the problem?

For ones you got right or wrong:
1) How would I make an educated guess on this problem? How will I recognize similar problems in future so that I know I can use the same educated guessing strategy I used for this one?
2) What traps exist here? How can I recognize that they're here - what language or set-up in the problem is the clue that the trap exists?
3) What shortcuts exist here? How can I save some time on this problem without harming my chances of getting it right?

For verbal in general:
1) Why is each wrong answer is wrong?
2) Which wrong answer is the most tempting and why?
3) How can I recognize that the tempting wrong answer is still wrong anyway so I can eliminate it?
4) Why might someone be tempted to eliminate the right answer?

Can you really answer all of those questions? Until you can, you don't understand those problems to the point that you can recognize similar problems in future and immediately know the best way for you to approach the problem, where the traps might be, how to save time, how to make an educated guess, etc. Think about it: if you can recognize what to do, rather than have to figure it all out from scratch for each new problem, then you (a) save a lot of time, and (b) improve your accuracy, because you're trying an approach that you know actually worked on a similar problem in the past. And that's exactly how you get a 700 on this test!