Retake strategy - in 1 month please help

[danielchu]

Hi all,

I just came back from the test center and felt extremely surprised by my score:

Score: 540
Q: 44
V: 21

I cannot believe it because my practice test scores have never been so low before. Rather than feeling depressed, I am actually feeling very angry now. I cannot believe that this is happening to me.

In this 1.5 month, I have studied:

1. OG (about 3 times)
2. OG -VR (about 2 times)
3. Manhattan SC
4. Kaplan Premier
5. Kaplan 800
6. Kaplan Verbal

Since my test was scheduled at 8:00 a.m., I took a week off from work and make myself wake up everyday at 7:00 a.m. and sit in a practice test from 8 to 12 just to get used to the habit of taking the test in the morning.

I moved into a hotel near the test center last night, and I couldn't sleep there for the night. Although I didn't feel tired during the test, I was probably not giving my best because right after the test, I felt extremely exhausted.

I was a little trapped with time from my last few Quan questions and at about 15 mins left in the V, I got a RC at 31. That kind of pushed me off a little as well. Perhaps my main problem was time, which I didn't feel as strongly as the problem before.

Lastly, during the past few days, I have been studying very quickly through OG and I think that also gave me a little trouble as well because I was too familiar with it that whenever I saw the first and last word of the underlined text, I already knew the answer (A, B, C, D, E) to choose from. I think I skipped my thought process a little to get through those questions because I thought there might be some repetitive questions in the real GMAT and I will just need to memorize them. I think that act degraded Verbal analytical ability...

That's a brief analysis that I gave myself. I feel pathetic and angry that I have scheduled another one on Dec 1st @ 12 p.m. I am going to beat the hell out of GMAT next time. My goal is no longer 760. I am going to aim for 800.

Could someone please post some tips for me or take a look at my analysis / situation and see whether I am on the right track?

Also, if you can suggest some study plans for me, that will be great.

Here I am posting my records:

Source Date Score Q V
Kaplan Practice (Take 1) 04-Sep 620 42 34
Kaplan Practice Test 1 10-Sep 640 49 26
Kaplan Practice Test 2 13-Sep 570 38 25
Kaplan Practice Test 3 17-Sep 610 41 28
Kaplan Practice Test 4 21-Sep 680 52 29
Manhattan CAT 2 (Take 1) 29-Sep 610 40 34
Manhattan CAT 3 (Take 1) 30-Sep 650 42 37
Manhattan CAT 4 (Take 1) 01-Oct 640 48 31
Princeton Review CAT 2 03-Oct 610 45 30
Kaplan Practice (Take 2) 04-Oct 650 44 38
Manhattan CAT 5 05-Oct 660 46 34
Manhattan CAT 6 11-Oct 640 48 30
Princeton Review CAT 3 12-Oct 630 51 25
Princeton Review CAT 4 13-Oct 650 50 28
GMAT Prep 1 (Take 1) 14-Oct 670 48 34
Kaplan Practice (Take 3) 15-Oct 670 46 39
Manhattan CAT 1 15-Oct 680 47 35
GMAT Prep 2 (Take 1) 16-Oct 680 49 34
Manhattan CAT 2 (Take 2) 16-Oct 680 47 35
GMAT Prep 1 (Take 2) 17-Oct 710 47 41
Manhattan CAT 3 (Take 2) 17-Oct 620 38 36
GMAT Prep 2 (Take 2) 18-Oct 670 50 30
GMAT Prep 1 (Take 3) 19-Oct 770 49 46
GMAT Prep 2 (Take 3) 20-Oct 740 50 40

Thank you,

[logitech]

I feel your pain my friend.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/620-6-months ... 21189.html

[mikart0708]

I would suggest to practice from the material available on MBA.COM than anything else. There are 9 test papers available - each of them containing approximately 100 questions from both Quant and Verbal. so you will have a total of approximately - 900 questions. However some of them are repetitive from OG.

Also I understand you mentioned you did OG - However what I would suggest is - especially for SC - look @ all the explanations for the answer choices including the incorrect one's - what you really learn by doing that is how to avoid the GMAT Traps - that is one thing which I learnt when doing the OG and Verbal review. Not only just solve the answer but how did you solve the answer.

For example if you are looking @ a verbal SC question that has 2 errors (Typically there will be atleast 2 errors in each verbal SC): The correct answer corrects both - like a subject - verb match as well as the use of 'such as' vs 'like'.

The OG should be used just not to get the correct answers but also how to 'avoid' the incorrect answers. Some times by understanding the techniques of avoiding the incorrect answers is how you will get to the correct answer.

Similar strategy can be applied for CR as well. RC is all practice....

Hope this helps and good luck....

[danielchu]

Thank you mikart0708.

That's a very good piece of advice. I am going to try that.

So what do you suggest about pacing?

[mikart0708]

The way I did was when I practiced - I 'clocked' myself but never to do the question in a hurry but to focus on the question and on an average of 10 questions to note how long I took - Between the OG-11, Verbal Review and the 9 test papers from MBA.Com I finally ended up doing SC @ 90 seconds speed (this is after a lot of practice - not the first intial 100 or so questions). CR and RC almost @ 2 mins per question.

But really what is important is understanding the question. Like for SC - the biggest thing is identifying the mistake, in CR understanding the question type and then checking for the answers and RC going thru those passaged and forming a skeleton sketch / headline list - whichever.

Bottom line focus on getting the answers correct with the right strategy and because of the number of questions u have between the OG - 11, Verbal Review, Quant Review and the 9 test papers - you would automatically improve ur pace.....

[Stacey Koprince]

Ok, first, you are taking WAY too many tests. You burned yourself out and you stressed yourself out right before the test. Don't do that next time.

You don't actually learn a ton just from taking a practice test. You learn from analyzing the problems you're doing - most of your learning comes from the time you spend looking at a problem AFTER you've tried if for the first time.

When you study, can you answer these questions about a problem (every problem, whether you got it right or wrong)?

- Do I fully know the content / concepts being tested on this problem (math or grammar), or do I understand the logic behind this problem / why it works the way that it works (CR, RC)?

- What is the best way for me to work through this problem, combining both efficiency (speed) and effectiveness (accuracy)? (Most of the time, the first way you try to do a problem is not actually the best way! You should think about this even if you got it right - in fact, it's often easier to think of alternate, better ways when you got the problem right in the first place.)

- If I made a mistake, why did I make that mistake (as specifically as possible)? 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?

- If I got it right, did I really know what I was doing or did I get lucky? If I got lucky, refer to the previous set of questions.

- How would I make an educated guess (that is, identify and eliminate some wrong answers)? Again, it's often easier to figure out how to do this when you got the problem right in the first place. Learn the process based on the particular type or sub-type of question and then apply the process when you hit a problem of that type that you can't do.

- (on verbal) Which is the most tempting wrong answer? Why? Why is it actually wrong? Why would someone be tempted to eliminate the right answer, even though it's right?

Finally, the "holy grail" question to answer for every problem:
- How will I recognize problems of a similar type in future so that I can either repeat my original success or use my newly developed ways (Best way, Educated Guess way) on that different but similar problem?

You will NOT see questions you've seen before. But you will see similar questions, or similar parts of questions. You have to figure out what the general question structures are and how they're worded / presented to us. Then, when you see something that matches that general construct, you use the same method you used the last time you saw something of that same general construct (even though it was a different problem).

[danielchu]

Thanks for the reply Stacey.

Now, if you were me and if you only have a month left (until December 1st), how would you plan for the month?

Thanks,

[praneix]

hi
i took my Gmat early last month n scored 550 (q37, V28). followed an identical prep. scored around 640 each time. i'm taking my gmat in exactly a month from today - Nov 27th
the only difference is i joined two classroom courses (one mon thru thurs and another weekend) which have helped me a lot. Earlier, it was thru self-prep n i can understand what u need exactly.
here are some q's i want u to answer-
1) have u learnt what is right n what is wrong on the gmat?
for eg: in sentence correction, if there's a sentence that reads:
Being elder to tim, John's application... blah blah
has two mistakes - a) no sentence on the gmat will possibly be right if it has a "being" construction (i have never seen a question in OG or any other official material from GMAC where this usage is allowed)
b) compare like things - compare john with tim or john's applic with tim's applic.
so on n so forth.
what do u think r ur weak areas in verbal? If u r sure to get Sentence correction right, u will get about 16 questions on 41 correct. Maybe another 8 CR out of a probable 11 and a 11 on 14 on RC.
Learn ur math formulae again. Mostly it would be in Data sufficiency i guess u went wrong. that's where the entire treasure is. i hope i make sense.
feel free to pm me or contact me on yahoo - praneix13_666 or
gtalk - praneix

[danielchu]

hi
1) have u learnt what is right n what is wrong on the gmat?
for eg: in sentence correction, if there's a sentence that reads:
Being elder to tim, John's application... blah blah
has two mistakes - a) no sentence on the gmat will possibly be right if it has a "being" construction (i have never seen a question in OG or any other official material from GMAC where this usage is allowed)
b) compare like things - compare john with tim or john's applic with tim's applic.
so on n so forth.
what do u think r ur weak areas in verbal? If u r sure to get Sentence correction right, u will get about 16 questions on 41 correct. Maybe another 8 CR out of a probable 11 and a 11 on 14 on RC.
Learn ur math formulae again. Mostly it would be in Data sufficiency i guess u went wrong. that's where the entire treasure is. i hope i make sense.
feel free to pm me or contact me on yahoo - praneix13_666 or
gtalk - praneix

Hello Praneix,

I think my weak area for SC is around:
a) Those answer choices which OG marked them as "awkward or unclear".
b) Large SC question - i.e., the kind of question which the entire sentence is underlined. I usually take a lot of time on those and if it's a comparison question, I might even take longer.

I also realized that time management is my weakest spot. MGMT suggests 3 min to read the passage and 1 min per question on a short passage. I usually take about 5 min to read a short passage.

I also realized that last time, I used the wrong strategy for DS which I tried to solve for an answer for every single one of them. That killed my time. Now, I have corrected this habit after taking a MGMT lesson.

That's all I can think of for now.[/list]

[praneix]

Hello Praneix,

I think my weak area for SC is around:
a) Those answer choices which OG marked them as "awkward or unclear".
b) Large SC question - i.e., the kind of question which the entire sentence is underlined. I usually take a lot of time on those and if it's a comparison question, I might even take longer.

I also realized that time management is my weakest spot. MGMT suggests 3 min to read the passage and 1 min per question on a short passage. I usually take about 5 min to read a short passage.

I also realized that last time, I used the wrong strategy for DS which I tried to solve for an answer for every single one of them. That killed my time. Now, I have corrected this habit after taking a MGMT lesson.

That's all I can think of for now.[/list]

tell me the sentences from OG u found as marked awkward or unclear. did u download the SC cheatsheet in this forum? it is useful. i also have other similar cheetsheets which are, by and large, exhaustive.
if time management is ur area of problem, treat it this way. first of all, for the next 2 weeks, go untimed. spend at least 8-10 hours a day plainly on practice questions (no full length tests in these two weeks) and don't time ur work. if u r able to get a lto of questions right (what i mean here is - if u get ur strategy right n as u learn the tricks of the trade), u will be able to eliminate wrong choices easily.
With long sentences, have this strategy (adopt it if u find urself at comfort using it): on ur scrap-sheet, write A B C D E and as soon as u find one mistake in each answer choice (i.e., once u know that the choice is wrong for sure), strike it off. Mostly u will be left with not more than 3 choices to work with. therein, narrow down to two cos one of the three will surely be very evidently wrong. in the remaining two, it will be a matter of stylistic difference. by and large this is how it goes. may vary question to question but is a valid rule.
Now, once the two weeks r over, everyday, i would suggest u take a full-length test. i suppose u have enough material. if not, email me. i'll send u some test material. cant post them here cos it's against the forum rules. the fortnight before the exam, you should be ideally spending about 10 hours easily.
r u chasing any deadline? what score r u looking at?
if not, i would suggest u attend a classroom course. it helps when it comes to sentence correction. in any case, download the cheatsheets. they'll help.

[Stacey Koprince]

in response to daniel's question for me (several posts above):

I'd start by going back to my one or two most recent practice tests (taken in the last 2-3 weeks). I'd go through every question and ask myself the questions I listed in my last post above. This will likely take 5-10 minutes per question (though some may take longer). For some questions, your analysis should be: this is too hard for me and I should've guessed faster. (Then, ask yourself how you should have made that guess.)

I'd also make a list of problem types and content areas on which I went 30+ seconds over time and ask myself WHY I went over time on each one. There are a lot of different reasons why I might take too long on a problem. Also look for patterns (hmm, I tend to go over on long word problems, or geometry problems that combine two different shapes, or whatever).

I would use the above analysis to figure out my strengths and weaknesses and set up a study plan accordingly. Some of that will consist of reviewing actual content / knowledge (eg, formulas, grammar, that sort of stuff), some will consist of reviewing technique (eg, DS yes/no number property theory questions, when can I pick a number?, CR weaken the conclusion questions, how do I make an educated guess on rate problems or RC infer problems?, and so on), and some will consist of reviewing timing (on individual questions) and/or pacing strategy (across all questions in a section).

If you have questions about what to do about a particular weakness you've identified, you can ask here.

You might want to spend about 2-3 days analyzing your weaknesses and figuring out a study plan, then go into a review + practice test cycle. I'd do about 3 practice tests, one 5-7 days before the official test and the other two scheduled proportionately before then (spread out over the time you have between now and then).

Make sure you take all practice tests under exact testing conditions (essays, 10 min break, quant, 10 min break, verbal) and try to take the tests at the same time of day as you'll take the real test.

[jeffignacio]

I agree with Stacey. Taking more GMAT Practice Tests didnt help me much except for getting a feel for the pacing. Each time I took a test I'd start out different, CR or SC or RC. Every test was different. Plus I felt my scores were a little inflated after seeing the same questions over and over again.

I would go through the questions you got wrong and figure out why you got them wrong. What are the splits on the SC questions... and eliminate the wrong ones. If you haven't already, I recommend picking up MGMAT's SC Guide. That book was the bible for SC. The devil is in the details, so look back and figure out what you tend to do wrong.

Good luck!

[danielchu]

Yeah. I just had my session with an MGMT tutor.

He also suggested me not to take any tests anymore. He said they won't mean a thing to me anymore because I have seen all the questions already.

He suggested me to work on mastering, from my weakest topic, to my medium weakspot, and focus on mastering the questions that are below my ability first.

He also suggested that I stop my current studying habit, which I have been studying from 8 to 1 a.m. every weekday out of a 8 to 5:30 workday and whole day non-stop during the weekends. He said it's important that I recover my mental states at this point to a normal level.

He also told me a lot of other things, but those are some of the keys that he talked about...

[jeffignacio]

Agreed. Identify your weak spots and then focus on understanding the concept. From experience, I studied typically from 7 - 8:30/9 PM after work. After that I really just lost focus and I wasn't learning a thing.