What do think is the difference between 48Q scorer vs 50/51Q scorer? What does it take to go from 48Q to 50/51Q? Any suggestions on the strategies?
This is a question I get all the time - "how can I go from a very good score to an EXCELLENT score?" To put it in a nutshell: very high scorer has to have mastery of the content. A excellent scorer has to have mastery of the TEST!
To used a really dated reference... think of the GMAT as The MATRIX. The 48Q student sees the question on the screen, and tries to solve it correctly. A 51Q student doesn't just see the question on the screen - he/she sees through the Matrix to the inner workings of the test!
Here's the thought process of a student who can see through the Matrix:
- "I know the concept being tested"
- "I recognize this structure from several other questions"
- "I know what the test writer's objective was"
- "I know the kind of traps involved in this sort of question"
- "I know a shortcut that will let me skip steps"
Another major factor that distinguishes the 48Q student from the 51Q student is that the 51Q student doesn't make careless mistakes (or doesn't make nearly as many). You could be an absolute genius, but if you're making careless computation or algebra errors, you're not going to get the score that you want. To minimize these errors, you need to know what patterns of errors you're prone to. Here's an article that outlines how: https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -studying/
Getting to a deep understanding of the test and minimizing your flaws will require a great deal of work. You will have to see hundreds of problems to develop that pattern recognition. But just doing the work isn't enough! You also have to review each problem really thoroughly, and think critically about the reason this question exists, in this format, with these answer choices, etc. It requires stepping back from the question itself, and making connections.
