GMAT Strategy

Moved post to correct forum.

Apologies to others who've already heard me say this many times: but you aren't done with OG just because you remember the answers to the questions. Effective study is NOT about just doing lots and lots of problems. Effective study is about analyzing the problems and there are no better problems to analyze than OG. If you don't yet like your score, then you're not done with OG.

For instance, for those problems in OG, whether you got them right or wrong, could you tell me (in no particular order):

- what clues in the problem tell you what type of problem it is
- what clues in the problem allow you to recognize the best method for solving (NOT allow you to figure the problem out from scratch, but to RECOGNIZE that you've seen something like this before, and remember that last time some particular approach worked so you're going to use the same approach again this time)
- what the traps are in the problem
- how to make an educated guess (ie, how to recognize and eliminate some wrong answers before guessing)
- how to solve the problem in the most efficient way (which is often not the first way you solved the problem)
- (for math) what shortcuts exist and how to recognize similar shortcuts in the future
- (for verbal) why the wrong answers are tempting, and why they are wrong (WHY - not just that they're tempting or that they're wrong)
- (for verbal) why it's tempting to cross off the right answer
- (for any you got wrong) why you got them wrong and what you're doing to minimize the chances of making that particular type of error in the future

Unti you can answer those questions for a problem, you aren't actually done studying that problem. Oh, and some advice: it's easier to (1) spot traps, (2) find shortcuts, (3) get more efficient, and (4) learn how to make educated guesses when you got the problem right in the first place. Learn HOW to do these things on problems you get right and then APPLY that knowledge to harder problems of the same type when you don't know what to do.

So, that should give you something to do re: studying.

By the way, nice job your first time out. I know you don't like your score and want to take it again, but take a moment to feel good that you still got a very good score, even if you want to do better!

The time mismanagement is definitely a major problem. The worst thing on this test is a string of wrong answers in a row - and with 20 problems in 30 minutes... you're much more likely to have a string of wrong answers in a row. Your SC timing should be about 1.5 min, not 2. This requires you to be pretty efficient with SC, so here's a process for working through any SC.

1) Read the ENTIRE original sentence (don't stop at the end of the underline)
2) If you noticed anything wrong or anything that sounded funny, go back and look at it. If it's definitely an error, cross off A, and then scan the other answer choices vertically (around that same general location) and cross off any others that repeat the same error.
3) Repeat with the original sentence until you don't have anything else you noticed that was "off"
4) Scan the answer choices vertically (NOT horizontally) and look for differences. If you can deal with the first difference you spot, do so. If not, keep scanning vertically until you find the next difference. There's ALWAYS at least one difference at the beginning of the underline and at the end of the underline (on official questions - and if you're studying from another source and that source doesn't follow this basic rule, then don't study from that source anymore!)
5) Deal with any of the differences that you can and do NOT agonize over the differences you don't know how to handle - move on. If you aren't down to one right answer, just pick something and keep going.

Also, it's really key to make your scrap paper work for you while working on this (or any verbal question, really). Make sure you have ABCDE written down and make sure you have three symbols worked out ahead of time: one for "I think this is right," one for "maybe, unless I find something better," and one for "no, this is definitely wrong." I use a check mark, a horizontal squiggly line, and an X mark, respectively. You can use anything you want, but make sure you're consistent. Every time you make any kind of decision, note down one of those three marks. (Note: this also helps you not to waste too much time agonizing over "maybe" answers - just note it as maybe and move on. Half the time, you'll either mark the other four with Xs, or you'll realize another one is better and you can change the "maybe" to an X.)

I also don't write ABCDE down every time. Instead, I write that horizontally across the top of the page with a little space between each letter. Then, every row represents a new question and I use my symbols below the corresponding letter. But some people do like to write ABCDE out for every question - whatever you prefer.

Finally, if you have narrowed down to two options and just don't know how to decide, don't sit there agonizing. Pick something and move on. A lot of times, when I'm watching my students, they'll narrow it down to two or three pretty quickly - within a minute. And then they'll spend another minute agonizing and then they end up having to just guess anyway. So they wasted a minute when they could've made the guess in 5 seconds.

It can help to remember that you're only going to get about 60% of the questions right anyway, so if you're guessing between 2, you're already at 50/50!