In need of advisement

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In need of advisement

by Adriana_Buchler » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:57 am
Hello everyone.

My name is Adriana and I have taken the GMAT 3 times.
Despite having a good perfomance on power preps and even on Kaplan's tests (700 - 770) when it comes to the exam I can't get a good grade.
I am taking a test in two weeks and will begin to study today...I am looking for some tips on how to prepare for this new test.

Thanks a lot

Adriana
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by sonibubu » Wed Jan 16, 2008 10:17 am
Rather than taking Kaplan tests, I would suggest taking a GMATPrep test -- these are the best indicators of how you will do. It will also show what your weak areas are so you can brush up before the real thing.

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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:40 pm
Also, you really need to diagnose what's going on when you take the real thing. Think about your most recent experience and write down EVERYthing you remember - the good, the bad, the ugly. Did any topics really throw you or make you struggle? Was anything easier or harder than you expected? How was your timing? How was your stamina? Do you feel extra-nervous when taking the real thing, to the point that it is affecting your ability to think / perform? etc. Let us know so we can try to help you!
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In need of advisement

by Adriana_Buchler » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:09 pm
First,

Thank you very much for your responses.
My first GMAT was 600 (43/29) but I knew that I wasn't that prepared (but I took specific english and math classes). By the second I was very prepared, taking 740 on the powerpreps. And my grade was 610! (40/34).
I continued studing very hard, performing 760-770 on the power preps and took 660 (45/35).
I've talked to my professors and they all agree that I have what it takes to perform but when the time comes, I simply can't...
This last exam I was calm....my problem in Math was time...I never get to finish the test, I end up guessing the last 5. In english I really don't know...from the preps I've seen that my majoir problem is critical reasoning...
Now I have this week and a half to study again, but most of all, I am really scared that I won't perform again...
How is it possible that I have an excelent perfomance on the preps and a average one on the real thing?

Thank you so much

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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:30 pm
If you guess on the last 5 and get them all wrong, that will drop your percentile about 10 to 12.5 points from wherever you were scoring just before you got the last 5 wrong. So that's a pretty significant decrease. Remember that the worst way to get stuff wrong is to get a lot of stuff wrong in a row, and the worst place for that to happen is at the end of the test b/c you have no additional questions left to try to raise your score again.

Think of it this way: you are going to have to guess on 5 questions in each section (for most people, it's 5-7 questions). Do you want to choose which 5-7 questions those are, or do you want to be forced to make guesses on the last 5-7 questions regardless of what they are? That's your choice - you can't choose not to make guesses at all. Won't happen - the test will always get harder no matter how good you get.

So, make a choice: choose the 5-7 hardest questions as you see them throughout the section. Do not go 1 second over time on these questions (and maybe shave 30 seconds off). Find a way to make an educated guess, not a random one, and then MOVE ON. This will ensure you can at least read and respond to the final questions in the section, which significantly decreases the chance that you will have a string of questions wrong in a row at the end.

And, by the way, in any string of 5 questions, you should be able to answer at least 2 of them. So if you let yourself be forced to guess on the last 5 questions, you are guessing on at least two questions that you'd actually be able to do if only you had the time.

Don't let that happen - choose the hardest ones as you move through the test. That strategy alone could actually help you pick up 5-10 percentile points (per section, if you've been doing this in both sections!), if you execute correctly.
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In need pf advisement

by Adriana_Buchler » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:39 pm
Dear Stacy,
Thank you so much for this insight....I had never thought about it.
But how will I choose those 5-7 questions? Supposing that I am lacking time and have 20 questions to finish...I start the guessing after which question or whenever I don't know the answer?
Normaly, what I do is try to solve the question and, if agter 2 minutes I have no idea on how to do it, I'll guess...If I know how, I'll do it, evenm if it takes more time...
What do you recommend?
Since I have studied I believe the main concern is to find a strategy....

Thank you so much
Adriana Buchler

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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jan 16, 2008 6:49 pm
You have two minutes per question period (or 1.5 minutes, if it's Sentence Correction). If you're not done at that point, don't keep working on the problem. (Occasionally, you can spend another 15 or 30 seconds on a long problem that you know how to do EXACTLY but it's just a long problem so it takes a few more seconds. But never go beyond 3 minutes on any problem and, given that we can't gauge very well without a stopwatch, really think of it as never going beyond 2.5 minutes on any problem.)

Basically, you need to be on track by the halfway mark. If you're not, you need to switch modes to making an educated guess. An educated guess is simply figuring out what some wrong answers are, crossing them off, and then guessing randomly among any remaining answer choices - but you've raised your odds b/c you've gotten rid of some wrong answers. You can use estimation, logic, knowledge of how the test works, etc.

If you don't know exactly what you're doing by the halfway mark, then you aren't going to both figure out exactly what you're doing and do it with only half your time left. So you pull the plug right there, use the remaining time to make an educated guess, and keep going. That defines for you which 5-7 questions - the ones you can't do in 2 minutes, which equals those for which you don't know what you're doing after you've used half your time.

On a related note, if you've got 20 questions left and you've discovered you're behind on time, how do you get back on track? You're now going to have to make some random guesses, unfortunately - not a great position, but there is still one thing you can salvage: spread those guesses out. Don't let them cluster at the end.

So figure out how far behind you are - let's say you're 6 minutes behind. That's 3 questions. You have 20 questions left, so that means a guess approximately every 6-7 questions. The next time you see a question and you think "oh, boy..." make a random guess, very quickly, and keep going. Then don't make a random guess for at least 2-3 more questions. Then do it again the next time you see something and think "ugh - how do I do this?" Do this until you've made your 3 random guesses, spread out over your remaining questions.
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In need of advisement

by Adriana_Buchler » Thu Jan 17, 2008 3:11 am
I think I get it....
So by question 20 I start the educated guesses, but only when I don't kinow how to figure out within the 2 min time, right?
The key point is not to let the guesses cluster right?

I'll do some tests this weekend and get back to you with my performance.

Thanks a lot!
Adriana Buchler

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by Stacey Koprince » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:11 am
Almost. You don't start educated guessing at question 20. You employ educated guessing right from the start, whenever you hit something you can't do in the given time.

IF you find yourself behind on time at any given point (question 20 was an example only here), then you figure out how far behind you are and how many questions you have left, and then you spread some random guesses out over the remaining questions. But, ideally, you never put yourself in this position at all - because you're making educated guesses, when appropriate, through the entire section.
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In need of advisement

by Adriana_Buchler » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:56 am
Dear Stacy,

My test is within 10 days. I have already studied really hard over the past 4 months, doing the new and old power preps and kaplan CD tests more than 2 times each. I have read the official guide, kaplan 800......
I am thinking about a short strategy for this week and a half.
I am thinking about taking 4 tests during the next 2 weekends (2 pprep and 2 kaplan 2008 CD) and I also bought the Kaplan 2008 book, to study during weeks. I also have some sets of exercises that I would like to do again, they are very hard exercises.
What do you think? What would you change?
My scores: 600 (43/29) 610 (40/34) 660 (45/35)
and my power prep scores started with 640 and went up to 770.
Thanks a lot!
Adriana Buchler

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by Stacey Koprince » Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:31 am
I wouldn't do 4 tests over two weeks.

Taking a test is a "check" point - it's to see how you're doing. But you don't actually learn a ton just from taking tests over and over again. So that's not the best use of your time.

I wrote a long post a while ago about what to do over the final two weeks - search for that (and Eric might have added it to the wiki - I'm not sure, but you could ask him if he did).

The nutshell: Take a practice test right now (today!). Spend the first week reveiwing that tests and specific topics / question types based upon your performance on that test. Decide which topics are your strengths vs. your weaknesses, and identify some topics that are both serious weaknesses and aren't that common anyway. These are your "giving up and moving on" questions, when necessary, on the test. Do practice questions in sets (eg, 10 or 20 at a time).

5-7 days before, take your final practice test. (I've said this before and I'll say it again: this test is like a marathon. You don't run a practice marathon within a few days of the real thing. :) )

Spend up until 2 days before the test reviewing that last practice test and anything else you need to review based upon your results. Also, recognize that there are going to be certain things you just aren't going to "get." Identify those and DON'T study them - just acknowledge that, when necessary, you'll pull the plug on those on the test, make a guess, and move on.

Final two days: high level review only. Get ready for the actual test day itself - ID, food, get good sleep, eat well, etc. DON'T study for more than about an hour or two the day before the test - you aren't going to learn more stuff at this point, so all you'll do is psych yourself out.

Good luck!
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Dear Stacy,

I've taken 2 old power preps, after almost a one month break from studies - and got a 690 (48/35) and 730 (49/39). The thing is, I don't know how trustworthy those results are since I've taken those tests a hundred times....
I am also taking some Kaplan exercizes, 20 questions/25 min, in order to strengthen my math and my reading comp skills.

The thing is I don't know whether to trust my gmat prep and power prep scores anymore....my real scores are far far away from what I was getting and I can't seem to find confidence anymore.

I'll do one more gmat prep and keep focusing only on my weaknesses.
Hope that this is enough for this time!
Thanks!

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by Stacey Koprince » Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:49 am
Are you seeing questions you've seen before? That's likely if you have taken the tests many times and, of course, if you see questions you've already seen (and you remember them), that's going to inflate your score.

Also, I'm not quite sure from your post - did you just take those two tests in the last few days since your last post? If so, as I mentioned in my last post, don't take a bunch of tests in a row - that's not the best use of your time. People should take one test a week MAX in the 2-3 weeks leading up to the exam, and one test every 2-3 weeks before the final few weeks. Look at the test results and focus your study based upon that.
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