I have taken the first GMATprep test and I have noticed that getting the first 10 answers correct makes a HUGE
diference (100 points or so) in my score. But I have also noticed that I have been gettng 65% of the last 10 questions wrong, which I suspect is also making a huge difference in my score (minus 100 pts).
Are the two most important part of GMAT the first and last 10 questions?
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- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
the most important parts of the gmat are:
(a) the first 10 questions, and
(b) all of the following questions.
ok, that was a bit snarky, but the point remains: there is NO evidence whatsoever in favor of the idea that any particular stage of the exam (early, middle, late) is, to any degree, more important than any other stage.
in addition, there is considerable evidence that the importance of each question is roughly equal.
it may be true that the first few questions will skew the test's initial estimate of your ability more widely than will the later questions, but that's merely an artifact of the small number of data points at that stage. (analogy: failing a class in your freshman year of college will have a HUGE negative effect on your GPA, while failing the same class senior year will have a relatively small effect; ultimately, though, the effect on your cumulative GPA is exactly the same.)
--
finally, if you believe that the first 10 questions are more important than the others, not only are you probably wrong, but, even worse, that belief will probably lead directly to horrible time management. specifically, if you think that the first 10 questions are overly important, then you'll probably spend too much time on them, leaving yourself in the hole for the entire remainder of the section. that's really not a good situation to be in.
if there's anything here to grab a hold of, it's this: FINISHING THE TEST is important. to finish the test, especially the quant portion, you will need to practice good, consistent time management throughout - and good time management demands, from a practical standpoint, that you treat the problems as of equal importance.
(a) the first 10 questions, and
(b) all of the following questions.
ok, that was a bit snarky, but the point remains: there is NO evidence whatsoever in favor of the idea that any particular stage of the exam (early, middle, late) is, to any degree, more important than any other stage.
in addition, there is considerable evidence that the importance of each question is roughly equal.
it may be true that the first few questions will skew the test's initial estimate of your ability more widely than will the later questions, but that's merely an artifact of the small number of data points at that stage. (analogy: failing a class in your freshman year of college will have a HUGE negative effect on your GPA, while failing the same class senior year will have a relatively small effect; ultimately, though, the effect on your cumulative GPA is exactly the same.)
--
finally, if you believe that the first 10 questions are more important than the others, not only are you probably wrong, but, even worse, that belief will probably lead directly to horrible time management. specifically, if you think that the first 10 questions are overly important, then you'll probably spend too much time on them, leaving yourself in the hole for the entire remainder of the section. that's really not a good situation to be in.
if there's anything here to grab a hold of, it's this: FINISHING THE TEST is important. to finish the test, especially the quant portion, you will need to practice good, consistent time management throughout - and good time management demands, from a practical standpoint, that you treat the problems as of equal importance.
2 posts Page 1 of 1