Best strategy for OG practice questions

[rk9000]

I have been using the All the GMAT syllabus for about a week. I'm confused about the best way to take advantage of the OG practice questions.

I read in other forum posts that I should not do all the OG questions for one topic after reading the chapter in the strategy guide. So how many should I do?

Additionally, I read this article about building mixed sets, but how do I start doing that when I've only covered a few topics in the beginning?

If I'm only doing question sets of 2-4 questions, at what point should I have done all of the OG questions? By the end of the 9 weeks or after that?

https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2017/01 ... 1612731592

I don't think I'm understanding correctly how to use the OG alongside the Manhattan Prep guide books, so I would appreciate any specific advice for how to space out the OG questions, since they are such a valuable resource.

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi! Good questions.

When you're early in your studies, you're going to use some of the OG problems to help reinforce the lessons you just learned and get practice at applying those lessons to official-format problems.

Eg, you study fractions, and then you go try some OG fractions problems to practice your new skills.

But it is true that you don't want to do ALL of the OG fractions problems now. You also want to save some for later, for two main reasons:

(1) On the real test, you'll never be given like 5 fractions problems in a row. The real test will always mix things up in a random order. And it will never tell you what's about to come next—you've got to figure that out as each new problem pops up in front of you.

Early on, though, it's a waste to do totally random sets because you don't know enough yet. As you get later in your studies (ie, as you actually know more), you're going to start doing sets that mimic that randomness. Let's say you've reviewed the units FDPR (fractions, decimals, percents, ratios) and Algebra. Now you can set up a semi-random set that has problems chosen from all across those two units. And once you've reviewed all 5 units, you can do truly random problem sets. So you want to save some OG problems for later to allow you to do this—practice under test-like conditions.

(2) Let's say you've studied fractions. That doesn't (necessarily) mean you can now do every single fraction problem in the OG. Some of them will be too hard for you right now—maybe it's a weaker skill for you or maybe it includes some algebra concepts that you haven't studied yet

But you might be able to do them a month from now, when you've practiced with fractions more and/or learned other stuff. Think of your studies as more like a few cycles of "leveling up." It's not the case that you're going to learn ALL of fractions and can do the very hardest fraction problems and you'll only then move on to linear equations. It'll be more like:

— First pass through, I learn the basics and can do a lot of things and now I have an idea of my current strengths and weaknesses.

— Second pass through, I shore up some of my weaknesses and push my strengths further...and now I also know which ones are truly my weaknesses, because a second pass didn't help me make them any better. (And those become my "guess fast and move on" problems.)

You may do more than two passes to keep leveling up—but definitely plan on at least two. And so you also want to save some problems for your second pass.

And those two overall goals dovetail nicely, since they both mean doing some problems not but also saving some for later, as you get further into your studies. During our 9-week full course, we probably end up using maybe...250 to 350?...between class and homework. I've never counted but it's less than half of the ~1,000 problems in the big OG. The rest are left for review after the course is over. Definitely use fewer than half on your first pass through the material—maybe 25-30%.

By the way, you may or may not do all of the problems that come with the big OG. Some people do, but a lot of people don't necessarily use every last problem. Depends on your goals and etc.

Let us know if you have any questions on the above or anything else!