Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
StaceyKoprince
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Sat Oct 08, 2016 7:34 pm

Re: practice problems, it's fine to use what you have now and, if you want more later, then you can buy something more later. :) You might also look at the Question Pack add-on for GMATPrep (about 200 quant and 200 verbal questions). There's also GMAT Focus for more specific quant practice (no verbal). You can look these up in the mba.com store to read more details about what they are / how they work.

And, of course, it doesn't hurt to re-do problems. In fact, there can be a lot of value in that.

Re: tests, if you think that you do want to get our whole test pack again, then I wouldn't do the 6th test now (so that you minimize the chances of rememering a repeat, as you said). Just let it expire and then get it again.

If, on the other hand, you would like to use GMATPrep going forward, then you can go ahead and do this last test just to get the practice. If you don't want to take it as a full test, you can just do it by section on different days.

The advantage to GMATPrep is, of course, that it's the closest to the real thing. The disadvantage is that it doesn't give you data to really analyze your strengths and weaknesses. It also doesn't offer solutions, though you can usually google solutions for most problems.

If it were me, I'd want to do a mix of the two. When I really feel like I need the data to help inform my study plan, I'd do an MPrep test. When I'm more concerned with having as close to a real test experience as possible, then I'd do GMATPrep.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Sat Dec 31, 2016 8:43 am

Hi Stacey,

Since my last post I was analysing my weak areas and practicing in order to cover the OG. Also took a couple of gmatclub quant CATs With highest score as q45. However this December I haven't been able devote time to GMAT preparation owing to heavy workload in office. The latest update was that I was practicing og quant review and redoing CR of questions and SC of questions quickly.Haven't attempted any full mock since 3 months. Now I have resumed preparation since yesterday by reviewing quant notes and going through error log though I know I will take some time to get back into that zone and pick up speed in practicing questions. Kindly advice me how to effectively resume the preparation and the approach now to get back on track and complete my preparation since I just want to get over with GMAT soon (have been preparing for quite some time now). I want to appear for the exam latest by Feb end.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Fri Jan 06, 2017 3:36 pm

Hello! Hmm, so if it were me, I'd actually start by taking a practice test to see where my skills have maintained and where they have atrophied. That will help you to put together a 2-4 week study plan before you take another test, assess, and come up with new things to study.

The key is this: you are going to allow your own personal strengths and weaknesses to drive your own personalized study plan.

Your first analysis is global: where did you make good overall decisions about where to spend your time and mental energy? Where do you wish that you could go back in time and make a different decision? What would that decision have been? Why? How could you know next time to make that different decision in the moment? What do you need to train yourself to be able to do or recognize to make that happen?

Next, in your individual probelm review, don't focus on your biggest weaknesses; rather, focus on your low-hanging fruit. Look for these kinds of opportunities:
(1) You got it right but you were on the 2+ min side: is there a more efficient approach? Or can you get better / more efficient at the approach you did use?
(2) You got it right but any part of it felt clunky / annoying. What's a better way? Or what do you need to practice so that it feels less clunky?
(3) You got it right this time but could see how you might not always get that right. What do you need to do to move the needle more towards "I'm confident I'll always get something like this right."
(4) You got it wrong but it was a careless mistake—you do know how to do whatever this is. Or you got distracted by a trap. How can you minimize that type of mistake in future? (Don't just tell yourself what you "should" do. Figure out what the specific remedy is and make the remedy a habit.)
(5) You got it wrong legitimately (ie, you legitimately didn't know how to do it) but the explanation makes 100% complete sense and you're like, yeah, I can totally do that next time. Or you used to know it but forgot because you haven't reviewed it in a while. Practice whatever that is.

When you get something wrong and you're not really following the explanation (or you read it and think, yeah, but I would NEVER think to do that!), then the best response (for now, anyway) is to get something like that wrong faster next time. Literally study the problem from the point of view: how can I know early on that something like this is a waste of my time, so that I can make the decision to guess and move on?

See how far you can boost your score by improving questions that fall into categories 1-5 above. Those may get you all the way to your goal!
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Sun Mar 12, 2017 5:01 am

Hi Stacey,

I am planning to take my exam by end of this month but haven't booked the appointment yet. Have used mostly all official resources (OG REVIEW, QUANT AND VERBAL REVIEW) along with the Manhattna books and almost done with all. Apart from this took manhattan mocks really early in my preparation just to find out weaknesses and work on them. Had also worked on gmatclub quant tests (5-6) mostly getting Q45 or 42-45. Now days using veritas and gmat prep CATs. Got 650 and 640 (Q48 in both V32/30 respectively) when attempted in last two weeks. Recently bought GMATPREP Question Bank and did 1 set of quant section (37 ques).
Kindly suggest what strategy needs to be followed for these upcoming days leading to the exam to maximise my score and reach my target of 700-750.

Apart from this just noticed that in my gmatprep 1 CAT could not manage time well and had gotten all the last 10 questions wrong in quant and 7 questions wrong in verbal. Had compared the questions with gmatclub and found that 15 questions in quant that i got were 700 level or above questions. Kindly suggest where and how I can manage attempting the section to get to my target. The breakup of incorrect questions in gmatprep CAT was as follows:

Verbal (V30)
Q 1-10--->4 INCORRECT
Q 11-20---->1 INCORRECT
Q 21-30---->3 INCORRECT
Q 31-40------->7 INCORRECT (LAST 7 IN A ROW)

QUANT (Q48)

Q 1-10------->3 INCORRECT
Q 11-20--> 4 INCORRECT
Q 21-30----->6 INCORRECT
Q-31-37-------> ALL INCORRECT

So basically had to rush in the last questions for both sections. I guess I could have got Q49 or Q50 (let me know if that was possible) had I got the last few or all questions correct in quant. My time management strategy and plan was as follows:

Quant: 75 min - 0 ques, 55 -10, 35-20, 15-30, 0-37
Verbal: 75 min-0ques, 55-12, 35-24, 15-34, 0-41


I will be solving sets of quant and verbal sections in gmatprep ques bank and tomorrow will take another mock CAT of veritas. Will target taking 1-2 mock CATs in next two weeks. Will book the appointment based on mock CAT performance. I want to be done with this since in April I will be flying out of the country for personal commitments and will stay there for almost 3 weeks (end of april). Kindly let me know how to approach and handle my current situation.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:30 am

The single biggest thing to fix is your timing problem. That pulled your score down in both sections—a lot. And you *still* scored V30 and Q48 anyway! If you can fix the timing problems, you'll likely increase your score another 40-ish points—without even learning how to do anything else. (And if you don't fix the timing problem, you won't get to 700+ no matter how much more you learn.)

Look back over those earlier problems in the section. Where did you spend time that was, in hindsight, wasted?
—You spent more than 1.5 minutes when you knew the whole time that you really didn't know what you were doing. Next time, admit this to yourself and cut yourself off much faster.
—You spent >>1 min about the average for that type (regardless of whether you got it right or wrong). For instance, let's say you spent 3.5m on one quant question. Even if you got it right, you spent nearly as much time as you should have spent on 2 questions, not just 1. So that 1 question wasn't worth it.
—And don't forget to include problems you got right but you realize you just got lucky.

For each one of those, start to learn how to make decisions factoring in your timing. When should you bail immediately? When should you cut yourself off after a while—how will you know that the odds are not good / your ROI is bad and you should let go?

Have you read / seen this yet? It will help you to answer those questions.
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
(Try the webinar that's linked at the beginning of the article.)

Before you get to the real test, you *must* identify some small number of questions on which you know you will guess immediately when you see them. You won't even try. Do this even if you see one of these questions early in the section (and you're not behind on time yet). Do not wait until you are already behind to try to fix the problem.

The last time I took the real test (two months ago), I did this on 8 questions in the quant section (I literally did not even try to make an educated guess—I wanted to see how high of a score I could get if I didn't even try on these questions). I still scored a 48. So if you do this on, say, 4 questions, you can still get a 50 / 51. (I have had students do this on 4 questions and still score 51 on quant.) And 4 questions = 8 minutes, a BIG difference at the end of the section.

Since verbal is your lower section, I would do this on maybe 5-6 questions there. What do you just hate on verbal? Don't even try—guess immediately and move on.

Also, don't do sets of 37 and 41 questions out of the GMATPrep question pack. The questions are not adaptive, so that is not pushing you in the same way the test is—you won't learn now to make timing decisions in the right way. If you need more adaptive practice on quant, you can try GMAT Focus (another product from mba.com). This a 24-question adaptive set (they don't have the same product for verbal, unfortunately).

If you feel comfortable with your overall benchmark tracking, you can keep that method. If you think that that method isn't working for you, here's another method to try:
blog/2014/09/23/set-gmat-scratch-paper/
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:54 am

Sure..will be more cautious regarding my time management. I have also tried the time strategy mentioned in the Manhattan GMAT roadmap wherein though I got q47 I had could balance my time in quant. Do you suggest this strategy or the one that I followed previously. Also regarding the GMAT question pack please suggest what should be the ideal set of questions and the difficulty level to do in a sitting using this.

Now most important question/concern at my end is when to take the appointment. As of now since I am hovering at 30-34 level in verbal I am not sure if I can raise this to above 35-36 to cross 700 with quant ideally at 49 if not 50. I will be travelling virtually the whole month of april visiting australia and wanted to be done with GMAT but as of it looks a bit improbable with the current scoring level and workload in office.

Kindly advise when and how shall I plan my GMAT appointment. If I resume prep post April how to take care of the fact that I don't get out of my GMAT prep mode too much?
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:14 pm

Re: which timing method to use, it depends on what you think works best for you. I would say that a majority of my students think the one in the blog article I linked last time is the best one (this is also in our Interact session 6 Prepare to Face the GMAT strategy lesson, for anyone who has access). But it's not 100% universal—some people like other methods better. But if you are using another method and still having timing issues, then I do recommend trying the one in our Interact lessons or my blog article.. Most people are sort of luke-warm about the other, older methods and then come back and tell me, "Wow, that made a huge difference!" on the newest method (the one that I'm recommending you try).

If you do use that method, then you'll want to do quant problem sets in multiples of 4 and verbal problem sets in multiple of 8. I would do 4, 8, or 12 for quant and 8 or 16 for verbal. I'd say mostly 8 for both.

Re: when to take the test, it might actually help you to take a little break from this stuff. If you're going to be traveling for 4 weeks, pick a 2-week timeframe to have a complete break—just let your brain rest. The other times—will you have your laptop or a table with you? If so, you can access your GMATPrep and our e-books, so you can continue to do some study (though not every single day—think of it as maintenance study, enough to keep your skills where they already are, but that's it).

Then, when you get back, you can ramp back up to your normal "trying to get better" study mode.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Sun Aug 13, 2017 7:15 am

Hi Stacey,

I am back after quite a long time now. Lot of things going on but I was still committed to my preparation. I recently was being sent by my company to US for a project but unfortunately my VISA was denied (no idea why). I thought I would in fact contact and maybe try to meet you personally for some advice (since location was New York). Just to give you a brief, I exhausted GMAT prep mocks 2 times each with score of 690 as highest. I am also using experts global test series which provides ability to select section order. With change in select section order and some change in time management strategy (trying to follow manhattan's 5 Q-10 min and 8 ques 15 min strategy) alongside practice I got 750 (Q49 V42-first time crossed V35-first time ever crossed 700) in experts global mock post a 630 in gmat prep mock. Today again I gave a gmatprep mock CAT (5th attempt) and got 730 (Q50,V39). My test selection order usually is quant verbal IR and AWA. Now I am planning to write one more mock after some days and try to score 700+. I haven't really prepared for IR and AWA (score is 4-5 in IR in mocks sometimes lower) I now have to quickly finalise and schedule an appointment as prep is being stretched for quite some time now. Kindly advise when to schedule the appointment based on the mock cats and how to assure myself that if I am scoring 700+ in mocks I can repeat the same in actual GMAT. What things should be kept in mind? Kindly advise.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Tue Aug 15, 2017 4:33 pm

Hi! That's too bad about the visa. (FYI: my company is based in NY, but I live in Montreal—so I wouldn't have been there anyway!)

Have you been taking these tests under 100% official conditions? You mention that the GMATPrep was a repeat—how many questions would you say you recognized? (I'm not familiar with the other test source you mentioned, so I can't say how valid it might be.)

If, on the GPrep test, you didn't recognize very many—and if you took the test under 100% official conditions—then that 730 score is a valid score and you have a chance to do something like that on the real test, too! If you recognized more than a couple of questions in each section, then your score is probably somewhat inflated—anywhere from a little bit to a lot, depending on how many questions you recognized. If there are fewer than about 4 in each section, then I'd say you are probably still up in the 700 range and so you should look into taking the real test soon.

Obviously, there are always other factors for the real test (including nerves, since you know that it really counts!). But if you can put together the desired performance in practice, then that generally signals that it's time to go take the real thing.

I have a blog post that talks about what to do for review the final week to get yourself ready to "peak" on test day. (In this context, peaking on test day means hitting the top end of your current ability / scoring range.) Here it is:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2016/09/ ... mat-part-1

Let me know what you decide!
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:11 am

Hi,

There were indeed many repeat questions in both verbal and quant since it was a 5th attempt but some of them I still got wrong and did not remember. I actually spent time on all of them just like a normal question rather than just marking the answer based on memorization. In fact in some of the questions I probably consumed more time than required as probably I got stuck. I try to solve the question even if I have attempted it before. The experts global mock CAT series claims to mirror the gmat style questions and is probably a bit high in terms of difficulty. Most of the gmatclub members are now using these mock CATS. You know at times i realize while attempting the test that I am probably not doing that well but when the score flashed I was a bit surprised (more so in verbal). I am not going to take any more gmatpreps now owing to repeat questions and will probably go with the expert global mock cats (I have 15 of them and attempted 2). Do you think I should book the test date only if I manage to score 700+ on mocks 2-3 times more in succession (I can take only 1 mock cat per week). Since I have exhausted most of the prep and practice materials will just reviewing the mock CATs and revising my notes and error log be enough. Looking to book the date in September some time.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Thu Aug 17, 2017 1:26 pm

My general rule is that, if you get the score (range) that you want on 2 CATs taken under official conditions (and with no benefits, like knowing some of the questions in advance :) ), then yes, it's time to take the real test.

The best tests to use are, of course, GMATPrep. (Or our CATs—because we've actually had them studied / analyzed by the psychometrician who used to be in charge of the CATs at GMAC, so we know that they are actually valid / good predictors of score on the real test.) I can't say for other CATs how accurate they are. But you go with what you have!

I would not recommend taking more than 1 CAT a week anyway—and that's the absolute minimum time to have between CATs. You don't learn much or get much better just by taking a CAT. You get better by using the data from a CAT to figure out what you need to fix and then going and fixing it. :)
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Sun Oct 08, 2017 12:43 pm

Just to update you I had booked my appointment last month for Oct 17. I have been scoring in the range 650-750 mostly, in the last mock though I got a low score in quant q46, could not somehow manage my time and ended up leaving last 2 questions unttempted, though I feel at times I follow one approach but then in between feel it's not going right and end up wasting time and not even completing the question. Well i have improved in verbal by practicing RCs daily along with CR (got v42 and v38 in last two mocks). I know i can hit q49 and if possible even q50. These days i am just giving mocks on weekends and revising and practicing gmatprep questions in weak areas (coordinate and probability/combinations being weak). Also i will be taking 1 day off from office (on Monday my test is on Tuesday so effectively i have weekends and Monday as full days to devote to GMAT). Last 2 mock scores were 740 and 680. Kindly advise how to approach the final 8-9 days left to push my score over 700. Shall i continue doing official gmatprep questions or start revising my error logs or official questions and when to do what. And will doing official questions now in both quant and verbal be sufficient.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Wed Oct 11, 2017 2:48 am

I have an article series for exactly this! It lays out what I recommend for everyone during the final 7 days:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2016/09/ ... mat-part-1

Good luck!!
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by RAHULZ400 Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:38 pm

I just had my GMAT on the 17th (Oct) and got an unexpected score of 620 (Q48 V27). Really disappointed!!!
I had booked a morning appointment of 9 AM. Really nice and peaceful environment at the test center. I started with Quant section. It was going really good and questions seemed to simpler than what I had attempted in Mocks. I felt I was doing really well till 15th question and well ahead of the time. There were couple of guesses here and there however then later on in one or simple word problems I don't know if I spent too much time because I knew the approach but just could not arrive at the correct answer. When I reached Q30 I realized that I was now behind the target time. Solved quickly few questions and guessed the last two simply as I did not have time left. I thought that Quant was fine but could have been better had I finished on the right note.

Now I took a break went to the loo, had my snacks but when I came back I had already lost 2 odd minutes on verbal. I calmed myself and then started quickly. Went through the first 10 questions which were fine. Obviously I was behind the time since I had lost more than 2 minutes. The questions specially the RCs I thought were tougher than the mocks. Towards the end I had i think just 11-12 minutes left for final 10 questions. I don't think I guessed too much in verbal (probably just 1-2). Honestly I wasn't really sure how I did on verbal though it was a bit harder than the mocks but then I scored well in mocks even when I didn't have much idea of my performance.

I took another break and finished with IR and AWA. Now as I pressed Next button I was hoping that I might get a good score but too my utter shock I saw a 620. I was really disappointed since it was way lower then my recent mocks, especially verbal which was 11 points lower than my last mock. I got my lowest verbal score ever among all the mock CATS, though quant was similar to my average score although I believed I could hit Q49. Obviously I cancelled my score immediately.

Anyways I have decided that I would definitely have a retake as my target is 720-740 to get into a top business school since I am an Indian applicant and it would be quite competitive for me.
Kindly advice now how should I plan and approach my next attempt. I am planning to schedule next month itself. I would like to push my quant score to 50 and verbal has to get back to near 40.

I also ordered my ESR report for the exam but I am unable to attach the same here. Let me know how to attach the report or provide me your email id so that I can mail you the same since I want to get some insights.
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Re: Feedback on study plan

by StaceyKoprince Thu Oct 19, 2017 3:47 pm

I'm sorry that you had a disappointing test experience.

I don't think I even need to see your ESR; your memory of what happened gives me a pretty clear picture. From what you described, the primary issue was timing problems—stemming from decision-making problems.

(Quant)
I knew the approach but just could not arrive at the correct answer


That's when you have to cut yourself off. It doesn't matter that you know how to do it—if you're not getting an answer that's in the answer choices (I'm assuming these were PS, since DS works differently), then you've got to just pull the plug and move on. You likely did spend too much time before you finally did move on.

You then had to start rushing at question 30 and guessed randomly on the last 2. Depending on exactly how things worked out, that could have been enough to drop you from Q50 to Q48. When you are at a Q50 level, getting even 2-3 wrong in a row will drop you more—because the test is expecting you to be able to do more than someone who is at a 40, say.

(Verbal)
Towards the end I had i think just 11-12 minutes left for final 10 questions. I don't think I guessed too much in verbal (probably just 1-2).


The average expected time is still ~2m per (overall) on verbal, so you absolutely had to have guessed / rushed / not worked as methodically as you normally do. You only had about 55% of normal time. It also sounds like you may have had some issues at the beginning due to the 2m deficit / coming in a little late. So you might have had a double-whammy, not lifting yourself as high as usual and then crashing at the end.

Note: If it ever happens again that you start a couple of minutes late, pick 1 question—CR or RC—and guess immediately. Save the entire 2 minutes via a single question. Now you're on time again and you can just settle down and work normally. You don't have to feel rushed / pressured for all of the rest of the questions, looking for places to try to save time (and increasing your careless mistake rate as a result).

The one thing I'd like to know is what your average timing was for each question type on verbal. (Note: You can't attach anything here—just type up the info.) That initial 2 minute deficit wasn't the sole timing problem—something else happened such that you had only about half the time you needed for the final quadrant. The average timing by question type might help us to figure out what it was. Or you can try searching your memory—do you remember anything on which you know you took too much time?

I'd also like to know your % correct and difficulty levels for each quadrant for verbal. I'm guessing, from what you described, that performance dropped quite a bit for the last quadrant—does the ESR support that?
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