Frameworks to Follow Under Pressure

[RileyR217]

What frameworks do high-performing test takers follow, while taking the test? I’ve come to realize that these are absolutely necessary do to fatigue and pressure. But what may come “natural” to some is definitely not “natural” to me—I need a template that I can practice. Pointing out the obvious is the best, because what is obvious for a high-performing test taker is certainly not obvious for me.

WHY I ASK: Because I tend to get highly unstructured when the fatigue sets, and need something to remind myself of the current 10 second objective under such conditions.

Following the 760 advice of: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/arti ... erence.cfm.

(1). TIMED FRAMEWORKS
(A). Quant P.S.
00:20: Sub-categorized (according to MGMAT S.G.s)
00:30: Most effective "approach."*
00:40: ...

(B). Quant D.S.
00:10: Value v. Y/N
00:00: ...

(C). Verbal (R.C.) - Perhaps too general?
...

(D). Verbal (C.R.)
00:10: Comprehend question stem
00:20: ...

(E). Verbal (S.C.)
...

(2). STRATEGY FRAMEWORKS
-Estimation (values in question)
-Smart Numbers
-Test Answers
-Brute Force (e.g. P.S.'16 # 106. Navigator says C.S.N.s but how does one recognize immediately that they should compute?)
-Drop it**

(3). EDUCATED GUESSING FRAMEWORK
-Content specific or more general cases?


*Are you talking about whether you (a) e.g. take the prime factorization v.

**Aside from knowing your weaknesses and identifying the problem as a definite weakness, are there other indications one is taking into account? What is an honest number of questions you're dumping?

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions. It's not quite as prescribed as you are writing out, and it's not that different from question type to question type. The overall frameworks / decision points are very similar regardless of question type.

Start here for overall time management / decision-making:
written: https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziyp_Xon-UE

For the step-by-step approach within a question, take a look at the framework discussed in this series (it is the same for all question types, actually—just the details vary):
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... ly-part-1/

Your approach can't be completely rigidly prescribed, however. You need to be able to think flexibly—the frameworks help you to do so in an organized way.

Next, you referenced our 700 vs. 760 article. What level are you at right now? If your eventual goal is 760 but you are at, say, 600, right now, don't try to study for the 760 level. Take this in stages. First goal: 650. Then 700, then 750. You've got to build skills just as you would to master anything—you don't just start playing tennis like Serena Williams on day 1.

You mention fatigue and the natural decision-making consequences. There are things you can do to help maintain focus or get yourself back on track. See here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/
The article focuses on anxiety, but this stuff also helps with distraction due to mental fatigue.

The article links to some free resources on mindfulness meditation. Here's another, created by my fellow instructor Logan Thompson:
https://soundcloud.com/user-91744640/15 ... s-practice

Finally, in terms of bails / skips, there are a few layers to that answer. There are immediate bails and there are eventual guesses.

Most people should make an immediate bail on between 4 and 7* questions in each section (Q and V). An immediate bail decision is made within 20-30 seconds, just long enough to realize that you don't actually want to do this problem at all. Know your major weaknesses before you go in—you've basically already decided before the test starts.

There are also eventual guesses—you work on a problem and you don't get the answer, so you guess. Or you narrow down but you still have more than one left, so you guess. Don't count these. Just go ahead and do this whenever you have to. (If you're stuck, spending extra time won't help. In fact, it will hurt you on later problems. So let go now.)

*Closer to 4 to 5 if you are going for a top score in the section (Q 48+ or V40+). Closer to 6 to 7 if you are going for anything else.
Note: I have had students use an immediate-bail approach on 4 questions and still score Q51 (the highest possible quant score).

Finally, re: how to know what not to do: the obvious indication is that it's an obvious weakness of mine, yes. But I also use a "too annoying" measure. As I'm reading through / setting up, I pay attention to what I find annoying / hard about the problem. 4+ annoyances = too annoying to do, so this one turns into an immediate bail even if it wasn't one of my big weaknesses. (And maybe even when there are only 3 annoyances, if they're big annoyances.)

For instance, combinatorics is an immediate bail category for me, but algebra is usually fine. I do find absolute value kind of annoying—and I'm doubly annoyed if there are two absolute values, one on each side of the equation. I also find roman numeral questions annoying (everybody does...they take longer). And I'm annoyed if an algebra problem has like 4 variables instead of 1 or 2.

Any one (or even two) of those things would not cause an auto-bail. But put too many together in one problem and I'm no longer interested in spending my precious time and mental energy on that problem. I talk about this in the Maximize Your ROI webinar linked above.

Now, here's the thing: all of the above is the process, etc, but how do you learn in the first place that a certain clue (or certain combination of clues) should lead you down a certain path? Here:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Ponder all of that, then tell me what you think.