Practice exams, timeline and strategy

[akshat_kumar]

have* shortcomings !! had to correct this at least otherwise you would not have believed my scores

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm laughing at your last post. I make mistakes too when I'm typing here! Sometimes someone's talking to you while you're trying to type or you get distracted by something...and funny things happen.

I do think verbal has to be done in increments of 8 or 10 questions, not fewer, because there is just too much variability by question type, as you noted. So try the Interact method to see whether that works better for you.

Argh, is their software STILL only showing 1 RC question per passage? That's so annoying - we reported this to them when the software first came out a year ago. I would've thought it'd be fixed for the new edition.

Okay, try this: use the software to do just CR and SC, but pick out a passage to do yourself. Partway through the mixed set, pause the software and go do the RC passage out of your book. If it's a shorter passage, do only 3 questions; if it's longer, do 4. Prop the book up vertically so that you have to look up and down (to write), just as you'll have to do on the real test.

Oh, right - and then they don't give the question number, so you can't look it up easily in the book. Okay, this is what I do. I put together sets from the book, and I write down the set of numbers in a random order. Then, I mark all the pages with little sticky notes (the little thin ones, not fat ones) - the sticky note itself touches the problem that I have to do and sticks out beyond the edge of the page, of course. The stickies are numbered (1, 2, 3, ...). Then I number / organize my scrap paper similar to what I'd do for the real test and flip to #1. I pull the sticky off and actually stick it to my paper where I'm working on the first problem (so that I know for sure that this is #1 and I don't get confused about which # is next - I can just look at the last one).

When it's time for the next problem, I just look for the next number up on the sticky and flip to that page. (Remember, the sticky touches the problem you want to do!)

You can use Nav simultanously or do what I do: I use the lap function on the timer on my iphone and then I enter the data into Nav manually when I'm done. (If you do this, don't forget to turn off the screen saver on your phone - or extend it long enough that it doesn't go black before you're done with the next problem.)

Stress in the actual exam and rushing through some questions I believe adversely affected my score.

The exam will always be at least semi-stressful, you will always have timing and mental stamina issues, and you will never be able to do every last question to the best of your ability / time - that's just how the GMAT works. So how can you make decisions that will help you to manage these circumstances? (I will give you some ideas. But you think about it first and tell me what you've come up with before I tell you what I think.

[akshat_kumar]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the quick response.

Yes, will try the interact method to organize my yellow pad in the coming exam.
GMAT Prep question bank actually works better when it comes to making mixed verbal sets. so working with that for sets of 8 questions.

By now, I think I have overanalyzed my performance and less than expected score of 36 on Verbal.
Timing is the biggest issue. I mean on quant I have become fast in general and knowing that I can tackle some questions in 1.30 mins just reduces the stress even on others.
Verbal- SC I am averaging 1.35 and still not as accurate as I would want. Trying to cut that average to 1.20.
For the actual test day- one option may be to decide to skip 2 SC questions but that does not save me much time. Or I can skip 2 CR questions- the only caveat there is I scored the highest in CR (45-96th percentile). And RC comes in sets of 3-4.
Either ways deciding before hand to skip 2 may be the best strategy. What do you think ?

Thanks
Akshat

[StaceyKoprince]

Actually, everyone can skip (= guess immediately on) 4 questions in each section, even if you are going for a top score in that section! (You can do up to 6-7 questions if you're not going for a top score.)

So, yes to your question - except make it 4, not 2!

I wouldn't automatically skip CR because you're getting so many of those right. It needs to be either RC or SC. Identify the types that are the hardest for you - they take longer and you still might not get them right anyway. Do they tend to be full-underline SCs? RC inference on science passages? Whatever it is: now you know that, when you hit that on the test, you're just going to guess immediately and save that full time. If it ends up being 4 SCs, that still saves you a lot of time, even though SCs are faster than the others.

Practice that on your practice tests so that you get good at making the decision as to when to guess immediately and move on.

[akshat_kumar]

You just guessed it.
It is full underlined SC's- take more time as well. RC on the mocks is actually pretty strong.
So I will stick to skipping some SC questions.

Scored 750 on the last GMAT prep exam. 50 + 41. Taking the final exam on the 20th
Thanks a lot for all your help. Will keep you posted.

Best,
Akshat

[StaceyKoprince]

Good luck - crossing my fingers!!

[akshat_kumar]

Hi,

Scored 720
Quant 49 , Verbal 40.
A 20 point improvement from my last take but less than what was scoring in the mock exams. My target score was 730.
Also in IR scored dropped to 3 and I am concerned about its negative impact on my overall MBA application.

Skipped questions this time so timing was not a problem this time. Infact in quant I skipped 3 and at the end finished 3 minutes earlier. So went overboard . Last time had no time and this time 3 mins to do nothing . Solved the last question like 5 times.

Thanks again for all the help and support throughout the process. Yo made GMAT interact truly wroth it !

One more thing...With the new policy of canceling my scores- I am almost tempted to take it one more time before my applications. I mean with out any preparation and without any stress. Just walk in and take it after 15 days and before the first application deadline. The reason for the temptation is what is the down side ? I will go with the mindset that I will cancel the score in the end. Schools wont even know that I took the exam. As I will not spend any time preparing, I will not be wasting time there. I have consistently scored 740-750 in mocks. In IR in no Mock test ( GMAT prep or Manhattan) I have scored 3. Even without any preparation I was scoring 5 minimum. The advantage will be that without the stress that goes with preparation and expectations, I may just perform at my actual ability level. Very curious about your thoughts on this thought process ?

Thanks !!
Akshat

[StaceyKoprince]

That's fantastic - congratulations!! I'm really happy for you.

(There's no real difference between 720 and 730 - it's basically the same score.

We're hearing that schools are mostly still not using IR. That could change in future, but I would guess that you're okay for this year.

I agree that you have nothing to lose in trying one more time - just $250 and 4 hours of your time. If you're willing to make that investment, then go for it! (Just as long as you really can do it that way - no stress, just do it. You don't want to take away from working on your applications at this stage of the game.)

Let me know how things go!

[akshat_kumar]

Thanks !!!
Scheduled it for 8th September.
Will keep you posted.

[StaceyKoprince]

good luck!

[akshat_kumar]

Took the GMAT again yesterday. 3rd attempt.

And managed to score 710- 49 + 38. Was able to follow the no preparation and no stress formula but still did not break the 730 target .
However, my IR score increased from 3 to 8. It is the most difficult, it seems, to predict. I dint do anything different from last time. So just because of the IR score I did not cancel my overall score.
Hoping the 3 scores do not effect my applications negatively now.

Applying to 4 schools this months in round 1. Applied to 1 today.
Thanks for all your help throughout !!

Best,
Akshat

[StaceyKoprince]

oh, no - now that you have an 8, that's fine. Most aren't even using IR, and when they do, it's mostly just "hmm, here's another data point." So they'll see the 8 and just go, oh, okay, IR is fine.

Good luck!

[akshat_kumar]

Hi Stacey,

You may or may not remember me from last year.
I used GMAT interact and your tips- to give GMAT 3 times. That helped me to get scores of 700, 720 and 710.
Using the score of 720 I applied to many schools- got interviews also- on waitlist for some- but still have not made it in. It has been long, and exciting journey- unfortunately not a positive result yet.
I have talked to admissions consultants- and they are advising that given the increasing competition and my choice of schools I will benefit from a score of 750- especially for the waitlisted program. I have at max a 2 month window for this.

So here I am again. I need to improve from 720 to 750.
My GMAT interact has expired. What Manhattan structured course would you recommend the most ?
Or do you think I should try some other course like kaplan, Economist etc just for change sake and trying a different approach.
I mean 720 as good and we tried a lot of different things- but still I could not break the 750 barrier.
Other option is to go for a private tutor- can you recommend some one ?

Hope you are doing well. Best wishes for the new year.

Thanks and regards
Akshat

[StaceyKoprince]

Yikes. Okay, first, I'm going to ask a friend of mine who is an admissions consultant (he's the founder of an adcon firm, actually) - I just want to get his take on whether he thinks a 720 to a 750 will truly make a difference. Speaking purely from my knowledge of what the test means, there's no significant difference between those two scores, so someone deciding based on that would be...a little foolish. But that doesn't mean that schools aren't actually doing that!

Next, any regular course is going to be much too slow / low-level for you. You need very targeted / specialized work to get to 750. I generally try to avoid recommending tutoring, because it is very expensive, but in this case, I actually do think that's your best bet.

At this stage, it's going to be less about trying to learn new math concepts or grammar rules (though there may be a few things to learn). It's going to be more about really honing the way you think your way through tough problems, come up with efficient approaches, avoid traps, make the optimal decisions about where and how to spend your time and mental energy, etc. All of that would be best learned from a really good tutor.

Now, in terms of who: obviously, I'd recommend someone who works for my company. I'm biased. (But I really do think we have the best tutors!) If I were you, I'd first check out our tutoring rates online. As I said, it's really expensive so you first just need to check the price to see whether you're willing to go for it. If so, then fill out the tutoring request form on our website. If you would like, feel free to tell that team that I've been advising you online and to ask them to run any potential names by me first. (I'm not available myself, unfortunately!)

You can also, of course, explore other potential tutoring options. Any good tutor should be asking you questions about your past performance and study, your goal, your timeframe, your strengths and weaknesses. They're also going to want to see recent data - in the form of a CAT or similar - so that they can draw their own conclusions about your skills. The best tutors customize their lessons to precisely what you need, so they operate as diagnosticians, asking lots of questions and having you do and talk through problems so that they can learn how you think (and figure out what you need to get better). So you want someone who is asking questions right away, even before your first session. If a potential tutor isn't doing that, be careful - you might not want to work with that person.

I'll let you know what I hear from my friend who is an admissions consultant.

[StaceyKoprince]

I just talked to my friend who is an admissions consultant (Jeremy Shinewald of MBA Mission) and he'd actually like to talk to you (he needs more info about your profile than I can give him). Can you send an email to gmat@manhattanprep.com and in that email, say that you have been talking to me on the forums and that I asked you to forward your email to me. They will forward to me and I will put you in touch with Jeremy.