Requesting suggestion on TIMING strategy and RETAKE schedule

[vidhyav103]

Hello Experts,
Call for HELP.
I took the GMAT yesterday and scored a poor 640 (Q:49 V:28). I made the big mistake of not moving on when I faced a few difficult RC questions somewhere between questions 10-20. This was my second RC on the test with 3 paragraphs. Ultimately I was never able to catch up. At 55 minutes remaining, I was 2 minutes behind. When I had 35 minutes remaining I was on question 17 which put me behind by 5/6 questions. After this it was just a downward spiral. I had to guess on a 4 questions accompanying a long RC passage and and 3 questions accompanying another RC passage. Towards the end, I had less time than I would have liked on a few easy SC questions.

But the worst thing is that I had previously been in the EXACT same situation (my previous GMAT score was the exact same score with the same split). I had previously taken the GRE and I did well to score a 91st percentile on Verbal and 83rd percentile in Quant. Although I had timing issues in GRE as well, somehow on test day I managed to finish the Verbal on time and on the Quant section I ran out of time on the last question. I assumed I was good at test-taking and if I was a little more confident on my concepts, timing would not be an issue for me.

When I took GMAT the first time I didn't gauge my time-vs-accuracy any point during the study. The familiarity with concepts helped me better my timing in Quant. I was scoring 49-50 before I went for my test. My Verbal concepts were not too strong when I took GMAT first; but that's not to say it was worse to the point of 28. I did the exact same mistake I made yesterday on my first GMAT - I lost time on a few early questions and I was unable to catch up.

After my first GMAT, I realized I had major timing issues and I was not able to let go of a question when I could not figure out the answer and often got flustered and messed up on all of the remaining questions. Guessing on a few questions worked better for me on Quant. For example, when I was faced with a geometry problem, if I could not solve it with the concepts I knew I decided I would skip it.

But I was not able to develop such a strategy for Verbal. Unless I read the question and understood it, I was not able to decide if it was worth moving on. This was the most difficult thing for me - deciding when to move on. For example, the second RC passage that I got was extremely easy to read. But the questions were convoluted. I wasn't moving on because the passage was so easy to understand and I wanted to answer all of the questions correctly.

I also wanted to add this bit about how my preparation for the second time different from my first GMAT. Second time around, my preparation for Verbal was a lot better than my first.

First time:
SC: MGMAT +OG
CR: CR Bible and some LSAT material to know the common types of flawed arguments ( this helped me most) + OG12
RC: GMATPrepNOW videos (accuracy was good when I practiced with this technique. OG + GMATPrep)
Practice Tests: MGMAT 1-6 (600s to 680), GMATPrep 1&2 (680 and 720 - I still hadn't figured out my timing)

Second time:
SC Approach: After I began studying SC for the second time, I realized that the first time around I was too mechanical and applied rules like a robot. This time I spent analyzing each wrong answer for the each question. This helped me a lot. I was very confident in choosing the right answers this time. I analyzed each question till I found out why the wrong answer was wrong and why a construction was incorrect. I utilized the Manhattan and BTG forums more than any source. SC is one area where I felt I learnt everything from the scratch and I did a thorough job. I used Manhattan SC ( didn't go through the book again though. used it as a reference for a list of topics). I also studied some grammar from doing grammar, english page etc. on the usage of tenses. My accuracy on GMATPrep Question Pack 1 was over 95% consistently.
What I feel I could have improved: On the actual GMAT, I saw a few questions where the emphasis on meaning was more. Eg. two answers were close because I couldn't figure out if they were separate actions connected by 'and' happening successively or if they were simultaneous actions. I looked at Stacey's post listing all SCs testing meaning just yesterday after the test. I will surely look at that.
CR: I didn't use CR bible this time around. I utilized forums like this, BTG and Ron's videos and came up with my own list of the types of flawed arguments (under these categories - statistical flaws, causal errors, analogy errors) that GMAT makes. This helped me with all question types. My accuracy on CR was 90%+. But on some questions I took 3 mins-3.5 mins. I have exhausted official material but I think I can go through them all again and analyze to improve timing.

RC: I used a video course by Brent of GMATPrepNOW. I think that it helped me best. I had very good accuracy. For passages that were dense, I followed Ron's main point technique reading where I read only transition points of the passage. This technique worked well for main point questions. But when it came to details questions, I wasn't able to figure out as well the role of the detail in the context. So, I basically stuck to reading the passage skipping examples and made a paragraph summary for each paragraph. I was at all time able to figure out the main point question, function of a paragraph correctly. I practiced only with Question Pack 1 questions - 75 questions (not passages) and a few OG passages.

Practice Tests:
Used Question Pack 1 (timed practice).
GMATPrep 1&2 (660, 680, Resets: 750, 750)
GMATPrep Exampack 1(660 (Q46,V35) August 1st ,690 (Q50,V33) - August 21st - on this test I messed up on verbal timing. something similar to actual GMAT)
Reset of Exam pack 1 (750 Q49 V44) (I got 8 repeat questions in verbal - 5 from an RC and 2 SC and 1 CR) I did not skip IR or verbal when I took practice tests.

I have no way of gauging if I have prepared any better than my previous attempt because I messed up with timing.
Please suggest if I can do anything better than now (in terms of learning concepts) to improve accuracy vs time.
I want to know a starting point from which I can work. I know timing is a major problem. I plan to mix verbal sets and practice them with time and analyze my accuracy vs time.
I studied for GMAT for the last 2 months (full-time). I also think I am doing well in both the sections now (better than I have ever done). My verbal accuracy is 90%+ when I don't time myself too strictly. I do not want to postpone the GMAT for more than a month because I have put my best prep during the last two months. October first week would be ideal for me.
Do you think I can reflect more on this performance from a different perspective and find out if I have much more than timing which is lacking?
Is one month enough time to improve on timing? There are very few available exam dates in my region. This is one reason I want to know what will be the ideal time.
Thanks a lot in advance. I'm sorry for the very long post. I wanted to give as much information as possible about how I studied and practiced.

[StaceyKoprince]

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

Here's the main problem:

I wanted to answer all of the questions correctly.

Read this (right now, before you continue reading the rest of my post):
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

The GMAT is designed to force you to have to guess at times (or to penalize you if you don't). You've learned to do that at times on quant, and you're scoring very well there. So your task is to learn how to do this on verbal as well. You can do it - you already learned for quant!

Read this:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/08/ ... r-the-gmat

My accuracy on CR was 90%+. But on some questions I took 3 mins-3.5 mins. I have exhausted official material but I think I can go through them all again and analyze to improve timing.

Your goal is not to maintain accuracy but just be faster. Your goal is to better balance accuracy against timing, which means sometimes reducing your accuracy. So don't just go and try to learn how to do everything faster. Learn how to tell when you should NOT do something.

Sometimes, that will mean knowing pretty quickly that something is likely too hard. For example, you might realize that you're bad at CR boldface questions and, since there's typically only one on the test, you'll just guess and move on immediately when you see one.

Sometimes, that will mean knowing how to pull yourself out of a question you've started. For example, if you read and SC and don't understand what the sentence is trying to say (even after reading it twice), try one more time, substituting answer (E) into the original. If you still aren't sure what the meaning of the sentence is, move on. Or, for example, if you've been through the answers twice on an RC and still have 3+ answers left (especially if you thought the passage itself was pretty easy), then move on. The question is clearly harder than it seemed in the first place.

Actually, if I've been through the answers twice on any verbal and still have 3+ left, I move on. That's a signal that I'm missing something. It doesn't matter how easy I thought it might've been when I started.

So you're going to need to train yourself to determine what those weaknesses and signals are for you. Then you'll be able to make better decisions when you get in there again.

Most people need about 4 to 6 weeks to fix timing issues (obviously, this can vary from person to person), so one month may be fine. The two big variables:
- can you develop (and use!) the business mindset described in the articles above?
- can you learn your own personal strength / weakness signals so that you know how to make those decisions?

As I said, you've done this on quant, so I think you can do it on verbal - but you do have to change that mindset. You asked several times how to improve accuracy vs. time - but that's not the main focus. The main focus is trying to identify what you should let go faster.

Interestingly, this will likely improve your accuracy. Those questions on which you spent all that extra time were probably mostly incorrect anyway. Plus you got a bunch of later ones wrong because you were rushing. If you can get those earlier questions wrong faster, then you will be able to address at least some of those later questions. This will mean that you aren't missing questions that you know how to answer but are missing because you don't have adequate time - that's the real score-killer!

What do you think you need to do in order to develop and practice that mindset on the verbal side?

[mvidhya.murali]

Hi Stacey,

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I read your reply and followed and read the links you had directed me to. I retook the GMAT and scored a 720. I had greatly underestimated the timing and I'm thankful I took it seriously this time around. With no new preparation and only focusing on the timing, I was able to improve from 640 to 720. Many thanks to you. Your article on GMAT time management - the one that says GMAT is more like tennis - is so spot on. This article is a gem and an eye opener that tells the obvious but often overlooked aspect about timing. I cannot emphasize how useful it was for me. As suggested by you in one of the blog posts, I also prepared question sets in Verbal and I found it very useful. Thanks for the wealth of information and strategies you have passed on through your blog posts.

Ron Purewal,

Although I was a silent lurker in the Verbal Forums at MGMAT, I would like to thank you for the amazing wealth of information you share through the forums. Your suggestion in one of the forum topics about 'not staring at the question and to come up with quick alternative ways to arrive at the solution' is such a gem and it helped me so much when I took GMAT this time around. I reminded that to myself at every question. Thank you very much! I have benefited immensely from your posts.

[StaceyKoprince]

Congratulations! I'm really happy for you. And I'm glad we were able to help. I'll make sure Ron sees this too.

Are you applying this year? Let us know how it goes - good luck!

[mvidhya.murali]

Thank you, Stacey. I'm applying next year. I'll hopefully be back on the forums when I'm applying and I'll keep posting about my how my applications go.

[StaceyKoprince]

Great, we look forward to hearing from you!

We have another forum folder called Ask An Admissions Consultant. Make sure to take advantage of that when you're applying!

[AshutoshA687]

Hi Stacey,

Sorry to bump up an old post but I believe you are the best person who can help me with my problem.
I am more or less on the same boat. Last time while preparing for the exam I was getting 700+-20. but unfortunately got 640. Was not able to sleep the night before the exam because of tension so i believe this might be a reason.
For a fresh start after that incident, I was actually facing problems in finding materials such as mocks and practice question as i already consumed everything, official and Manhattan material, for the previous two attempts.
I got some more material and sum more tests which my cousin was using. I believe those are not exact mocks but at least they worked for my cousin.

I actually want your help for following:
My verbal score is going up and down a lot, ranging from v30 - v39(highest, only once). While analyzing my performance I noticed that my RC is not going good and improving it, might prove beneficial.

Earlier i used to study whole passage and then try answering questions but my accuracy was not good. I Went through some of the videos made by Ron for RC and tried the skimming method. But still i see that my accuracy is more or less same. Using this techniques, i am getting structure questions correct but 50 percent inference questions wrong.

I am unable to decide any particular strategy and is confused about which to use. I will be writing exam on coming 26th-27th so around one month left.

At first i decided to use reading complete passage technique for first 2 passages and skimming techniques in the latter two but not sure if this will work. Also I am not able to finish complete exam on time, forcing me to guess some last questions.

Could you please help me deciding which could be better.

Thanks in advance.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Stacey's away at the moment, so I'll do my best to fill her place. Looking at what you've written, here are a few thoughts:
-You sound like you've done a lot of verbal questions, but have you had time to review them thoroughly? Remember, that learning actually takes place not when you do questions, but when you review them. For my students, I generally recommend 10-20 hours of study between practice tests. Simply 'doing' questions isn't actually learning. And, of course, once you've reviewed a bunch of questions, you can redo them at a later date to check your progress.
-You haven't mentioned the quant section, so I'm assuming that you feel confident there. If that's the case, then you probably have a good approach for checking your errors and learning from them. You probably think things like 'when I see a complicated word problem, I tend to make simple errors, so that first of all I need to just write down the information that they give me'. That's the kind of calm, specific, strategic thinking that you can apply to the verbal side too.
-Feeling nervous before a GMAT test (especially your first) is totally normal. Actually, it's much worse to not feel nervous (which probably means that you don't care). Check out our GMAT Roadmap Strategy Guide for more advice here.
-From what you write about RC, it seems that you've tried a few strategies but haven't found the best for you. RC strategy tends to be very individual, so that you need to be careful not to just follow somebody else's plan. Really, here you need to develop your own strategy (but use advice for other sources, of course). Guessing some RC questions could be a potential solution. On top of this, if you're not a native speaker of English, you may have to accept that RC will always be a little weaker than other areas for you, and it may actually be more economical to work on SC and CR and ace those question types.
-I would encourage you not to overload yourself with too many new questions in this month of study. Take a good look at your mistakes from past practice tests and work out the kind of errors that you're making. Remember that GMAT really is a test of logic and problem-solving; there's no substitute for training yourself to think better.