Strategy for final 2 weeks...

[ReadyToGo]

Hi there,

Firstly, thanks so much for providing your feedback in the forums. I have found it tremendously helpful!

I am schedule to take the GMAT on Sept 6th. Here is my practice test history (bottom representing most recent scores):

GMATPrep - 33V, 46Q - 640
MGMAT CAT #2 - 41V, 41Q - 680 (w/out AWA essays...)
MGMAT CAT #3 - 38V, 40Q - 650
MGMAT CAT #4 - 35V, 44Q - 650
MGMAT CAT #5 - 41V, 44Q - 700

My target is 700+, and I have less than 2 weeks to go. My plan was to take the 2nd GMATPrep test this coming weekend, as it is the most accurate gauge.

I continue to be amazed that my Quant score isn't that high. I have a Finance degree and work as a Financial Analyst, so I always thought it was my strength. I am happy with my Verbal (93%) and have identified Sentence Correction to be the area of improvement (mainly idioms). I plan to spend the next few weeks reviewing Verbal, but feel like I should dedicate more time to Quant.

I have completed the majority (~80%) of the Quant OG problems and have timed myself with every single problem. Generally, I fall below the 2 minute mark. I feel like the MGMAT problems that I saw on CAT #5 were more challenging the the OG problems I have been practicing - especially the Geometry.

Do you have any recommendations on how to allocate the next 2 weeks wisely? Attached is my Assessment Summary from my most recent exam.

Thank you!

[RonPurewal]

one thing many of my students have found especially valuable in the final weeks is what i like to call the OPENERS DRILL.

here's what that means:
at some point, you should run through all the quant problems in the o.g. in a couple of hours - about 20 seconds per problem. in this drill, don't actually do the problems; just say how you would start them. you should have a solid opener for EVERY quant problem in the official guide; if you don't, then you need to study that problem - and others like it - until you can rattle off a reliable opener in about ten seconds.
this may sound weird, but you MUST get to the point where you have an "opener" (a way to START the problem) for each and every problem within the first 10 seconds or so; that is where the game is truly won or lost. the problems are versatile enough that just about any opener will lead to a valid solution - and i'm serious about the "just about any opener" comment - so the biggest challenge by far is just getting your hand (and brain) moving in the first place.

one other thing: you should NOT try to 'see' all the way through a problem, in the way that a chess master would try to anticipate his opponent's moves 5 or 6 turns in advance. that is folly on a test like this, on which time management dictates that you shoot first and ask questions later.
this is a difficult attitude to absorb: most MBA candidates are type a, somewhat perfectionistic, and not given to jumping into things without forethought. unfortunately, to succeed on the quant portion of the gmat, you have to latch onto problems quickly - not knowing exactly what's going to happen, but at least having the feeling that You're Getting Somewhere - and also let go of problems quickly. for many students, this means a complete 100% reversal of their usual mindset; not easy.

example: look at #245 in the og11 problem solving section. (i can't reproduce the problem here, for copyright reasons.)
ANY of the following openers will work:
* solve for x and y (most efficient opener for this: just add the equations and then just subtract the equations; do not use substitution)
* plug x + y in for "a" and x - y for "b" in the answer choices
* pick numbers for 'a' and 'b', solve for 'x' and 'y', and put the numbers into the problem and answer choices
* pick numbers for 'x' and 'y', plug into the formulas to find 'a' and 'b', and put the numbers into the problem and answer choices
that's 4 different openers, all of which lead to a solution.
all you have to do is come up with one of them.

same sort of deal with all the other quant problems.

try it - you'll like it

[Racer X]

Ron,

Does your drill only work for Problem Solving questions or can it be applied to Data Sufficiency problems as well?

Is there a way to practice the verbal section with the opener drill?

I am going to give it a shot this weekend. Thanks!

[ReadyToGo]

Thanks for the study tip, Ron! I'll keep you updated on my test results...fingers crossed (oops, dropped my flash cards!) :)

[RonPurewal]

Ron,

Does your drill only work for Problem Solving questions or can it be applied to Data Sufficiency problems as well?

it works on both.

the application to ds problems is slightly different. for one, you have to put more effort into trying to "game" questions for which you don't have an immediate opener, because there are more backdoor ways to eliminate answer choices (look for the easy statement; look to see if the two statements are logically equivalent and/or one of them implies the other one; etc.) also, if your opener is Plug In Numbers, that process works COMPLETELY differently on ds problems than on ps problems. on ps, you plug in one carefully chosen set of numbers and play the matching game with the answer choices; on ds, you plug multiple sets of numbers (not random - they're chosen according to the concepts tested in the problem) and track the answers while trying to prove "insufficient".

but an opener that works on a ps problem will probably also get you somewhere on a ds problem that tests similar material.
remember, most of your takeaways should be (or could be) expressed as "if i see ______ on a problem, i should ______". most statements of this sort are general enough to apply to either problem type.

Is there a way to practice the verbal section with the opener drill?

not really, no.

sentence correction problems are generally so short (about a minute each, maybe a lil more) that the entire problem is, for all practical purposes, an "opener".

for critical reasoning, your "opener" is essentially the same thing every time, depending only on problem type. for example, your opener for all Draw a Conclusion problems is, basically, "ascertain the facts presented in the passage, and choose the conclusion that follows logically from those facts and only those facts." the problems differ only in their specifics.
roughly the same applies to reading comp.

you should still try to achieve the same "been there, done that" attitude with verbal problems as with math problems, though. you should try to get to the point where every problem reminds you of some other problem(s) in some way(s).