WWSD* (What Would Stacey Do)?
I sat down to think about a topic and suddenly realized that I’m writing my 201st GMAT article! How do I have anything left to write about?!?
The GMAT is actually a pretty fascinating topic (in my opinion, at least!). I have to give a big shout-out to all of my students (class, tutoring, and forums!) because you guys have inspired most of my articles. I just think about what my students have been struggling with lately and, boom, I’ve got a topic.
A fellow teacher, though, is the inspiration for this particular article. We were teaching a 9-session course together recently and he asked me how I always had an article to recommend when a student had a question on any particular topic. I keep a list of every article I’ve written, so I sent it to my colleague not really thinking about how very long that list is, or how unhelpful it is to be handed something that contains a couple of hundred titles. : )
Sure enough, he replied, Um, yeah this is great. So, which ones do you think are the most important?
Point taken. There are too many”nobody’s going to read all 200”so which ones should you read? Where should you start?
What would I do if I were about to start my studies?
We’ll start today with the highest-level stuff: what we’re really trying to do here and how to approach studying in general. Next time, we’ll take a look at more nitty-gritty details. Also, I’m going to limit the list to just my own articles”but you shouldn’t limit yourself in this way! Obviously there are a lot of great study resources out there.
The one article Everyone Should Read
Developing a GMAT Study Plan
Just starting out? Or maybe you’ve been studying for weeks already? Perhaps you’ve already taken the official test once but want another crack at it? Whatever stage you’re at, you need a plan, so that’s what we’re going to talk about this week: how to develop your own personalized study plan. Get a notebook, open up a file on your computer, or start a blog. Record everything.
Inverted Sentences: Pronouns and Subject-Verb Agreement
This post is inspired by a question suggested by a student (keep the requests coming!), who recently asked me about various issues with pronoun case. I’m going to address the student’s specific question but also expand on the topic a bit. The issues discussed here are advanced issues; you likely don’t need to worry about these if your goal score is 650 or lower.
What’s the Best Way to Study?
At Manhattan GMAT, we spend a good deal of time thinking about education. We’re committed to the highest quality of teaching, and we’re always interested in the latest pedagogical developments. And so, lately, this interesting article from the New York Times has been making the rounds in our office.
The piece contends that much of the conventional wisdom about study habits has little basis in reality. For example, it’s often assumed students should commit to a particular workspace. But recent research has found individuals actually remember more material when they alternate rooms while studying. It’s also more helpful to work on a range of distinct (but related) skills in a single study session, rather than narrowing your focus to one topic. What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched, and this slows down forgetting, says one scientist.
What do our instructors say? Stacey Koprince tells us:
We’ve known for a long time that making multiple “connections” while studying helps us to store and retrieve information more effectively. It’s fascinating that the researchers have extended this to the physical location in which you make the connections – apparently, we even make connections based upon things we see around us while we’re studying the information.
In fact, these findings support advice we already give students: Vary how you study within a single study session, and study via many shorter study sessions rather than a few long ones. As the article points out, musicians do a combination of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work when they practice, while athletes’ workouts typically mix strength, speed and skill drills. Stacey recommends:
Do some reading in a certain area, or watch a short lesson, then do some practice problems that touch on the same material (but may also include other things), then spend some time reviewing those problems. During your review, go back to any necessary sources when you need to check or refresh something; the more you do this, the more connections you’ll make. Once or twice a week, do a mix of random problems (and more often as you get closer to the test); this allows you to practice figuring out what’s in front of you in the first place.
Stacey did find one of the article’s points a bit dubious, however”the suggestion that there may not be different learning styles.
The one thing that I’m a bit skeptical about is the proposal that there might not be different learning styles. From personal experience, I know that I learn certain things better in certain ways. Recently, I took a French immersion course (3 to 5 hours of French every day for three weeks). When we reviewed vocabulary orally, I didn’t retain anywhere near as much as I did when the teacher gave us a hand-out or I looked up the word myself. It was mostly new information and I personally make much better connections when I see new info written down. On the other hand, because I know English grammar so well, I was able to base my French grammar connections on similarities and differences between the two languages; here, I benefited more from an oral discussion because I could ask immediate questions to clarify my understanding (and so make better connections).
There you have it: Train like an athlete, but base your studies on your unique needs.