2 month study plan

[ip]

I have 8 weeks to go until my scheduled GMAT test date. I've only covered Geometry and Algebra manhattan gmat strategy guides and the OG problems listed at the end of these books. But with only 8 weeks left, I know I need a smarter approach.. but I don't know what that smarter approach is. Do I take a CAT to see where I should focus? Do I cover as much as I can of the remaining strategy guides (verbal and quant) for the next 3 weeks (is that even possible?!) then do comprehensive review for the next 5 weeks while doing a CAT every 2 weeks to see how I should adjust? And given the time limit, should I cover all the questions in the OG 13 and the Quant 2 and Verbal 2 official books?

I've been monitoring my time and have developed 1 minute sense that's off by about +/- 10 seconds at the most. I now can guess when I feel I'm running out of time and know I can't solve it completely. I've been using Archer when I solve the OG Algebra and Geometry problems.

Please help me figure out an approach. I know something's wrong with what I'm doing but I don't know where to start fixing it.

[StaceyKoprince]

Do I take a CAT to see where I should focus?

Yes! In fact, if you take a class with us, that's one of your very first assignments. You can't set priorities if you don't know your strengths and weaknesses.

When you're done, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

Also, take a look through this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/

After you've taken the CAT and looked through the material in the above article, come back and tell me what you think you should do and why (also tell me your practice score, your goal score, and anything else you think is relevant). I'll tell you where I think you're on the right track and where I think you're not, and I'll also point you towards additional resources where appropriate.

[ip]

Hi Stacey,

I followed your advice and completed a CAT and got an assessment report from that. Below is my analysis:

I got a score of 560. I did not do the essays but other than that I did the test in one sitting and took the breaks between the sections.

IR score: 2.47; Percentile 2-3
Quant: 37; Percentile 44%
Verbal: 30; Percentile 56%

QUANT

1 string of 4 incorrect answers:
Time Difficulty Level
2:21 600-700
1:55 600-700
1:54 500-600
2:33 600-700

This happened at the last 5 questions, 4 wrongs and then 1 correct at the very end.

Timing:

I wasn't rushed for time at the end.. I actually started taking my time because I noticed I had enough time left. Total time on quant section was 69 mins and 33 seconds.

However, my time was not evenly distributed. My cumulative was never over the target cumulative time, mostly under it actually except for 2 questions (#10 and 11) when I was right on the target cumulative target time.

Too slow (Over 2 minutes)
There were 15 problems where I was too slow (4 problems over 3 minutes). No trend on which topics slowed me down.. a bit disheartening because I guess that means my errors are all over the place so I'll have to study everything instead of just focusing on a number of topics.

Of the 15 problems, only 4 were correct and these were in the 500-600 level.
Interestingly, only 1 DS problem in my too slow list.

Too fast (Less than 1 minute)
8 problems were too fast. Of the 8, 3 were wrong and 5 were correct and these 5 were in the 500-600 level. 5 were DS problems and were PS problems.

Topics in the too fast list are again from all over the place.. There isnt a topic that keeps showing up.

Across quant, ave. time wrong is 1:57 to 2:37 while ave. time right ranges from 1:12-2:27. My slowest were in the Formulas questions (I got 2 and both were wrong). Overall, it takes me more time to get an answer wrong than to get an answer right. (Same pattern in my verbal results except for CR)

Ave. % correct in PS is 36%, 67% for DS. I got all the 300-500 questions correct. Most of the problems given were in the 500-600 level.

From the assessment reports, my weaknesses are WP and FDP (weakness based on anything below 50% correct).

On a per topic level:

% RIGHT

Algebra - 67%; Weak areas: quadratic equations and formula (ave time right: 1:27, ave time wrong 1:57) I am slowest in quadratic equations.

Geometry - 75%; weak areas: triangles and diagonals, polygons (ave time right: 2:27, ave time wrong: 2:37). My slowest time was in polygons (5:10!!!) where I got one question here on the area and perimeter of a rectangle. My next slowest time was in triangles and diagonals (2:37)

Number Properties - 0%; weak areas: everything (ave time wrong is 2:05)

Word Problems - 50%; weak areas: rates & work, statistics, overlapping sets, consecutive integers (although I only got one consecutive integers problem) (ave. time right: 1:36, ave. time wrong 2:02). Slowest was in overlapping sets (3:20)

Fractions, Decimals and Percents - 50%; weak areas: fractions, percents, FDPs (ave. time right: 1:12, ave time wrong: 2:26)

VERBAL

1 string of 3 incorrect answers:
2 from the 700-800 level, 1 from the 500-600 level

1 string of 5 incorrect answers:
700-800 then 600-700 then 700-800 700-800 then 600-700

Too slow
2 CR above 2:30:
1 correct 1 wrong (both were strengthen / weaken the argument types)

4 SC above 1:30:
2 correct, 2 wrong (I'm slow in modifier, meaning and parallelism questions.)

RC
WRONG ON ALL MAIN IDEA QUESTIONS
2 above 2.5 mins (both specific detail questions)

CR - 50% right., ave time right: 2:21, ave. time wrong 2:06 difficulty range of question levels: 580-710
RC - 33% right, ave time right 1:35, ave time wrong: 1:55
SC - 67% right, ave time right: 1:07, ave time wrong: 1:27

CR weak areas: strengthen/weaken the argument, draw a conclusion, explain the discrepancy
RC weak areas: inference, specific detail, main idea
SC weak areas: SV Agreement, idioms, parallelism, comparisons, quantity

Moving forward, I plan to review the CAT problems. As I go through the problems, I will refer to the specific chapter in the appropriate strategy guide if I don't understand the basics of that topics and if it falls into my list of weaknesses based on the assessment reports.

For questions I got right, I’ll study these and find other ways to solve and how I can solve these faster.

For my too slow problems, I'll review these as well and figure out why I'm slow.

I'll figure out how I could have guessed on all these problems. Most of the problems I got were in the 500-600 level so I'll focus on these and on the 600-700 when I feel I've improved. Is it also correct that I have to be consistently scoring correctly in the 500-600 level across all the topics before I will be given 600-700 level question in any topic? So does that mean I should focus my review on 500-600 level OG problems for each topic before I move on to studying 600-700 level OG problem in any topic?

I plan to take another CAT on April 14 which is 2 weeks from now and then another CAT 2 weeks after that. I'm pushing back my GMAT to May 10.

I really want a 700 score but I only have about 6 weeks to go. Thus far, I've focused my review on geometry (which hardly showed up in the CAT) and on describe the role and assumption questions in CR. Going forward, I think I'll have to vary it and hit my weaknesses first.

What do you think Stacey? How else can I improve?

[StaceyKoprince]

I did not do the essays

The more you skip at the beginning (essay, IR), the more likely your Q and V scores are artificially inflated, just FYI. That's okay at the very beginning, when you're just trying to get a handle on strengths and weaknesses, but as time goes on, tests have to be under 100% official conditions. Otherwise, you don't know whether your test score will drop on real test day because of stamina issues.

I actually started taking my time because I noticed I had enough time left. Total time on quant section was 69 mins and 33 seconds.

Then you were going too quickly - this can be just as much of a problem as going too slowly. :) How many of the problems that you missed were due to careless mistakes of some kind?

On quant, too slow is over 2.5m, not over 2m. On how many were you over 2.5m?

Re: what kinds of problems, were they pure math? Story problems? Theory problems? (Regardless of actual content area.)

It's very common to go too slowly on PS and speed up on DS as a result. You'll need to start getting a better time balance - you're likely losing points on DS right now while spending too much time on PS questions (that you're mostly getting wrong). Your DS percentage is amazing given that you're going a lot faster on those!

It's also common for avg time wrong to be higher - that's to be expected to some extent, because those are the harder problems. You don't want the average time to be more than about 30s higher, though, nor do you want the avg time for incorrect to be over 2.5m (and it should be closer to 2).

Geometry is a weakness, even though you answered 75% correctly. You've got to bring that time down!

You didn't put NP on your "weakness" list but you said you didn't get any NP right... is that 0% a typo, or did you just forget to add NP to the weakness list?

Verbal
SC:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

RC:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... p-passage/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -passages/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... c-passage/

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... prehension
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-details/

CR:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... g-problem/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... e-Problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -problems/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... n-problem/

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/01/ ... cy-problem

When reviewing the problems, use this as your guide:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Take all the time you need when reviewing - you might discover 30+ minutes of things to do based upon how a problem went. Maybe you'll need to make flashcards or do drills out of Foundations of math or verbal, or whatever!

Re: your scoring questions, no, it's not that precise. The range of questions that could be offered is fairly wide - so focus on the 500-600 and the 600-700. :)

In general, yes, you need to tackle your major weaknesses first. On quant, that seems to be NP, and on verbal, RC - followed by the other categories we noted. But it also seems that you haven't been through all of the material a first time yet - is that right? Last time you mentioned having done only 2 of the 5 math strategy guides. You've got to get through everything once first before you then start to go back over your biggest weaknesses. So, really, start by getting through everything once (if you haven't already). If you have, then go ahead and move to the biggest weaknesses as determined by this test

It's unlikely that you'll go from 560 to 700 in 6 weeks. Anything is possible, of course, but most people would need more time than that. You should think about whether the timeframe is more important (in which case you may need to lower your goal score) or whether the score is more important (in which case you may need to postpone your test). You don't need to make any decisions today - just think about it, just in case.

[ip]

Hi Stacey,

I've decided to postpone my exam date. How many months do you suggest I give myself and how do I move forward from here? Now that I have the freedom of time, my new target score is 730 up. When planning my revised study plans, should I plan my study goals for the next month or so, then at the end of the month, plan the next month again, etc?

[StaceyKoprince]

Since you do have the luxury of no immediate deadline, don't plan the total time now - you just can't know. Use your most recent test results to figure out what you're going to do for roughly the next 3 weeks. As you study, tweak that based upon the actual progress that you're making - you'll decide to spend more time on some areas, you'll realize that you're doing better with others, and you'll even uncover additional weaknesses (just from doing practice problems) that you'll then add to your study.

Around the 3 week mark (but sometimes it might be 2 or 4 weeks), evaluate whether you're ready to take another practice test. This should happen when you feel that you've made substantial progress since the last one. You don't have to have fixed everything, but you should have fixed enough that you know you're going to get some new results / different data out of the new practice test. Otherwise, you're just wasting a test.

Once you do take a new test, analyze it and start the cycle all over again.

Here are some crucial resources on mindset and time management:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

And minimizing careless errors:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

And how to study:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Good luck - check back in and let us know how it goes.