5 DAYS UNTIL TEST DAY ... ANY LAST MINUTE SUGGESTIONS?

[jmiceli0819]

Hi all,

My exam is scheduled for this upcoming saturday at 8:00 in the morning. I'm just curious does anyone have any suggestions on what I should be studying or how long should I be studying? Also I'm still a little raw on my sentence corrections, i have the manhattan book, but should i attempt to work through this book in such a short amount of time? Are there any suggestions from forum members as to what to read over and what to concentrate on? Does anyone have any links for additional useful resources?

Studying this week has been limited, I'm working full time, I just got engaged so my fiance has me looking at wedding halls constantly and every wednesday night i have class after work and i dont get home till 1030 - 1100. I'm banking on all those hours studying prior to this past week to get me through!! i want this to end already!! Although its encouraging to see everyone helping eachother to get a better score. Any sugguestions please feel free to post. Thanks for everything ... hoping this will be my last post!! best of luck to you all

[StaceyKoprince]

Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials! The closer you get to the real test, the less you do actually - really just review, not trying to learn a bunch of new stuff.

Take a look at these two articles, but don't do everything that's in them - they talks about what to do for the last 2 weeks. So adjust accordingly (since you only have 5 days left).

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -game-plan
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -to-review

Good luck! Let us know if you have any other questions and let us know how it goes!

[jmiceli0819]

So test day didn't exactly go as planned. First off I got lost getting to the test center and barely made my 8:00 am test time. The AWA essays i found myself pressed for time and did not have a chance to finish one the conclusions. In the math section i started out very well, but took to much time on the first 10 questions, leaving myself very little time for the remainder of the questions having to guess on many and even leaving 2 questions blank. Verbal section went the same way, having to guess the last 7 questions and leaving one answer blank. Needless to say i didnt get the grade i was looking for. I wound up scoring a miserable 370 (Q28;V14) by far my worst score and nearly 70 points lower than my first test (440) and 210 points worst than one of my practice tests. It just doesnt make sense. My math leading up to test day was great and the questions seemed to get harder as i progressed (leading up to when i had to guess). I know my timing is way off now, but how much of a factor is this? I really don't have the money right now to enroll in a formal course so my learning is solely through myself. What should i do now? Should i take some time off to let myself cool off? If so, how long? i studied nearly 3 months for this exam and i did worse. it doesnt make sense to me. i also should mention that this test has engulfed my life and i havent had the ability to truly enjoy myself or properly diet and exercise like i normally do. sorry for the rambling but i could really use some help here. thanks.

[jmiceli0819]

I forgo to also mention the manhattan gmat's basic skills assessment test i scored an 18 out of 20 and my native tounge is english.

[StaceyKoprince]

First, how have you been studying so far? It sounds like you didn't take our course but maybe you did one of our self-study programs. If so, you're eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment. This is a phone call with an instructor to figure out what went wrong and come up with a plan to re-take the test. If this applies to you, please send an email to studentservices@manhattangmat.com and request the Post-Exam Assessment right away.

Timing is a HUGE factor, and you described major timing problems. In general, a blank question results in a penalty of about 3 percentile points (per question). If you have 5+ questions wrong in a row at the end, the penalty averages about 2 to 2.5 percentile points per question (exact number depending upon various details that we can't know).

So you had a minimum 6 percentile point penalty on quant and 3 on verbal, plus however many wrong in a row you likely had at the end. Even if you got lucky on a few, if you had to guess on 10+ questions, you'd still have a huge penalty.

That's good news in a way. - it means that you greatly underperformed due to timing missteps, not just that you don't know any of this stuff, and there's a lot you can do to fix that next time around.

Couple of things. You got lost and barely got there on time, so that made you seriously anxious. That doesn't help. Now you know how to get there, but for anyone else reading this, do a "drive by" before Real Test Day (or a subway-practice-run or whatever). Know how to get there, how long it's going to take you, what to do if you hit construction or an accident along the way, etc.

Next, you had timing problems on the essays, which increased your stress, so it just sent you into a tailspin. That's also good news in a way - the stress of all of this precipitated the tailspin. It wasn't ONLY due to almost arriving late - a lot was just due to the stress of the real thing in general. That's always going to be there, so you have to have a more solid timing plan so that the stres of the situation doesn't cause you to get out of control next time too.

You can fix this, but it's going to take some work. The good news: we know why this happened. It isn't totally mysterious and it's not because you don't know any of the content. With the pattern that you described, you had to have been doing a lot better in order to STILL hit 370 after all of that. I know that might sound funny, but it's true.

You sound burned out. Do one thing and then take a week off. The one thing is first to write down - for yourself - EVERYthing you remember about this test experience, the good, the bad, and the boring. Get it out. It'll be cathartic and you may be able to use some of the data later. (Note: do NOT post anything online about any specific questions or question detail that you remember.)

Next:

i also should mention that this test has engulfed my life and i havent had the ability to truly enjoy myself or properly diet and exercise like i normally do.

It's critical to keep yourself physically healthy. If you don't, you're going to learn more slowly and you're going to think less clearly in general. Find shorter / easier ways to get some exercise every day. It can be less than your normal regimen on some days, but don't abandon this stuff completely.

Okay, timing. Use this article to analyze your timing on your last couple of practice tests:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... sts-part-1

Note: this is an UPDATED article that was just published a few weeks ago. Most of it is the same as the old one that I always link to, but there are a few differences (hence the update).

When you're done, come back here and post both your analysis and any supporting data you want to include. We'll help you interpret and figure out a more specific plan.

After your break, you would also benefit from learning about how long one minute is without looking at a watch or stopwatch. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a stopwatch with lap timing capability. When you go to do a set of problems, start the stopwatch but turn it over so you can't see the time. Every time you think you're one minute into a new problem, push the lap button. When you're done with that problem, push the lap button again, then repeat the process for the next problem. When you're done with the set, see how good you were - and whether you tend to over or underestimate. Get yourself to the point where you're within 15 seconds either way on a regular basis (that is, you can generally predict between 45 sec and 1min 15 sec). Also check your timing for the entire question, of course.

Now, how do you use that when doing problems? If you're not on track by one minute*, make an educated guess** and move on. (The general idea is that if you're not on track by the halfway mark, you're unlikely to figure out what's holding you back AND have time to do the whole problem in the 1 min you have left.)

* For SC, 1min is well beyond the half-way mark (we're supposed to average about 1m15s here), but you can almost always eliminate at least some choices on SC in that timeframe. Once you've got that "I'm around the 1min mark and I'm struggling" feeling, go through any remaining choices ONCE more. Pick one. Move on.

** This also requires you to know HOW to make an educated guess depending upon the type of problem and the content being tested. So that's something else to add to your study: how to make educated guesses on different kinds of problems.

Note also for verbal, the process is a bit different - for verbal, you're actually trying to eliminate wrong answers right from the beginning. For verbal, it's more about - once I realize that I (am not understanding the conclusion or some text in the passage) (have narrowed to 2 answers and am not sure how to narrow further) (etc), then I do one of these things: if I'm totally lost, I just pick and move on; if I'm behind on time, I pick and move on; if I'm not totally lost and still have some time left, then I'll decide whether to look at things ONCE more without going over time.

So go write down your debrief for yourself and also do that test analysis (so that you can have my response by the time you're ready to start again in a week). And sign up for that PEA if you're eligible. Then take a break.

[jmiceli0819]

Stacey,

Let me first off thank you for such a thorough post. Your explinations were excellent and got me feeling better about this GMAT experience once again.

I studied on a daily basis, taking off every Sunday for some rest and relaxiation. I work full time so my windows for studytime are somewhat limited. During the week I would study during my lunch break, train ride home and when I got home from work. Saturday was my library day, getting in at 11:00 and leaving around 5:00. I would like to point out that when I studied I never was concerned with timing, more concerned with learning the concepts and different questions asked. I would read the MGMAT books then practice a few questions in the OG. While answering these questions I would look at the books way to solve these questions, along with trying to figure out some sort of new shortcut I didnt see while answering the question. I never took the time to review the essay section of the the exam, I never had a problem writing so I thought I could breeze through this. That really backfired!! I had so many thoughts rushing through my head for both of these essays, I struggled to get these thoughts in order and on paper.

I don't have a tremendous analysis of my practice exams so I'm just going to go off my experience and maybe you can provide some insight on this. Essay section I explained in the prior paragraph, so many ideas, but unable to put my thoughts to paper, not finishing in the alotted time. I took a break after the second essay, went to the restroom, washed my face and prepared for the next section. Math section was next. I started out great, answering

[jmiceli0819]

the first 5-7 questions very carefully thinking to myself, "if i answer the first 10 correct, my score cant possibly drop that much!" oh but it did!! I found myself sometimes reading the question over forgetting what they were asking, maybe fumbling with my multiplication nothing serious, but sometimes i would work a problem out, not see the answer I came up with and immediately came up with and try to backsolve via the answer choices, when I should have used this technique in the first place. Like i said before, I found myself very strapped for time, leaving myself with 17 questions to finish in 17 minutes.

the quote you gave in the link you sent me, saying how some of your students missed the easier questions because they spent too much time on the harder ones, I felt that was me too the tee. Additionally, my mentality was i have to get every question right on this exam (just a personal thing) when sometimes i should have guessed and moved on. I wish the GMAC would let us see the exam because i'm sure i made careless mistakes because i was looking at the clock and felt pressed for time.

Verbal section went the same way, "need to get the first few answers right to get to my target score," not a good one! I thought to myself again, "i'll make up this slowness on another question." Needless to say I saw myself pressed for time and could not get the timing out of my head while trying to answer the reading comprehension passages. I would find myself looking back into the reading for an answer or because the timing was off i would randomly guess on this section. Absolute horror!!

Well that's my experience on test day ... I know its a timing issue and i just ordered a stopwatch from overstock.com

Do you have any other suggestions on how to proceed here? The link you posted was most helpful, but if theres more i'm all ears.

additional questions:

1) Do i really need to get the first 5-10 questions correct to reach the optimal score?
2) When I start to take practice exams, do you suggest including the awa as well? or just the quant and verbal?
3)How quickly can this situation be remedied?
4) How should I study going forward? should i work under the same routine or take it easy and work on my timing?
5) When should I reschedule?

And finally, how do i know if i'm qualified to receive a post assessment with a MGMAT staff member? I bought a BUNCH of the MGMAT books to review on my own. Just curious, I was a little lost when you mentioned "self study program," is that what you are talking about? Sorry for the horrible english, its almost 10pm and i'm shot. any advise would be much appreciated here. Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

Good questions.

First, the "first 5 (or 7, or 10)" questions thing is a myth. If you'd like to understand why, read the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered (you already have a downloadable PDF in your student center). If you don't care why, then just know: it's a myth. :)

The other big "myth" (not a myth exactly, just the way we were trained in school) is the idea that I have to get everything right. Nobody ever gets everything right. They can just keep giving you harder stuff till you break! Remember that this test is for business school; they want to know whether you're a good business person. Does a good business person try to get every last thing done every day? No! A good business person knows how to set priorities and when to say, "That's not going to get done right now / today." Do the same on this test.

I absolutely require my students to do the AWA on practice tests. I know you don't care about the score, but you do care about your stamina for the quant and verbal. You want to know how to do AWA in your sleep so that you just don't have to worry about it. Knock it out, then get to the important stuff.

Re: the PEA thing, if you only bought books but nothing else, then you wouldn't qualify for that - the PEA is for people who bought one of our study programs, whether that was a live class, tapes of classes, or the full online study package even if it didn't include classes. Those last programs are called Guided Self Study and Guided Self Study Plus.

You would likely know if you had bought a package, so I'm guessing that you didn't. We can still do something similar here - it'll just take longer. :)

Next, use the article that I linked to last time to analyze your recent practice tests - or, if it has been a while or you took those tests under non-official conditions, you may just want to take a fresh test now (with AWA!). After you've done the analysis described in the article, come back here and post what you found out, and then we'll help you use that to devise a study plan.

In terms of when to take the real test again - that will depend upon what we see from the above, so let's start there.