5 weeks until retake- strategy?

[katherine.kane]

hi there,

i took the gmat for the first time yesterday and scored a 650. i was shooting for a 710, but am not totally defeated. i am proud of myself for not panicking (i was extremely concerned that stress would get the better of me, but i managed to stay calm!) and feel that i more or less answered each question to the best of my ability. 41 verbal/ 39 quant. highest practice was 43 verbal/ 42 quant (not at the same time!). started studying in march.

i ran out of time on verbal- i did some rapid guessing towards the end on probably the last 5-6 problems. i know my timing problem is reading comp, which is very odd since i was an english literature major/ungergrad. i think i am so used to close reading that i have a hard time skimming quickly. i also feel that the notetaking strategy i learned may be too time consuming for my already detail-oriented personality type.

but the real issue is the quant. i need to improve it. i am will to put in the work and would like some advice on the following strategy.

OG 11: did all problems 1x and many 2x-3x but didn't keep consistent notes on ones i had most trouble with. should i do them all again? or maybe just the last 100 in DS and PS?
OG Quant (Green): same question. redo all or just last 1/2 of each section?

(i would like to try going through them over and over until the pool of missed questions reaches 0. meaning keep redoing them until i get them right)

am considering using the OG tracker this time around. it freaked me out before but i realize now that being that organized with my progress analysis may be extremely beneficial. thoughts?

i got into a bad habit of checking my answer after each OG problem. i will now attempt sets of 40 per night (one type- i.e. DS, PS, CR- per sitting) and only check after completing the set. should i use the MGMAT OG stopwatch? i practiced with a normal stopwatch previously but wonder if there is added value to that system.

finally, i will take 3 more practice exams prior to July 18th. my test is scheduled for 8am and i am not a morning person (this was the only weekend time available and i work full time), so i will practice getting up EARLY and giving myself adequate wake-up time before starting the exam. and no more PAUSING. another unfortunate habit i developed. i have already taken all of my MGMAT CAT exams and am wondering if i should move on to another type of test- official GMAT tests perhaps? should i buy a different type? i know i can continue to take the MGMAT CATs but that some of the questions will be repeats.

this is quite a rambling post. many thanks if you made it to the end and have some advice for me. i know i can do this...i want it- please help me get there!

best,
katherine

p.s.- my profile is a bit more unique so i am hoping that will help compensate for my less than stellar test scores if necessary (3.9 GPA at a pretty decent 2nd tier college in new england, strong work experience/upward growth in the marketing department of a luxury company for the past 5 years since undergrad)

[StaceyKoprince]

It sounds like you've already learned some of the things you need to do differently (eg, never use the pause button on the tests!). I'd like to suggest a bit of a mindset shift in terms of how you study, though.

In order to score 700+, you need to do more than just do problems. You need to actually study the problems. Most of your learning comes from the analysis you do after you've tried the problem in the first place. None of the problems you study will be on the real test, but there will be problems that test the same concepts. You need to learn how to recognize these new-but-similar problems and apply the concepts / techniques appropriately.

Here are some questions to ask yourself on EVERY problem (even the ones you get right):

Was I able to CATEGORIZE this question by topic and subtopic? By process / technique?
Did I make a CONNECTION to previous experience? Or did I have to do it all from scratch?
Did I COMPREHEND the symbols, text, questions, statements, and answer choices?
Did I understand the CONTENT being tested?
Did I choose the best APPROACH?
Did I have the SKILLS to follow through?
Am I comfortable with OTHER STRATEGIES that would have worked, at least partially? How should I have made an educated guess?
Do I understand every TRAP & TRICK that the writer built into the question, including wrong answers?
Have I MASTERED this problem? Could I explain every aspect, fully, to someone else? (Not just can I do it - mastery only comes when you can explain it to someone else. Try explaining out loud - to your cat, to your mirror, to your significant other - whoever! :)
How will I RECOGNIZE similar problems in the future?

Also, don't forget to ask yourself:
If I got it right, did I get it right for the right reasons? Or did I get a bit lucky in any way? If the latter, there's still some studying to do here.
If I got it wrong, WHY did I get it wrong - as specifically as possible? What skills or habits do I have to develop in order to minimize the chances of making the same kind of mistake in future?

Obviously, this is going to take longer, per problem, than you have been spending. In a 2-hour study period, you only want to do about 20 problems (~40 minutes worth, so actual number will vary depending upon problem type). The remaining 1h20m should be spent on analysis of those problems - so, at least twice as long (and possible longer!) on analysis as you spent doing the problems in the first place.

So, yes, go back and re-do OG problems with the above analysis. Generally speaking, you want to start with problems that you can do but not super-easily - your "strike zone" problems. So find the OG level at which you think, "Oh, yes, I can do this and I'll get it right, but it will take me most of the expected time to do the problem." Then move to harder ones over time; the analysis you do on the "in your strike zone" problems will help you to get better at your "reach" problems, eventually moving those "reach" problems into your strike zone.

You definitely need to fix that timing issue on the verbal - it will be extremely hard to break 700 if you run out of time again. For RC, try this exercise:

If you have saved your timing data, go back to problems / passages you've already done recently from OG and go over them again with your notes from when you first did these.  If you didn't save the timing data, do a few new ones (or re-do some old ones) while timing yourself on everything - how much time to read, how much time to answer each question. Go back and look at (a) what you initially wrote down on your first read-through and (b) what your understanding of the passage was before you started answering questions.  How well do (a) and (b) match what you knew of the passage and questions after you'd done the questions and gone back to correct your answers and analyze everything?  Did you spend too much time and learn too much on the read-through, stuff you ended up not using? Or were you fine on the read-through, but got caught up as you went through the questions themselves? Which kinds of questions? The overall questions or just certain answers? Did you narrow down to 2 answers quickly and then waste a bunch of time agonizing over those last 2? Did you misunderstand any part of the passage?  Or did you understand but fall into a trap when reading the answers to the question?  Or did you concentrate on the wrong detail?   Etc.  Basically, you need to figure out WHY this area is a struggle for you with respect to timing so that you can do something about it.  What, specifically, is causing you to spend too much time?  Then you can tackle whatever that is (and if you need advice about how to tackle the issue once you figure out the WHY, come back here and post!).

You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

I agree that you need to find some way to organize things for yourself - whether you use the OG tracker or some other tool is completely up to you. But definitely make sure that you're keeping good notes of what you're doing, what you're learning, what you want to review at the end of the week, etc. And re: the stopwatch vs. OG stopwatch, it's up to you. One reason I like the OG stopwatch is that it also makes us do the "click and confirm" thing that we have to do for each question on the test, and that eats up a tiny bit of time on every question, too - so it's more realistic.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!