680 (official) to 600 (practice) after enrolling...PLZ HELP!

[manbear67]

Long post...sorry! Here we go....

I'm feeling a bit bummed out by my most recent practice CAT yesterday...600! Not really sure what is wrong with my studying...any advice or encouragement is appreciated!

I have been studying the GMAT since May....my first few months were self-guided using another online company. I don't really feel I rigorously applied myself, and ended up scoring 620, 650, and 620 again on the first three MGMAT CATs, and then a 690 on the first GMATPrep test about a week before the real deal. When I took the GMAT at the beginning of August, I scored a 680...I'm okay with this score, but since I am targeting the top schools, I know I want to hit a 700+.

After my first official score, I decided to really go back to square one and reinforce my fundamentals...enter MGMAT. I signed up for the Complete Course summer session W with Ron and Kara, which we just finished week 5 of. I do feel like the course has helped make me "GMAT-smarter" and the homework has helped my fundamentals. I have been completing all of the homework: reading, strat guide questions and the assigned OG questions (some weeks I also complete the harder ones on the syllabus). I feel my accuracy and timing are pretty good, and usually I get 80% of the practice questions under time and correct. I've also participated in every "Thurs with Ron" since August.

So....I can't figure out why I am trapped in the 600s (and why my score is getting worse!). I was having timing issues during my first 3 CATs, but I really feel like I worked those out. The last 3 CATs I've taken, I have finished my quant section on pace, and I usually have time left over after the verbal section (even with writing my headline lists and skeletons outlines foe RC passages).

I think my issue is the actual problem solving (geez, that really narrows it down, huh?). I feel like I am slow to really grasp what each GMAT question is testing me on (especially with SC). Because I am usually 45sec into a question before I really start making forward progress, perhaps I end up rushing the actual problem solving? I think I end up re-reading problem statements too much, like they never really sink in the first time. I also suspect that my bookkeeping could be improved...but it is hard to spend so much time writing things out when I am slow to gain traction on actually solving the problem.

I suspect that I really need to spend more of my study time solving and reviewing problems, and perhaps under non-timed conditions so that I take my time to really grasp the question statement the first time, and to improve my bookkeeping. Once I'm better at recognizing GMAT patterns and applying the fundamentals, maybe then re-introduce the timer and work through problem sets? Does anyone have any advice for me? Thanks in advance....

Shawn S

Edit: I forgot to mention I already signed up for my 2nd official attempt on OCT 24th....eeek!

[manbear67]

Just one more follow-up on my "not having a timing problem"...

I found the article titled 4 Steps to Get the Most Out of Your CATs, Part 1 that deals primarily with identifying potential timing issues. Even though I finished each section on or ahead of schedule, there were some interesting results:

Quant:
Too Fast: 9
Warning Track: 5 (3 correct, 2 incorrect)
Too Slow: 6
Ten of these occurred during the first half of the section (primarily Too Fast).

Verbal:
Too Fast: 6 (4 correct, 2 incorrect)
Warning Track: 4 (1 correct, 3 incorrect)
Too Slow: 3 (2 correct, 1 incorrect)
Four of these occurred during first half of section.

Conclusions:
Quant: I most certainly do have a timing problem! Mainly on the quant section.....over half of the problems were not on-pace (or were in the warning track) and it is pretty clear that I am going too fast in the beginning because I am worried about running out of time at the end. Now, my accuracy on Too Fast questions was pretty good, but I think that this is only because the question difficulty was low (most of these were between 500-700).

Verbal: My timing was better, but still problematic for certain. Only half of the questions that I think I am "getting ahead" on do I actually get correct. Also, I think I have a fear of burning too much time on RC (especially with note taking)....not a single one of my RC questions were Too Slow, and there was only one Warning Track question (this was for the first question of a long passage problem, and I know I could do a better job abbreviating my notes, which should come with practice).

I will say that the process of analyzing the timing CAT was quite interesting and definitely worth doing. I thought I had fixed my timing issues....clearly, I just skewed them so that I finish each section on time, but without maintaining a consistent pace.

Now I just need to figure out how to fix it....I'm sure there's another blog post for that too!

[StaceyKoprince]

It was very interesting to read your story. Yes, you do indeed have a timing problem. :)

I'm so glad that you analyzed the data and figured this out for yourself. When people try to "naturally" fix their timing, they usually don't actually fix it in the right way. Instead, they do exactly what you describe: they speed up on what they do know how to do and then start making mistakes, causing score drops. Classic pattern.

Most people don't figure it out for themselves, so nice work. And you are indeed right - there's an article for that. :)

Two, in fact:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement

The second one is quite long. I'd start with section 4 (the first section of the second half of the article), since per-question timing is the thing that's hurting you right now. Weave in the broader stuff in the other sections over time.

Next, I want to talk more about your mindset and approach to the test and to your studying. Read this:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

That's your driving mindset as you make decisions throughout the test, and that's what's going to help you stop spending too much time on certain problems. :)

Next, you mention that you feel like you struggle to apply the rules and concepts you're learning to GMAT-format questions. You're not alone! Take a look at this:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

My guess is that you've done a good job with the first level but you still have some work to do on the second level. If you can accomplish that and also fix your timing in the ways described above, then you will be in a very good position to hit 700+ on your re-take.

Also, have you spoken / emailed with your instructors? I'm sure they would want to help advise you however they can. (Of course, feel free to keep posting here, too.)

Let me know what you think about all of the above.

[manbear67]

Stacey,

Thanks for the reply! I have read all of those articles at least 2 or 3 times each (and I think there is also some crossover with the GMAT Roadmap, I read chapter 8 on this same topic last night). Here are some of my thoughts...

I am on-board with the whole mentality of the GMAT...prioritization, not thinking of it as a math/grammar test, picking your battles, etc. I'm not afraid of guessing...as a matter of fact, I think I actually get some kind of pleasure out of making a completely random guess on a the extra difficult looking questions, knowing that I am not "playing their game." So I don't think I am at a great risk of being stubborn after getting super hung up on a problem (I won't spending 4+ min on one!). However, I might still be prone to slip into the warning track on some problems....which segues to my next thought...

I think I have room for improvement on my one-minute timing. Ron has stressed in class that we should be able to stop and define what our goal is at each 30 sec interval (or 45 sec, depending on problem type)...I definitely struggle with this. In some cases, I am probably guilty of just "doing things" until something sticks...I think I can get better at this if I work more practice problems (and spend the appropriate time reviewing these problems!). I imagine spending more time on problems would help with recognition of patterns and of alternate ways to arrive at a solution...skills that would help me define what my goals are as I work through any given problem.

Lastly, I think one of my big takeaways from this discussion is the use of benchmarks. I really like the slick method of setting up the scratch paper for the quant section that you discussed on your 23 Sep 2014 blog post....divide each page into 4 quarters, putting an 8 on the last page, and then counting up by 8 on the other pages. I'm eager to see if this method helps the next time I work through a full quant section.

So...going forward from here, my action items: 1) Use benchmark strategies on my remaining practice CATs. 2) Do more practice problems and problem review (I'll probably work ahead on the syllabus to knock out the one remaining strategy guide on Number Properties, and then divert all of my attention for my remaining 3ish weeks of prep time on problems and problem review). 3) Work on these practice problems in mini-sets so I can practice time management over multiple problems. 4) Create/use flashcards as I am reviewing these problems to improve my ability to recognize and tap into the "second level of GMAT."

I haven't emailed either of my instructors yet, but I will probably do that in the next week to see if they have any additional tips for someone in my situation....I'm not sure if there are any other re-takers in my class.

Any other thoughts? Thanks again for the support.
-Shawn

[StaceyKoprince]

Ha - yes, a lot of my stuff made its way into Roadmap. :)

I imagine spending more time on problems would help with recognition of patterns and of alternate ways to arrive at a solution...skills that would help me define what my goals are as I work through any given problem.

Yes, more thoughtful time deconstructing what's really going on with the problem. Make it as explicit / conscious as possible: not just what do I do, but how do I know what I should do when?

In general, you want to be making appropriate progress. Halfway through a quant problem (around 1min), I should understand what they're asking and have at least a plan for how to solve (if I haven't already started solving). If I haven't gotten at least that far, I'm never going to finish around the 2 to 2.5min (at most) mark, so why am I still looking at this problem? :)

Glad you like the benchmark thing for your scrap paper. You could also try this with a smaller set of, say, 8 to 12 questions, just to see how it works.

I like everything you've said and I like your plan - I think you're in a good position. Here's one more article, on making mixed / random sets of OG questions:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... blem-sets/

Let me know how things go!