680 Q48 V35 retake strategy

[msvel2304]

I recently took the GMAT and scored a 680 Q48 (80 %ile) V35 (74 %ile). I am planning for a retake and looking for some suggestions to improve my score. This was my second attempt. Earlier in june 2010 I scored a meager 530 Q42 V20. Prepared for two months with OG and GMATPrep tests. Never knew of any other materials or forums then.

June 2012 - GMAT - 680 Q48 V35
Preparation time: 6 months - 2 to 4 hours each day. I took intermittent breaks during the preparation time.

Materials used:
OG 12, OG 10
Ron's videos for RC, CR
MGMAT SC for SC
Powerscore CR and MGMAT CR for CR
5 strategy guides for quant
MGMAT tests
Old paper based tests

Mock test scores:
MGMAT 1 43 29 590
MGMAT 2 43 29 590
MGMAT 3 48 30 640
MGMAT 4 43 30 600
MGMAT 5 47 29 620
GPREP 1 48 37 690 old version GMAT prep
GPREP 2 48 35 690 old version GMAT prep
GPREP 1 49 35 700 new version GMAT prep
GPREP 2 48 34 680 new version GMAT prep
GPREP 1 50 40 750 new version GMAT prep repeat
GPREP 2 51 36 720 new version GMAT prep repeat

All tests taken with strict official conditions. Essays/IR - 8 min breaks.

MGMAT mocks were little bit different from GMAT style of questions, especially the RC. My verbal never went beyond 30 in MGMAT mocks because my accuracy of RC according to MGMAT reports is 30%, while I nailed almost all the questions in GMATPrep RCs. My maximum number of mistakes in GMATPrep RCs was 3 and I haven't solved those earlier. Somehow I was not in tune with MGMAT RCs while I can easily figure out GMAT RCs. MGMAT mocks helped me improve my quant, CR and SC. CR my weak topics were assumption, must be true questions.

Test day experience:
It was quite smooth. Since I had taken more mocks, I was very calm and confident. Finished the essay in 20 mins, took the whole 30 mins for IR. I stumbled on two quant problems, though I managed to keep up the pace. I was doing well in verbal until the last 20 mins, when I was psyched out, though I took both the breaks. I was not able to think straight, so I was not very confident while answering the CR questions, though I was confident of my RC and SC questions. In the mocks, I use to finish the essays in 15 mins. IR - the first time it took 25 mins, but the subsequent times it took less time to complete (Only 4 tests taken with IR - all gmat prep mocks - 2 actual and 2 repeats). Each of the quant and verbal section I always finished 10 mins ahead. Added up I finished all the mocks at least 20 mins ahead of time. I guess I didn't have enough stamina in the actual test, which lasted for the whole duration. I believe this had affected my verbal score.

I used to take notes for RC and for some CR questions, which I find difficult to comprehend. I use the scratch pad for striking out answers for every question.

I was dragging my preparation a bit and being persistent to finish the exam, I studied a lot in the last few days to maximize my score - took 3 mocks in the last 10 days, solved more CR questions as I was weak in that section. Would this have adversely affected my CR performance ?

I felt I have not given my best so planning for a retake. What strategy should I follow to improve my score ? How to improve the stamina, with the new IR section taking the whole 30 mins to complete, how should one plan to improve the stamina ? I am planning to retake it in a month and how many practice tests should I go for to improve the stamina and how often ? I think I would have done better in verbal, if I had been normal.

I am targeting a 720+. I can improve my quant by 1 point, but verbal I need to improve much at least 3 points. I have used all the materials and looking for the GMATPrep pack1, OG 13 has very few new questions, and the 90 questions available in the software for practice. Should I go for any other materials or strategy books ? Kindly suggest. Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice job on your last (official) test!

There can be differences in language among different test question writers, and the largest differences tend to show up in CR and RC because those aren't testing any actual facts / knowledge that you bring into the test with you. That's why it's a good idea to study from multiple sources, which you did.

You mention that, during verbal:

I was not able to think straight

You were suffering from mental fatigue. It's good that you took your practice tests under 100% official conditions but, as you learned, it's hard to "prep" for the fact that you know the practice tests aren't real. :) You were likely trying a lot harder on the real thing.

Couple of things for next time:
- take shorter breaks in practice (maybe 4-5 min instead of 8), just to push yourself to make it feel more stressful (like the real thing)
- give yourself a hit of some sort of glucose between quant and verbal (gatorade, real fruit juice, energy drink); glucose can help a tired brain to recover some energy (but you will also eventually crash, so don't do this until the last break)

Ah, yes, I just read the rest of the paragraph where you described finishing early in practice but taking full time on the real thing. You were actually trying harder (checking your work, etc) because you knew it was the real thing, and that extra time and effort tired you out more than usual. Start doing that on the practice tests!!

I was dragging my preparation a bit and being persistent to finish the exam, I studied a lot in the last few days to maximize my score - took 3 mocks in the last 10 days, solved more CR questions as I was weak in that section. Would this have adversely affected my CR performance ?

This may have contributed to your mental fatigue. The closer you get to the test, the less you should do - and you should be focused less on fixing weaknesses and more on just a comprehensive review of everything. 5 days out, your weaknesses are what they are - accept that. If you don't start focusing on a comprehensive review at that point, then you're going to miss questions on things you did know how to do but you forgot something or made a careless mistake because you haven't looked at it in a while.

Next, don't try your best on IR. You don't care about the IR score! Don't try to get the best score you can get on that section. Do what you can, and make guesses on the harder / longer / more convoluted ones. Save your brain energy for later.

I have used all the materials and looking for the GMATPrep pack1, OG 13 has very few new questions, and the 90 questions available in the software for practice. Should I go for any other materials or strategy books ?

Possibly, but first: you don't actually learn much while doing new problems. Most of your learning comes *after* you're done with the problem, when you go back to analyze it. So don't just start doing a bunch of new problems. Learn how to get better first, then test your new understanding of things on new problems.

Read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Are you doing that? You should be spending at least twice as long analyzing a problem as it took you to do the problem in the first place. I can easily spend 3x, 4x, 5x on the analysis phase.

Here are additional examples of the above analysis techniques using real problems:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/GMATprep-SC.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/CR-assumption.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

In particular, the higher you're trying to go, the more important this analysis becomes. Go start trying to do that, concentrate on that (using old questions, not plowing through new question sets or practice tests) and see how that goes. Come back and ask questions when needed, and tell us how that's going. Then we'll worry about new materials when you're ready.

Also, for study sessions, plan out what you're going to do over a 2-hour period. Then GO for 1 hour, no stopping, no checking email, no getting up for something to eat, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for 1 hour. Then take a more substantial break.

(Note: I'm specifically NOT recommending that you do what I just described for 3-4 hours. It's actually *more* mentally taxing to study than to take a test, because when you're studying, you're trying to create new memories, not just access old ones.)

[msvel2304]

Thanks a lot Stacey !! I am a big fan of yours :) Checked the links you posted. Great articles and I have gone through some of the posts earlier.

Just an update. My IR score is 6/8 (received it yesterday). My plan for the next few days will be to revisit all topics using MGMAT strategy guides and repeat OG 12 problems with extensive review. I never reviewed right answers, only the ones I get wrong - the way you mentioned in your posts. From now on I will try to review all the problems, prioritize my strong and weak areas. Post that I will start taking one mock every three days till I improve my stamina. As you said I will reduce the time between the breaks to less than 5 mins. Earlier I used a timer for 8 mins. From now on I will do as I did in the actual test - move out of the seat, relax myself, replenish myself with some energy drink or chocolates and get back as early as possible to the desk and attempt the section for the entire duration.

As for the last few days before the exam, I will avoid the mock tests and concentrate entirely on reviewing the error log and flash cards, which I will prepare from now on. Will try to learn more about my strengths and weakness and work out a strategy for guessing and pacing. Apart from that in the intermittent time between the mocks, I will review the mocks and get the GMATPrep pack1 and test my skills on those problems. Hope the plan sounds reasonable enough to improve my score.

The only thing that still troubles me is the stamina. I am still wondering how to work on it. The last attempt really threw me off and I am scared a lot now. Any suggestions on how frequent the mocks should be ? Should I continuously take mocks every two or three days to improve it or will it be detrimental ? One more query is should I consider going for test prep course or tutoring, will it help ? So far I have managed to improve it on my own and I believe all test prep course will start from scratch and it would just drag my preparation time because I can straight away start improving rather than learning everything anew and the only thing that I benefit from the course would be the practice tests/problems. Kindly advice. I will update on my progress once I finish the initial preparation of repeating all the problems. Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice job on IR!

Post that I will start taking one mock every three days till I improve my stamina.

This is overkill. Not more than one CAT per week. Use your study days to build stamina as well (in the way I described at the end of my post). Every time you study, you'll be building stamina if you do what I described last time.

If nothing else, it's going to take you DAYS to review one CAT in the way that my articles describe. :) (I'm assuming you're not studying for 8 hours a day. Even if you're doing nothing else, don't study that much every day - you'll just burn out.)

Make SURE that you are taking your time on that analysis and review - don't just plow through questions in order to say "I did 100 questions today!" Even 50 in one day is too many. In a 2 hour study session, you spend maybe 20-30 minutes max *doing* problems and the rest of the time reviewing / analyzing.

Re: courses or tutoring, you've done so much on your own already, that it's unlikely a course makes sense. Tutoring can be very beneficial, but it is also very expensive, so you have to decide whether you think it's worth the expense. But if you find that there are certain things where you're just not making progress, then a tutor can really help to knock down that roadblock.