Advice on improving from 670 --> 725+

[LaurenT552]

Hi,

I'm looking for advice on how to focus my studying efforts for the next month prior to my official GMAT. So far I have completed all of the Manhattan Prep strategy guides (skimmed the RC guide), taken 3 Manhattan CATs, and worked through some of the OG problems. My CATs were as follows:
CAT 1 (pre-studying) 650 Q42, V37
CAT 2 650 Q39, V39
CAT 3 670 Q41, V40

My analysis of my CATs: timing is a big problem for me on both Quant and Verbal.
For Quant, I improved my timing a bit on CAT 3; however, I still struggled with timing on individual problems. I would get about 50-75% of the way through a problem and then guess because I was out of time. Overall, I feel like I can do a lot of the problems but I don't identify the approach and complete the work fast enough. Reviewing the results, I am also spending too much time on problems that I get wrong so I need to learn to get these wrong quicker. For Quant my biggest weaknesses are Algebra and FDPs.

On Verbal, I am finishing about 10 min early consistently and only missing some 700-800 level questions. For weaknesses I would say SC (verbs and modifiers), CR (Find the Assumption, Strengthen and Weaken) and RC (Specific Detail).

My plan is to keep working on memorizing my flash cards as well as doing OG problems and reviewing my error log. However, I feel like I'm not improving fast enough and need a better plan. Particularly for Verbal, I'm not sure where to focus to improve from V40 --> v45+. What would you recommend focusing on to improve my score to 725 by late June?

[StaceyKoprince]

I love this:

I am also spending too much time on problems that I get wrong so I need to learn to get these wrong quicker.

Yes! And then, you know the problems you can answer but you need an extra 30-60 seconds? You'll have time to answer them if you just bail on the worst ones really fast.

Read this:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

Think about how you need to change your overall approach / mindset based on that.

Then read this or watch the webinar that's linked at the beginning:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

Articulate further what you think you need to change. Then come back here and tell me what you think.

For the ones that are just way too hard or are going to take way too long—don't study them. Just learn how to tell quickly that a problem is terrible so you can bail fast and save most of that time for something else.

But where you're already getting more than halfway, you'll learn how to get to 100% by really digging into the problem afterwards and analyzing how to get better:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat
(You can search our blog for more on the "Know the Code" concept discussed in that post.)

And here's your more detailed time management strategy. Look at parts 1 and 2 right now. You can save part 3 (managing time across the section) for a little later, after you feel more comfortable with part 2 (managing time on individual problems):
blog/2016/08/19/everything-you-need-to-know-about-gmat-time-management-part-1-of-3/

Okay, now on V: First, great job getting yourself to 40 already. The above "2nd level" analysis also works for verbal, but your timing problem here is different—you're going a bit too fast and maybe leaving points on the table.

If you're at 40, you're already doing pretty well even on the ones you get wrong—that is, most of the time, you've narrowed down to 2 or 3 answers (including the correct answer), right? So the real issue is learning how to distinguish between the most tempting wrong answer and the right answer on harder questions.

So when you're reviewing, answer these questions:
1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)
2) why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
3) why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)
4) why was it actually right?

Do the above whenever you narrowed to 2 and had to think about which answer to pick—even if you did pick the right answer in the end. Just articulate your reasoning to make sure that you really did know what you were doing. (And, of course, if you ended up picking the wrong answer, the above analysis will help you to avoid that same type of trap next time.)

Do this more in the areas you identified as weaknesses, but really at a score of 40, just do it whenever you either get something wrong or aren't 100% sure even when you do get something right.

Go back and do the above with Official Guide or other official format problems (eg, from CATs) that you've studied in the last 2-3 weeks. Learn how to learn. Then you can start applying what you've learned to new questions again.

[LaurenT552]

Thanks, Stacey! My biggest takeaway from your reply and the articles is to stop studying how to do the tough Quant problems and focus on identifying how to get faster at identifying the problems I should guess on. In my review of questions, I'm still having difficulty distinguishing quickly the ones that I will get wrong or will take too long but in general I am focusing on identifying the problems where I don't have a solid plan of attack after 30-60 seconds.

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes, that's it exactly! Good luck—let me know how things are going!

[LaurenT552]

A quick update - I've been reviewing using the strategies you suggested and doing practice sets applying a more strategic guessing approach for Quant. I took a GMAT prep CAT today and scored 730 Q46, V45! My timing was much better throughout both sections. My previous CATs were all MGMAT, which I've heard are harder than the GMAT prep but I'm pleased with the score improvement nonetheless. Thanks for your advice, I will keep studying with this approach!

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice! Yes, some students do report that the official practice test feels easier than the real test and they sometimes score higher on that test too. But even if we discount your score by 20 or 30 points...that's still 700+!

Keep up the good work!

[LaurenT552]

Hi Stacey,

My last 2 GMAT prep practice tests have had a downward trend and I'm having trouble identifying the cause. I've taken a GMAT prep CAT on Sunday at 8 AM for the last 3 weeks with the following results: 1) 730 Q46, V45; 2) 710 Q42, V45; 3) 690 Q41, V44.

For the first two tests I did Verbal before Quant and the last one I did Quant before Verbal. I definitely noticed feeling a bit more fatigued during the verbal on the last one, which I think may have caused the slight drop in verbal score. On second CAT I noticed that I wasn't skipping enough of the really hard problems and instead was trying to solve all of them so I thought that was what caused the drop in score but on the 3rd test, I more quickly identified the problems that would take me too long to solve and skipped them. Overall, I missed 12 Quant question where I scored a Q46 and where I scored a Q41, so I assume that means I missed easier problems on the last CAT.

I take the real GMAT next Saturday. Do you have any advice on how to make the most of this last week? I do have a second test date scheduled but I know 725 is within reach and I'm hopeful I can achieve it.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

I would call your V score the same across all three (1 point is within statistical "noise") so the real downward trend is on the Q side.

Have you had a chance to analyze that 3rd test? There could be a combination of things going on.

(1) In hindsight, did you make the right decisions about when to bail vs. when to keep trying a problem? It may be the case that you bailed to quickly on some that you could have figured out (in reasonable time)—maybe something that looked foreign or hard at first glance but actually wasn't if you'd allowed yourself to get into it a bit more.

If this occurred, then your task is to figure out how to make better decisions next time. What kinds of characteristics can quickly and legitimately signal to you that you should bail? And what kinds of characteristics might make you think at first that you should bail...but it turns out to be okay?

(2) Any careless mistakes? Or things that you knew how to do a few weeks ago but you've forgotten because you haven't practiced that thing since then?

(3) Alternatively, maybe the 2nd and 3rd tests uncovered some holes in your foundation that caused you to miss some lower-level questions? Did you find any problems that were legitimately wrong but looking at them afterwards, you realize you can learn how to do this? GPrep doesn't offer solutions, but search for the problems here in our GPrep folders or on the broader web to get some ideas. If you're looking at a solution and thinking, 2 lines in, "Ah, that makes sense! I can learn this," then great. Stop reading the solution and see how much you can figure out for yourself (looking up anything you want in your books as you go).

(And if you're looking at a solution and thinking, "Huh? Even with a step-by-step solution, I'm not following," then stop. This is a "bail even faster next time" problem. So go figure out what characteristics will help you to know next time to bail quickly.)

Of the list above, 1 and 2 are things you can address in the shorter-term / possibly before your upcoming test. #3 will take longer. So focus on 1 and 2 right now to see whether that gets you to your 720/730 goal (you can't score exactly 725 on the GMAT—it's all in 10-point increments). If you want to take it again later, then you can worry about the bigger stuff.

[LaurenT552]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks very much for your advice! Looking at the results of the 3rd CAT, there were several careless mistakes. On the 2nd CAT I felt I didn't move on from some of the harder problems quickly enough so I think I may have overcompensated on the last one and guessed too quickly on a few of them. Focusing on minimizing the careless errors and then getting better at characterizing the problem and identifying when to bail and when not to sounds like a good plan.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

That often happens—you swing from one side too far to the other. It takes practice to find the right balance!

Let me know how it goes.

[LaurenT552]

I'm happy to report that I took the GMAT this weekend and scored 740, Q44, V48, IR8! Thanks for your advice in helping me prepare

[StaceyKoprince]

Woohoo! That's fantastic—congratulations! And look at that V48—that's impressive.

So in the roughly one month since you were at that 670 and figuring out how to push higher, what do you think were the key factors in helping you to break into the upper level on this test?

Good luck with applications—let me know how that goes!

[LaurenT552]

Thanks, Stacey! There were a few things I found helped me improve my score:

Quant

Getting better at recognizing which problems to guess and move on from by reviewing my error log
I started doing math minute worksheets (multiplication/division 1-12) the last few weeks, which I found really helped my speed
Learning and applying fast math tricks (like for multiplying/diving by 5)

Verbal

Overall most of my total score improvement came from my verbal score. I'm a native English speaker so I was already fairly comfortable with the verbal section. What I found most helpful for verbal was doing a lot of official questions. I didn't keep a verbal error log since I didn't actually find it useful to go back and re-do verbal problems (once I did it I remembered the answer). Instead I went through any incorrect verbal questions at the end of my practice set and followed the process you suggested above. For SC, I wrote down the grammar rule/idiom/etc that I had missed in my notes to review later.
The main thing that helped me on verbal was slowing down. I took an average of 1 min 30 on SC but I knew I was pretty quick at reading comprehension so it helped me to allocate the extra time there.

IR

The MGMAT guide for IR is great. I reviewed the guide, did the IR sections on my practice tests, and did a few other IR practice sets from the OG. I picked 2 problems (of my weakness area) to skip completely and had plenty of time to answer the rest.

Overall, I'd recommend taking the practice tests in both orders (Quant first and Verbal first) to determine which works best for you. I found doing Verbal first (V, Q, IR, AWA) worked best for me and didn't impact my Quant, whereas I felt the impact of the mental fatigue more when doing Verbal second.

[StaceyKoprince]

Great summary—thanks so much for taking the time to write this up!