Hi
I have taken GMAT last year and scored 640 (49 Q ,28 V) . I just took one month off from my work and rushed into the exam. In hindsight , I realized that its not really possible to master the complexities of Verbal in a month.
Yesterday , after a preparation of 3 months, I gave GMAT again and guess what , bad luck stuck again. It was going so smooth untill I reached the Verbal section. I started pretty cautiously but 30 mins into the section , I found myself lagging behind by the normal standards I had practiced during my preps(I used to target under 2 mins per question ) . It so happened that I had 15 questions left in the last 15 mins and I panicked. I had to guess quite a few questions then and in the end I wasn't able to finish the exam in time as the section time expired while I was on the last question.
So I decided to cancel my score .No good reason why I did so . It's really heartbreaking to be in such a situation after so much of hard work. and I really don't know what to do next. So just thought to share my experience with you guys and ask for your advice .
Specifically, I think of taking GMAT again say in a month . How should I prepare for verbal section ?
During my preps , I gave 6 Mgmat exams with scores ranging from (650-720) and 2 GmatPrep exams( 730,750) .
As I said earlier, I found myself taking more time per question as I usually do . Somehow I found RC really tough and time consuming in the exam and it could be the main reason for my lagging behind.
Please help me guys..... Calling all tutors and pros .... help me strategise for my next attempt
GMAT Forum
8 postsPage 1 of 1
- Guest101
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
So, you need to figure out why things got off track during the test - otherwise, the same thing could happen again next time. RC was causing you trouble. You were having trouble letting go of questions in general, possibly because you felt a lot of pressure to do better this time.
Given your practice test scores, it sounds like your nerves got to you. One thing you may want to review is the Stress Management article in the Interact and Learn portion of our website. Just click on the "Interact and Learn" link on our home page, scroll down to the articles, and look for the Stress Management article.
Next, were you totally surprised by your tendency to get sucked into some problems on that test? Or had you sometimes gotten sucked in on your practice tests too, but you were mostly able to manage things and not do it too much in practice? It happens a lot that little bad habits get magnified on the real test and we suddenly get into big trouble.
Go back and look at the stats from your last few practice tests and see if you can identify any tendencies that you recognize yourself doing a lot on the real test day. Then go and figure out WHY these bad habits exist. Why do you get sucked into RC? Were you trying to learn too much detail on the first read-through and lost most of your time there? (If so, expect to see high times for the first question of each RC passage.) Alternatively, did you rush through the initial read-through and then struggle to answer the detailed questions because you didn't really understand what was going on overall? (If so, expect to see lower times for the first question if it's a general question and high times for specific detail and inference questions.) That sort of thing - basically, you have to figure out what specific problems you have and why you have them, so that you can then do something about them.
So start there, with the data, and then come back and tell us what you find. If you then have questions about what to do, ask! ("Oh, yes, I do tend to take too much time on the initial read-through. How can I get through more quickly while still getting what I need out of that first read-through?")
Given your practice test scores, it sounds like your nerves got to you. One thing you may want to review is the Stress Management article in the Interact and Learn portion of our website. Just click on the "Interact and Learn" link on our home page, scroll down to the articles, and look for the Stress Management article.
Next, were you totally surprised by your tendency to get sucked into some problems on that test? Or had you sometimes gotten sucked in on your practice tests too, but you were mostly able to manage things and not do it too much in practice? It happens a lot that little bad habits get magnified on the real test and we suddenly get into big trouble.
Go back and look at the stats from your last few practice tests and see if you can identify any tendencies that you recognize yourself doing a lot on the real test day. Then go and figure out WHY these bad habits exist. Why do you get sucked into RC? Were you trying to learn too much detail on the first read-through and lost most of your time there? (If so, expect to see high times for the first question of each RC passage.) Alternatively, did you rush through the initial read-through and then struggle to answer the detailed questions because you didn't really understand what was going on overall? (If so, expect to see lower times for the first question if it's a general question and high times for specific detail and inference questions.) That sort of thing - basically, you have to figure out what specific problems you have and why you have them, so that you can then do something about them.
So start there, with the data, and then come back and tell us what you find. If you then have questions about what to do, ask! ("Oh, yes, I do tend to take too much time on the initial read-through. How can I get through more quickly while still getting what I need out of that first read-through?")
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- Guest101
My analysis and shortcomings
Hi Stacey
First of all , thanks for your sincere advice. As suggested , I went back and did some analysis . Again I want to know your views and help me strategise a plan for my next ( and hopefully final) attempt.
I gave 10 exams in total -6 MGMAT and 4 Gmatprep(2 repeats) during my preps.In 2-3 MGMAT exams( first 3 I guess) , I was not able to manage time properly .The reasons were bad RC and CR timings and a habit to get "sucked" into such questions.
What I did to improve was
1 - Have a strategy for RC - Reading and comprehending in 3-4 mins and then doing the questions in another 4-5 mins. Finally I was able to do a RC passage in around 7-8 mins which is around 2 mins per question with around 70% accuracy.
2 - Practiced CR from OG under timed conditions and was able to do a CR question under 2 mins per question.
However I didn't face any timing problems in Gmatprep exams and even found the RC easy than that of MGMAT.
So before the GMAT ,seeing the results of my Gmatprep tests, I was convinced that my verbal timings have improved.But in the main exam,I got sucked in all type of questions whether it be SC,CR or RC.
As you said ,our bad habits (I assume it includes our short comings also) get magnified during the test day .So I need to make sure that I dont get "sucked" into RC and CR questions again.
Specific to RC , I realized
1 - I tend to get stuck in Inference type and Specific detail EXCEPT questions( where one need to verify all the 5 choices back from the passage)
2 - I tend to spend more time on passages which I am not able to comprehend properly( specifically social science passages) because I need to read back a lot while doing the questions
Specific to CR , I realized
Bold face and assumption questions are the ones where I get sucked into. I have a good accuracy rate in them but most of the times, I take around 3 mins/q to do such questions.
I plan to practice RC and CR again from OG but not very sure how to improve.Further I don't have any good resources to judge my performances. I got hold of some 800score tests and scoretop SETS but they are very different from GMAT and will ruin my preparation for sure.
I feel I should target another attempt very soon in order to capitalise on the momentum I have gained. Please help me strategise .
First of all , thanks for your sincere advice. As suggested , I went back and did some analysis . Again I want to know your views and help me strategise a plan for my next ( and hopefully final) attempt.
I gave 10 exams in total -6 MGMAT and 4 Gmatprep(2 repeats) during my preps.In 2-3 MGMAT exams( first 3 I guess) , I was not able to manage time properly .The reasons were bad RC and CR timings and a habit to get "sucked" into such questions.
What I did to improve was
1 - Have a strategy for RC - Reading and comprehending in 3-4 mins and then doing the questions in another 4-5 mins. Finally I was able to do a RC passage in around 7-8 mins which is around 2 mins per question with around 70% accuracy.
2 - Practiced CR from OG under timed conditions and was able to do a CR question under 2 mins per question.
However I didn't face any timing problems in Gmatprep exams and even found the RC easy than that of MGMAT.
So before the GMAT ,seeing the results of my Gmatprep tests, I was convinced that my verbal timings have improved.But in the main exam,I got sucked in all type of questions whether it be SC,CR or RC.
As you said ,our bad habits (I assume it includes our short comings also) get magnified during the test day .So I need to make sure that I dont get "sucked" into RC and CR questions again.
Specific to RC , I realized
1 - I tend to get stuck in Inference type and Specific detail EXCEPT questions( where one need to verify all the 5 choices back from the passage)
2 - I tend to spend more time on passages which I am not able to comprehend properly( specifically social science passages) because I need to read back a lot while doing the questions
Specific to CR , I realized
Bold face and assumption questions are the ones where I get sucked into. I have a good accuracy rate in them but most of the times, I take around 3 mins/q to do such questions.
I plan to practice RC and CR again from OG but not very sure how to improve.Further I don't have any good resources to judge my performances. I got hold of some 800score tests and scoretop SETS but they are very different from GMAT and will ruin my preparation for sure.
I feel I should target another attempt very soon in order to capitalise on the momentum I have gained. Please help me strategise .
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
A big part of the timing battle is simply to be aware of the tendency to get sucked in. So that's a good start. There are three other things you need to do now to help yourself NOT get sucked into those so much in the future.
1) (of course) Get better at that particular type of question
2) learn how long 1 minute is without checking a watch / stopwatch
3) learn how to make educated guesses on the problems with which you struggle
#1 applies to those areas that are also most commonly tested on the test. For RC, inference is common. EXCEPT questions are not that common. For CR, assumption questions are common; bold face questions are not.
#2 and #3 apply to all of the areas.
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 one minute has gone by, push the lap button. When you're done, 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).
Now, when you're doing a problem (any problem, actually, not just your weaker areas), 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.)
Educated guessing strategies are generally specific to each problem type and sub-type, so you'll have to learn how to make educated guesses on inference vs. EXCEPT questions vs. assumption questions vs. bold face questions. Study why wrong answers are wrong - be able to articulate from a more structural / theoretical perspective. For example, on assumption questions, wrong answers often address some detail in the premises but then don't actually affect the link between that premise and the argument's conclusion. Since an assumption supports that argument's conclusion, any choice which doesn't actually affect the conclusion isn't right - even if it's tempting because it takes about something in the premises.
Or: extreme words (always / never) tend to indicate a wrong answer on RC, but not necessarily on CR. So if you have to guess on an RC question, don't pick anything with an extreme word. Wrong inference answer choices tend to go beyond what the passage actually tells us, often in a way that would seem reasonable in a real-world discussion. It seems reasonable - but on this test we have to stick with what the passage actually says. If you have to make any kind of assumption at all, or if you have to use outside knowledge of the topic or the real world, then it's not the right answer.
That sort of thing. So work on learning how to identify wrong answers.
Re: practice tests, you can take more MGMAT practice tests but you may start to see repeated questions. Honestly - you likely won't remember that many, but if you do see something you remember, immediately glance at the clock and make yourself sit there for the full 2 minutes (or 1.5 for SC). Do the problem again while you're waiting. At least this way you won't gain an extra benefit from having more time than you should have for other questions. (And seeing a repeat question only really matters, in terms of inflating your score, if it's something you wouldn't have gotten right otherwise - if you see a repeat that you got right the first time around, you'd probably get it right again, so just wait out the time but don't discount your score.)
1) (of course) Get better at that particular type of question
2) learn how long 1 minute is without checking a watch / stopwatch
3) learn how to make educated guesses on the problems with which you struggle
#1 applies to those areas that are also most commonly tested on the test. For RC, inference is common. EXCEPT questions are not that common. For CR, assumption questions are common; bold face questions are not.
#2 and #3 apply to all of the areas.
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 one minute has gone by, push the lap button. When you're done, 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).
Now, when you're doing a problem (any problem, actually, not just your weaker areas), 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.)
Educated guessing strategies are generally specific to each problem type and sub-type, so you'll have to learn how to make educated guesses on inference vs. EXCEPT questions vs. assumption questions vs. bold face questions. Study why wrong answers are wrong - be able to articulate from a more structural / theoretical perspective. For example, on assumption questions, wrong answers often address some detail in the premises but then don't actually affect the link between that premise and the argument's conclusion. Since an assumption supports that argument's conclusion, any choice which doesn't actually affect the conclusion isn't right - even if it's tempting because it takes about something in the premises.
Or: extreme words (always / never) tend to indicate a wrong answer on RC, but not necessarily on CR. So if you have to guess on an RC question, don't pick anything with an extreme word. Wrong inference answer choices tend to go beyond what the passage actually tells us, often in a way that would seem reasonable in a real-world discussion. It seems reasonable - but on this test we have to stick with what the passage actually says. If you have to make any kind of assumption at all, or if you have to use outside knowledge of the topic or the real world, then it's not the right answer.
That sort of thing. So work on learning how to identify wrong answers.
Re: practice tests, you can take more MGMAT practice tests but you may start to see repeated questions. Honestly - you likely won't remember that many, but if you do see something you remember, immediately glance at the clock and make yourself sit there for the full 2 minutes (or 1.5 for SC). Do the problem again while you're waiting. At least this way you won't gain an extra benefit from having more time than you should have for other questions. (And seeing a repeat question only really matters, in terms of inflating your score, if it's something you wouldn't have gotten right otherwise - if you see a repeat that you got right the first time around, you'd probably get it right again, so just wait out the time but don't discount your score.)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- Guest101
Need your advice yet again
Hi Stacey
I did everything(almost everything) as advised by you in the earlier posts. Gave a few practice tests(MGMAT and Gmatprep) and scored in the range of 730-760 . With high confidence , I went for my GMAT but scored a mere 680 (48 Q , 35 V) .
I really don't know what went wrong this time. Just that I found Quant questions tougher than the ones in GmatPrep exams. But really I don't have any clue about my score of 35 in Verbal considering the fact that I was scoring 40-44 in my practice tests.
Well the problem I face now is that I am targeting one particular B school (ISB ,India) which usually requires a high gmat score for the kind of career profile I have ( 5 yrs exp in IT sector) . And there are only 3 weeks left for the application deadline. I am done with my application but I am getting feedback from various places that a 680 score will result in a certain rejection .
So I want to give GMAT again to score some thing in the range of 720 . I realize that I can really improve in Quant and take my score to 50 (by doing lots of practice and managing time in a better way) BUT I am not sure of Verbal as I am not able to find out my shortcomings .
When I look back , I realize that once again I was pressed for time in the end of the verbal section .I felt very confident about SC and RC questions but somehow was not really confident about CR . May be that could be the reason for a low score . May be my revision was not perfect as I concentrated only on the essays in the last 2-3 days before the exam. For the record, I gave all my practice tests including the essays and simulated exam conditions.
I have around 3 weeks in hand before giving another shot . Please help me formulate a plan to prepare better and achieve my target score .
I did everything(almost everything) as advised by you in the earlier posts. Gave a few practice tests(MGMAT and Gmatprep) and scored in the range of 730-760 . With high confidence , I went for my GMAT but scored a mere 680 (48 Q , 35 V) .
I really don't know what went wrong this time. Just that I found Quant questions tougher than the ones in GmatPrep exams. But really I don't have any clue about my score of 35 in Verbal considering the fact that I was scoring 40-44 in my practice tests.
Well the problem I face now is that I am targeting one particular B school (ISB ,India) which usually requires a high gmat score for the kind of career profile I have ( 5 yrs exp in IT sector) . And there are only 3 weeks left for the application deadline. I am done with my application but I am getting feedback from various places that a 680 score will result in a certain rejection .
So I want to give GMAT again to score some thing in the range of 720 . I realize that I can really improve in Quant and take my score to 50 (by doing lots of practice and managing time in a better way) BUT I am not sure of Verbal as I am not able to find out my shortcomings .
When I look back , I realize that once again I was pressed for time in the end of the verbal section .I felt very confident about SC and RC questions but somehow was not really confident about CR . May be that could be the reason for a low score . May be my revision was not perfect as I concentrated only on the essays in the last 2-3 days before the exam. For the record, I gave all my practice tests including the essays and simulated exam conditions.
I have around 3 weeks in hand before giving another shot . Please help me formulate a plan to prepare better and achieve my target score .
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
First, I know you wanted a higher score, but a 680 is still a very good score, so congratulations on achieving that. Don't discount your achievements or you'll just end up feeling demoralized!
When did you take this last official test? The rules require us to wait 31 days before we can take the test again. Let me know - I'm not sure whether you just took the official test very recently; if so, you may not be able to take it again before the deadline.
Also FYI - it is extremely challenging to score a 720 even with months of study. I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it, but I don't want you to put too much pressure / too many expectations on yourself. Only 5 percent of all test-takers score 720 or better.
How did you do with the exercises to learn how long one minute is, and to learn how to make educated guesses?
Also, go run the assessment reports for the last one or two MGMAT tests you took. Look at the data. Does it match what you felt - that you feel very confident about SC and RC but not so much about CR? Dive down more deeply into the sub-categories (eg, the different grammar rules for SC, or the different questions types for RC and CR). Where are your percentages too low? Where is your timing too high? You're still pressed for time, so where are you losing that time? Look at the timing in the progression of questions on the question list. Are there any patterns based on where you are in the test? (Maybe you tend to slow down in the #15-#25 time range or something like that?)
Let me know the answers to those questions and we can talk more about what to do!
When did you take this last official test? The rules require us to wait 31 days before we can take the test again. Let me know - I'm not sure whether you just took the official test very recently; if so, you may not be able to take it again before the deadline.
Also FYI - it is extremely challenging to score a 720 even with months of study. I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it, but I don't want you to put too much pressure / too many expectations on yourself. Only 5 percent of all test-takers score 720 or better.
How did you do with the exercises to learn how long one minute is, and to learn how to make educated guesses?
Also, go run the assessment reports for the last one or two MGMAT tests you took. Look at the data. Does it match what you felt - that you feel very confident about SC and RC but not so much about CR? Dive down more deeply into the sub-categories (eg, the different grammar rules for SC, or the different questions types for RC and CR). Where are your percentages too low? Where is your timing too high? You're still pressed for time, so where are you losing that time? Look at the timing in the progression of questions on the question list. Are there any patterns based on where you are in the test? (Maybe you tend to slow down in the #15-#25 time range or something like that?)
Let me know the answers to those questions and we can talk more about what to do!
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- Guest101
My observations
Hi Stacey
Thanks for the kind words and for the word of caution.
I gave my exam on 25th Oct and since my application deadline is 1st Dec, I am targeting last weekend of this month to the take the exam which it seems will be fine.
Regarding the information you asked, I have some interesting observations which I believe will be helpful in accessing my position .
1 - I worked on the exercises to learn how long one minute is and was more or less on the mark .However, I found this method to be a hindrance and distracting when doing a sectional test. Realizing that the main aim of this exercise is to NOT get sucked in a particular question and move ahead , I tweaked it a bit to achieve the same result.Strictly talking about SC and CR question, there are very few questions I encounter where I am totally clueless.Usually, I am able to pick an answer for a SC question in 1.5 mins and a CR question in 2 mins. If not, I am left with 2 options and then I give myself another 30 seconds to choose the best answer and move on.For RC questions ,since I had a tendency to get sucked into reading the passage and solving the questions, I devised a strategy where I assign 3 mins(+ 1 min if required) reading a passage and 3 mins(+1 min if required) solving a block of 3 questions.Practicing with this strategy has helped me with my timings and success rate.
2 - I ran the analysis reports on last 2-3 MGMAT exams I gave and noticed that my success rate for SC and CR was around 85 % but for RC around 40 % . However , I checked my success rate in Gmatprep and OG10 RC and it was around 90 % . I noticed that I performed rather poorly(in MGMAT tests) in specific detail and inference question where my success rate was a 15 % and 40 % respectively .
3 - Quant is one area where I need to fight my ego. I have been good in quant since school and find it tough to let go a question.However I have realized that I need to be firm and move ahead in order to give ample time to other questions. This is exactly what happened to me in GMAT where I was pressed for time. Usually in practice tests, I was able to bail out of such situations and get a good raw score .However I failed to do so when it mattered.
4 - For my verbal section ,I divide the test into blocks of 20 X 3 mins + 15 mins targeting 10-12 questions in each block.Further I keep a milestone with each block(midway- 10 mins) to see whether I am lagging behind in that block or not .This strategy has helped me to recognize that I tend to loose steam after first 40 mins of the section and it usually happens with either a tough RC passage or a bunch of tough CR questions which either upset my timing or depress my mood( basically get me tensed) and spoil my rhythm.
5 - When I said I found myself a little low on CR, that was my test experience only. I cannot really point at any one area (out of CR,SC and RC) and say that I really messed up here big time. It could be anything, either low success rate in all 3 sections or in one section like RC where at times you really dont get to know how bad you are doing.
Yes I know that 720 is a tough score to achieve even after months of practice. However I still feel that it is possible for me to jump from 680 to 720 in 2 weeks as I am sure I can improve on my Quant Score .My main point of concern is the improvement in Verbal or in fact maintaining the same raw score (35) since I have read a lot of posts where people have gone for second attempt too soon trying to rectify one particular area and in the process performed
poorly in another area resulting in lower score than earlier.
As of now ,my action plan is to do the following
1 - practice all areas of Quant under timed conditions and NOT to land in a situation where I have just 1 min/Q for the last 10 questions
2 - Redo OG11 and Verbal supplement and do sectional tests from MGMAT ,KAPLAN and GMAT prep
3 - Take 1 or 2 full tests a week before the big day.
Please let me me whether I am on the right track and suggest changes in my action plan to achieve my target score.
Thanks for the kind words and for the word of caution.
I gave my exam on 25th Oct and since my application deadline is 1st Dec, I am targeting last weekend of this month to the take the exam which it seems will be fine.
Regarding the information you asked, I have some interesting observations which I believe will be helpful in accessing my position .
1 - I worked on the exercises to learn how long one minute is and was more or less on the mark .However, I found this method to be a hindrance and distracting when doing a sectional test. Realizing that the main aim of this exercise is to NOT get sucked in a particular question and move ahead , I tweaked it a bit to achieve the same result.Strictly talking about SC and CR question, there are very few questions I encounter where I am totally clueless.Usually, I am able to pick an answer for a SC question in 1.5 mins and a CR question in 2 mins. If not, I am left with 2 options and then I give myself another 30 seconds to choose the best answer and move on.For RC questions ,since I had a tendency to get sucked into reading the passage and solving the questions, I devised a strategy where I assign 3 mins(+ 1 min if required) reading a passage and 3 mins(+1 min if required) solving a block of 3 questions.Practicing with this strategy has helped me with my timings and success rate.
2 - I ran the analysis reports on last 2-3 MGMAT exams I gave and noticed that my success rate for SC and CR was around 85 % but for RC around 40 % . However , I checked my success rate in Gmatprep and OG10 RC and it was around 90 % . I noticed that I performed rather poorly(in MGMAT tests) in specific detail and inference question where my success rate was a 15 % and 40 % respectively .
3 - Quant is one area where I need to fight my ego. I have been good in quant since school and find it tough to let go a question.However I have realized that I need to be firm and move ahead in order to give ample time to other questions. This is exactly what happened to me in GMAT where I was pressed for time. Usually in practice tests, I was able to bail out of such situations and get a good raw score .However I failed to do so when it mattered.
4 - For my verbal section ,I divide the test into blocks of 20 X 3 mins + 15 mins targeting 10-12 questions in each block.Further I keep a milestone with each block(midway- 10 mins) to see whether I am lagging behind in that block or not .This strategy has helped me to recognize that I tend to loose steam after first 40 mins of the section and it usually happens with either a tough RC passage or a bunch of tough CR questions which either upset my timing or depress my mood( basically get me tensed) and spoil my rhythm.
5 - When I said I found myself a little low on CR, that was my test experience only. I cannot really point at any one area (out of CR,SC and RC) and say that I really messed up here big time. It could be anything, either low success rate in all 3 sections or in one section like RC where at times you really dont get to know how bad you are doing.
Yes I know that 720 is a tough score to achieve even after months of practice. However I still feel that it is possible for me to jump from 680 to 720 in 2 weeks as I am sure I can improve on my Quant Score .My main point of concern is the improvement in Verbal or in fact maintaining the same raw score (35) since I have read a lot of posts where people have gone for second attempt too soon trying to rectify one particular area and in the process performed
poorly in another area resulting in lower score than earlier.
As of now ,my action plan is to do the following
1 - practice all areas of Quant under timed conditions and NOT to land in a situation where I have just 1 min/Q for the last 10 questions
2 - Redo OG11 and Verbal supplement and do sectional tests from MGMAT ,KAPLAN and GMAT prep
3 - Take 1 or 2 full tests a week before the big day.
Please let me me whether I am on the right track and suggest changes in my action plan to achieve my target score.
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Usually, I am able to pick an answer for a SC question in 1.5 mins and a CR question in 2 mins. If not, I am left with 2 options and then I give myself another 30 seconds to choose the best answer and move on.
Don't take the extra 30 sec. Pick one of the two immediately and move on. (Look at your performance here - does the extra 30 seconds really help you to get much more accurate than 50/50? For most people, at that point, it doesn't. So don't spend that valuable time on this!)
Re: your "success rate" - these are only percentages and don't reflect the difficulty levels of the questions, so unfortunately what we can conclude is limited. In OG10, you're seeing all difficulty levels, so if you are an above-average test-taker, your percentages should be higher. There's also some variability in an adaptive test - you could happen to get a few more very hard questions of one type and then that percentage would naturally drop. Or you get a few more easier questions of that type and the percentage rises. It's extremely difficult to assess performance beyond a general level using percentage correct. But the percentages are different enough on those few tests that something is giving you trouble in the RC area, at least some of the time.
I'm glad that you recognize that stubbornness is costing you on quant. :) Now you just have to make yourself let things go. I'm also glad that you discovered a tendency to slow down in the middle of the verbal section. If you can be on the alert for that, you can prevent it from happening. If you need to, pick the hardest question, make a random guess and move on.
I would not do more than 1 full test a week, but I would do it FULLY (including essays, exactly like the real thing) and at the same time of day as the real test. I also wouldn't do 1000+ questions (OG11+verbal alone is around 700). Strike more of a balance between quantity of study and quality of study. Quantity may have gotten you to where you are today, but quality is what's going to lift you above 700. You had to understand the way in which the questions were constructed, well enough that you can recognize similar questions (with completely different details) on the official test. If you can recognize something as a member of a certain category, and remember that questions in this category are best solved in <whatever> particular way, you are far more likely to get it right and to stay within the accepted timeframe on the question.
Use the forums to help you analyze some of these problems - look up past discussions that teachers and students have had about specific problems. We can't post about OG problems anymore, unfortunately, but the archives are still available to read. That will give you ideas about alternate solutions, ways in which to make educated guesses, how to avoid traps, why wrong answers are wrong (on verbal), etc.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
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