Completed the Basics...Advice on Next Steps?!?!

[tony_stark]

Hello all,

I wrote the GMAT in May and scored a very poor 460. Taking advice from several sources I've focused on the basics and timing. Today I wrote a GMATprep test and scored a 590 (Q35 V35).

I'm happy with my improvement but I'd like some advice from the community on achieving my target score of 650.

My own self analysis/error logging has highlighted algebra (PS/DS), decimals/digits (PS/DS), overlapping sets (PS/DS), sentence correction and draw a conclusion type CR questions being my largest weaknesses.

Some questions:

1) Is 60 points realistic in 1 more month? (targeting mid-August)

2) I've been using the Manhattan GMAT guides and have completed all of the "basic" questions. I feel comfortable with solving them, should I move to the "advanced" sections?

I would really appreciate some advice on how to proceed. I'm obviously going to be working on my weaknesses but what else should I be doing? "Advanced" questions? Focus on verbal? (greatest score impacter?)

Would really appreciate some help!!!!

Side note: Stacey Koprince, if you're reading this thanks a lot for your articles/advice - that gave me a 130 point improvement!

OxfordBound

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice work! (And I'm glad that you found my articles and advice so helpful. :)

Let's see. First, the big question: is 1 month adequate for another 60-point jump? It might be or you might need more time - depends on the specific issues we're dealing with. Do you have flexibility on your test date, in case you do need more time?

Next, your verbal score is much better than your quant score (even though they're both 35, a 35 in verbal is a much higher percentile than a 35 in quant). So we've got the most room for improvement on quant, but that's also your harder area to improve. Plus, most programs will want to see the quant above 50th percentile, so although verbal does have a little more weight in the overall score, you're going to spend a bit more time on quant - maybe 60/40.

You say that you've completed all of the Regular chapters, but quant is still showing up as below 50th percentile, so there's more work to be done there before you can move to the more advanced chapters.

It's also possible, though, that you're having significant timing issues and that's pulling your quant down. I think it'd be a good idea to take an MGMAT CAT (because GMATprep, unfortunately, doesn't give us any timing or other data to analyze).

You can use the below to then analyze your recent MGMAT CAT:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

In particular, I really want to know how much timing is playing into your quant score. Our plan will change drastically depending upon whether you have timing problems and, if so, what they are / how severe they are.

[tony_stark]

Nice work! (And I'm glad that you found my articles and advice so helpful. :)

Let's see. First, the big question: is 1 month adequate for another 60-point jump? It might be or you might need more time - depends on the specific issues we're dealing with. Do you have flexibility on your test date, in case you do need more time?

Next, your verbal score is much better than your quant score (even though they're both 35, a 35 in verbal is a much higher percentile than a 35 in quant). So we've got the most room for improvement on quant, but that's also your harder area to improve. Plus, most programs will want to see the quant above 50th percentile, so although verbal does have a little more weight in the overall score, you're going to spend a bit more time on quant - maybe 60/40.

You say that you've completed all of the Regular chapters, but quant is still showing up as below 50th percentile, so there's more work to be done there before you can move to the more advanced chapters.

It's also possible, though, that you're having significant timing issues and that's pulling your quant down. I think it'd be a good idea to take an MGMAT CAT (because GMATprep, unfortunately, doesn't give us any timing or other data to analyze).

You can use the below to then analyze your recent MGMAT CAT:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

In particular, I really want to know how much timing is playing into your quant score. Our plan will change drastically depending upon whether you have timing problems and, if so, what they are / how severe they are.

Thank you very much for replying Stacey!

So I took your notes and worked very hard to address some of the gaps I felt I had; namely the skill of algebraic translation and decimals/digits. I did the test again yesterday (July 29, 2 weeks from my first email to you). I used an MGMAT test and scored 640 (Q42 V35). I felt this was a true representation of my current abilities.

My timing breakdown for the quantitative section was as follows:

- PS: 2:05 (right) 2:17 (wrong) (most errors in the 600-700 range and up)
- DS: 1:25 (right) 2:07 (wrong) (most errors in the 600-700 range; no 700-800 correct)

My timing breakdown in the verbal section was as follows:

- CR: 1:54 (Right) 2:30 (Wrong) 50% correct (most errors in 600-700 range and up)
- RC: 2:09 (Right) 1:59 (Wrong) 75% correct (most errors in 700-800 range)
- SC: 1:14 (Right) 1:13 (Wrong) 53% correct (most errors in 600-700 range and up)

As I mentioned before, I felt my basics were strong because all of the 300-500 and 500-600 questions across verbal and quant were perfect. Problem Solving was the only section that had 1 wrong, but that was a careless mistake I wouldn’t attribute to lack of basic knowledge.

For the quant section, the test highlighted number properties as a weakness; (0 of 6 correct all in the 600-700 range) despite me feeling most confident about this topic! My strongest topic was word translations (my targeted studying paid off!). I haven’t spent much time on overlapping sets, coordinate geometry and probability/combinatorics which were made evident in the test.

Overall, I felt verbal is where I fell off. I got 3 passages in a row for RC and it wore me out. .I knew I read the passages in good time, but it really wore me out. My attention span for CR questions really plummeted and I spent more time than I should’ve.

I’d really like to write the exam again towards the end of August and I think I can hit 650. I’d really appreciate your advice and knowledge of what to do next. I’m spending all of today analyzing my test and preparing a plan for the next week.

Thanks in advance!

Bhavin

EDITED UPDATED:
--------------------

Using your article of "analyzing your practice test" I developed the following:

QUANTITATIVE SECTION:
-------------------------------

50% Correct + Timing in Range
-------------------------------------
Linear equations
Functions and Formulas
inequalities
circles and cylinders
statistics
consecutive integers
extra problem types
percents
ratios


<50% Correct + Timing in Range
--------------------------------------
Exponents and roots
triangles and diagonals
coordinate plane
positives and negatives
probability


<50% Correct + Too Fast
------------------------------
N/A

50% Correct + Too Slow
---------------------------
quadratic equations
algebraic translations
rates and work
digits and decimals

<50% Correct + Too Slow
-------------------------------
polygons
divisibility and primes
odds and evens
overlapping sets
fractions
FDP

Using your notes, i developed the following that are true weaknesses based on the question type, level and reasons for why I got it wrong (unsure/totally didn't know):

Functions and Formulas (PS/DS)
Statistics (DS)
Exponents and Roots (PS)
Coordinate Geometry
probability (PS/DS)
Divisibility and Primes (DS)
Overlapping Sets (DS)
FDP/Fractions (DS)


VERBAL SECTION
--------------------

SC:
----

50% Correct + Timing in Range
-----------------------------------
modifiers
concision
paralellism
quantity
connecting punctuation


<50% Correct + Timing in Range
---------------------------------------
verb and tense


<50% Correct + Too Fast
----------------------------
subject verb agreement
idioms
comparisons


<50% Correct + Too Slow
------------------------------
n/a

50% Correct + Too Slow
----------------------------
meaning

CR:
----

50% Correct + Timing in Range
-----------------------------------
draw a conclusion

<50% Correct + Timing in Range
---------------------------------------
describe the role
explain the discrepancy


<50% Correct + Too Fast
-----------------------------
n/a

<50% Correct + Too Slow
------------------------------
find the assumption
weaken the argument

50% Correct + Too Slow
-----------------------------
strengthen the argument


Weaknesses to Study:
--------------------------
find the assumption
weaken the argument
idioms
comparisons
verb and tense
inference

For the next week, I'm going to be focusing on bring my verbal score to a 40. I'm focusing on CR and SC this week, I'll hopefully report back with positive results next week!

Apologies for the length of this post, but I think it gives you a more complete picture of my analysis. I think it'll help you provide more poignant advice.

Bhavin

[StaceyKoprince]

Don't apologize for giving me data. As long as you also give me your analysis (and you did!), I'm happy to see it all. :)

Good progress in general. Various thoughts:

CR: 1:54 (Right) 2:30 (Wrong)

You're hanging on too long when you don't really know what to do on CR. Why? Is it taking longer to read the argument? Are the answers taking longer? Are you agonizing between 2 or 3 answers? Figure out where the wasted time is going and cut yourself off faster.

I haven’t spent much time on overlapping sets, coordinate geometry and probability/combinatorics which were made evident in the test.

Totally fine. Those three areas are infrequent. Not worth a huge amount of study time unless you're going for 750. :)

It's a bummer that you got 3 RCs in a row - hopefully that won't happen on the real test. I've gotten 2 in a row before but never 3.

Below are your priority lists. I've bolded the most important areas based on frequency with which they're tested:

Functions and Formulas (PS/DS)
Statistics (DS)
Exponents and Roots (PS)
Coordinate Geometry
probability (PS/DS)
Divisibility and Primes (DS)
Overlapping Sets (DS)
FDP/Fractions (DS)

find the assumption
weaken the argument
idioms
comparisons
verb and tense
inference

Keep up the great work!

[tony_stark]

STACEY YOU [deleted by Stacey] ROCK! THANK YOU!

I've taken a bit of a risk - I booked my test for the 18th of August. It's going to be a lot of hard work but I think I can do it.

Thanks again - I'll come back if I succeed to gloat and if I fail to get more advice :)

Bhavin

[StaceyKoprince]

You're welcome - good luck!!

Also, note, even if you're using the word in praise, please don't use swear words here. :)

[tony_stark]

STACEY YOU [deleted by Stacey] ROCK! THANK YOU!

I've taken a bit of a risk - I booked my test for the 18th of August. It's going to be a lot of hard work but I think I can do it.

Thanks again - I'll come back if I succeed to gloat and if I fail to get more advice :)

Bhavin

Stacey - I don't know what to do!

I'm extremely frustrated, tired and confused. I wrote the GMAT yesterday for the second time and scored a 500 (V28 Q33). The first time I wrote it, I scored a 460 (Q19 V28).

The first time I wrote it, i was anxious, nervous, had severe timing issues. I obviously had gaps in content and took the advice to focus on the basics and timing. So, i felt I did this - I felt confident, calm and happy about writing the GMAT yesterday. i felt my quant (specifically DS) was tough but I felt I preformed really strongly on verbal - and evidently, that wasn't the case.

Study Materials:
- Manhattan Guides
- Stacey Koprince articles (in it to win it, all about timing, devising a study plan etc)
- OG12 and OG Quant 2nd Ed.
- GMAT Quantum video guides (Dabral's the best!)

The only content areas I didn't spend too much time on was coordinate geometry, combinatorics and probability. I felt this was justified considering that my score target is 650-680 and understand these are very niche content areas.

On the ManhattanGMAT tests, I consistently scored between 640 and 670 with my verbal score fluctuating between 35 and 44. My quant score had steadily increased from 33 to 42.

I did two GMATprep tests; both of which gave me completely different results 530 and 560. During both tests I felt somewhat anxious during the tests and dismissed my math score (around 33-35) as not a true reflection of my abilities.

When I look at my scores, i'm really confused for the following reasons:

1) I'm a native english speaker and feel verbal is my strength; on MGMAT tests, OG questions I can answer SC, CR and RC questions in good time and score nearly perfect in every scenario.

2) Quant has always been a weakness of mine and I've painstakingly worked to improve it. Although I have improved, the real scores never seem to mimic the scores I achieve on practice tests or how I feel about practice questions.

In terms of options/next steps:
- I cannot afford tutoring
- I'm extremely self-motivated and know I can (and have) allocate dedicated time to GMAT studying
- I feel I can do this on my own - but I just need some direction as to what I can do next.

I feel confused because my practice scores never seem to match my real scores. Before I attempt it for the 3rd time, I'd really like to be confident about my approach. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated.

Bhavin

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're having a rough time with the test. We need to figure out why you're getting conflicting data (low official GMAT and GMATPrep scores, but better results on OG questions and MGMAT CATs).

So, let's see - your verbal score stayed the same (28 each time) and your quant score jumped up to 33 (big improvement from the first time) but that was still at the lower end of your practice test scores - is that right?

Also, re: your GMATPrep scores, you said:

During both tests I felt somewhat anxious during the tests and dismissed my math score (around 33-35) as not a true reflection of my abilities.

But that is what you scored on the real Q, so we need to figure out what's going on. First, the anxiety you felt is something you should definitely expect to feel again during the real test - even more so. I know you said you felt good when taking the real test, but anxiety can also manifest as a form of "false mania," where you think you feel good and everything's fine, but you're not really thinking as clearly / well as usual and that affects your performance.

What other reasons did you identify for the score drop on those GMATPrep tests? Those are probably the same reasons you scored in that range on the real test. This article might help you to get some ideas about what could have gone wrong:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

feel verbal is my strength; on MGMAT tests, OG questions I can answer SC, CR and RC questions in good time and score nearly perfect in every scenario.

How were your verbal scores on the GMATPrep tests? How different was your performance on GMATPrep verbal compared to both MGMAT CATs and OG questions? Where did your skills hold up and where did you struggle on GMATPrep?

Also, as a general rule (and I have a feeling you already learned this lesson), assume that GMATPrep tests are the most accurate practice test indicators. Also assume that if you are seeing big fluctuations or discrepancies in practice test scores, you need to figure out what's going on *before* you take the real test. If you don't know why the scores are fluctuating so much, then you can't take any steps to deal with the issues before the test.

Finally, think back over that real test experience and tell me everything that felt hard and everything that felt different - even if it didn't feel hard. (Note: don't give me details on specific problems - that kind of info can't be disseminated.)

[tony_stark]

Thanks for replying Stacey, see my notes below:

but that was still at the lower end of your practice test scores - is that right?

Yes, this is correct. Prior to this test I took 2 GMATPrep tests and 2 MGMAT tests. Below were the breakdown of each:
GMATPrep1: 530 (Q35 V28)
GMATPrep2: 560 (Q32 V35)
MGMAT1: 640 (Q42 V35)
MGMAT2: 670 (Q37 V44)
Actual GMAT: 500 (Q31 V28)

This article might help you to get some ideas about what could have gone wrong:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ent-wrong/

I read through the article and feel stamina and anxiety relate most to me. Timing is something I know you often cite as a major issue, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I am cognizant of it and feel I've made strong gains in this area and it is no longer a large weakness. I will seek out tools to combat anxiety and stamina.

What other reasons did you identify for the score drop on those GMATPrep tests?

On both of those GMATPrep tests, I took the test before I had breakfast and felt really tired - not the case with my actual GMAT. I took my prep tests at about the same time as my real test (12:00pm). As mentioned before, I've ensured I obey official test conditions - 8 min breaks, 75 minutes/section etc.

How were your verbal scores on the GMATPrep tests? How different was your performance on GMATPrep verbal compared to both MGMAT CATs and OG questions? Where did your skills hold up and where did you struggle on GMATPrep?

On the GMATPrep tests, my verbal scores went from 28-35; from the first test I noticed SC (in general) as an area of weakness as well as find the assumption type CR questions and inference type CR questions. Working on those areas, I scored significantly better in the second test (V35).

Compared to MGMAT tests, my GMATPrep test verbal scores were abysmal. I scored a minimum of 35 and a high of 44 with an average of 42 (if I count older MGMAT tests). On MGMAT tests, the analysis showed my strongest areas as RC (in general; 90% correct) and my weakest as a SC (54% correct; with most errors in the 700-800 question range, no 300-500 questions).

I don't understand the ability to do so strongly in SC on MGMAT tests but so poorly on GMATPrep tests where I (probably) don't even see the advanced questions and don't even get the basic ones right. On OG questions, SC is probably the only area I somewhat hesitate/don't feel as strong, but I feel incredibly proficient at CR and RC questions; good timing, 95%+ correct, understanding of the question, right answers/wrong answers etc.

Finally, think back over that real test experience and tell me everything that felt hard and everything that felt different - even if it didn't feel hard.

- DS was difficult; I understood the questions but couldn't unravel the statements correctly.
- Verbal felt very good until the 15th to 20th question; I noticed a lot of stregthen/weaken CR question types and I usually got bold-faced questions by this time on MGMAT tests. I got very short sentences for SC and knew it wasn't going well
- RC still felt good; no complaints there
- I felt somewhat deceived on the quant section - I studied really hard and my skills seemed to fade away after I hit the 10th question. It was almost as if I had studied the wrong questions because I couldn't recognize WHAT to do on the DS statements. I knew what was being asked, could decode one of the statements but not the other. I kept getting stuck! When I didn't know, I defaulted to B or D and moved on.
- PS type problems felt okay, some algebraic translation and statistics-type problems felt difficult

Some personal thoughts I've been mulling over:
1) I think there is something fundamentally wrong with how I am studying - but I cannot pinpoint what exactly it is. My initial approach was 10-15 questions with review (I used your article for how to review) but I think I'm still not grasping something either from your article or the question itself.

2) What is different between DS and PS from a knowledge point of view? I am convinced the question types require different types of knowledge, and maybe I haven't fully understood what that is. For PS - its very straight forward, here's the question, calculate. In order to answer the question, you need to have an understanding of what type of math it is, extract what type of formulas/definitions apply and then apply them to the problem as efficiently as possible. For DS, I think I'm lost.

3) When MGMAT and others mention completing the basic chapters and associated OG questions what SHOULD my score target be? Assuming i've gone through the guides and have absorbed the appropriate amount of knowledge, what should my score target be? At what point is it appropriate for me to say "let's go to the advanced section"?

Last item: Since I've taken the test, I took a week off and tried to think of a new study approach. I did analysis on my last 6 MGMAT tests and tallied my weakest areas in terms of timing and accuracy, I came up with the following lists:

Quant:
Divisibility and Primes
Statistics
Fractions
Triangles and Diagonals
Consecutive Integers
Overlapping Sets

Verbal:
Verb Tense Mood
Modifiers
Subject-Verb Agreement
Find the Assumption

My plan was to spend 4 days for a quant topic; going super slow - re-reading the associated chapter, doing the practice problems, googling each answer the I get and finding a better method. I plan to take a practice test after 1 month of studying and won't book the real test until I see some consistency in my results.

Please tell me I'm doing something right!

I genuinely appreciate the time you are taking out to help a stranger with his GMAT issues! I will get this test done!

[StaceyKoprince]

I don't understand the ability to do so strongly in SC on MGMAT tests but so poorly on GMATPrep tests where I (probably) don't even see the advanced questions and don't even get the basic ones right. On OG questions, SC is probably the only area I somewhat hesitate/don't feel as strong, but I feel incredibly proficient at CR and RC questions; good timing, 95%+ correct, understanding of the question, right answers/wrong answers etc.

Couple of questions here.

The SC thing may have to do with the way that you've been studying and the way that you naturally do these types of questions. If you tend to learn the "rhythm" of how the sentences "sound," and you are mostly doing that with a pool of questions that were written by the same authors, then you'll get really good at doing anything from those authors, but that skill might not then translate very well to questions written by other authors.

When you're looking at a particular question (after you've done it), can you articulate exactly what was going on in that sentence and answer choices and why? Could you explain it to another student in terms that s/he could understand? (Note: I don't mean can you give the official names to all of the grammar rules or talk like a grammar teacher. Can you explain in normal-person language - not just "oh, this is right because... it just is." :)

For CR and RC, do those skills / feelings also play out that way when you take GMATPrep? Is it really just SC that's giving you trouble on GMATPrep?

Back to the "who wrote the questions" issue, that can also be happening on CR and RC. Unfortunately, most of the OG questions were written years ago - so there's the possibility that even those aren't giving you the "language feel" of the current test writers. The most recently released new questions can be found in GMATPrep, both in the free software and in the for-a-fee GMATPrep Pack #1.

For DS, it sounds like you need to do some more studying on the "decoding" end of things - how do I tell what they're talking about when they're trying to disguise it? The articles linked in the below article address that - but note that this little article series focuses on NP; this can also happen with other question types. This will get you started, though.
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -gmatprep/

Part of your struggle with this was undoubtedly the mental stamina issue - it's of course harder to do these when you're feelig mentally fatigued. So working on that will help too.

But part of your issue was also probably not studying from the point of view of what I call "know the code." Your goal is not to learn how to decode so that you can decode everything on the test. Your goal is to learn as much of the code as you can before you get in there, so you can just translate immediately. The number properties articles linked in the above article will help you see what I mean, but here's an example.

If I see y^2 < y on the test, I don't write that down. What I write down instead is 0 < y < 1. That's because I've already seen this before, and I've already memorized "If I see ______, then I'll think / do / write _______." y^2 < y is just a fancier way of telling me that y is between 0 and 1. I don't want to figure that out on the test - that'll take too long. I figure it out ahead of time and memorize so that I can recognize it again the next time I see it!

This won't work 100% of the time, but then that also tells me what I already know how to recognize vs. what might take too long to figure out. If I see something that looks completely unfamiliar to me, sure I'll try it for a minute, but if I still don't know the significance of the information, then I switch to educated guessing mode and move on.

Verbal felt very good until the 15th to 20th question.

Then what happened?

I got very short sentences for SC and knew it wasn't going well

That doesn't mean that things aren't going well. Some of the hardest SCs I've ever seen were very short ones.

So part of the issue is: don't psych yourself out! You can't tell, just from looking at a question, how hard it really is. You felt that you were doing poorly, that increased your anxiety, that interfered with your ability to think clearly, that increased your anxiety even more, etc.

I've been doing this for more than 15 years, and even I can't tell how hard a question is while I'm doing it for the first time. I can often make a good guess afterwards, when I'm reviewing it, but SO many times, I've thought a question is really easy or really hard, and then after teaching it to 50 people and seeing what they pick and how they do it, I realize that I was completely wrong. :)

Point: you can't possibly tell how you're doing or how hard a certain question is. So don't even try to think about stuff like that during the test.

I think I'm still not grasping something either from your article or the question itself.
I am convinced the question types require different types of knowledge, and maybe I haven't fully understood what that is.

The GMAT is primarily a test of how you think, not (primarily) what you know. Yes, there's a bunch of stuff you have to know in order to do well, but that's not really what the test is about. If you're focusing primarily on knowledge, as opposed to thought process, then yes, you're missing something about how to study and you'll also find DS harder than PS. :)

If you're struggling with how to teach yourself this, then you may need some outside help in the form of a class, a few tutoring sessions, etc. You might start by viewing some of our explanation tapes in the OG Archer section of our website (if you have access to that). We have been trying to make sure that we articulate both how to think and how you should even know to think that way in the first place. That may be enough to kick-start you; if not, then you might want to look into a class or some tutoring sessions with someone who can illustrate this for you real time.

(You can also possibly get this from reading more of my in-depth articles that focus just on a single question - but I'm guessing you may already have read a lot of my articles, so maybe that won't be quite enough. If you haven't yet read the articles in which I analyze problems myself, do so - check our blog. In particular, read a few of my recent ones on IR. I know you don't care about IR, but those articles still show you how to analyze / how to think, so it doesn't matter that they're about question types that you don't care about!)

DS, in particular, tests the exact same knowledge pool as PS. It is more likely, however, that DS questions will be written in a way that disguises what the information is actually telling you (see above about learning to recognize stuff). They've got to do this in order to keep DS challenging, because for DS, you often don't actually have to do the math, right? If DS were just like PS except you didn't actually have to do the math... then DS would just be way too easy.

Anyone looking to score up to roughly the 75th to 80th percentile in a section can mostly get away with studying the general material only. As you get better, you can move to the advanced material in your areas of strength - if you can master the general material for a particular area, then feel free to go to the advanced material. If you can't, then don't bother with the advanced material.

At the same time, prioritize the general material in all areas over the advanced material in any area. In other words, don't spend a ton of time learning all of the advanced algebra (let's say that's your big strength) while you're really struggling with the general material in number properties and word problems - because you're never going to be given the hard algebra questions if you can't do the general questions in the other areas.

going super slow - re-reading the associated chapter, doing the practice problems, googling each answer the I get and finding a better method.

Those are all good things - but take some time first to go through questions of each type (that you've already done) and ask yourself WHY you're struggling with that particular type. Maybe you don't need to re-read the chapter - maybe you're fine with the actual knowledge, but struggling with solution process. Maybe you're not seeing the shortcuts and should spend a lot of time googling alternate methods and also asking yourself, "How does someone know to use this shortcut in the first place? What's the clue that should even make me think of it? How am I going to remember that and recognize a similar setup in future?"

Or maybe you're slow with some of the calculations and you need to drill, say, manipulating exponents. Whatever it is, once you know WHY you're struggling with something, that tells you what to do about it.

Okay, that's a lot of stuff - get going with all of that, and come back to let us know how it's going and to ask more questions!