Drop from 690 to 590 !

[goyalp]

Hello Stacey,

Sorry for posting bits and pieces, always. But I reviewed my GMATprep exam and following are the findings:

1) Questions types: 17 SC, 11 CR, 13 RC

2) Total 12 questions wong: 7 SC, 2 CR, 3 RC

3) So it tells me my SC skills still need to be worked on, comapre to CR. But there is a possibility that I never got hard CRs because of staying in low level of questions.

4) After reviewing the wrong SCs, I have noticed that I could have got 3 out of 7 SCs in second attempt. Just made mistakes in hurry. Rest 4 out 7, I learnt something new about exceptions for each rule or didnt pay attention to details. I think I just have to solidify my SC skills as I can understand their reasoning with full sense. [Which was not the case before]

5) The most common problem I face in SC is in Parallelism and Comparison. 4 out of 7 are from Parallelism/Comparison. Rest are mix of pronoun and modifier.

I see in parallel problems I have usually not understood the clear meaning of the sentence, because of which I miss parallelism. Please advise if this is a common reason for many or if its just me.

Have few questiosns for Parallelism/Comparison if you could answer:

a) Use of "that" - Where and when ? Any fast rule ?
b) Use of "-ing" modifiers - how and when can they be used without comma ?
Does "-ing" as modifier represent act still in progress ? So Is "Winning
the Nobel Price" a wrong modifier in following sentence ?

"Selma Lagerlöf was a novelist who turned away from literary realism to write romantic stories about the peasant life and landscape of northern Sweden, and in 1909 she became the first woman in addition to the first Swedish writer winning the Nobel Prize for Literature."

8) The questions I got wrong in RC were really tough and time consuming (All inference types). But I am sure I can try to practise more of Inference types.

9) CR - Most of the times I tend to over complicate the situation to end up in wrong answer.

On the Whole, I am trying to look at the bright side of things and trying to believe that I can still make it to 700 :)

Its been a very long post, but I hope you read it all :)

Waiting for your much valuable critque and advice. Thanks again.

[StaceyKoprince]

Going in order from your several posts. Also, FYI, when you submit additional posts before I come in, that keeps moving your post later in the queue, because the timestamp is from the last time that you posted. So you wait longer for a reply - FYI.

3) When on question 24, I realized I was going real short of time.

Did you go back afterward and figure out where you lost that time? Did you lose it on those strings of questions that you got wrong? Or somewhere else? If you lost that time on questions that you ended up getting wrong anyway, now you know: don't spend that extra time. It doesn't even help!

2) To the surprize, one question repeated in the same test.

That is definitely not supposed to happen! Can you please send an email to techsupport@manhattangmat.com and tell them your full name, the test number on which this happened, and the 2 problem numbers? We definitely need to check that out.

Re: CR

[ Was one of my strongest section but get nervous and confused about the answer choices very quick, during the exam. Maybe I am just used to solve the easy ones, not the hard ones ---- Any tips to improve this section ?]

Do you have any insight into what is giving you trouble on the exams? Go take a look at some recent practice exams. Did you not really understand or separate out the conclusion from the premises? Did you not know what kind of question it was or what you were supposed to do with questions of that type? Did you struggle with tempting answers that pulled you away from the right answer? Etc. Then ask yourself why: why were you tempted by that wrong answer, why did you not really get the conclusion, etc. If you understand why you struggled, then you know what you need to do to fix the problem.

2) By third question was very nervous about the time as I spent alot of time in those 3 quesitions.

and

I did very well timewise for first time; I was going steadily by benchmarks and completed on time.

You completed the test on time, but you also said you spent too much time on the first 3 questions - so you didn't totally manage your timing well, right? Go back, problem by problem, and take a look: where did you spend too much time and how did you do on those problems?

If you didn't keep track of your per-question timing (GMATPrep doesn't do it for you), make sure to do that if you take GMATPrep next time. (And, for anyone reading, whenever you take GMATPrep, keep track of the per-question timing yourself!)

After reviewing the wrong SCs, I have noticed that I could have got 3 out of 7 SCs in second attempt. Just made mistakes in hurry.

Two things. First, why were you hurrying and how can you prevent that from happening next time? Did you spend too much time on other questions? If so, why? How should you have known that you shouldn't spend that much time? How are you going to stop yourself from spending too much time? Or, if you were hurrying just because you were nervous about the time, but you didn't really need to, then work on slowing yourself down.

Second, what specific mistakes did you make and why did you make them (beyond the "hurrying" part)? What can you do to prevent making the same type of mistake in future (beyond slowing down)?

Have few questiosns for Parallelism/Comparison if you could answer:

a) Use of "that" - Where and when ? Any fast rule ?
b) Use of "-ing" modifiers - how and when can they be used without comma ?
Does "-ing" as modifier represent act still in progress ? So Is "Winning
the Nobel Price" a wrong modifier in following sentence ?

These are both modifier issues, not parallelism / comparison (unless there's also parallelism in the sentence!). I can't remember for sure whether you have been using our SC book, but I think you have. Look in the Modifiers chapter for a longer discussion of how and when to use "that" modifiers. Ditto for "-ing" modifiers.

In general, "that" modifiers introduce NOUN modifiers, so the words after the "that" are talking about the noun before the "that." On the other hand, "comma -ing" modifiers are ADVERBIAL modifiers, so the words after the "comma -ing" are talking about the entire clause (subj, verb) before the "comma -ing."

"ing" words can get a lot more complicated. They can also be used as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs... too much for me to type out a whole lesson here, unfortunately.

The sentence you gave is not correct usage for an idiomatic reason. Chop out the "in addition to the first Swedish writer" part to make this easier to see:
she became the first woman TO WIN the Nobel Prize for Lit.
One becomes the first <something> TO <do something>. For example: I was the first ManhattanGMAT employee To TRAVEL to the moon. :)

I agree from that one test that it looks like SC is causing the most problems but, as you said, it could also be that the CR and RC questions you had were, on average, of lower difficulty level - that certainly makes a difference. Still, we just have to go with the data we have.

The good news is that, even though your verbal dropped a little bit on that GMATPrep, your scores are still holding in the high 600s. I do think that you have a chance to hit your goal score, though obviously we never know for sure. Keep doing what you're doing - you're making good progress - and think about some of the things I typed above. It sounds like you've worked out many of your timing problems, though I think you still have more work you could do there.

[goyalp]

Hello Stacey,

Thanks for the insights. I am definetly working on the things you recommended. I have also emailed Mnahattan about the question repeating in the same test.

I have noticed few things in my Exams:

1) My performance in Verbal drops very rapidly with lack of sleep. I need to be fresh before I can do verbal, even though it is not the case with Math.

2) I am unable to start the verbal section strongly. Always get 2/3 questions wrong in first 5 Vebal Questions. Also, I waste alot of time in these questions, because of which I loose time for the end questions. I am nervous and purely have low level of concentration in the start. Any suggestions for this ?

3) Because of this bad start, I end up rushing to meet my third benchmark: 30 of 41 questions with 19 minutes remaining. End up wasting more time because of lack of concentration and get few straight questions wrong.

4) Because of all this loss of time, I end up messing the 3-4 questions out of last 7 questions.

I can see all this relates back to the bad start. Do you recommend me to practice few questions in that 8 min break before Verbal Section ?

Also, I read another post where you mentioned about the diet recommendations. My exam is scheduled for 12:30 pm.

I am planning to have Fruits and cereal-milk in morning. Slices of Whole Wheat Bread with Peanut butter, and a Banana around 11:30 am. For each break, one banana each. :)

I hope you can reply before Friday.

Thanks.

Puneet

[StaceyKoprince]

Unfortunately, you can't practice questions in the 8min break between sections. That would be ideal, but the test center doesn't allow it. (And don't try - if they see you, they will cancel your score and make you leave.)

You can do some stuff mentally, though, to get yourself in the right mindset for verbal. First, have you noticed any patterns about what you tend to miss in the opening few questions? Is it typically of one type (eg, CR vs. SC)? If you can narrow it down in any way, then take that into account.

On the break, you can't read any notes, and you can't write anything down. So you're going to have to sit and maybe close your eyes for a couple of minutes. Tell yourself what your general strategies are for the three main question types, and remind yourself about your pacing strategy in general (how much time to have left after a certain number of questions). Practice this ahead of time so that you tell yourself these things in 3-4 minutes at the most. Every 30 seconds or so, tell yourself, "I know how to do this!" and "Yes, I can do this!"

At the same time, have something to eat and drink, and do some light stretching (roll your head around, stretch your arms and legs, etc.).

Finally, note this:

Always get 2/3 questions wrong in first 5 Vebal Questions. Also, I waste alot of time in these questions,

If you're getting them wrong anyway, get them wrong faster. At least, then, you won't be hurt later in the section!

[goyalp]

Thanks Stacey for all the advice. Have exam in about 2 hours. Making a move in 30 minz.. Thanks again for all the help.

Puneet

[StaceyKoprince]

I hope things went well! Let us know!

[goyalp]

Hello Stacey,

Yet another dissappointment !! 620 ( 49 Q , 27 V).

I thought I was doing well in Verbal till 24 of 41. After that I realized that I had fallen behind by 2 minz. Tried to cover up in Long passage. But was left stranded after that. I caught up in the end but I must have got few wrong on the way. I was expecting atleast 660 ..

I am going to give another try in about 6 weeks. Please let me know what you suggest.

Thanks.

Puneet

[StaceyKoprince]

It looks like quant is generally holding steady but verbal is dropping. Read this article, think about your most recent test and do the analysis described, then come back here and post about what you determined (and any questions you still have).

http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/26/my-score-dropped-figuring-out-what-went-wrong