My Frustrating GMAT journey

[earth dreams]

Hello All,
please let me share with you all my frustrating GMAT journey, as I am seeking your help and support in the situation I am in now; I started my journey at October 2012 with MGMAT 5 SG, Starting with SC as I thought it was my weakest area and it took from me around a month and a half to finish the SC SG and solving the corresponding questions in the OG13 (as mentioned in the SG), and I admit that after finishing the SC SG I got a solid grasp of the SC main concepts and strategies. after that i started with the CR SG and following the same strategy (finishing a chapter and then solve the corresponding questions in the OG13) and on the same time I was working on my timing in order not to take more than 2 minutes in the CR questions and not more that 1:30 minutes in the SC part. After That I started to Study the Quant part (I postponed the RC to the end as for me it was the hardest part of the whole GMAT studying) following the same plan as mentioned and it took from me around 3 months to finish the whole set of the SG. Then I discovered MGMAT archer so I decided to redo all the OG13 questions again in both verbal and Quant to know exactly where I stand; and I found that the best part in verbal for me is the CR and in Quant I was almost equal in all sections (except probability and combinations I really hate them !!!!!). Then I started to take exams and my results were as follows:
Exam Q V Total Date
800.com 25 22 400 13/7/2013
800.com 30 18 400
800.com 33 25 490 3/8/2013
800.com 24 30 460 7/9/2013
800.com 38 30 560 17/09/2013
economist 23 10 290 23/09/2013
veritas 31 29 500 12/10/2013
Manhattan Free 34 27 520 14/10/2013
GMATprep113 19 320 16/10/2013
GMATprep238 22 510 17/10/2013
GMATprep(Retake)47 27 600 18/10/2013
GMATprep (Retake)45 28 600 19/10/2013

and I took actual GMAT exam and I scored as follows:
Official exam 38 13 440 21/10/2013

of course it was very disappointing Score as I was aiming to score around 560 - 580, so I decided to retake the GMAT exam again and my strategy was as follows:

- MGMAT SG guides.
- GMAT Prep now course.
- Bought 2 GMAT prep exam.
- Bought 5 MGMAT CATs.
- 60 Day Study Guide from BTG.

and My daily routine was to study the lesson from the GMAT prep now course and MGMAT SG and to solve corresponding questions in the OG13, and after finishing the course I started to take the exams and the results were as follows:
Exam Q V Total date
GMAT Prep1 39 22 520 18/4/2014
GMAT Prep2 39 26 550 21/4/2014
GMAT Prep3 37 26 530 24/4/2014
Manhattan CAT1 36 21 480 24/5/2014
Manhattan CAT2 37 30 560 28/5/2014
Manhattan CAT3 37 28 540 31/5/2014
Manhattan CAT4 39 26 540 7/6/2014
GMAT Prep4 34 22 480 14/6/2014
Manhattan CAT5 36 28 530 16/6/2014

and I spent the whole period between the 1st and the last exam to carefully revise all the wrong questions and to reinforce on the missed concepts , and on the 18th of June I retook the GMAT and I scored a horrible score (380 Q32 and V12) I don't how this happened, But I am very disappointed and I totally lost self confidence.

Sorry for the long please if any one can help me what to do and what are the next actions I should make?? As I don't think that I can do more than what I already done.

Thanks a lot...

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you're struggling with the GMAT.

Your history of test scores shows some volatility. For example, you scored 320 on your first GMATPrep and then 510 on the second one, taken the very next day. Your skills did not change in one day, so something else has to be going on. The two most likely culprits are time management and mental fatigue - and pretty serious problems, or you wouldn't see a 200 point difference in one day. Without fixing that, you can't know whether you'll see a similar low score on real test day.

Your next set of exams show a little more consistency (although there's still enough volatility to signal issues with timing and stamina). You again burned yourself out leading up to the test. We don't typically recommend taking an exam more often than once every 2-3 weeks (occasionally once a week for the last couple of weeks before the test), and we pretty much forbid our students from taking a practice test within 5 days of the real test. You were taking multiple tests a week right up to a day or two before the real exam.

The "mass quantities of tests" approach rarely leads to very high scores. Every now and then, someone can do this, and they write about it on some forum, and then everyone else tries to do it too - but it doesn't work for most people.

So the first thing to do is to take a deep breath. Next, you're going to learn how to assess your strengths and weaknesses (including time management and mental stamina). Finally, you're going to learn how to study in an effective way.

Read this (right now):
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

Was that your mindset while you were studying? While you were taking the exam?

Probably not. What did you learn from that article that you need to change as you get ready to take the test again?

Next, read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... re-part-2/
That article talks about HOW you need to study. I know that you weren't studying that way, because there is absolutely no way to study that way if you are taking 2 or 3 practice tests a week.

Finally, after you've managed to master a lot of the content, you need to lift yourself to the second level of learning:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Read through all of that and tell me how you need to change the way you've been approaching studying for and taking the test.

After we get all of that set, I'm going to have you analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs and we'll dive into specific areas of focus, but I first just want to get the big picture settled. So we'll talk more about that in my next post (after you reply to me).

[earth dreams]

Dear Stacey,

Thanks for your reply. And please let me reply to your questions based on the articles below.

Was that your mindset while you were studying? While you were taking the exam?

Of course this was not my mindset while I am studying, although I know well that GMAT is not only testing the Quant or Verbal Skills, but also testing decision making skills. But during my studies and the exam is of course to answer the question correct and sometimes I "know" (between double quotes) the answer of the question and accordingly I try to solve it , even if it took from me more than the required time to solve it; another thing makes me stubborn in solving the question is that I don't know whether I am going to answer the next question correctly or not? I know this is not correct, but sometimes I feel it is out of my hands and maybe I really need to "grow" :).


Based on the second article, I see I must focus now on "How to think" as I learn most of the GMAT content (expect some areas in Number Properties [probability and combinations]); but I need to think how I am going to put a plan for my studies in the new way, which I think is a little bit difficult because it needs somehow a twisting from my previous way.

I will try to analyze my weak areas and start to learn concepts behind it , and GMAT questions patterns related to those areas. and finally I will test my self in mini quizzes to check my progress on those areas.

I think this is what I have to do, and please advice if I missed something that I should do.

Thanks a million for your support...

[StaceyKoprince]

I agree, yes - you're going to have to change your mindset and approach. First, think of it this way: you're going to learn how the GMAT works. Not math, not grammar, not facts - but how the GMAT works and how you have to think in order to be able to solve GMAT questions. Remind yourself of that every time you sit down to study.

Next, if you have access to our GMAT Navigator program, I would recommend reading some of our explanations or watching some of our explanation videos for OG questions that you have done in the past. Learn how we think / pick apart the problems, and you'll start to see how you need to learn and work in order to get better.

Next, use the "2nd level" article and the 10 questions to ask yourself, and pick apart some OG questions that you have already done and that you answered correctly. Learn how to learn.

When you start to feel comfortable with all of that, you can then start to use the 10 questions on problems that you got wrong, and you can even start to try new problems and then analyze those. But your first job is to learn how to learn. :)

Try that for a couple of weeks and let me know how it's going.

[earth dreams]

Hello Stacey,

Okay, I understand now that I have to learn how the GMAT works; not concepts,not facts,not rules...

But unfortunately I don't have access to GMAT navigator; the only resources that I have now is MGMAT SGs and OG13 plus MGMAT CATs. So do you have any resources that I can access to tackle this part?

[StaceyKoprince]

Instead, go through old posts on our blog - the teachers often write articles in which we choose a specific problem from GMATPrep, or similar, and then pick apart the problem. It won't be as efficient as using Navigator, but you can still pick up a lot of good stuff!

[earth dreams]

Dear Stacey,

Sorry for the late reply, but I was very busy those 2 last months as we were launching a new project in work; however I managed to look for the answers of the OG13 questions in MGMAT blogs also I revised the answers of the MGMAT 5 CAT exams and let me summarize my findings below:

- The most important thing is the strategy of tackling the questions.

- Every exam section has it's own strategy of tackling the question.

- POE is a very good strategy when the answer is not recognized.

- SC part mainly depends on splitting and re-splitting until you only have a final choice answer (I am always confused between the last 2 sentences)

- CR mainly depends on recognizing the the type of the question (by reading the question stem) and then dissecting the argument carefully to it's main different parts (and of course the conclusion is the most important part).

- RC mainly depends on Active reading and summarizing the paragraphs to find the main idea of the passage; for the specific questions answers are almost found in the passage (but it really takes me time to find them :()

- Quant DS questions depends mainly on AD/BCE grid, which is really a very effective way (especially when I am confused with 2 answers it helps me to take the decision)

- for PS questions I really can't find a specific strategy for tackling the questions, I can see it's mainly depends on qunat knowledge and content.



this is my summary and what I can find regarding the different types of GMAT questions.

appreciate to correct me if is there is something missed and appreciate to advice me for the next step.


thanks :)

[StaceyKoprince]

Good stuff! A few comments:

SC part mainly depends on splitting and re-splitting until you only have a final choice answer (I am always confused between the last 2 sentences)

Or until you just get stuck and have to guess and move on. If you can narrow any problem to 50/50, that's great! I don't even consider that a real guess at that point.

Add this to your analysis of verbal questions to help you when you get down to 2 answers:

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?

RC:

for the specific questions answers are almost found in the passage (but it really takes me time to find them :(

When should you still try and when should you say, "This is totally not worth my time," pick your favorite letter, and move on?

PS questions don't have just one main strategy - there are different things depending on the structure of the problem (eg, numerical answers spread far apart = I can estimate; all variables = maybe I can choose my own smart numbers; etc)

For all of those, now you need to drill down further. What are the different CR question types and what are you supposed to be doing for each one (besides recognizing / categorizing it)?

What are the different ways that you can solve quant problems (DS or PS, there's almost always more than one solution path)? On any given problem, which way is the best way for you and why? How will you remember that in future?

How can you make educated guesses on different kinds of problems? What are the common traps and how can you avoid them? And so on.

Go back and either apply the 10 questions to problems you've done recently or do some new problems and then analyze using the 10 questions. Pull out whatever you consider to be the important takeaways and put them on flash cards so you can keep drilling them until you know how to spot them on different (but similar!) questions when you get to the real test.