My GMAT preparation and weaknesses

[vishalc581]

Hello Team,

I really need help!

I have been preparing for the GMAT from the past 7 months.

Study Material:

Quant: OG-15 + old GMAT questions

Verbal: Manhattan's SC, OG-15, OG-Verbal Review , Manhattan's CR Book

GMAT Prep-1 score: 530 (Quant40, Verbal 23)

Gmat Prep-2 score: 590 (Quant 47, Verbal-24)

When I start my exam my mind works fine but till I reach last 10 questions of Quant I am fed up and feel soporfic and condition worsens when I reach Verbal sections.

I am unable to apply Grammar rules or what I learnt during practise in SC.

RC- my worst part. Out of 12-14 questions only 2 get correct and rest are always wrong.

In RC and CR I am always left between 2 choices and correct answer is most of time from these 2.

Initially I made a mistake and though I am good in Quant as I am an Engineer and focused on Verbal but when I started taking mocks I realized My quant is also really bad or I should I forgot some key points were not able to apply those in DS questions. After that I turned to do both quant as verbal from past 1.5 months but still I am unable to improve.


Please suggest me how should I go on with my preparation I am targeting 720+. What should I do for the fatigue which gets developed during verbal section.

Also, suggest me Study Material, Test series and most important THE STUDY Plan I should follow religiously for preparation.

Thanks & Regards,
Vishal

[StaceyKoprince]

First, what you describe definitely sounds like mental fatigue, so we need to work on that.

Second, for verbal, you say that RC is your weakest area - but in your resources you list books only for SC and CR. What are you using to get better at RC? (I'm talking about books that teach you what to do, not books that have practice questions. Practice questions help you practice, but they don't teach you how to get better.)

You'll need to do two broad things to fix the mental fatigue issues. First, you'll need to practice in a way that helps you to develop more mental stamina. Second, and just as important, you'll need to learn how to minimize the mental energy expended during the test.

Read this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... you-crazy/

And then these:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

The exec reasoning / business mindset is so important because it will help you to decide when something is just not worth the effort it would take to do. It's the same idea as an executive deciding that a certain expenditure is not worth the money. Sure it might help a little bit, but it costs more than it's ultimately worth - the ROI is poor. Those are the kinds of decisions you're trying to master to take the GMAT.

Here's how to practice mental stamina when studying:
Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

Then stop. Don't do the above for 4 hours straight. It's actually a lot more mentally fatiguing to study than to take a test. When studying, you're both recalling existing memories and trying to create new memories to use in future. When taking a test, you're only trying to recall existing memories.

So if you try to study for 4 hours straight, you'll be so mentally fatigued for the last couple of hours that you won't make very good memories... and your study time will be very inefficient.

But on any day that you're going to study for at least 2 hours, try the above. (And if you want to study for more than 2 hours, just take a substantial break after the first session. My rule is that the break has to last at least as long as the study session itself - so if I study for 2 hours, I break for 2 hours before I do more.)

Regarding that annoying "I narrowed to two and picked the wrong one" phenomenon, here's how you can get better:
First, when you're reviewing, review everything. Identify ALL of the questions on which you narrowed to two and guessed, even when you guessed right. (You are getting some right. But you're not noticing them as much, because you got them right! So you feel like you always guess wrong, just because those are the ones you really notice.)

Then, 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; 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? (now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)
4) why was it actually right?

In terms of materials, you need something to help you for RC. This article links to some free RC articles on our blog; if you like them, then you may want to consider our RC book (I wrote the articles and the book, so if you like one, you'll probably like the other):
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... rehension/

Here's a similar set of articles for CR, just in case:
http://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog/ ... reasoning/

In terms of how to study, I can't give you a comprehensive study plan; you need to work based upon your own weaknesses, so you need to set up your own study plan (or take a class or work with a tutor - where you'll get a study plan). I can, though, give you advice about how to set up your study plan. And you can feel free to check any aspects of your study plan with me.

Take a look here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... our-score/

And here:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/07/ ... s-say-what

And here:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Different aspects are covered in each of those articles. Think about how to weave them together to create a plan that fits your needs. (And, as I said, feel free to come back here and check anything with us.)

[vishalc581]

Hi Stacy,

Thanks a lot! for replying.

As such till now I didn't follow any book for the approach for solving RC questions.

For RC I was using below steps:

For Main idea: Read the first and last lines of 1st para as well as last para of passage. Also while reading I try to understand the tone like is it positive or negative.

For all other type of questions I go to passage after reading the question and to which point in passage it is referring to.

But now I do 1 passage from OG and after solving the questions I see the OG's explanation for each and every question and try to understand why I was stuck in 2 choices and how to make myself get rid of this 2 choice confusion problem. I hope it will work.

Any suggestion here? Please!

Yes, I am planning to start Manhattan's RC guide as well and I try to learn approach for every question type like what to do in main idea questions or inference or logical relationship questions.

Also, I feel reading good newspaper will help in improving Verbal sections. Even I have seen past questions from newspapers.

So I will start reading NYTimes and economist daily. But, here I need your help. How to read these newspapers to get benefit for verbal section?

I mean I am pretty much able to understand the articles. (Although sometimes I get stuck on vocabulary words so I just look up those in dictionary)

But still apart from making it just a habit I want to what should be my approach here as my short term goal is to get good score in GMAT.

For quant section the study material I am following (OG 15+16 review and quant review) is that enough. I know there is no limit to maths questions but I want to about concept types. Are the concepts used in OG questions enough?


Thanks & Regards,
Vishal

[StaceyKoprince]

Starting with your last question first: OG questions are great for practice, but they don't teach you the actual material in a comprehensive way, nor do they show you better ways of answering the questions. Most of the time, their solutions are what I'd call "textbook" solutions: they are mathematically accurate, but they're how a math teacher would do the problem. There are often easier / faster ways to do these things.

So if you are looking to really maximize that score, then I would also recommend identifying some quant prep materials as well, not just practice questions. (Of course, this depends on your score goal and how you're doing. If you already like your quant score, then you're fine!)

Okay, so for RC, my advice is what's in the book. (Literally - like I said, I co-wrote that one!) So go start learning it and come back if you have any questions. (Note: if you have questions about specific problems, post in the folders that correspond to the problem source.)

When you're analyzing OG questions, use this process:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Also, use this to analyze that "narrow to 2" situation (this is still after you're done / after you've picked your answer):
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?

I also like these reading sources:
http://magazine.uchicago.edu/
http://harvardmagazine.com/
http://sciam.com/

You are already doing part of what you need to be doing, looking up words you don't know. Try also either writing or articulating aloud a summary of what you just read. If you struggle to do that, then you know that you didn't really get it and you have to try again.

If you have friends who are good at reading comp / critical thinking, ask them to help. Read something, have them read it to, and then either discuss (you present your summary first) or send them your written summary and ask them to comment. Where they disagree with you or came up with something that you didn't notice, ask them to explain to you how they thought of that / knew that that was what the article was trying to say.

[vishalc581]

Thanks a lot! Stacey.

I have started working on my weaknesses as per your suggestions and I will keep on consulting with you when I need your help.
I have started with RC and faced issues. Can you please help me.

Please find below the link to my post.

https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... 32465.html


Thanks & Regards,
Vishal

[StaceyKoprince]

I see that Tim responded - he asked you to put in the full text of the passage so that he can answer.

(Also, just note that we address all posts in order of oldest post first. You don't need to post a link here - one of us will get to your other posts!)

Good luck - I'll wait to hear from you on your progress!

[vishalc581]

Hi Stacey,

I had my GMAT today and scored 530 Q:44 V:19. It was big shock for me especially verbal score. Although I felt verbal was fine but still I got poor score.

As you had suggested me First of all, I learned the techniques for RC from Manhattan's guide (Foundations book + RC guide) and then applied those in Official passages. In addition to that when I got stuck in 2 options then after doing that question I analyzed all the options very carefully.

For SC I studied Foundations book + SC guide 5th + 6th editions and then did almost 100 questions from old official questions.

For CR I read Manhattan's guide but didn't like it much so I started Powerscore CR bible. The questions in the book were very difficult but I learned techniques.


For quant I just didn't practiced much and kept on revising concepts weekly.

Note: till today I have n't completed OGs thoroughly (my bigegest mistake)
Exam day experience: I went with cool mind and I also knew that and was planning in mind that I will give GMAT again because I felt I am not done with my preparation because:


1) I didn't completed OGs both old and didn't touched new ones. (I had done it 4-5 months back before starting this post)
2) I didn't give much practice tests.

gmat prep 1 : 630 q49, v27

gmat prep 2: 600 q44, v28

Gmat Prep-3: 580 q: 46 v: 25

But 19 in verbal wasn't expected today because I felt Verbal was not that difficult. One thing I did today was that I didn't kept on sticking at 1 question, once I thought this is the answer I marked that and kept on moving ahead. (May be that's why I made too many mistakes)


Now, I am planning to ahead with my preparation without getting demotivated from this first time experience. I know I can do that as I had put in lot of time.

So I am thinking of studying the all the OGs THOROUGHLY and then start doing full length test and will analyze it properly.


I need some guidance from you. What should I do now.

I know you have been guiding many students like me from more than a decade and I think I can reap benefits from your experience.

Can you please help me?

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you had a disappointing test experience. We discussed timing and mental fatigue issues in earlier posts. How has that been going? A drop in verbal score is a common result of both of those factors.

So I am thinking of studying the all the OGs THOROUGHLY and then start doing full length test and will analyze it properly.

This makes it sound like you first want to do every OG and then you want to start taking a bunch of tests. Is that what you mean? If so, that's not a great approach.

A better approach is to take a test (or use the results from a recent CAT that you've already taken), analyze that test thoroughly, and use the results to come up with a 2-4 week study plan. That study plan will focus on your lowest-hanging fruit, as described by the Bucket 2 category in the second half of this article:
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Your study activities will be a combination of (1) working out of books or other instructional material to learn the lessons that you need (eg, learning how to manipulate exponents, learning how to tackle CR Find the Assumption questions), (2) practicing the skills that you need, by doing problems out of those same materials and out of OG, and (3) analyzing your work and the problem itself to figure out how to get better (use this for that last: http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat).

At the same time, you will also be practicing your timing and business-decision-making skills:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement

One important aspect of the above is doing and analyzing OG problems, yes - but that's one part of a broader program of studies.

After you feel you've made significant progress on your bucket 2 items from your last CAT, you can take another CAT, analyze it, come up with a new list of bucket 2 priorities, and repeat the whole process. That's basically how the cycle works!

Also, make sure that you are mixing up your studies / activities to some extent. Read this:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/07/ ... s-say-what

You may also want to look through this:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... our-score/

The GMAT offers an Enhanced Score Report for $25. You may want to get it in order to see your relative performance on SC, CR, and RC. They might be about even, or you might find that one or two are much weaker than the other one or two. You can read more about what the report includes here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... re-report/

Look through the above and come up with what you think is a good plan for you. Feel free to check that plan with us (and you can check with us after every test you take / every time you revise your plan). Tell us what the test data is telling you, and what you think you need to do as a result. We'll tell you whether we agree or disagree with the proposed steps of your plan and we'll tell you if we think you should be doing something else.