Need a few pointers

[byuwadd]

A week ago I finished reading and completing all the core chapters for the Manhattan GMAT set. I haven't read the extra 2-3 chapters at the end of most of the books (I wanted to get a foundation first).

Yesterday I took one of the GMAT Prep tests and received a 620 (38 Quant.: 48th percentile, 37 Verbal: 81st percentile). My goal is to get to 700 because I'm applying for a PhD in business and all my professors are telling me I must get the magic 7 if I want to get in.

Anyways, I noticed I was very fatigued during the test. About half way through verbal my brain was fuzzy and I had to reread every sentence a few times. I muscled my way to the end, but it wasn't pretty.

Here's where I need help:

(1). Is there any way to get the OG problems on the computer in the proper GMAT formatting? I noticed that the computer styling differed drastically from that of the OG book. The font type is tough and the sentences are much wider (not in columns like they are in the book).

This didn't bother me on Quant, but I felt like dying doing all that reading for the verbal.

Any tips for developing some stamina will help.

(2). I currently have 360 minutes each day to study. For the last 3 weeks I went through the core chapters of the book. I read the chapters, did the problems at the end of the chapters, and then did a few OG problems in a related category.

Now I want to develop some stamina by doing sets of practice problems under testing conditions (30 to 40 in a row of mixed problem type). This will take me about 75 minutes.

After that I'll go through all the problems I missed, guessed on, or took too much time on. I'll redo all these problems. Estimated time: 75 minutes.

Then I'll take 75 minutes to review core chapters where I'm weak (re-read them and work a few more problems one-by-one).

Then I'll take 75 minutes to start taking on the extra chapters at the end of each book.

The extra 60 minutes (360 - 75*4) will be used as slush time.

What do you think of this plan? Could I be spending my time better? I'm having a hard time balancing stamina building and mastering the concepts.

Under this current plan I'm only doing 75 minutes of stamina building each day.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[StaceyKoprince]

I haven't read the extra 2-3 chapters at the end of most of the books (I wanted to get a foundation first).

Good idea.

received a 620 (38 Quant.: 48th percentile, 37 Verbal: 81st percentile

Okay, strong verbal (natural, given that you were also feeling mental fatigue!). Quant obviously needs more attention.

Start here, especially the How To Learn section:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/

Also, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that 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!)

Is there any way to get the OG problems on the computer in the proper GMAT formatting?

Not an easy way, no. They don't distribute OG in electronic form. You could type everything out yourself in PPT or something but... ugh.

For starters, prop the book up vertically when doing questions, so that you have to look "up and down" (as at a computer screen). Also, you can use GMATPrep 2.0. The free portion of the software comes with 90 practice problems in addition to the 2 tests. You can also buy access to about 400 more questions for about $25. I'd save that for later though. Do mostly OG for now and just use the "prop it up" technique and save the stuff that's most like the real thing for closer to the real thing.

Now I want to develop some stamina by doing sets of practice problems under testing conditions (30 to 40 in a row of mixed problem type). This will take me about 75 minutes.

Too much - don't do this. You'll end up wasting questions. Read these:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... abilities/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

During a 2-hour study session, plan out EVERYthing in advance. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping at all - no food breaks, don't answer the phone, etc. That'll help you build mental stamina. Take a 10-minute break, then GO again for another hour. Every time you sit down to study anything, you're building mental stamina; you don't have to do long sets of problems to accomplish this.

After that I'll go through all the problems I missed, guessed on, or took too much time on. I'll redo all these problems. Estimated time: 75 minutes.

Not enough. From what you described, you're planning a 1:1 ratio of doing: analyzing. It should be more like 1:3 or 1:4; you learn when you're analyzing, NOT when you're doing. Don't only go over the ones you missed or that were too long; go over EVERYthing. You'll see what I mean when you read the "how to learn" section of the very first article I linked above.

That analysis will include time to do things like going back to reread parts of chapters, etc. Don't just go re-read everything at once. Read / review what you need at the moment that you need it because you just discovered some weakness while analyzing a particular problem. The things you learn about your performance drive what actions you take next.

[byuwadd]

Thanks for all the advice Stacey. I am implementing your recommendations into my studies.

I'm afraid that I have some very serious mental issues with algebra/word problems (a large portion of the test).

I find it almost impossible to do the following:

(1). Identify the value the question is asking for.
(2). Identify unknown values and label them with variables.
(3). Identify relationships and translate them into equations.
(4). Use the equations to solve for the desired value.

If by some miracle I actually understand what the question is saying and I set up the right equations, I can usually solve the question just fine. However, for the life of me I can't usually translate a word problem into the right equations. If I do get it into the right equations, I can't see the patterns of how they interact (I just don't see the next logical step like everybody else does).

For example I did an OG problem today that I reviewed for well over an hour. It was PS #4 in OG 13.

Most people just breeze through this puppy knowing intuitively that you multiply cartons and boxes to find the number of boxes in a case. Despite doing hundreds of these problems (I'm an accounting major with an economics minor--3.9GPA) I just don't see it intuitively.

Because I don't see the intuitive relationship I try to visualize it. This helps, but it costs me a lot of time and some of the GMAT problems are almost impossible to visualize. Even though I'm horrible at the quant. section of the test, I'm pretty good at geometry problems because I get to see something.

When I don't understand a word problem intuitively and when I can't visualize it, I start panicking and I start trying to force sentences into equations. These equations are almost always shoddy pieces of work and once I've strangled these equations out of the problem I don't have much confidence in them.

At this point I take my shoddy equations, solve for the variable, and, of course, choose one of the trap answers designed for poor saps who think like me. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

I'm tempted to simply focus on my strengths (verbal) and go with the philosophy that I can make more progress by practicing a strength than I can by practicing a weakness. However, I can't let myself do this because word problems make up a very large portion of the quant. section.

Well, felt good to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.

My plan from here is to go through 10-14 quant. questions a day and then review them using your model for review. I'm confident that this will help me improve. In fact, using your model for review today really helped me expose and put into words this weakness (I've always known it was there, but I couldn't quite explain it).

Do you know of anything I can be doing apart from solving/reviewing questions that could help? Solving rubik's cubes? Putting together bicycles? I've noticed that I have an extremely tough time doing anything mechanical and I'm starting to wonder if it's related. haha

The good news about being at the bottom is that there is nowhere to go but up!

I'll spend the other half of the day working on sentence correction and building stamina with verbal.

[StaceyKoprince]

It's good that you can see more precisely what the issues are - that's the first step in learning how to tackle them.

You mention that you do better when you do actually have something to visualize - eg, a geometry question where you can draw something out. Have you tried drawing out whatever "story" is being told in the word problem?

Also, there are certain kinds of problems where you can turn them from algebra into arithmetic, and PS#4 is one of those. As soon as you say variables in the answer choices with no equals sign or inequality sign, you can pick your own numbers for the problem.

For instance, on PS#4, you'd pick a value for the # of cartons and just write that down instead: I have 4 cartons. Even draw out 4 cartons. Each carton contains 3 boxes. Draw that out too. Each box has 100 paper clips - add that to the picture. Etc. Keep going through the problem in this way but make each step a "real" thing.

Then ask yourself: what do I have? Pretend it's all actually sitting there in front of you and all you have to do is count it up. No variables.

You're not ultimately looking to turn word problems into a big strength - they'll probably always be a weakness for you. But that's okay - we all have strengths and weaknesses. You just want to get to the point where they're no longer such a big weakness, that's all. :)

[byuwadd]

Super helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Stacey.

[StaceyKoprince]

you're welcome!

[byuwadd]

Took the second GMAT prep exam today with essay and IR. I did so much better: 710. Manhattan GMAT has been an excellent preparation resource for the exam. Very happy with my purchase.

Quant: 44 66th percentile
Verbal: 42 95th percentile

I missed nine questions on the verbal section and seven of them were sentence correction! It's crazy, because I spent 100% of my verbal-allotted time on SC (like 2 hours a day for the past two months).

Anyways, I'm wondering whether moving my quant score up to the 70-75 range or moving my verbal up to the 95-99 range will improve my overall score more? On paper, it seems like improving quant would help my overall score more because I have so much room for growth, but I've read that you can really inflate your score by doing extremely well on verbal.

Any suggestions?

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice work! Verbal is weighted a bit more heavily than quant but not as much as it used to be... and you're also almost maxed out on verbal. It's true that it's easier to improve your strength, but you don't have that much further that you can go.

You should continue to do some work on verbal, but your focus should continue to be a bit more on quant at this point. Try to keep verbal where it is or pick up another point or two, which is great, but if you're looking for much of a score boost, it'll have to come from quant.

By the way, just a quick question - what's your goal score? 710 is already fantastic. But maybe you're just trying to give yourself a bit more buffer room in case you struggle on real test day?

[byuwadd]

Hey Stacey,

The goal is 700 so I'm really happy (bouncing off the walls happy) with my last test and the help received from Manhattan GMAT. I'm just looking for some wiggle room at this point!

I've really enjoyed studying for the GMAT. Kind of sad that tomorrow will be the end of it, if everything goes according to plan.

Thanks for all your advice. Manhattan GMAT has exceeded my expectations.

All the best,

Nate

[StaceyKoprince]

How did it go? If you're willing to share, we'd love to know.

And we'd like to know either way. If you like your score, then we want to be happy for you, too. If you don't like your score, we can help figure out what to do.

[byuwadd]

It didn't go as well as I wanted, but I'm keeping on and hoping for a better score next time.

Score: 650
Quant: 40th percentile (worse than my first practice test, haha). Honestly don't know what happened because I felt like it went okay. I'm guessing it was a timing issue as that is usually the thing that explains large fluctuations.

Verbal: 96th percentile. Very happy with that score. I thought I got completely destroyed in the verbal section and ended up doing really well.

If I had guessed before seeing my final score, I would have guessed 60th percentile quant. and 80th percentile verbal. I was way off. haha

I've heard that GMAT prep math is a bit easier than actual test math, but that Manhattan GMAT prep tests have some harder questions on them. I'll take a look at some of those this time to see if that helps.

[StaceyKoprince]

Your verbal score is amazing. I'm sorry quant didn't go as well as you'd hoped.

As you find out, generally, the harder the test feels, the better you're doing - and the easier it feels, the worse you're doing. Total paradox.

One thing I'll mention on quant: the real test writers are phenomenal at writing questions that appear to be a lot simpler / more straightforward than they really are. When people feel like quant was easy / straightforward, that's usually because they were missing things, thus making mistakes without realizing it. A lot of times, this will also be coupled with going too quickly (because you're used to feeling pressed for time, so you push yourself to go fast), which also leads to careless mistakes. The double-whammy can cause a score drop. Do you think this might have happened in your case?

[byuwadd]

Hey Stacey,

Thanks for your comments. I'm really happy with my verbal score, especially considering I had to guess on the last two problems. 650 is still a pretty good score, though I'm a long shot to get into any PhD programs at this point.

I'm grateful for your comment about the quant. section. I think that what you said might indeed be what happened. After reviewing the quant. section of my 710 score (GMAT Prep 2) I think I may have become a bit greedy. I was reviewing the problems I missed on that test and thinking, "Oh baby I can get these right on the real test. I might be looking at a 740-750 if I can put this all together on test day." I think this may have caused me to spend too long on problems that were out of my reach on actual test day. This likely caused me to rush on the easier problems.

The only other explanation I can think of (apart from nerves) is that the actual test is a bit more difficult than the GMAT prep practice tests.

December 18th is the day. I've already got professors at the PhD programs I'm applying to telling me that if I can get my score up 20 points or more then they will fly me out for interviews. No pressure right?! I'm getting an ulcer just thinking about it. haha

[StaceyKoprince]

Nothing like pressure to make you wish that this test never existed. :)

So if that is indeed what happened, then you have the means to fix the problem and get your score up 20 points or so. You need to make sure that you're not giving yourself opportunities to sacrifice the points that you already know how to get - they're more important than the really hard ones that you probably can't get no matter how much time you spend (because they're really hard!).

Look at your recent practice test data to figure out what you need to practice / review content-wise, but also work on that timing. How do you know when to keep going and when to cut yourself off? How do you know when to spend a *little* extra time and when not to? Etc.

General rule is that you can comfortably go up to about 2.5m on a quant problem because you'll have others that are on the faster side. Above about 2.5m, you're starting to have to take too much time from other problems and you get into trouble.

Also, spending *extra* time on a question should NEVER result from any of these thoughts:
"but if I just had a little more time, I'm sure I could figure this out"
"but I studied this"
"but I should know how to do this"
"but I've invested so much time already, I don't want to give up now"

Any of these thoughts indicate, at heart, that you don't really know what you're doing on the problem.

Spend 2 to 2.5m on problems for which you know *exactly* what you're doing, but the problem is longer than usual or has more steps than usual, so it's going to take an extra 15 or 30 seconds. But you know what you're doing - that's not the issue that requires more time.

Make sense? So go figure out how to make GOOD decisions about when to spend a little extra time, when to cut yourself off, how to guess, etc. Good luck!