need some help/advice

[jmuduke08]

Hello all,

I just finished my MGMAT prep course two weeks ago and scheduled my test for early August. However, I am feeling somewhat lost at this point and need some advice on how to continue my studies in the most effective way possible.

I am finding that without the MGMAT weekly assignments to keep me busy/on the right path each week that I am just kind of aimlessly studying at this point. Since the class ended, all I have really done is gone back through the 3 CAT's that I took while in the class and looked through some of the problems.

I still have until August but was hoping someone could tell me what seemed to work best for them after their class was finished. Should I redo assignments from the class? Should I be taking more of the practice exams?

Also, I am assuming I should attempt to find my weakest areas in order to improve. What is the best way to do that?

Thanks for all of the help!

[StaceyKoprince]

First, did you finish the assignments from class? If there were any that slipped by, get those done now.

Next, your review from this point on is going to be driven by your specific strengths and weaknesses. You've been through the material once. You don't need to go through it all again, but there are certainly weaker areas that could use more work. (Unless you're already at your goal score.)

Have you signed up for your PCA session yet? That session is designed to go over your tests and help you set up a plan for after the course is over. That needs to be used within 30 days of the last day of class so, if not, go sign up right now!

As you continue to study, you will then need to figure out for yourself what still needs work. Here's the basic process:

- take a practice CAT under 100% official conditions (including essay+IR)
- use the below article assess the quant and verbal portions of your test:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

- use the results to set your priorities for what you want to improve and set up a study plan to do so. This article can also help:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

When you feel you've made substantial progress on at least several of the biggest issues (usually at least 2 weeks of additional study), take another practice test and repeat.

When you get into the scoring range that you want to get on the real test, your process changes - then you start to do a final comprehensive review for about 2 weeks (but could be 1 or 3) and then you get in there and take it!
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... game-plan/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-review/

So, step 1 is to sign up for your PCA. If you've already had your PCA (or after yo do have it) but you have questions, tell us what your PCA instructor recommended and we'll work from there. (And of course feel free to come back here any time with questions!)

[jmuduke08]

Thanks Stacey!

Should I take another CAT (would be #4) before I schedule my PCA since I took the first three without doing the essay or IR sections?

[StaceyKoprince]

To be safe, I would, yes - unless you just took #3 in the last week or so!

[jmuduke08]

Thanks for your help Stacey!

After my PCA session, I identified 4 specific areas that I need to work on (Word Problems, Rate problems, Divisibility, Sentence Correction). What in your opinion is the best way to improve in these areas? As in what next steps should I take to dive into these areas aside from reviewing the strategy guide and CAT exams of the problems I missed?

Thanks again!

[StaceyKoprince]

Most of your learning comes from analyzing specific problems that you have already completed. The analysis tells you what you need to learn / where you feel short, and then you know where to go from there.

Here's how to analyze a problem:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Here are examples of how to do that analysis using specific problems, one for each question type:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/GMATprep-SC.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/CR-assumption.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... estion.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Go back and do this analysis on the problematic problems from your most recent CAT(s); from there, you'll come up with additional things that you need to learn, do, drill, or review.

eg:
Sometimes you'll realize that you don't have a formula or rule memorized, so you'll make a flash card and drill it.

Sometimes you'll realize that you didn't know some concept, so you'll return to your strategy guide.

Sometimes you'll realize that you didn't use the best solution method, so you'll return to wherever you can learn and practice that - which might mean a strategy guide or a tape of a class, but also might mean other practice problems of the same type. It might also mean posting a question on the forums.

Sometimes you'll realize that you made a careless mistake and you need to figure out what bad habit to break or good habit to make to minimize the chances of repeating the same careless mistake.

Sometimes you'll realize that you made that careless mistake because you were rushing, and you were rushing because you'd spent too much time on other questions elsewhere, so the real remedy is to fix the timing problems so that you don't feel compelled to rush in future.

And so on. :) Just remember that all of your study from now on is driven by an in-depth analysis of your actual thinking or reasoning through an actual problem - what went well, what went wrong, how you could do it better next time, and how you're going to remember that.

Here are some resources aimed at the specific areas you listed:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... into-Math/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -problems/

For SC, check our blog for the next few days. I just wrote a new SC article that will be really good for you - it should go live tomorrow or Saturday, hopefully. (That article also has links to a bunch of other articles I've already written, but I'm not going to give them to you yet. I want you to read the new article first, and then you can follow the links to the old ones.)

[jmuduke08]

Thanks again Stacey! These forums are such a tremendous help. I was also curious bc since I am now spending most of my time drilling down on specific areas (divisibility, rate problems, etc.), how do I make sure I am not forgetting the material I have already learned/am more comfortable with?

[StaceyKoprince]

Great question! Once or twice a week, spend some time reviewing stuff that isn't on your weakness list.

While studying weaknesses, when you do a set of practice questions, include a few random questions from other areas. Those'll keep you on your toes (or alert you when you're forgetting something that you used to know).

As you get closer to the real test, you're going to shift your focus from attacking weaknesses to doing a comprehensive review. The last 7-14 days should be review - you're no longer trying to fix weaknesses at that point. They are what they are - if you don't like your scoring level at that point, you need to postpone the exam.