Hi,
I have a serious time management problem while doing the CATS.
OG and supplements questions i manage doing within time frames (almost), but when it comes to CATS everything gets messed.
In quant i can't complete last 6-8 questions and in verbal- about 11-13.
I stuck not only on difficult questions, but also on medium ones, and can't let them go since i feel that they are easy, that i know the subject and that i can do them. Sometimes these questions take me 4-6 minutes, and when i come back to analyze them i usually recognize 2 patterns: either these questions suddenly look pretty simple and i say myself "how come that they took me so long" or i see that i managed to find the best way to solve them but for some reason couldn't make it more quickly.
Two more things. First, i don't feel as if i need to refresh my basics, since i practice almost on a daily basis. Maybe i'm wrong here. Second, for evaluating my situation: i did 2 gmatprep and got 630 (43Q 35V) on the first and 540 (39Q 25V) on the second.
My test scheduled on June 2. What can i do during this month to get my score to 680-700 level and how can i improve my time management?
Thanks in advance.
GMAT Forum
6 postsPage 1 of 1
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
If you're running out of time with that many questions left, then you're bringing your score way down at the end.
Go look at the questions on which you spent more than 3 minutes (or 2 min for SC). Add up how many there were and how much time collectively you spent on those questions. Think about that.
Then add up how many you got right and how many you got wrong.
Then add the number of questions you had to guess on or left blank at the end to the "wrong" column (even if you got lucky and got one right - you can't count on getting lucky on the real test).
Then add the number of questions you answered incorrectly in less than half the usual time for questions of that type.
This is your true cost, and I'm willing to bet that the "wrong" number is MUCH higher than the "right" number.
No matter how much you study and no matter how good you get, you WILL get about half of the questions wrong (okay, okay, unless you start getting to about 720+ - in which case maybe you'll only get 30-40% wrong). Spending more time on the harder questions that you "can't let go" just kills your score; see above.
If you don't accept this and adjust your test-taking style accordingly, then there is nothing I can tell you that will help you get to the 700 level.
That's why I told you to do those calculations - prove to yourself how much it's hurting you. Now, practice sets of questions, not individual questions, and FORCE yourself to keep a steady pace. If you can't do something in 2 minutes, the right response is NOT "but I know I can get it if I spend more time." The right response is "this problem is meant to be done in 2 minutes and I can't do it in 2 minutes, therefore I can't do this one. Moving on."
You say you don't feel the need to refresh your basics. Maybe you don't need to refresh the math and grammar content, but it does sound like you need to refresh your timing and test-taking strategies for the lower-level questions because that's how you develop recognition skills for harder questions. Those of us who score very well on this test don't score well because we can magically figure anything out from scratch in a very short period of time. Rather, we study from the point of view of: if I see something like this again in future, how will I recognize it? (NOT figure it all out again - recognize that I've seen it before and here it is again.) And once I do recognize it, what process will be the best one to solve and why? When there is more than one way to do something (almost always!), under what circumstances would I want to do it this way vs. that way and why? If I hit something like this, testing the same topics only MUCH harder, how will I make an educated guess, in case I can't do it? (Learn HOW to make that educated guess on easier problems of the same type. Then apply that process to harder questions when you can't do them. It's next to impossible to learn how to make an educated guess on problems that you already don't understand.)
Based on your description, t sounds like the study you've been doing so far hasn't been geared toward developing recognition skills. If you can build those skills, that will help you with the timing - but you also have to get over the psychological hurdle of "I can do it if I spend more time." Academics have literally done studies showing that, actually, we are less likely to get GMAT questions right if we go over on the time (above about 2m30s, the longer you go, the more likely you are to get it wrong). Frustrating, yes. Annoying, yes. But true. I can't change the test. I can only adapt myself. :)
Go look at the questions on which you spent more than 3 minutes (or 2 min for SC). Add up how many there were and how much time collectively you spent on those questions. Think about that.
Then add up how many you got right and how many you got wrong.
Then add the number of questions you had to guess on or left blank at the end to the "wrong" column (even if you got lucky and got one right - you can't count on getting lucky on the real test).
Then add the number of questions you answered incorrectly in less than half the usual time for questions of that type.
This is your true cost, and I'm willing to bet that the "wrong" number is MUCH higher than the "right" number.
No matter how much you study and no matter how good you get, you WILL get about half of the questions wrong (okay, okay, unless you start getting to about 720+ - in which case maybe you'll only get 30-40% wrong). Spending more time on the harder questions that you "can't let go" just kills your score; see above.
If you don't accept this and adjust your test-taking style accordingly, then there is nothing I can tell you that will help you get to the 700 level.
That's why I told you to do those calculations - prove to yourself how much it's hurting you. Now, practice sets of questions, not individual questions, and FORCE yourself to keep a steady pace. If you can't do something in 2 minutes, the right response is NOT "but I know I can get it if I spend more time." The right response is "this problem is meant to be done in 2 minutes and I can't do it in 2 minutes, therefore I can't do this one. Moving on."
You say you don't feel the need to refresh your basics. Maybe you don't need to refresh the math and grammar content, but it does sound like you need to refresh your timing and test-taking strategies for the lower-level questions because that's how you develop recognition skills for harder questions. Those of us who score very well on this test don't score well because we can magically figure anything out from scratch in a very short period of time. Rather, we study from the point of view of: if I see something like this again in future, how will I recognize it? (NOT figure it all out again - recognize that I've seen it before and here it is again.) And once I do recognize it, what process will be the best one to solve and why? When there is more than one way to do something (almost always!), under what circumstances would I want to do it this way vs. that way and why? If I hit something like this, testing the same topics only MUCH harder, how will I make an educated guess, in case I can't do it? (Learn HOW to make that educated guess on easier problems of the same type. Then apply that process to harder questions when you can't do them. It's next to impossible to learn how to make an educated guess on problems that you already don't understand.)
Based on your description, t sounds like the study you've been doing so far hasn't been geared toward developing recognition skills. If you can build those skills, that will help you with the timing - but you also have to get over the psychological hurdle of "I can do it if I spend more time." Academics have literally done studies showing that, actually, we are less likely to get GMAT questions right if we go over on the time (above about 2m30s, the longer you go, the more likely you are to get it wrong). Frustrating, yes. Annoying, yes. But true. I can't change the test. I can only adapt myself. :)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9361
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
- Mons
Response is really helpful
Hey,
I was struggling with the same situation as described by guest. After reading your reply I will have to read it not like a RC(skimming) but rather as a CR. Guess will have to let go of the " i can get it right, just a min more".
Thanks for the advise. Also I will start working on a variety of problems, so I can adopt thr right technique.
Thanks again will post on my improvements soon.
I was struggling with the same situation as described by guest. After reading your reply I will have to read it not like a RC(skimming) but rather as a CR. Guess will have to let go of the " i can get it right, just a min more".
Thanks for the advise. Also I will start working on a variety of problems, so I can adopt thr right technique.
Thanks again will post on my improvements soon.
- rfernandez
- Course Students
- Posts: 381
- Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:25 am
6 posts Page 1 of 1