Practice material for GMAT re-take

[aritra.banerjee]

Hi There,

I need help selecting the appropriate practice material for a GMAT re-take; I am looking for both practice questions and simulation CATs.

Here are few details that will help in your response. I’ve faced off with the GMAT twice, my stats are as below. I have been waitlisted at a few top US schools on account of my low Quant score in my latest attempt, hence my need to take the GMAT a third time.

Aug 2009 - 660 (Verbal - 32, 63% Quant - 48, 82%)
Aug 2010 - 690 (Verbal - 41, 92% Quant - 43, 65%)

In my previous attempts I've used OG 12, Verbal & Quant Review, PowerScore CR Bible as well as all the MGMAT books. My second attempt preparation inclined more towards Verbal than Quant and this is why I think my quant went awry. I struggled with time management in the quant section and probably did not spend enough time with the advanced sections on the MGMAT guides.

For my 3rd attempt, I plan to re-do the last 150 OG12 problems, this time reviewing the solutions using the Manhattan OG companion. I realize my weaknesses include Number Properties (divisibility), combo/probability & stats. Can you recommend additional practice problems here? I want to reach a position where the math on the MGMAT CAT becomes easier to handle (Like many others, I found the MGMAT CAT Quant very tough).

On the verbal side, I plan to redo the OG12 problems; however, do you think that this would help? I could remember (maybe not the answers) a few of CR & SC questions. Or could you suggest additional practice material here?

Lastly, on practice tests - I have already taken all 6 MGMAT tests & taken the GMATprep twice over (4 tests by resetting the logs). Do you see any value in re-taking the 6 MGMAT tests? I do consider them a decent indicator of my GMAT performance and I am desperately searching for similar tests. I intend to re-take my GMAT by the end of May 2011 and my target score is 740.

Looking forward to hearing from you, your inputs are greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Aritra

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice improvement on the verbal section! It's a bummer that your quant dropped on the second test, but your quant score on the 1st test at least indicates that you can score better - you just have to put those two performances together on one test.

First, don't make the same mistake you made last time - concentrating so much on one section that the other section suffered as a result. Balance your work better.

It sounds like you had some timing problems on the 2nd test (quant); that's something that definitely needs to be fixed. Try this article:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/12/ ... management

For quant, I think you would also benefit from a timing exercise: learning about how long one minute is without looking at a watch or stopwatch. If you don't have one already, buy yourself a stopwatch with lap timing capability (or use a smart phone, whatever). When you go to do a set of problems, start the stopwatch but turn it over so you can't see the time. Every time you think you're one minute into a new problem, push the lap button. When you're done with that problem, push the lap button again, then repeat the process for the next problem. When you're done with the set, see how good you were - and whether you tend to over or underestimate. Get yourself to the point where you're within 15 seconds either way on a regular basis (that is, you can generally predict between 45 sec and 1min 15 sec). Also check your timing for the entire question, of course.

Now, how do you use that when doing problems? If you're not on track by one minute*, make an educated guess** and move on. (The general idea is that if you're not on track by the halfway mark, you're unlikely to figure out what's holding you back AND have time to do the whole problem in the 1 min you have left.)

** This also requires you to know HOW to make an educated guess depending upon the type of problem and the content being tested. So that's something else to add to your study: how to make educated guesses on different kinds of problems.

Here are a couple of articles on making educated guesses:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... s-on-quant
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/e ... verbal.cfm

If you can think of anything else that you felt went wrong from the 1st test to the 2nd on quant, let us know.

It's fine (even good!) to re-use the OG materials. If you start a problem and you totally remember it, then don't try doing that one under timed conditions again. However, don't just set it aside either. Try to explain, thoroughly and aloud, the best way to do the problem and how you know that. Pretend you're explaining it to someone who got it wrong. Also articulate any likely traps. Can you explain satisfactorily? If so, good. If not, you've still got some learning to do there, even though you remember the answer.

Make sure that you're thoroughly analyzing problems upon review; this article can give you an idea of the kinds of questions to ask yourself:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

When you're ready for some new quant questions, you may want to try GMAT Focus (www.gmatfocus.com); these are official questions that mostly do not overlap with OG or GMATPrep.

GMAT Focus doesn't exist for verbal; there, you may want to find a used copy of OG11 (the older version). Most of the Qs are the same as in OG12 but there are around 250 that don't appear in OG12.

You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. (Though, for you, it sounds like you've taken GMATPrep too many times already.)

First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

[aritra.banerjee]

Super response Stacey! Thank you so much, this is much appreciated. You hit the hammer on the nail, timing on the quant section is my problem. I will actively pursue the 'getting to know a minute' tip and let you know how it goes.

Going by what you say, I think it works for me to continue working on my existing study material. I will try to procure an OG11 though and figure out the overlap with OG12 for the SC piece.

Thanks again,

Regards,
Aritra

[StaceyKoprince]

Good luck - let us know how everything goes!