Retaking the GMAT

[ramaa.v]

Hi

I am planning to retake the GMAT for the second time, hopefully by the end of this month. My previous score was 590. I am aiming for min 700. After my first attempt I enrolled for the manhattan gmat complete session. Following which my mgmat CAT 1 was 620 and CAT 2 was 590. With less than a month to go i'm not sure what my study plan should be. I have identified a few areas that I seem to be weak at and am working on it but not sure if it is helping.

Any suggestions on how I should go about studying?

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Are you still taking the course or is it over? If you're still taking it, what week are you in? Have you spoken to your instructor about your study plan?

If it is over, did you sign up for a Post-Course Assessment at the end of the program? If so, tell me what you discussed with your PCA instructor.

If your current score is still hovering around the 600 range, then 3 weeks may not be enough time to get up to 700. You don't need to change your planned test date now, but just keep that in mind.

We can also do a test analysis together here (similar to a PCA, but you won't get to have a one-on-one phone call with an instructor). First, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (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!)

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

Thanks for replying. I am done with the course. I had my last class on the last week of July. I missed out on the PCA as I wasn't aware that I had to do it within a month from when the course ends.

I read the blogs you had posted and did an analysis of my two CATs based on the link above. This is what I could infer:

For Quants:

1. In terms of my timing, I am mostly behind my target time by almost 4 minutes. I tend to spend almost 3.5 - 4 mins per problem sometimes, and most of these if not all are from the 700-800 level. 85-90% of the time I get them wrong. I tend to try to speed up after that until I hit a tough problem again.

2. In terms of the content, most of the questions I get wrong tend to be from Number Properties (Divisibility, Statistics and Combinatorics), or Algebra.

For Verbal:

1. I am mostly on my target time. I tend to get questions wrong if I have spent less than 1.5 minutes on it. I spend more time on CR and RC questions than on SC.

2. Between the two CATs, there is not that much of a difference in the number I get wrong among the three sections. But under each section, I've identified my weaknesses as,
CR - Describe the role, Evaluate, Assumptions questions
SC - Sub-verb agreement, Idioms questions
RC - Inference, specific detail questions

Since last week I have been working on the Question banks from MGMAT on these specific areas and have been using the 120 seconds per question limit. I then review the ones I get wrong.
In terms of the content I have gone through all the Strategy guides during my course and solved all the problems in them so not sure what else I should be doing.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

If you haven't already done so, try contacting the office to see whether they will let you schedule a PCA now. I know they've stretched the deadline a week or two before - I'm not sure whether they can stretch it this far, though.

In terms of my timing, I am mostly behind my target time by almost 4 minutes. I tend to spend almost 3.5 - 4 mins per problem sometimes, and most of these if not all are from the 700-800 level. 85-90% of the time I get them wrong. I tend to try to speed up after that until I hit a tough problem again.

So why is this deadly and what do you need to do about it?

I'm not asking just to be annoyingly teacher-like. I want to make sure that you understand enough about how the test works that you KNOW this is a bad habit that you need to break. I want to hear the conviction in your voice (er, writing). Just accepting this will be half the battle. :)

Go read the Executive Reasoning article again (here it is):
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning

How do you need to change your mindset? What kind of mindset will help you maximize your GMAT score?

To address the timing issues, read these two articles and start doing what they say:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

For quant-specific areas, start getting Combinatorics questions wrong immediately. You're likely to see only 1 on the real test, so they are not worth your study time. Statistics, on the other hand, can be common, as can divisibility and some algebra topics, so those guys warrant some review.

Use the "2nd level" article to learn how to learn (you read it last time but here it is again):
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

At the end of your post, you mentioned already having done a bunch of problems. That was level 1. Now, you're going to need to keep it up to level 2, which may involve redoing some of those problems (or just analyzing to the huge level of detail described in the above article).

Use the 10 questions for review (linked in that last article) to dive in and analyze questions to learn how to get better at these topics.

NOTE: Do NOT start with the 700+ level questions / topics. In fact, go back and check the difficulty levels of those problem areas. If all of the divisibility problems that you got wrong were 700+, but you're fine with divisibility below 700, then just leave that area alone for now. Work on getting other things up to the 700-ish level first.

The lowest-hanging fruit = the easier topics that you are missing in normal-to-fast time.

For verbal, does your 1.5m comment apply to CR and RC? Or to SC as well?

SC needs to average just under 1.5m, so it's not good if that type tends to be incorrect when you spend less than 1.5m. Here's a process that can help you streamline SC:
http://tinyurl.com/scprocess

I would worry more about sub-verb than idioms. Sub-verb gets at basic sentence structure, and also at the ability to match two parts of the sentence that are often separated by a bunch of words (=junk) in the middle. That skill is important for other topics as well, including pronouns and parallelism.

This article series gets more into the idea of overall sentence structure and how to handle more convoluted SC types:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

For CR, Find the Assumption > Evaluate > Describe the Role (in terms of typical frequency). The first two are also both Assumption Family questions, so there's some review to be done there. Try this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... reasoning/

For RC, do you go back into the passage for detail questions? Is the difficulty in finding the right details? Understanding them? Interpreting the answer choices? All of the above?

Some resources are here:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... rehension/

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

So I scheduled my PCA and got a few pointers there. I have started to work on getting my 500-600 questions right first for different sections before moving on to the tougher ones.

I also read though the articles you posted. Will work though them and get back to you on my progress soon. Thanks for the help!

[StaceyKoprince]

Great, glad to hear it. Keep me posted!

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

Just thought I'd give you an update and get some advice.

So since my last post I worked through some of the points mentioned below. I was really keen to apply in Round 2 this year so scheduled my 2nd GMAT in early October. I thought as long as I had at least improved to mid 600 I could still manage to apply. But unfortunately I ended up with a bad case of nerves and my score went down to 530 (a dismal 27 in verbal!) which is well below my 1st attempt. Although I was extremely disappointed I decided to take a step back and figured that worst case I'd apply next. But since I've already put in so much effort I think I should try to clear it by the end of the year nonetheless.

I'm taking time off work and hope to be able to boost up my score over the next two months. I took a weeks break and have now started focussing on filling up the gaps in my learning. I am still not very sure about how to increase my verbal score. I have gone through the MGMAT books and worked out the practice questions. Would really appreciate it if you could help me come up with a study plan for verbal.

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

It's good to keep the momentum going and, as you said, you can always apply next year instead. Totally fine.

So, first, let's deal with the nerves. Try this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

I would be happy to help you figure out what to do about verbal. First, you're going to need to give me updated analysis on your strengths and weaknesses - it's been 6 weeks since you last told me about verbal. :)

What has gotten better since then? What is still problematic? Is anything new problematic? If you've taken a practice test in the last few weeks, analyze it. If not, perhaps it's time to take another?

Also, how did the nerves actually affect you during the test? Did it affect your timing? (How? Fast? Slow?) Presumably it affected your ability to concentrate - did you find yourself reading stuff over and over, getting distracted (eg, fixating on your score or other things instead of the test), something else?

Were you having a physical reaction? Racing heart? Sweaty palms? Other physical symptoms?

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

Honestly I'm not sure if any one specific area of my Verbal has improved since I last updated you on my verbal breakdown. But I have been working on my SC fundamentals. I went through the Sc Aristotle holy grail guide and have been working on question sets.

I have not yet taken a test since my second disastrous gmat attempt. My morale really went down so I'm taking a little more time before I take another practice test.

In terms on how my nerves affected me, I think I was initially being extra cautious and reading things very carefully and started to panic as I moved towards the last few questions and knew my score would be coming up soon.

In terms of physical reaction, I could literally hear my heart pounding and at one point I even had to take my ear plugs off because I felt they were amplifying the sound! To be honest I'm generally not a nervous test taker but I think I was putting way to much pressure on myself this time.

I've currently taken a sabbatical from work for two months. So if you have suggestions for a study plan that would be really helpful as well. I'm hoping to boost up my confidence as well my score in these two months.

Thanks again.

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, definitely try the meditation stuff for the stress (see my last post).

The practice tests are important to help you gauge your progress - if you've been studying for six weeks but you're not sure what has gotten better and what hasn't, then you can't know what you should do next (and neither can I... :)

Also, the fact that you haven't taken another practice CAT because of the stressfulness of the last one...that just exacerbates the stress / anxiety issue. So my suggestion is to start the meditation stuff described above right away (if you haven't already) and to take another practice test within 5 days.

Your goal on this test is not to hit your goal score. (I mean, that would be nice, of course...but it's not the goal.) The goal is to figure out where you're at right now so that you can set up a good study plan for yourself.

So take one of our CATs and analyze using this article, just like last time:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2014 ... ts-part-1/

Tell me what your 3 buckets are and also just tell me how you feel about the different Verbal areas - the overall question types as well as any of the RC or CR sub-types and the grammar topics. Which things do you think are okay and which are not?

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

So I took another MGMAT practice test. Scored 580 (40Q, 31V) yet again. In terms of timing I was quite comfortable on both sections.

In Quant:
Most of my mistakes were problems from either Geometry or Word Problems. I plan to redo the MGMAT guides for these and cover the OG guide problems for the same.

In Verbal:
My mistakes seem to be spread almost evenly among the three sections. (7 wrong in SC, 8 in CR and 5 in RC). Honestly I'm not sure how to improve my verbal. I've brushed up grammar and have been solving practice sets for the past few weeks. Nothing seems to help. I'm not sure if there's a strategy I'm missing. I'm a native English speaker and honestly have always been better at English than Math all though my schooling so I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong now.

Please do help me come up with an effective study plan. :(

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

What were the mistakes and why did you make them? When you looked at each solution, when did you think:

(1) I know exactly how to do that - I can't believe I messed that up! (Careless mistake. Find the specific spot where you made the error. Figure out what to do differently in future to minimize repeats of that specific type of error.)

(2) Oh, I didn't actually know how to do that. But I get it now that I've read the explanation. (How are you going to drill this skill so that you know it and remember it next time?)

(3) Oh, I didn't know that's what they were asking. I did know how to do that but just didn't understand that's what the question wanted. (Recognition. They disguised something you knew and they fooled you. How are you going to recognize next time around when you see something similar?)

(4) I fell into a trap! (Especially on verbal.) (Distraction. They got you to go down the wrong path. How? What can you do in future to avoid that distraction and get it right?)

(5) I spent way too long. I should've gotten it wrong faster. (This applies even when you get things right, sometimes.) (Decision-making. At what point should you have cut yourself off? Literally, look at the work / remember your thought process and point to the moment when you should have shrugged, picked your favorite letter, and moved on.)

If you figure these things out, then you will know the next steps to take for each type. :)

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

So I did a few timed and untimed sets of about 20 questions each time, both Quants and Verbal. I then sat down and analysed where I was going wrong. In Quants I had two main issues,

1. Careless mistakes
2. Timing. I found it difficult to complete problems in two minutes especially for WP, FDPs.

In verbal,

SC: Most of my mistakes were in Parallelism and Comparison. A few in verbs and Idioms.
RC: Mostly Inference
CR: No specific section, it was a bit spread out. I would get one in Strengthen, one in flaw and one in something else wrong.

I also took two more MGMAT CATs. I scored 640(42Q 35V) and 620(40Q 35V). The errors in these two are also consistent with what I have mentioned above. I have covered most of the OG guide and Q&V Review problems (after having gone through all the MGMAT Guides), so any suggestion on where I can find more questions to practice. Also any suggestion on how I can improve my timing in Quants and how do I do better in these specific areas of verbal? :/

Thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

I don't want you to practice any more questions yet. First, you have to learn how to get better. Then you can try new problems to test yourself.

What were the specific careless mistakes? You don't need to list them here, but do YOU know what they were? Keep a list.

Next, what new habits could you build that would help you minimize those specific types of mistakes in future? And how are you going to instill those habits until they become second nature for you?

Timing. Where could you learn to work more efficiently? Where should you have just cut yourself off, guessed, and moved on? You can't learn how to do everything in "normal" time - some of this stuff falls into the category of "if I see this, or get into this situation, I want to guess without using full time."

For example, if I'm halfway through my time for this problem and I find myself thinking, "But I studied this! I SHOULD know how to do this!"...then I know I'm done. I need to guess and move on. (Because if I really did know how to do it, I wouldn't be sitting there thinking that I SHOULD know.)

Do this for timing:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013/ ... -to-do-it/
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement

Inference is similar for RC and CR, so study it first in whichever question type is easier for you.

Check out inference in this compilation article for RC:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013 ... rehension/

And here's a compilation article for CR:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013 ... reasoning/

Parallelism and Comparisons are often about not matching the right pieces, so first review the rules there in your books (are you using our SC guide?).

You can also try some more complex sentences:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2012/ ... orrection/

Use problems you have already done in OG to articulate what you're trying to learn to do differently next time. eg: how did I mess up the parallelism on this sentence; why did I think C (an incorrect answer) was okay and why was it actually wrong; why did I think D (the correct answer) was wrong, ie, what mistake did I make?

After you've really started to learn what you should (and shouldn't) have done, THEN you can go test yourself on some new questions. You may have forgotten some of the OG questions, in which case you can reuse them. The next source I'd go to is GMATPrep Question Pack #1. (You have to pay for this. Last I checked, they were charging $25. It's an add on to the free GMATPrep software from www.mba.com and contains about 200 Quant and about 200 Verbal questions.)

[ramaa.v]

Hi Stacey

I re took the GMAT this morning. Scored 640 (Q43, V35). I guess it is an improvement since my last score (530! and 590 before that!) but it is still below what I was aiming for. I was wondering if I take some time off and attempt it for the forth time. How would that look on my application? Or if I should consider taking the GRE. Also if I did take the GRE and submit those scores would the AdCom still know I took the GMAT?
Lastly if I didn't retake or take the GRE, do you think I can improve my overall application and still apply with a 640. I went to an arts school so come from a non quant background. I could take up courses though if needed over next few months, if that ll help my application. Schools I am really keen on are Stanford GSB, Kellogg, Haas and Tuck. Let me know what you think.

Thanks