second time

[andreasdeptolla]

Hi Stacey,

I was participating in a ManhattanGMAT class in Los Angeles last fall. During the course of the program work got really busy and I did not have any time to prepare even during the weekends. I decided to postpone my GMAT preparation to 2009 with the goal of taking the test in April. I am now following again the course work with the online course and the ManhattanGMAT Study Organizer. I have to say that the Study organizer is extremely helpful for me as it provides a perfect framework for me. I just completed the third week and wanted to touch base with you to see if I am on track and what could be further improved.

Here are a couple of things I am currently following (a lot of advice I got from your previous answers to other students):

1. I do every questions with a stopwatch to track timing
2. I follow the Study Organizer and usually go through all questions per day. I mark the ones which are not correct on my spreadsheet and do these one again during the weekend. If I still do not get them right I try to master the question by writing "my" version of the solution once I understand the issue. I am also able to see the online classes and the online labs. I am sometime behind with the strategy guides and especially I am not always able to complete the action tasks after each chapter.

The last ManhattenGMAT test I took last year was around 550, but I can already tell that I am improving based on the results of the weekly homework. I would like to take the test in April and I was hoping to get some guidance from you by addressing the below questions (my goal is to score between 650 and 700):

1. I am a non native English speaker -- what special advice do you give to non native speakers for the GMAT (e.g. learn idioms,...)?
2. I am not quite sure what do to with the VIC approach. It seems to me that it is better to address these kind of questions differently. Is the VIC approach only a fallback scenario?
3. I only used the Office hours twice and I was wondering if I can still take advantage of the office hours although my in class program is completed and I switched to the online resources.
4. What would you recommend me to focus on? Should I follow the ManhattanGMAT Study Organizer or rather focus on the weak points? Right now I feel good with the current approach as some of the fundamental basics are covered as well.


Thanks for your help and advice

Andreas

[StaceyKoprince]

Glad things are going well!

1. I do every questions with a stopwatch to track timing

Just to clarify: do all OG, or GMAT-format (with multiple choice answers) with a stopwatch except for stuff printed in the red strategy guides. The practice problems at the end of each chapter can be done without timing - those are there to make sure, first, that you know what to do. Then, you make sure you can still do it in the given timeframe!

It's okay if you can't do all of the problems in every chapter - in fact, I'd say you don't need to do all of them. You just need to do enough to make sure that you know what you're doing. (And make sure to try some of the higher-numbered ones, as those are harder!)

Non-native speakers do often struggle with idioms, so you may want to move that lesson forward on the agenda (it's not until the end of the course / study organizer). Go through that chapter in the SC book and make flashcards (or whatever you do to memorize stuff) of all of the idioms you don't already know immediately. Native speakers also sometimes struggle more with RC, but your written English is very strong, so maybe you're fine in that area - you tell me! :)

Re: VIC, do you have the 2007 versions of the books, or the new, 3rd edition books (published in late Oct)? If you have the older books, contact the office to ask about swapping out for the new ones - I think the explanations are better in the third edition for VIC. VIC isn't a fallback - it takes too long, so you have to decide at the beginning: am I going to do algebra, VIC, or a hybrid? (The hybrid thing is in the new book.)

Ask the office what to do if you have the old books (800.576.GMAT or studentservices@manhattangmat.com). And, actually, same for office hours - I'm not sure what the policies are!

Because it has been so long since you studied, it's probably best to go through the comprehensive approach, especially because you feel like it's working for you. You can adjust somewhat based on your strengths and weaknesses, though. If you're really good at something, move immediately to the harder problems or spend less time overall. if you're struggling with something, spend some additional time in that area.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!

[andreasdeptolla]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. I have another question regarding the number and type of problem to expect on the GMAT. About how many DS geometry versus SC subject verb agreement questions should I expect, for example. I scored a 590 on my last practice test and would like to improve another 50 points. Being able to focus on sections that I am weaker in, and appear in greater number in the exam, would be very helpful.

Thank you
Andreas

[RonPurewal]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for your answer. I have another question regarding the number and type of problem to expect on the GMAT. About how many DS geometry versus SC subject verb agreement questions should I expect, for example. I scored a 590 on my last practice test and would like to improve another 50 points. Being able to focus on sections that I am weaker in, and appear in greater number in the exam, would be very helpful.

Thank you
Andreas

hi - a few comments:

* we don't have exact figures on the number of questions in each topic area, and there's certainly some variability, but:
- there are a lot of word translations
- there are a lot of number properties, among which divisibility and primes is a paramount theme
- there are a lot of INEQUALITIES (which are probably more likely to be data sufficiency)
- there are a lot of statistics questions, mostly centering on the average (arithmetic mean)

--

* i'm not sure what you mean by "versus", since DS/geometry and SC/s-v agreement are on different components of the test. explain, please?

--

* the first thng to realize about sentence correction is that there's really no such thing as "a subject-verb agreement question", or any other "(particular topic) question". almost every sentence correction question tests a few different topics in the same sentence.

some notes on certain SC topics:
as far as overall frequency, PARALLELISM is probably the single most common error type. it is even more common on longer sentences, since parallel structure is one of very few legitimate ways to make a sentence very long while still retaining proper grammar.
- you should learn to DETECT PARALLELISM in two ways: (a) via context, and (b) via signal words. by "context" i mean by just thinking about the substance of the sentence. for instance, if a sentence talks about the two different options available to some committee, then those two options MUST be placed in parallel structure. if a sentence contains a list of four things, then the elements of the list MUST be in parallel structure. etc. you should be able to figure this stuff out without even seeing telltale signal words.
but:
- you should also be able to recognize the key SIGNAL WORDS that betray parallelism. plain old "and" is the most common, but there are a great many, including "not only ... but also", "from ... to", "(n)either ... (n)or", "or", and many, many others.
- a good drill for recognizing parallelism: go through the SC PROMPTS in the official guide (just the prompts - DON'T solve the problems). for each prompt, decide whether the sentence contains (or is supposed to contain) parallelism. then flip to the back and see whether the listed answer contains "Parallelism" in its boldface categorization. if you miss any of the questions that are labeled "Parallelism" in the back, then you need to get better at recognizing parallelism.

PRONOUN and MODIFIER errors are also common, and, to me, they stand out because they're easier to recognize than most other errors.
you can't hide a pronoun, for instance; if a sentence contains a pronoun, then the pronoun will be there, staring at you. therefore, since you can ALWAYS tell whether a sentence needs to be considered for pronoun issues (i.e., you see a pronoun anywhere in it, including in the non-underlined portion), you may want to consider pronouns as a good starting point if you see them.
also, certain types of modifiers, such as "..., which", are both easy to spot and easy to judge. for that particular modifier, if the DIRECTLY preceding noun doesn't make sense with "which", then it's wrong.

that's a start.

good luck!