Start Criteria: Manhattan Gmat Advanced sections ?

[surya_basu]

Hi Stacy,
I have all the new Manhattan Gmat Study Guides. When should I start studying the Advanced sections ? ( Is it after completing the General sections from all of the 8 study guides and scoring 35+ in Verbal and Quant Mock Exams each ?)
I am weak in Verbal. Currently my Verbal score is 17. So I am using Manhattan SC, CR and RC books. Should I take on the Advanced sections if I start scoring 35 in Verbal ? (in Mock Exams like PowerPrep or in Manhattan Gmat Exams) ?

To increase my Verbal score from 17 to 35 [b]should I repeat and revise 2-3 times Manhattan Verbal Regular Chapters (specially SC regular chapters)? [/b]
Some test takers say non-native speakers should read the Manhattan Sentence Correction atleast two to three times minimum.
For time being should I focus only on Regular Sentence Correction Chapters and do intense practice and review ?

[StaceyKoprince]

Great question. The advanced sections are mostly matched with regular sections - for example, there is a "regular" pronouns chapter in the SC book and an "advanced" pronouns & modifiers chapter in the SC book.

As a general rule, if you have completed the regular chapter of a particular topic and feel that you have mastered all of the material in the regular chapter, then you can move to the advanced chapter for that topic.

Across different topics, "regular" material is a higher priority than "advanced" material. So, for example, you may feel you've mastered the regular pronoun material and you're ready to move to the advanced pronoun material, but if you still haven't mastered the regular parallelism material, then the regular parallelism material is the higher priority. This is in general - there are going to be times when you decide to go ahead and do some of the more advanced material. Maybe you're sick of studying parallelism and want a bit of an energy boost (which can come from studying an area of strength), so you do some pronoun work for an hour.

So, with a current score of 17, your best bet is to focus on the regular chapters. You may have to read some of the material multiple times, yes - but make sure that your goal isn't just about reading it. You really need to be studying it in depth - making flashcards, quizzing yourself, maybe even studying with a partner so you can quiz each other.

[surya_basu]

( My background: Non-native speaker: Scored Verbal 17 and Quant 39 in Power prep, Manhattan Test)
Stacy: First of all thanks for your reply. I have some more to ask you.
Q1) In the Manhattan SC book: At the end of each chapters there are Inaction problems and Official Guide Problems as exercises. Do we need to work on those problems under timed conditions ? (Like 1 to 1.5 minute for each Official Guide SC question) Or should I relax and solve one by one.
(Does that same applies while practicing other Manhattan Books ? 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions, quant - about 2m; max of 2.5m)

Q2) SC Idioms: I am creating Flashcards for Idioms. Do I need to follow any other method for memoriziong Idioms ?

Q3) Reviewing Incorrect Answers : Should I review the solutions of only incorrect problems (the ones I answered wrong) or do I need to review all problems at the end of each exercise drill (at the end of every topic in Manhattan SC, CR Books)


Q4) During Manhattan practice Test I, II,.... Should I focus and spend more time on the first 10-12 problems in order to get a higher score ? Or just spend equal time on all questions ? [1.5 min for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions, quant - about 2m; max of 2.5m]

Thanks,
surya

[StaceyKoprince]

For the In Action problems, you do NOT need to do those under timed conditions.

For the Official Guide problems, you should do those under timed conditions, yes. have an answer in the relevant timeframe, even if you have to guess. (Two of the things you have to learn are when to guess and how to guess!) Then, take all the time you want to review the problem, try it again, etc.

Yes, that applies to all of the books.

For idioms, use whatever method works best for you as a memorization tool. A lot of people use flashcards, but people do other things too. What did you do in school when you had to memorize things? Whatever worked then, try the same things now.

Review ALL solutions. Even when you get things right, you may not have used the best solution, or you may not have fully understood what was going on.

Here's an article about how to review problems in general:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09/how-to-analyze-a-practice-problem

On tests, do NOT spend more time on earlier questions. It's a myth that the earlier questions are worth more. Spend generally equal time on all questions. (Note: for the timing guidelines, those are the average times expected. It's okay sometimes to spend 30 seconds longer on a problem because sometimes you're going to answer some questions more quickly than the given time. You just have to make sure that the overall average works out and also that you don't go too far over on some questions (because then you'll have to work too quickly on others and you'll make mistakes or run out of time).