Stuck in early 600s...

by **GoMBA** Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:29 pm

Hi
I have been preparing for the gmat quite seriously for about last 1.5months. After completing the review of the concepts from OG, Manhattan SC guide, CR Bible i started writing practice tests about 25days back. So far i have written 5 practice tests (most of which are MGMATs) and here are the scores:

1. MGMAT PT#1 580 (Q42, V27)
2. GMATPrep Test#1 640 (Q45, V33)
3. MGMAT Free PT 610 (Q45, V30)
4. MGMAT PT#2 630 (Q49, V29)
5. MGMAT PT#3 600 (Q44, V30)

I wrote the 5th one today and its just more of the same (though the one i wrote today seemed like the hardest so far, atleast quant wise). As you can see from the scores above i find myself completely stuck in terms of my overall score and pattern of scoring. I seem to be stuck around 30 in verbal and 45 in math.

If i further review the details of the tests i gave (as provided by manhattan practice test review options) i notice that:

-In quant i falter at 700-800 level questions and more in DS than PS
-In verbal its a total mix - roughly 50% accuracy in each of RC, CR and SC. SC being sometimes better than others.

So my request to the group is to share any feedback from a similar situation that you may have faced or otherwise if you have a clue what might be wrong with me. With this rate i feel dejected that i will not be able to breach the 700 limits that i so desperately want to. Kindly help.

Thanks.

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:02 pm

How's your timing on the different question types and content areas? Are you really faltering on DS because of the question type / technique or are you faltering because you're possibly spending lots more time on PS questions and then don't have enough time on DS? (I've seen this happen quite a bit among my students, actually.) And what's your timing like on verbal?

Also, according to your post, you're averaging about one practice test every 5 days. Stop! Practice tests are best used as a once-every-3-weeks kind of deal. You don't learn a ton simply from taking a test. You learn from reviewing the data from a test and using that to set up a 2-3 week, study-every-day study plan to target your specific weaknesses across question type, timing, and content area.

It can take me 4-6 hours just to go through one test and figure out what I then need to do to get better in a bunch of different areas. So it might take a few days just to set up the study plan! If you're then taking another test a couple of days after that - well, you haven't given yourself much time to improve there. It's not surprising that you feel "stuck."

Go back to your last test and do an intensive analysis across ALL of the parameters, not just percentage correct. Pay serious attention to your timing. Use that to set up a to-do list. You should be able to pull out enough stuff that your to-do list will take you 2-3 weeks to complete. Then go do that stuff - and only then do you go take another practice test!

by **goMba** Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:18 am

Thanks Stacey for your valuable analysis and feedback. I also read through one other thread where you recommend in detail around the same topic. I figure that i was missing a few things:

1. Reviewing each and every practice test question (right or wrong)
2. Analyzing the specific weak areas and working on them
3. Not to rush into doing too many practice test too soon

I have started working the first 2 very diligently and though i have not given anymore practice tests yet but it makes me feel better that i can now see why i did some things wrong or even the ones i got right but just as a matter of chance not because i knew the right way to solve them. So that's good. I also found that in math my DS is weak (i lack paying proper attention to the conditions in the question), and in verbal RC and CR are my weak areas.

For DS and RC my practice is going well and helping me improve but for CR things are still not working for me. So can you please help with the following:

I have gone through the CR bible once and have liked its approach to various question types but i think so far i find it very tedious and time consuming to apply those techniques while writing a practice test. So in the practice test when i see a CR problem I probably try the bible approach for one or two questions and then just get attracted into simply reading the argument, question stem and jumping into evaluating each and every answer choice soon (unlike CR bible approach of 9 primary objectives and specific attacking steps for each question type).

Do you suggest that i just should practice a lot harder and lot more with the CR bible technique (no short cuts)? Or other thing that i sometimes see on this forum or BTG is to use diagraming approach. I havnt studied CR diagramming but intuitively i do it sometimes on my own. I do have the CR and RC prepartion guide from Manhattan (which i havnt touched yet), so do you suggest doing it now?

One last thing, i have my test scheduled in 15 days so keeping that in mind if you can suggest me the best approach to attack CR will be great.

Thanks a lot!

by **StaceyKoprince** Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:03 pm

I'm not familiar with what the CR Bible teaches, so I can't advise you there, except to say that if you find it's not working for you, stop using it. Because that's not working for you, yes, you should go ahead and use whatever other resources you have to see if they help you more. And if you only have 15 days left, crack open that book tonight and get going! It takes time to get good at this stuff.

One really important additional thing to do for both CR and RC: study why the wrong answers are wrong, not just why the right answers are right. In particular, while studying, take the time to pick out what you think is the most tempting wrong answer. Be able to articulate why it's so tempting (that is, why people would select it). And then be able to articulate why it's actually wrong.

by **goMba** Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:16 am

I dont know how you manage to provide such objective advice to so many of us. I can say one thing though that it has surely helped me knowing and learning from your opinion wrt my dilemmas :)

Keep up the good work. Thanks a bunch!

by **StaceyKoprince** Mon Sep 15, 2008 10:15 pm

Thanks for your kind words! I take a lot of pride in what my company does, of course, but I don't think there's only one way to study or only one company or resource that can help people - most companies out there are legitimate and have good things to offer. And my ultimate goal in answering questions is the same as yours: you've got to find what works for you.