Study Organization

[mba2017]

I've been working on CR and Quant for 3 months, and it looks like the effort is paying off. However, I have now lost touch with SC and RC questions. I find that I've forgotten many of the concepts in SC (modifiers, parallelism, prepositions, etc.), and I'm quite sure that my RC abilities would have declined as well. As I try to prepare for a test in the next 2 months, what's the best way to keep my performance uniformly high in Quant, CR, SC, and RC? I would like to take get 2-3 updated (and hopefully much improved) CAT scores before I take the test in 2 months. Any advice on improving my performance to an uniform level across Verbal and Quant, and organizing my study for this final stretch would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes: you need to study things all together.

From now on, don't study just one topic or question type to the exclusion of others. Do a mix of SC, CR, and RC all together, and then review question by question, even though that means jumping around among different books and resources for the different question types. Ditto quant.

Read this:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2015/07/ ... s-say-what

You may initially need to spend more time on SC and RC than the other areas because your skills have atrophied a bit in those areas, but don't make the same mistake this time: don't just do SC and RC and then have your CR and quant skills decline!

I'd spend the next week doing mixed practice, allowing you to continue practicing quant and CR while also brushing up on your RC and SC skills. Then take a practice CAT and analyze it.
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Use the results to figure out what you need to review next - but remember again to mix things up / study all question types and topics!

Here's what I'd do. First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat
Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Spend the next week internalizing this kind of learning / reasoning and also doing mixed practice (everything!) so that you can continue practicing quant and CR while also brushing up on your RC and SC skills.

Then take a practice CAT and analyze it. Analyze the test (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. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. 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!)

[mba2017]

Thanks for your advice. Is there any way to get the same/similar analysis for GMAT Prep tests? I've taken some Manhattan CATs already, but want to try the real test now.

[mba2017]

Hi Stacy,

I've taken a GMAT Focus Quant assessment and received an estimate of 45-49 (Quant only). I am not able to attach my score report. Can you email me? Thank you.

[StaceyKoprince]

GMATPrep unfortunately does not give you the kind of data that our tests give you. The practice tests themselves are great...but the data analysis is limited.

You can create some of the data yourself if you time yourself for each question when you take a GMATPrep. Set up a timer on your smartphone and hit the lap button every time you finish a problem. (You know how you have to click Next and then Confirm to go to the next problem? Train yourself to hit 3 buttons in a row: Next, Confirm, Lap.)

You can figure out the content areas of many / most of the questions just by analyzing them yourself or googling when you're not sure. You won't be able to know the difficulty levels, though.

But do time yourself per question and you can still do some very useful analysis of the results!