Studying Weakness

[SamanthaS272]

Hi,

I completed my first attempt of the GMAT and my scored dropped significantly - classic case of anxiety and not taking the CATs seriously enough (ie. not completing essays). I've given myself a week break before I start studying for my second attempt, and during this time I'm trying to set up a study plan.

One of the things I struggled with before was improving my weaknesses. I understand how to analyze my CATs and identify the weakness, that's not the issue. I'm more concerned with what to do after I have learned what my weaknesses are. How do I create problem sets? Does Manhattan Prep organize all of the OG questions by topic (ie: digits and decimals quant questions, or geometry questions, etc.) so I can focus on my weaknesses? Or do I have to go through all of the problems myself to identify which topics are being tested?

Also, apart from that, are there any other general study tips you think I should know for my second attempt at the test? I'm fairly confident that I don't have any knowledge gaps anymore (at least I think). Should I re-read all of the strategy guides that relate to my weaknesses? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance!

[StaceyKoprince]

The system is indicating that you took a course with us - is that right? (Sometimes it isn't right.)

If so, then you're eligible for a free Post-Exam Assessment (if you haven't done it already). This is a phone call with an instructor to figure out what happened on test day and come up with a plan to re-take the test. If this applies to you, please send an email to gmat@manhattanprep.com and request the Post-Exam Assessment.

You're asking some good questions. First, there are two big things to incorporate into your overall study process / plan. Read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

The second one gets at your question about "What do I do when I've found a weakness?"

After reading those, reply to tell me what you've learned and how you think you need to change the way you've been approaching things as a result. (And let me know any questions, of course.)

In your student center, you can find a PDF called Official Guide (OG) Problem Sets. This contains lists by problem type and content area (eg, all of the Problem Solving Digits & Decimals problems). BUT!! I don't want you to do all of one type all at once - you don't learn as well that way (because you already know approximately what you're getting before you even start the problem).

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

When studying (for example) Digits & Decimals, it's okay to try a couple of problems that you already know are of that type. But honestly - I'd try ones you tried before, maybe during class. After that, you want to set up a mixed set of questions that includes some D&Ds but also other stuff (and some of those other questions are randomly chosen, so you have no idea what you're getting). My rule is that 50% of any problem set has to be randomly chosen - because one of the biggest things I need to practice is just "Here's a new problem. What is it??"

Next, you can diagnose any content gaps by trying some end-of-chapter problems in Foundations of Math or Foundations of Verbal. If anything is wrong, slow, or just feels funny, then you know you need to dive into that chapter to do some more work with whatever it is.

You are going to re-do some stuff in the strategy guides, yes. Use your 2nd-Level analysis (from the article linked earlier) to determine what you do need to re-read / re-do based on your specific weaknesses. There may be other things that you decide to review just because it's been a really long time and you might be starting to forget. Still other things will fall into the category "I suck at that and I'd prefer to just get it wrong fast in future." So all you need to study there is how to recognize that a problem = that sucky thing, so you can guess quickly.

If you're eligible for the PEA, go send that email right now. If not (or if you also want to get detailed advice here), use the below to analyze your most recent MPrep CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Then, based on everything I wrote above, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. 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!)

[SamanthaS272]

Thanks Stacey!

Based on my last 3 CATs, quant in general is my weakness.

Problem Solving: I’m spending on average 2:30 minutes on wrong answers with an average difficulty of 680. I need to get faster at getting things wrong.

Data Sufficiency: I’m only spending 1:44 minutes on wrong answers with an average difficulty of 710. While I am performing better on data sufficiency, I feel like it is only marginal. And I’m not sure how much of that is due to guessing. So I would overall like to improve this section further as well.

In terms of content area, I think geometry is my biggest weakness. The average difficulty of correct answers is 610, my lowest in quant, but I am getting those questions right fairly quickly; only 1:33 minutes spent on each question.

To be honest, I don’t think I have a strength yet in quant. The numbers are all over the place. For instance, I get 64% of algebra questions correct, however average difficulty is 640, and I get 50% of number properties correct, but average difficulty is 680. I think I generally just need to improve my quant. I don’t think I’m in a position to place items in buckets yet since I feel like I need to improve on almost everything in order to reach my target score. Do you think that is fair to do, or do you think I am taking on too much and should bucket regardless? My quant break down by question type is fairly bad.

Verbal in general is my clear strength, but I need to improve sentence correction (56% right with average score of 710). I am spending way too much time on them (1:40 minutes). Further analyzing sentence correction, I’ve realized that while my average difficulty on right and wrong answers for pronouns are high (750), I’m spending on average 2 minutes on them. I need to get faster. I also feel like I need to spend significant time on meaning and comparison SC questions since those are the only question types I’m scoring below 700 on.

From reading the articles, the biggest takeaway for me is that I need to approach the practice questions and flash cards differently. I mostly used flash cards to write down math rules or idioms. However, after reading the article I’ve learned that I need to use the flash cards to dissect/recognize problems. For instance, when I see X that means it is a Y type of problem.

I also need to diagnose any content gaps that I have. So I plan on doing end-of-chapter foundations of math problems. Should I be timing myself while doing these? Once this is complete, I will review the corresponding strategy guide and create problem sets that will be 50% my weakness and 50% random questions.

Also, since on my first attempt at the GMAT a week ago I scored in the 76th percentile in verbal (well below my practice tests where I was scoring 710 on average for correct answers and 740 on wrong), I think I need to improve my mental stamina and handle stress better. So I will work on that as well by regular exercising to relieve stress and doing uninterrupted problems sets/ studying without any break or looking at my phone.

Please let me know if going forward my strategy makes sense or if there is something else I should do as well. I also have my PEA scheduled for this week, so that should help too.

Thank you so much for the help!

[StaceyKoprince]

I need to get faster at getting things wrong.

Ding ding ding! You win a prize. I don't have an actual prize for you, of course. So you win the pride of knowing that you're right.

Yes! So much of the GMAT is actually about this right here: acknowledging what you do NOT know or what will just take too long and letting it go.

In terms of content area, I think geometry is my biggest weakness. The average difficulty of correct answers is 610, my lowest in quant, but I am getting those questions right fairly quickly; only 1:33 minutes spent on each question.

How many are you getting right vs. wrong? Are you actually missing lower-level ones? It's possible that you just happened to get an easier mix of a certain category / type on one test. Taken to an extreme, you could get 100% correct but still have the avg difficulty be lower - but that doesn't mean that you're bad at geo, just that you didn't get offered harder ones!

I don’t think I’m in a position to place items in buckets yet since I feel like I need to improve on almost everything in order to reach my target score. Do you think that is fair to do, or do you think I am taking on too much and should bucket regardless?

Bucket. Everyone feels like they could improve on everything. Sure. The point of bucketing is to prioritize, because you can't do everything at once. And you don't really know what you need to get to your target score because you aren't there yet. Focusing on the easiest-to-improve things first allows you to move ahead incrementally until one day you realize, hey, I'm where I wanted to be, and I never did have to bother diving deeply into XYZ category that I hate. Yay!

So, yes, go back and bucket. Factor your gut feel into the hard data. For which types of questions / content areas do you feel, "Oh, I can totally learn how to do that!' vs. "Ugh. That's really annoying." Bucket accordingly.

Re: timing on verbal, try this when going through answers:
1st pass through answers: place answers into 1 of 2 categories, definitely wrong or maybe (which is anything that is not definitely wrong). DO NOT spend any time deciding whether something is right at this stage.

2nd pass through: look only at the remaining "maybe" answers, compare, choose one.

When you are down to two answers on verbal, look at each answer ONCE more, then pick one and move on. No agonizing back and forth! You either have a hunch (in which case you might as well pick it now, because you'll have the same hunch 30 or 60 seconds from now) or you don't have a hunch (in which case you might as well just pick one now and move on, because you still won't have a hunch after 4 more comparisons of the answers).

That will also save you mental energy, which will help big time as you're getting towards the end of the section and just want this test to be over already!

So I plan on doing end-of-chapter foundations of math problems. Should I be timing myself while doing these?

Nope. You only need to time yourself on GMAT-format problems, where the goal is to learn how to think your way through / make the decisions as you'd want to make them during the test (when the clock is ticking). When you're doing work that is more skill-building or drill work, take whatever time you need to really learn / solidify the material. (Though do watch out for excessive double-checking of your answers or whatever, as those tendencies can bleed into your later GMAT-format problme practice.)

In general, I think you've got a good handle on what you need to do (but fill those buckets!). Let me know how the PEA goes. Good luck!