Suggestions to improve SC speed & to reduce errors in quant

[shankhdhar.gaurav]

I have preparing for GMAT for 2 months now. My scheduled exam date is 8th Aug and i am in no position to delay it more. I have scored 710 (Q48, VGMATPrep1) and 720 (GMATPre2).

SC Issue 1) I am comfortable in answering most of the 700 800 level SC question in around 2 minutes. But i want to improve it to make it 60 to 90 seconds. I have read the articles and blogs and strategy for vertical scan etc but i am not able to implement it in time constraints. I end up reading horizontally if i am not able to recognize the error in the original sentence. Hence the more than normal timing in SC. How to master Vertical SCAN?
I have bought MGMAT Verbal foundation recently but have not gone through it as it appears to be very basic and too much theory :-(
SC Issue 2) I now have clear understanding of all the concepts tested in the GMAT but while solving SC problems in testing condition, I inadvertently miss the one concept in the complex (multiple concept) SC Q's. The more than normal time is eating my time in Practice tests and leading to errors in RC and CR :-(

Quant Issue 1) I know about the DS traps but not able to recognize them in time constraints :-(
Quant Issue 2) Pacing, i usually got nervous if i am behind the mile stones and end up choosing 2-3 wrong answer in a row. (very very bad thing to do in a real exam)

I have bought the 6 MOCKS and yet to use them. I want to use them very judiciously. What should be my strategy to use the MGMAT Mocks?

[StaceyKoprince]

For SC, there are a couple of different techniques we can use, depending upon whether there are more straightforward splits (differences in the answer choices) or whether the answers change significantly, have big chunks of the sentence moving around, etc.

Also, there are a couple of ways in which people consistently waste time on verbal problems in general. Make sure that this is your general process for moving through ANY set of verbal answers:

(1) Go through the answers in 2 passes
(2) 1st pass through answers: place answers into 1 of 2 categories, definitely wrong or maybe. DO NOT decide whether something is right at this stage. You either cross it off or leave it in and move on.
(3) 2nd pass through: look only at the "maybe" answers, compare, choose one
(4) When you are down to two answers, look at each answer ONCE more, then pick one and move on. DO NOT go back and forth multiple times.

The two instances of "do not" capitalized and underlined are the two places where people tend to lose a lot of time for no benefit on verbal.

The most streamlined SC process is described in this article, so it should be your first choice, but it works best on questions with easier-to-spot splits (eg, have have has has has):
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/06/ ... on-problem

If a sentence has a very long underline, then the answer choices often contain changes in the fundamental sentence structure (subject changes, independent clause becomes a dependent clause, etc). In these instances, we may have to switch to a more complicated technique that involves finding the "core" of the sentence:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/03/ ... sc-problem
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/03/ ... -problem-2

Note that this technique is STILL a "vertical" technique - you aren't just simply reading all the answers horizonally and plugging them into the original sentence.

Next, have you been studying meaning? Or have you mostly been focusing on grammar? They announced last fall that they have been placing much more emphasis on meaning - and that could be the source of the "one concept" that you say you sometimes miss in complex sentences. Here are some resources to get you started.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... on-part-2/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... h-meaning/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... problem-2/

You can browse our blog for more.

You mention some pacing issues on quant. This article will tell you what to do when you get into trouble during a section (and also how to train so that you hopefully don't get into trouble in the first place!):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

Also, read this before you read the above time management article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/

For DS, you say you know about the traps but still fall into them on timed questions. Any time you make a mistake, start asking yourself exactly WHY you made that mistake. And then ask yourself what new habit you need to make or what bad habit you need to break in order to minimize the chances of making that same mistake in future. Did you not write something down? Did you try to skip a step or use a shortcut that wasn't valid? Did you assume something that they didn't actually tell you? Did you overlook the fact that something they said actually could lead to something else useful, but you didn't take the time to rephrase / figure out the significance of the statement? Etc.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -Problems/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... questions/

Finally, practice CATs are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.

So you do what you need to do to feel that you have made good progress from your last set of test results. That typically takes 1-3 weeks. Then you take another test, analyze it, set up a new study plan for a couple of weeks, and when you again feel that you have made good progress on the things you've identified, you take another test and repeat the cycle.

You can use this to analyze your test results:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

And there are more good resources in the "how to study" section of this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

All right, that should keep you busy for a little while... ;)

[shankhdhar.gaurav]

You may have read from my other posts that i scored 690 (Q47, V37). I am planning to re look at my logs etc and read the articles again to work on the weaknesses. Any do's and don't?

[StaceyKoprince]

I saw that, yes. Key is the same as it was before: figuring out what the weaknesses are and then figuring out what steps to take to tackle them. And, as always, the focus is on really analyzing / digging into individual problems and your thought process on those problems, then using that to drive what you need to do or review.

Don't just do tons and tons of problems or practice tests.

Also, here's a new recent article that's important:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... abilities/