The OG - Second time around - Suggestions needed

[mhbaranski03]

I went through a 9-week MGMAT online course (12 total weeks of studying), and followed the syllabus as closely as possible. Long story short, I didn't score where I wanted on the actual GMAT.

I took the post-exam assessment and decided that I'm going to spend the next 8-weeks studying and then retake the GMAT. I'll be focusing on quality over quantity this time, which I think (or hope) was my major pitfall the first time around.

My weak area is Quant, and I'm wondering how I should approach my studying this second time around. I'm a little concerned about following the strategy guides like I did the first time, because I think I got a false sense of confidence from only looking at one type of question at a time, and not mixing it up enough. However, I would still like to work through the OG in the structured manner that's provided in the back of the strategy guides.

My question is this - what is the best way to work through the OG? Should I still follow the strategy guide outline, or should I work randomly through the questions to mimic the GMAT? I'm sure it's a combination of both, but I'm looking for a best practice here that people seem to follow.

Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you didn't get the score you wanted the first time around.

Combo is right! How long ago was your last practice test? If within the past 2-3 weeks, that's fine. If not, take another now. Go through the test and pick out the specific areas on which your percentages are too low (<50%), your time is too high (>2.5m), or both. Use your specific weaknesses to drive your review.

For each question, figure out:
- specifically why you got it wrong, or why you went over on time, or both (note: there may be multiple reasons)
- what you need to do to minimize the chances of making that error again.
[did you not know the content? return to the relevant chapter in your strategy guide. did you not know the technique? ditto. did you know the content and technique but mess up on the execution, often known as a "careless mistake?" how are you going to do things differently next time to minimize the chances of repeating that type of careless mistake? did you know the content and technique but just took way too long to do it? figure out the most efficient way to do it going forward and figure out how you're going to recognize that shortcut (or those shortcuts) in future. did you not know either the content or technique and spent way too long? learn how to recognize before 2 min are up that this problem is not going to happen for you. then learn how to make an educated guess (eliminating some wrong answers before guessing). Then guess at or before the 2 min mark. Those are just some ideas to get you started. :)]
- all of the better ways you can think of to do the problem (in math, there are always multiple ways to do it; "better" ways are the ways that are specifically better for you)
- how you will recognize a problem of a similar type in future so that you can apply all of the above to that new problem; essentially, recognize what to do, do it, and move on (note: "recognize what to do" also includes "I should make an educated guess on this one")

Okay, now, you do the above first with questions from your practice test. Then you use that to drive which chapters / concepts you need to review from the strategy guide. Then you do a *few* OG questions to test yourself (and time yourself and do the same kind of analysis on those OG questions). Then you also do mixed sets of problems, chosen randomly, and as you uncover more weaknesses with these, you repeat the cycle with the strategy guides.

You might decide, for example, to do a set of 15 problems, 7 DS and 8 PS. You pick some random problems out of OG numbered between 50 and 150 (or lower or higher - depends on your ability level), but spread out over a range of about 100 questions, to have some easier and some harder ones. Mark the pages so you can flip to them easily, set the timer, and go.

You may also want to look into GMAT Focus (www.gmatfocus.com). This is a quant-only diagnostic test made by the real test-writers. Not free but not too expensive. It will give you problems that aren't in the OG (but are still real GMAT problems), time you, and give you analysis on your strengths and weaknesses as well. (Note: last I checked, GMAT Focus didn't hold you to a time limit, but it did time you. If it still doesn't give you a limit, still try to hold yourself to that 2min per question average!)

Good luck - let us know how it goes.

[mhbaranski03]

so i've been trying to study better for the past 2 weeks and i took a MGMAT CAT exam and i got a 600 - q44 and v30.

very odd since my official GMAT and previous MGMAT CAT were both 580 - q33 and v38.

i still felt very confused on the quant portion, but it appears that i'm guessing better (strategic guessing, if you will).

i was really surprised with the verbal portion, since i find that section much easier. especially since i bombed the reading comprehension questions - only 3 out of 12 right.

i'll be taking another one in 2 weeks and hopefully my quant will stay the same (hope for the best, expect the worst), and my verbal will come back up (or surpass) my normal scores.

[StaceyKoprince]

Interesting. Take some time to examine the individual verbal questions and also your timing in the section overall and try to figure out why your score went down. Not just where you didn't perform as well as you usually do, but specifically WHY you didn't perform as well as you usually do. Did you fall into some traps that you normally wouldn't? Were you mentally fatigued - did you, say, do the essays as well and then found it harder to concentrate towards the end of verbal? Had you been spending so much time on quant that your verbal was rusty? Did you mess up the timing somewhere and have to rush at the end and get a string of questions wrong? Etc.

If you think you can figure out some of the reasons why (there's probably more than one), come back and let us know and we'll help you figure out what to do about it.

[mhbaranski03]

Hey Stacey,

Thanks for the reply on this. I was actually just posting it as a bit of stress relief, so I didn't actually expect the expert advice.

I have a few theories on why my Verbal took a dump (specifically) reading comprehension, but they all have to do with my mentality. I've consistently finished Verbal with 5-10 minutes remaining, which makes me believe that I should slow down and spend some more time analyzing these questions. When I took my first MGMAT CAT, with no studying, I got a 38 on Verbal.

I plan on taking another practice exam in two weeks and my mentality will be different. After that exam, I'll tweak my study habits to focus on problem areas.

[StaceyKoprince]

Yep - if you're consistently finishing with more than about 3 minutes left, you're going too fast. And, obviously, when you go too fast, you leave points on the table because you're not being rigorous enough in your processes.

You're probably not going too fast on everything, just certain things (maybe that's why you mentioned RC?). Figure out where you're going too fast and then figure out what you could do to be more rigorous on those kinds of problems. The rigor will add the necessary time you should be spending on these problems. (In other words, you're not just adding time to add time. You're adding what you're currently lacking in process, and the result will be to slow you down a bit.)

[mhbaranski03]

as promised, i took another practice exam. i ended up with a 570 - q 34 and v 34. this confuses me even more as to how i scored a 44 in quant on my last practice exam. as i said previously, i felt pretty lost on quant the last time i took the CAT. this time around, i felt as if i was able to categorize every question i ran across. i was able to develop an approach for every quant question that i came across (with the exception of combinatorics), even though i wasn't able to execute. i really felt as if it was a turning point in quant since it was the first time that i didn't think that half the questions were written in manadarin chinese.

i spent more time on the verbal section and finished all questions with no time left. it improved my score from the previous 30, but its still below my 38 which was before i even began studying. i really have to stop neglecting my verbal studying. i'm going slowly through the SC problems, but i can't keep pushing off RC and CR.

i've been reading some posts similar to mine, and i've noticed that Stacey has said that sometimes people get worse before they get better (due to unlearning old habits). i'm hoping i'm in that category.

i'm still going through the content (MGMAT strategy guides with the corresponding OG questions), so i haven't had the chance to tweak my studying yet. there's just so many ways to analyze what i'm doing right and wrong that its overwhelming.

[StaceyKoprince]

It is a lot of work. It's definitely important, though, to review those questions and really figure out what you liked about what you did and what you would want to do differently next time (this applies whether you got it right or wrong). And, if you did get it wrong, it's important to understand, fully, why you got it wrong. If you don't know where you went wrong, then it's hard to avoid making the same mistakes the next time around.

Also try to figure out why your quant score jumped on that one previous test. I just spoke with another student who had something similar happen on one test and, when I reviewed the results, I saw that the student was running out of time at the end just as had happened on all of that student's tests, but on a string of 6 random guesses (15sec or less for each problem), the student happened to get 4 in a row right! Amazingly lucky, and caused a big score boost right at the end - but obviously not something you can replicate at will. If the student hadn't gotten lucky on those random guesses, the test would've showed 9 in a row wrong and the score would have been a lot lower.

I'm not saying this is what happened in your case, but things like this do happen. Point is, you want to know (or have a pretty good idea of) what happened in your case - either so you can replicated it again if it is replicable, or so you can let it go if it really was a bit of blind luck.

And, yes, it's not unusual for people to "get worse before they get better." At the same time, obviously, you do want to improve eventually. Generally speaking, it takes 2-4 weeks of study in one particular area before you start to see demonstrable results on a practice test (and even then, you have to balance that with the possibility that slowness on some new areas of study adversely affects you on areas you do know - due to lack of time).

[mhbaranski03]

A glimmer of hope!

I took another practice exam this past Saturday and I score a 640 - Q43 V35! I had a mini-freakout session in the middle of Quant. I started getting worried about my time and I had a brain fart on a question that I knew I could solve. I ended up spending 5 minutes on the question! I got it right, but I know I got other questions wrong later in the exam due to rushing. I'm going to start doing my questions in time blocks, rather that 2 minutes per question. I have to get more accustomed to using time splits rather than being dependent on the 2 minute countdown clock.

I'm still disheartened by my stagnant verbal score. I have been concentrating mostly on Quant, so I can't expect my verbal to improve with no preparation. I plan on splitting my time more evenly in the upcoming weeks.

My exam is scheduled for April 25th, so I'm just going to keep hitting the books, working on my timing, and improving on my weak areas.

Thanks for all the help thus far!

[StaceyKoprince]

Nice! Do me a favor. Go beyond just knowing that the 5-min question hurt you later. Go look at your results and literally prove it to yourself. That will help you to let go on similar problems in the future.

Good clues: you spend less than 1.5m on a problem, and it's sub-700, and you got it wrong. Look at the problem itself and ask yourself: did you think you had gotten this one right? If so, you likely got it wrong b/c you felt you had to rush. And you felt you had to rush because you knew that you had timing problems - like that one 5-min question. If you didn't have timing problems, you wouldn't have had to rush and you may not have made whatever mistake you made...

Good luck - keep letting us know how things go!

[mhbaranski03]

took one last practice exam (real exam scheduled for next week - 4/25) and I got a 650. my timing was much better, didn't have a freak out session, and i felt pretty good.

i just have quick question - i was planning on reviewing my error log and reading over the MGMAT strategy guides this last week. should i review the exam as well? if i review the exam, that will basically take 2-3 days and i wont have much time for anything else because i'd like to take it easier this week.

suggestions?

[StaceyKoprince]

I do think you should review the exam, but with a new mindset. Your new mindset is: what did I do well here that I want to notice so I can repeat it on the real test, and what didn't I do well? For the things I didn't do well, what can I do in a week to remedy the situation? (Part of the answer is going to include things like "This one was too hard for me. I should've recognized that and gotten it wrong faster.")

If you made a careless mistake on something you really knew how to do, what could you have done differently to make it less likely you'd make that mistake? (write down your work, check your work, read more carefully, whatever!)

If you mismanaged your time, where and why? How could you have recognized that you should have let something go? How are you going to recognize that when the real thing rolls around?

Etc. Basically, you're reviewing from the point of view of "what do I want to do the same and what do I want to do differently on the real test?"

You are NOT reviewing from the point of view of "how do I learn how to do every last problem on this test?"

Make sense? (And good luck!)

[mhbaranski03]

as a baseline, when i made my first post - my first official GMAT score was a 580 (q33, v37).

took the exam today and got a 610 (q35, v38). i was surprised because i felt really good on quant - hit my time splits, worked through the problems efficiently - i even got a combinatorics question around question #11, which made me think that i did well on my first ten. verbal was tough, had to hurry the last few problems.

based on the MGMAT CATs, i can score higher on quant. i found the MGMAT CATs wayyyyy harder than the actual GMAT, but my scores reflect otherwise.

i'm pretty sick of taking this exam and i'm not sure if i have a 3rd attempt in me. if i did take another crack at it, i think it's time for a MGMAT math tutor. i'm only trying to get a high score to get into a top program. but, honestly, i just don't know how much i care about getting into a top program. i could go to a university in my city that has a solid regional MBA program.

we'll see, i guess these are questions that i have to answer before trying a 3rd time.

thanks for all the help Stacey! maybe we should go out for a drink....i can win you over with my charm, boyish good looks, and rock hard body....then you can tutor me for free!

[JonathanSchneider]

Ha! I will be sure to let her know. It's a shame that I'm on duty right now for post-answering : )

Hiring a tutor may be worth your while at this point. Sometimes that's a great way to regain your confidence and make improvements, especially after you've taken it this far on your own, working on different materials, etc. I know you haven't seen the score increase you want yet, but you have done a lot of work, and that's bound to have helped; now it's a matter of putting the rest of the pieces together.

As to your inner search for the right course for you, that's something only you can answer. Personally, I decided an MBA was not for me only after I had applied, so I withdrew my application. But this is an individual journey. If you want something, go for it full force. If you don't want it, then don't. There's really no harm either way : )

[mhbaranski03]

the offer is on the table for you as well, Jonathan ;)......just kidding.

through this studying the second time around, i really felt a difference in my quant ability. i think that i've demonstrated that i'm capable of scoring in the 40s for quant, but i had a bad showing on saturday.

i think i'll go the tutor route. i've studied for probably 6 months total, and i think that a MGMAT tutor would definitely help me out, so there's no reason to just throw in the towel. as v800 said on another thread, "the game isn't over until i win".

it's hard to think about hitting the books right after you got done studying for 9 weeks. even when i was studying for this past GMAT attempt, i said to myself that i might need one more shot (a 3rd try) at the GMAT to get the score that i want. i think that i should exhaust all possibilities since i'm this far along already.

who knows, i might only get 10 points higher on this 3rd attempt, but i would feel better knowing this for sure rather than guessing what i could've done for the rest of my life.

work is going to be crazy for me until mid-june, so i won't be able to get right back into the studying. after work calms down, i'll set something up with a MGMAT tutor and get a game plan together. then i'll probably get around 4-6 sessions after that to work with the tutor and then hope for the best.

i'll just keep posting back on this thread to update.

thanks for all the help.