Hi Stacey
I have taken the test 3 times since last September and I have not obtained the score I'm looking for.
Here is a chronology of the events on how I've studied each time before the test:
Took Princeton Review GMAT course in 2006, studied inconsistently in 2007.
Studied consistently by my own from July-August. 2008
1st GMAT TEST September 2008: 540 (Q-40,V-24)
After my first try i focused my studying in verbal for which I bought the 3 Manhattan course verbal strategy guides. (CR, RC, SC)
2nd GMAT TEST October 2008: 510 (Q-33,V-27)
I really improved on my verbal, but this time my score on the quantitative really came down.
I decided to take the complete Manhattan GMAT course so I can refresh all the topics.
After I took the course I was feeling very confident and sure that I would raise my score to 600+, as I was scoring 600-650 range on my CAT exams.
3rd GMAT TEST December 2008: 500 (Q-35,V-23)
I am very shocked with this result and confused on what to do next.
Obviously one of my main weaknesses is Verbal, partly because English is not my first spoken language.
However I don't want to give up!!!! But I really need your advice, I am not planning taking the exam any time soon. I want to find out what i did wrong take my time and correct it. I think with enough practice I can raise my Quantitative score to the 45's. And I really need to improve my verbal in order to get an overall good score.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Martin
GMAT Forum
6 postsPage 1 of 1
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
i have two very concrete suggestions that may help you in your preparation.
the first suggestion concerns the mental state in which you're completing practice problems.
if you're feeling down about your scores, then you could definitely benefit from the following change of perspective:
learn to regard failures on practice problems as opportunities rather than as actual failures.
here's what i mean: every time you miss a practice problem, you're learning something: specifically, you're learning about some specific item that's missing from your foundation of knowledge. without making such mistakes, you won't know which subjects you should study and learn more about - so you should actually appreciate the mistakes you make!
it's not enough just to adopt the new attitude, though; you also have to dedicate yourself to deriving LESSONS from every single problem.
do not leave a problem until you have gotten some sort of TAKEAWAY from that problem - a takeaway that you can APPLY TO OTHER PROBLEMS.
such takeaways could take many forms. for instance, they could have to do with the particular strategy you should employ on a given type of problem. they could have to do with charts/tables/devices you could have used to organize your thoughts better. they could even be silly mistakes / traps that you should learn to watch out for. in any case, though, you should be able to derive some sort of takeaway from EVERY problem; that is in fact the only really good reason to do practice problems in the first place.
in other words:
for EVERY problem, you should fill in the following sentence in at least one way:
"if i see ______ on another problem, i should ______"
on some problems you may be able to fill this sentence in in 3-4 different ways, but be sure to derive at least one such lesson from every problem. if you don't get any takeaways from a problem, then you've essentially wasted your time doing that problem.
and that leads into the next topic, which is not only studying, but studying correctly.
here is what you should be doing:
when you study problems, don't concentrate on the individual problems. instead, focus on the COMMON THREADS and CONNECTIONS between the problems.
remember that you're never going to see the actual problems you're studying, ever again, but you will see problems that look a lot like them. so, more than emphasizing the particulars of the problem in front of you, you should be emphasizing considerations such as:
* what are the signals in this problem that tell me what problem type it is?
* what sort of strategies have worked on similar problems?
* what factors have caused me to miss similar problems in the past?
if you start studying problems in this way - with an eye to their connections to other problems, rather than considering them as individual disconnected problems - you'll find that you'll feel less lost, and that, after a while, almost every new problem will be reminiscent of at least one problem that you've already studied.
there's a saying about improvisational acting that says, roughly, that good improv requires years of preparation. it's a funny and ironic comment, but it reveals a truth about improv: namely, the best improv isn't improvisational at all. instead, the actor has been in hundreds of similar situations before, and so has developed instincts that will guide him/her through the current situation smoothly.
your goal is to create a similar situation on the gmat: you should study enough connections and takeaways that you eventually get to the point at which most, if not all, of the problems look like things that you've already seen.
when you get to that point of "constant deja vu", you'll be ready to roll.
good luck.
the first suggestion concerns the mental state in which you're completing practice problems.
if you're feeling down about your scores, then you could definitely benefit from the following change of perspective:
learn to regard failures on practice problems as opportunities rather than as actual failures.
here's what i mean: every time you miss a practice problem, you're learning something: specifically, you're learning about some specific item that's missing from your foundation of knowledge. without making such mistakes, you won't know which subjects you should study and learn more about - so you should actually appreciate the mistakes you make!
it's not enough just to adopt the new attitude, though; you also have to dedicate yourself to deriving LESSONS from every single problem.
do not leave a problem until you have gotten some sort of TAKEAWAY from that problem - a takeaway that you can APPLY TO OTHER PROBLEMS.
such takeaways could take many forms. for instance, they could have to do with the particular strategy you should employ on a given type of problem. they could have to do with charts/tables/devices you could have used to organize your thoughts better. they could even be silly mistakes / traps that you should learn to watch out for. in any case, though, you should be able to derive some sort of takeaway from EVERY problem; that is in fact the only really good reason to do practice problems in the first place.
in other words:
for EVERY problem, you should fill in the following sentence in at least one way:
"if i see ______ on another problem, i should ______"
on some problems you may be able to fill this sentence in in 3-4 different ways, but be sure to derive at least one such lesson from every problem. if you don't get any takeaways from a problem, then you've essentially wasted your time doing that problem.
and that leads into the next topic, which is not only studying, but studying correctly.
here is what you should be doing:
when you study problems, don't concentrate on the individual problems. instead, focus on the COMMON THREADS and CONNECTIONS between the problems.
remember that you're never going to see the actual problems you're studying, ever again, but you will see problems that look a lot like them. so, more than emphasizing the particulars of the problem in front of you, you should be emphasizing considerations such as:
* what are the signals in this problem that tell me what problem type it is?
* what sort of strategies have worked on similar problems?
* what factors have caused me to miss similar problems in the past?
if you start studying problems in this way - with an eye to their connections to other problems, rather than considering them as individual disconnected problems - you'll find that you'll feel less lost, and that, after a while, almost every new problem will be reminiscent of at least one problem that you've already studied.
there's a saying about improvisational acting that says, roughly, that good improv requires years of preparation. it's a funny and ironic comment, but it reveals a truth about improv: namely, the best improv isn't improvisational at all. instead, the actor has been in hundreds of similar situations before, and so has developed instincts that will guide him/her through the current situation smoothly.
your goal is to create a similar situation on the gmat: you should study enough connections and takeaways that you eventually get to the point at which most, if not all, of the problems look like things that you've already seen.
when you get to that point of "constant deja vu", you'll be ready to roll.
good luck.
- RonPurewal
- Students
- Posts: 19744
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:23 am
also, if you're planning on picking up 5-10 additional points on the quant, you can be fairly sure that you won't be able to get all those points from learning "textbook" approaches to problems (unless you are severely deficient in one or more areas of basic knowledge, but, given your original mark of q40, that's extremely unlikely to be true).
instead, you've got to be flexible with your approach to quant problems, and START IMMEDIATELY ON SECONDARY PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODS for any problem on which you don't have a primary approach RIGHT AWAY.
"secondary methods" include number plugging, estimation, and other processes of elimination.
if you have SERIOUS issues with banging your head against the proverbial wall of trying to find a primary method, then consider using the following hierarchy to solve quant problems.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that there are two kinds of "plugging in numbers" for problem solving:
(a) plugging in YOUR OWN numbers, and working through the problem in the normal direction with your numbers instead of variables (VIC style problems),
(b) plugging in the ANSWER CHOICES and working the problem backwards (used if the answer choices are numbers and there's a decently easy path "backwards" through the problem).
IF NOT,
3. can i estimate, or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- if the answer choices are NUMBERS and there's a decent spread - i.e., not all of the answer choices are extremely close together - then you may be able to eliminate answers based on estimation. this goes especially for geometry problems, which have DIAGRAMS and are therefore easier to estimate, but it goes for all sorts of other problems as well.
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.
DATA SUFFICIENCY:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that NUMBER PLUGGING WORKS DIFFERENTLY FOR DATA SUFFICIENCY. with problem solving, all you have to do is plug in one set of numbers (VICs) or plug in one answer choice at a time (working backwards). with data sufficiency, though, you have to plug in MULTIPLE numbers or sets of numbers, with the goal being to TRY FOR 'INSUFFICIENT'.
in other words, you should try multiple values, with your goal being to get both a 'yes' and a 'no' (if it's a yes/no question) or two different values (if it's a value question).
if it's a number properties problem, you should make sure that you figure out the TYPES of numbers being tested, and plug in accordingly. for instance, if the problem involves absolute values, then it's likely that you'll have to plug in both positive and negative numbers.
IF NOT,
3. can i use the "easy statement", or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- always use the "easy statement" first, if there is one, and choose the grid (ad/bce or bd/ace) accordingly.
ironically, the hardest problems commonly have one very "easy" statement out of the two (such as a statement that doesn't contain one of the relevant variables).
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.
never deliberate for more than 3 seconds without some sort of progress.
instead, you've got to be flexible with your approach to quant problems, and START IMMEDIATELY ON SECONDARY PROBLEM-SOLVING METHODS for any problem on which you don't have a primary approach RIGHT AWAY.
"secondary methods" include number plugging, estimation, and other processes of elimination.
if you have SERIOUS issues with banging your head against the proverbial wall of trying to find a primary method, then consider using the following hierarchy to solve quant problems.
PROBLEM SOLVING:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that there are two kinds of "plugging in numbers" for problem solving:
(a) plugging in YOUR OWN numbers, and working through the problem in the normal direction with your numbers instead of variables (VIC style problems),
(b) plugging in the ANSWER CHOICES and working the problem backwards (used if the answer choices are numbers and there's a decently easy path "backwards" through the problem).
IF NOT,
3. can i estimate, or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- if the answer choices are NUMBERS and there's a decent spread - i.e., not all of the answer choices are extremely close together - then you may be able to eliminate answers based on estimation. this goes especially for geometry problems, which have DIAGRAMS and are therefore easier to estimate, but it goes for all sorts of other problems as well.
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.
DATA SUFFICIENCY:
1. can i find a "textbook method" to solve the problem?
- i.e., can i find an 'opener' that might be in an answer key, etc.?
IF NOT,
2. can i "plug in numbers"?
- note that NUMBER PLUGGING WORKS DIFFERENTLY FOR DATA SUFFICIENCY. with problem solving, all you have to do is plug in one set of numbers (VICs) or plug in one answer choice at a time (working backwards). with data sufficiency, though, you have to plug in MULTIPLE numbers or sets of numbers, with the goal being to TRY FOR 'INSUFFICIENT'.
in other words, you should try multiple values, with your goal being to get both a 'yes' and a 'no' (if it's a yes/no question) or two different values (if it's a value question).
if it's a number properties problem, you should make sure that you figure out the TYPES of numbers being tested, and plug in accordingly. for instance, if the problem involves absolute values, then it's likely that you'll have to plug in both positive and negative numbers.
IF NOT,
3. can i use the "easy statement", or perform process of elimination in any other way?
- always use the "easy statement" first, if there is one, and choose the grid (ad/bce or bd/ace) accordingly.
ironically, the hardest problems commonly have one very "easy" statement out of the two (such as a statement that doesn't contain one of the relevant variables).
IF NOT,
4. guess
- if you get to this point, DO NOT DELIBERATE - just guess. remember that any random guess is as good as any other random guess. if you're an extreme "deliberator", then, as weird as it may sound, you may want to have an actual method for random guessing. this could be as simple as "pick the first one of the remaining choices", but anything you can do to prevent staring at the problem is good.
never deliberate for more than 3 seconds without some sort of progress.
- Guest
Ron,
You and Stacey need to stop wasting people's precious time and fooling them with your quasi-help.
This individual took the test several times already and has indicated that he used several sets of materials, including a full course. He has already been "analyzing EVERY problem, and finding a KEY TAKEAWAY from the problems that he got WRONG". He knows that these problems are OPPORTUNITIES to improve and he has ANALYZED TO DEATH these answer explanations and many, many others.
Ron, are you really going to tell this individual to do this and imply that he take the test a 4th time?
What he needs is maybe a good tutor or some other method to build his logic - the prep course did not help. Maybe a college level math / english course or two may help.
Trust me Ron, he ANALYZED EVERY PROBLEM AND STUDIED THE WAY HE WAS SUPPOSED TO ARLEADY. Don't give advice that is already common sense to these devoted students / test-takers. You're making it worse;you're not helping, Ron.
You and Stacey need to stop wasting people's precious time and fooling them with your quasi-help.
This individual took the test several times already and has indicated that he used several sets of materials, including a full course. He has already been "analyzing EVERY problem, and finding a KEY TAKEAWAY from the problems that he got WRONG". He knows that these problems are OPPORTUNITIES to improve and he has ANALYZED TO DEATH these answer explanations and many, many others.
Ron, are you really going to tell this individual to do this and imply that he take the test a 4th time?
What he needs is maybe a good tutor or some other method to build his logic - the prep course did not help. Maybe a college level math / english course or two may help.
Trust me Ron, he ANALYZED EVERY PROBLEM AND STUDIED THE WAY HE WAS SUPPOSED TO ARLEADY. Don't give advice that is already common sense to these devoted students / test-takers. You're making it worse;you're not helping, Ron.
- Guest
Um, wow.
Dude, it's a free forum. These people are answering questions for all of us who maybe can't afford tutoring or even a class. They're experts and are helping us as best they can. If you think you've got the answers, go try and teach for them. Til then, go away.
Stacey, Ron, you guys are great! Thanks for all the help!
Dude, it's a free forum. These people are answering questions for all of us who maybe can't afford tutoring or even a class. They're experts and are helping us as best they can. If you think you've got the answers, go try and teach for them. Til then, go away.
Stacey, Ron, you guys are great! Thanks for all the help!
- JonathanSchneider
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 370
- Joined: Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:40 pm
Forums are great for exactly this type of free speech, no?
Personally, here's my take: Martin originally asked for specific advice as to how to improve. Ron responded with great specific advice, not just what to focus on but HOW to focus on it.
I've worked with a number of students who have put many hours into practice but not yet seen the improvement that they want. In these cases focusing on changing the approach in our review (aka not just putting in more hours but asking ourselves different questions, etc.) is key. Granted, if we could sit down with every student for hours of private tutoring, we'd be able to isolate those particular changes that would be most helpful, but over a free forum, Ron's detailed advice is, imho, as good as it gets.
Personally, here's my take: Martin originally asked for specific advice as to how to improve. Ron responded with great specific advice, not just what to focus on but HOW to focus on it.
I've worked with a number of students who have put many hours into practice but not yet seen the improvement that they want. In these cases focusing on changing the approach in our review (aka not just putting in more hours but asking ourselves different questions, etc.) is key. Granted, if we could sit down with every student for hours of private tutoring, we'd be able to isolate those particular changes that would be most helpful, but over a free forum, Ron's detailed advice is, imho, as good as it gets.
6 posts Page 1 of 1