Toward the end, what does "solidifying the score" mean?

[terryfshs]

Hi Stacy,

I came across your article "Please don't make these mistakes". In the article you mentioned the following:

"Now you want to shift toward reviewing everything to make sure you can hit that same score / level on official test day."

Any suggestion on how to "review everything"? Should I go over every practice test I have taken? Redo OG questions?

The article link: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/09/ ... e-mistakes

Terry

[StaceyKoprince]

Good question. There are a few "types" of things to review:

(1) Content. What are all of the formulas and rules (quant and SC) that you have been learning / memorizing as you go along? Review / remind yourself of these. This might involve looking through flashcards or notes that you've made, flipping through the books that contain these rules and formulas, etc.

(2) Problem-solving process. What are the different processes / techniques you can use to solve different kinds of problems? (all question types) In this area, think primarily in terms of "when I see X, I will think / do Y."

When I see the words "probability" and "at least (something)," I will think "the 1 - x shortcut." (And start solving that way)

When I see the words "if true" and "most seriously undermines," I will think "Weaken the Conclusion" (and start solving that way).

When I see "must be true" in a quant question, I will start testing cases with real numbers.

Etc. You have hopefully been making these connections consciously all along (if not, start now), so it's mostly a matter of looking over everything and remind yourself what the triggers are to take certain actions / go down certain paths.

(3) Timing. Review your overall benchmarks for the section and practice the timing, either through sets of questions or through a couple of practice tests (one test 2 weeks before, one test 1 week before the real thing).

Review your educated guessing strategies - know both how you're going to make a guess in various circumstances and, even more importantly, how you're going to cut yourself off before it's too late. Remind yourself that you're going to have to guess no matter what - everybody does. That sort of thing.

Also look at these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... game-plan/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-review/

Good luck!