Two Questions

[wind]

1.Which is more advisable , to dedicate a few days for studying each section individually or doing mixed sets?

2.How to make the best use of an error log ? I mean that I keep a reference of every question I get wrong (indicating the error type), guess or am not sure of the answer (even if correct). How many times a week do I have to check this log ? and how do I best exploit this data for my improvement?

Thanks in advance

[StaceyKoprince]

What do you mean by "studying?"

If you mean reading books, watching tapes of lessons, etc, go topic by topic.

If you mean doing practice OG (or GMAT-format) problem sets, I don't recommend doing more than 2-3 topic by topic. After you get the gist, toss it all together. That's how the real test is - and one of the big skills is figuring out what exactly is in front of you right now. You won't be practicing that at all if you already know that the next 10 problems are all divisibility problems (or whatever).

Re: error log, have you read this already:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/error-log.cfm

If so, move onto this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

You're basically looking for patterns in general (so that you know what to study / practice) and you're also being vigilant about uncovering the habits that lead to *careless* errors in particular. Those are the worst kind because you do already know how to answer these!

Every day or every few days (depending on how fast your error log is growing), just take a "global" look and jot down some takeaways. A huge list with 100 entries = not useful. What's the big picture? Where are you tending to make the most mistakes? What kinds of mistakes are you making? WHY are you making them? What do you think you should do as a result? (And, of course, if you ever identify a trend or pattern but aren't sure what to do about it / how to make it better, ask!)

[wind]

What do you mean by "studying?"

If you mean reading books, watching tapes of lessons, etc, go topic by topic.

If you mean doing practice OG (or GMAT-format) problem sets, I don't recommend doing more than 2-3 topic by topic. After you get the gist, toss it all together. That's how the real test is - and one of the big skills is figuring out what exactly is in front of you right now. You won't be practicing that at all if you already know that the next 10 problems are all divisibility problems (or whatever).

Re: error log, have you read this already:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/error-log.cfm

If so, move onto this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

You're basically looking for patterns in general (so that you know what to study / practice) and you're also being vigilant about uncovering the habits that lead to *careless* errors in particular. Those are the worst kind because you do already know how to answer these!

Every day or every few days (depending on how fast your error log is growing), just take a "global" look and jot down some takeaways. A huge list with 100 entries = not useful. What's the big picture? Where are you tending to make the most mistakes? What kinds of mistakes are you making? WHY are you making them? What do you think you should do as a result? (And, of course, if you ever identify a trend or pattern but aren't sure what to do about it / how to make it better, ask!)

Stacey you are simply great :))))) in fact many of my quant mistakes can be classified in the area called by the GMAT roadmap guide " identify but could not strategize" ... what do you advise me to do about it ?

thanks :)

[StaceyKoprince]

All those OG questions you already did? Go back over them again. Ask yourself "I know this is about XYZ. HOW do I know?" Maybe you already knew when you first did it or maybe you didn't - doesn't matter. Either way, you're trying to make very explicit to yourself: what are the actual clues in the problem wording that should tell you "this problem is about XYZ?"

Ask yourself the questions in this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Continue to ask yourself those questions whenever you're reviewing questions in the future.

Get a bunch of flashcards; on one side, write "When I see ______" and on the other "I'll think / do _______"

When you identify a clue / trigger, make a flashcard. Don't write down the full text of the problem - only write down the relevant text that should trigger a certain thought / idea / solution process / whatever.

A very simple example: When I see "product" I should think "multiply." You know that one already, right? You learned that a long time ago. Now you're looking for more complex things like that - if I see, for example:
integer
factor or any variation that could mean factor
something about the factor being greater than 1

then I immediately think "prime vs. not-prime."

Don't forget to include variations in language. I could see "factor" or I could see "product of two integers," for example - the latter is probably referring to factors.

[wind]

All those OG questions you already did? Go back over them again. Ask yourself "I know this is about XYZ. HOW do I know?" Maybe you already knew when you first did it or maybe you didn't - doesn't matter. Either way, you're trying to make very explicit to yourself: what are the actual clues in the problem wording that should tell you "this problem is about XYZ?"

Ask yourself the questions in this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Continue to ask yourself those questions whenever you're reviewing questions in the future.

Get a bunch of flashcards; on one side, write "When I see ______" and on the other "I'll think / do _______"

When you identify a clue / trigger, make a flashcard. Don't write down the full text of the problem - only write down the relevant text that should trigger a certain thought / idea / solution process / whatever.

A very simple example: When I see "product" I should think "multiply." You know that one already, right? You learned that a long time ago. Now you're looking for more complex things like that - if I see, for example:
integer
factor or any variation that could mean factor
something about the factor being greater than 1

then I immediately think "prime vs. not-prime."

Don't forget to include variations in language. I could see "factor" or I could see "product of two integers," for example - the latter is probably referring to factors.

Brilliant ! thanks a lot , Stacey :)

[tim]

:)