Finally - 760 (99%) (Q-51 :99% V- 41:93%) : Long Post

Hey Ban, during the "real" GMAT test did you feel like you were able to "see through" what each SC was testing for? For e.g, during the first 10 questions, did you feel like you saw the exact principle being tested [subject-verb, parallelism, etc, etc]?

regards,
gmataquaguy

Yes, I was and they were based on 8 basic principles of GMAT SC. As I said real SCs test multiple concepts, so one has to apply different principles to weed out the wrong choices. Needless to say that once u see an issue with a choice, immediately cross it out and move to the next one. Also, just a humble suggestion, u don't have to know every grammar concept to ace GMAT SC. If u go nuts on learning every nitty-gritty, I suspect u will get more confused than before and u will find urself getting even simple SCs wrong. This is something that happened to me in my first attempt.

Baner: Your mail was has very great insights....Thanks a bunch....

Ban,
How did you "review" your error logs for SCs? After making a mistake, I'm guessing you reviewed why/how you made the error, correct? After "x" days you go back and try the problems you made mistake on, I suppose, and see if you recognize what the question is testing for?
Here is my problem: I tend to "remember" the OA because of the "exhaustive' analysis i do once i get a problem. Did you face the same issue? I have the same problem with "CRs". I tend to remember the "OA" and therefore feel like I dont get the bang for the buck when reviewing. What is it that you do?
CR is my biggest weakness. Oddly enough my RC is pretty good. I have a good strike on RCs on the LSAT material. But CR is a different story. Any suggestions?

regards,
gmataquaguy

I have to admit, I quit doing exhaustive analysis of SCs after my first attempt because I found that it was not working for me. It was not only slowing me down but also I was getting SCs wrong. That's when I decided to review SC with MGMAT + OG and started looking for patterns and concepts that are tested. I intentionally stayed away from any unofficial books. I reviewed OG once more, doing 20 ques per day and on the last week before exam I reviewed some imp concepts I had underlined in OG.

I think everyone faces the same issue of remembering OAs that's why it is imp not to repeat the same material and feel good abt once performance. If u get a problem wrong, make a note and review ur SC notes once a week. But make sure u only review ques from OG.

I think for CR, RC there is no point in reviewing mistakes because once u get the OA and see the logic, u can't gain much by reviewing the logic again. In CRs, u have to have an "aha" moment. When u get that u know ur ans is right. I usually quickly eliminated 3 of the 5 choices and deliberated on remaining 2. Think why one is better than the other, keep a laser like scope. In CR, once u find ur ans, u shud know it is rite. If u don't get that "aha" moment from ur choice, then most often than not that choice is wrong. In that situation go thro the choices again instead of just moving on to the next ques (offcourse don't forget the clock ). When eliminating choices, use ur fingers on the screen to hide the choices that u think r wrong, this will save u jotting down stuff on a grid. I think I got this trick from another poster here.

For RC I never jotted down anything, as it tends to slow me down. But I know some ppl have benefited from writing stuff down.

One general note - don't hate/fear a section, a type of psg or a type of question. Try to like each type of psg, ques. Even if u can't like a psg or a ques, work like a robot with no emotions, where u just do ur best on the question and don't worry ur mind with how much u hate or fear a particular kind of psg. Leaving ur emotions out of the test center will serve u well !

banejeera, where can i get MGMAT, pls. Thanks

https://www.manhattangmat.com/StoreItemS ... ?ItemID=18

Congrats on your great score baner, Inspirational. Just proves , that faith and belief in one's abilities goes a long way.

HMTG.

well well well...
Just now I saw this message. Many many congratulations for ur wonderful score.

Ban,
MY CR is my weakest link, currently. I know you said you used LSAT "Next 10" Material. What was your strike rate with CRs on the LSAT "next 10" Material? My problem is, quite often, I dont see "through" the problem on a "regular" basis - And the ones i get correct, while looking at the various AC's i can see the correct answer as though it were "highlighed" and every other AC pales in comparison.
From a "Degree of Difficulty" perspective, i get the 1, 2 and 4 correctly on a regular basis. The 3's and 5's are pretty bad. Wierd that i get the "4s" accurately over the 3s.
My overall strike rate is around 65% and my timing is not anything to brag about either. ~3 minutes per question.
I've seen people say that with "practice" the speed and accuracy goes up. I review the OA and OE pretty exhaustively and still dont see the light, after doing 100 questions. Any suggestions/tips, etc?

Some Followup Questions:
How much "total time" do you spend on a CR question?
How much time do you "spend" on the passage stem itself?
Before going to the AC's were you able to "see" how the author went from the premise to the conclusion? Sometimes i do and lots of times i dont.
While looking at the ACs how much of the passage stem do you remember - do you remember the conclusion and "how" he reached that in all excruciating detail (from premise) or just remember the conclusion with "some details" on the premise or .....?

Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.

regards,
gmataquaguy

Few Questions that were asked to me via PM. I am responding here so that everyone can benefit.

1) Where to study Mean/Median/SD problems ?

I didn't really do anything extra for these topics. Usual review from KAP, Princeton is enuf I feel. To get good problems on these, use the forum and search topics on these. Few Things to remember:

a) Mean of an equally spaced sequence is (first Number + Last Number)/2
b) Mean = Median for equally spaced sequence.
c) More often than not in order to compare SD of two sequences, u wud
need to know all the numbers in the sequences
d) SD = 0 and range = 0 for a sequence where all numbers are the same
or for a sequence where there is only one number.
e) A sequence with closely spaced numbers has lesser SD than a
sequence which has larger variation in numbers.
f) SD for different sequences will be the same if they all are equally
spaced e.g. SD for 2,4,6 (diff of 2) will be the same as 16,18,20
(diff of 2)

2) 8 principles of SCs:

These are nothing different than what is listed in all the books KAP, Princeton and KAP800. However, I found that inordinate number of GMAT SCs test ||ism e.g. when you see not only XYZ.....make sure u immediately focus on a choice which has but also XYZ and not but also TBZ. Word matching in ||ism helps a lot to quickly ans questions. I think 80% of the OG expl are based on ||ism. Therefore, I wud recommend to always be on lookout for || structures in choices.

gmataquaguy,

It is lil difficult for me to talk abt any strategies in CR, because I never had one. I was quite good at them from the beginning and used "Next 10 LSAT" only to keep my skills sharp. My strike rate in LSAT was 81% and questions were done in ~ 2 mins. U have to remember that LSAT CRs are more difficult than GMAT's. When u said 65% strike rate, did u mean LSAT or OG ? U probably shud measure ur strike rate in CR using OG. Also make sure u don't take those LSAT questions too seriously where it asks which choice closely parallels the argument or argument's flaw. These are not GMAT like and should be avoided.

When I approach a CR, I never read the ques first. I think this strategy (atleast for me) makes one lose focus on the stem because one is always thinking abt the ques while reading. Unlike RC, CR requires u to understand each and every word in the stem. Also, while reading the stem, I never bothered to find premise/conclusion etc. I don't see any use in analyzing the CRs that way unless it is a BF CR. Instead I used to read it and then find an assumption (a very vague idea) and move on to look at choices. I figured that more often than not starting to look at choices help u find a missing link, which may not have been obvious from the stem. If u look closely most of the GMAT questions are based on assumptions/flaws in an argument and sometimes they put a different wrapper around it.

Not sure if this was of any help. Let me know if u have any additional questions.

Great set of information. Thanks for really giving so much back to the forum.
And CONGRATS on that phenomenal score!!!

Next 10 LSAT test

Can u please post the link for the above book..

searched in google but they sites have thrown up many books..

Thanks
NK

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 942639898/

Hey Ban!

Congratulations on the fabulous score. I just walked into GMAT Club this morning and am catching up with happenings aruond.

Good luck with the application process. What schools are you targeting?

Best wishes,
Mave.

Mave,

Good to see u back in the forum and thx for the wishes. I still haven't finalized my school list. Seems to me this app process going to be much more difficult than GMAT

When r u apping ? R u planning a GMAT retake ?

Good luck