GMATPrep1: 700 (Q51,V33). ...2nd GMATPrep1: 770 (Q51,V42)

Thanks , those are some solid suggestions. I have thought about some but have not truly applied them on a consistent basis. You are right though. You have to think about how the GMAT will trick you. Also when they mention a restricting option, that is essential to the answer. They never give extraneous information. Always understand how that restricting option defines the answer.

Concerning geometry, that does seem like a great approach. It is very abstract and definitely will try and apply that method.

I think what I may do is do a set of DS questions with a strict 1 minute time limit for each and see how I do. Because with PS, I feel that if you understand all the concepts, you can always usually figure out the answer, but it may take 3 minutes or so, for someone like me. If I hit the 1 min DS mark, then that will do it.

As for Verbal, I have not tried with background noise but I think it may be a good idea to help improve focus. As you do for DS, you also need to recognize CR and RC patterns.

Now I can't vouch for this ,but something to look for as you are doing questions to see whether you see similiar patterns.

CR I have noticed that If true questions usually appear out of scope at first glance but are not and answers that appear too close to the statement are usually wrong. The opposite is true for assumption questions. In CR you have to constantly ask yourself questions based on the statement and answer choices. You have to go through each choice and break the logic, doing so by posing hypothetical questions.

RC , if you dont understand the passage , you are going to get at least half the Q wrong. RC is where you can really kill your time. You read a passage and you still spend 2 min a question, that means you didnt understand it and you will be playing catch up, and in verbal catch up is really hard to do. So back to that approach, hardest RC passages you can find, under a strict time limit, with background noise. I think I am going to start doing that. For me there is no excuse to get any RC question wrong. The answers are all there in the passage.

Another problem I have with RC is the meaning of words. I guess that can't really be helped at this stage. I am a native speaker but they can throw in hard words and you have to just hopefully be able to eliminate other choices.

You are right. I guess I understand now how "recognize patterns" is important. If you get patterns, you will find fast solution

There is also an idea that I forgot to post:

1. PS&DS if I find the problem that I cannot solve in 2min, I try find as many ways to solve it as possible. Sometimes I spent a few hours to do so.

51 in quant is amazing!

Walker,

I always assumed that the guy who wrote the 1000 SC and CR applications would be a Verbal guru

It is those 2 applications that are helping me personally improve on my V score.....As for RC, be careful which passages you choose. Kaplan or MGMAT can do you a big disservice on RC - their passages are just too confusing and some answer choices too close to call. I'd stick with GMATPrep and OG for RC.

that is insane.

It is just a peculiar way to study



Thanks. You confirm my fear for validity of the non-OG texts.



When I started my study I struggled with probability-permutation problems. I could not solved many of them under 2 mins. The tactic really helped me. Now, as you can see from my posts for such problems, I feel very convinced.

"One man's strength is another's weakness", the quote sure resonates well here! I am struggling with DS and I lose time here!



I try and pick numbers but that doesn't seem to work well as I spend too much time picking integers, consequtive numbers etc. Any tips there? How many cases should one try? What do you mean by construction of examples?

where are you from, walker?

See these examples:
7-t60746
7-t59278
7-t61019
7-t61339

Sometimes I:
- seek simplest example (and therefore the fastest one to check) (a^2+b^2=1: I try a=1,b=0 and a=0,b=1)
- seek examples that in the range where I expected to find them.
- use very large or small numbers: 100000000, 0.0000000001. When I use them a solution often become obvious.
- try one example and then see how to construct right examples
- use drawing.


Ukraine, Kyiv

omg, i need to stop using the 1000sc software, I can't believe walker only made a 33. jk

seriously man, your software has helped me improve my verbal score dramatically. i use it to practice whenever i have spare time. but I think the other one has helped me the most is MGMAT SC review. I used to get about 40-50% of sc problems right, after using the book, my rate improved to about 80-90%


Thanks walker for the 1000sc, hope you do well!

I'm glad that my software helped somebody! MGMAT SC review is really good stuff. Now, I do ~75-80% SC, ~80-90%CR, ~80-90% RC. But deconcentration on RC killed my score Maybe you have any suggestions?

I usually do pretty well on CR, SC is my weakest. I think RC is the one I have the most trouble concentrate on, and I don't like to scroll. This part is nasty, but luckily for most essays, you really don't have read every line of the paragraph.

I don't know how to give you advice on how to concentrate. I say do a little bit Tai Chi will probably help. JK. I think it would help if you practice in a noisy environment, such as on a bench inside a park or in the common hall of a dormitory. I once read about some famous person enjoys reading right next to a very noisy street, and he said something like "when I am into what I am reading, everything on the outside world disappears." Hope this helps, maybe other people have some other ideas!

walker,
sounds like that 70 score was an accident. either re-take GMP1 or take GMP2 and you'll get a at least a 750......then, there won't be any need for over-dramatizing

Thanks I just start use my little son as a generator of noise. And sometimes It is like torture
I have to acknowledge that I still have a weak vocabulary, although I've added to my head about 1500 words for last 4 months. Maybe unrecognized words in RC are a cause.....


I'm going to retake Prep1 in 4-5 days. I hope you are right!

give a ring to rhym at Uni of Cgicago, GBS.

Thanks a lot! I've found it: 1-t30247
awesome thread