Preparing for GMAT in a week : General GMAT Questions and Strategies

L

EMPOWERgmatRichC

GMAT Club Legend

Joined: 19 Dec 2014

Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder

Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat

Posts: 21846

Own Kudos [?]: 11668 [0]

Given Kudos: 450

Location: United States (CA)

GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49

GRE 1: Q170 V170

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

29 Apr 2016, 11:05

Expert Reply

Hi samirabrahao1,

If you're looking for evidence that you're prepared to score at the 620+ level right now, then the answer is that you don't have any. Since you haven't studied consistently, nor have you taken your CATs in a fashion that 'mirrors' what you'll face on Test Day, we can't really use those scores as any kind of accurate 'baseline' either. All things being equal, I would have to assume that you'll need at least 1-2 months of consistent, guided study to achieve your score goal. Whether that 'meshes' with the application timeline you're on or not is unclear.

1) What is the latest that you can submit your GMAT score to this School?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

29 Apr 2016, 14:00

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi samirabrahao1,

1) What is the latest that you can submit your GMAT score to this School?

I don't know, but they said it could be submitted for as long as there was space in the program, which could be up to June. Based on my assessment, the longer I wait, the greater the chance of submitting my scores too late. I only see 3 different courses of action:

1. I could take the exam as soon as possible, most likely next monday or tuesday. The risk of running short of space availability in the program is still very low by then, but based on what you've said here my chances of scoring 620 at my first try are also very low. It appears 620 is indeed more than an average score from what I've been reading.

- Can you give me a better description of how difficult is a 620 score?
- What would you recommend me do to establish a baseline with acceptable reliability?
- Like I said, the verbal section in the CATs seemed relatively easy, and English is not my first language. Since then I have not practiced it at all, only the quant section. Am I missing something here? It has "trap" written all over it.
- Should I care about IR and AWA? Why?

2. I could take another month to prepare. That would carry a great risk of running out of time to submit my scores but I'd have a greater chance of achieving the intended score.

- On average, how much better people get by preparing for a month?
- What would be the best way to prepare given this time frame? What do you mean about guided study? What do you think about The Economist's GMAT and Magoosh?
- Would you recommend me this approach knowing I don't often benefit from prolongued studies?

3. I could take the exam next week, and if I didn't get at least 620 I wouldn't report my scores and try again in a month. Best of the two worlds, plus it would supposedly increase my chances on my second try by having real test experience, but I'd expend more money and my currency isn't doing well these days.

- Some of the testimonials contained in this forum have scared me a little bit. Some people have taken the test over monthly intervals and haven't improved their scores at all. How would you explain this?
- Do you know if I could end up answering the same questions among different exams? It is probably a silly question but it doesn't hurt to ask.
- What is the minimum time interval required between exams?

L

EMPOWERgmatRichC

GMAT Club Legend

Joined: 19 Dec 2014

Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder

Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat

Posts: 21846

Own Kudos [?]: 11668 [0]

Given Kudos: 450

Location: United States (CA)

GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49

GRE 1: Q170 V170

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

30 Apr 2016, 11:16

Expert Reply

Hi samirabrahao1,

You ask a number of good questions, but right now EVERYTHING hinges on your actual ability level - and we don't have a clear sense of what that is. As such, I suggest that you take a new CAT soon (perhaps this weekend). Make sure to take the ENTIRE CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) and take it in as realistic and 'test-like' a fashion as possible (take it in one sitting, without pausing the Test, at the same time of day as you would take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can talk through the best course of action.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

02 May 2016, 11:49

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi samirabrahao1,

You ask a number of good questions, but right now EVERYTHING hinges on your actual ability level - and we don't have a clear sense of what that is. As such, I suggest that you take a new CAT soon (perhaps this weekend). Make sure to take the ENTIRE CAT (with the Essay and IR sections) and take it in as realistic and 'test-like' a fashion as possible (take it in one sitting, without pausing the Test, at the same time of day as you would take the Official GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can talk through the best course of action.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Ok, I will do as you instructed, but in the mean time can you answer me at least one question?

How hard do you think it is to get a 600-650 score? What is the level of skill required? Can you describe that?

L

EMPOWERgmatRichC

GMAT Club Legend

Joined: 19 Dec 2014

Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder

Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat

Posts: 21846

Own Kudos [?]: 11668 [0]

Given Kudos: 450

Location: United States (CA)

GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49

GRE 1: Q170 V170

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

02 May 2016, 12:01

Expert Reply

Hi samirabrahao1,

These days, a 600+ score is just above the 60th percentile (and a 650 is right around the 80th percentile), which means that 60% of Test Takers can't score at that level. There are actually a variety of Quant and Verbal score 'combinations' that will land you in that range, so the relative "toughness" of scoring at that level depends on your particular skill set. I can tell you that you won't have to correctly answer any of the hard/weird questions on Test Day to score that high though - but you will have to limit the number of little mistakes you make on the 'gettable' questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

02 May 2016, 12:40

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi samirabrahao1,

These days, a 600+ score is just above the 60th percentile (and a 650 is right around the 80th percentile), which means that 60% of Test Takers can't score at that level. There are actually a variety of Quant and Verbal score 'combinations' that will land you in that range, so the relative "toughness" of scoring at that level depends on your particular skill set. I can tell you that you won't have to correctly answer any of the hard/weird questions on Test Day to score that high though - but you will have to limit the number of little mistakes you make on the 'gettable' questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Interesting... that was quite helpful.

So you would describe this level as being one where you can afford to miss the harder questions, and has some tolerance, albeit minimal, regarding easy/medium difficulty? Sounds easier than most would describe, and i find your 1-2 month of practice recommendation quite reasonable. What leads so many people to score so low sometimes? I'd like to know that so I can avoid their mistakes, it has to be something more than simple lack of practice...

I think this means I have chosen the right approach to focus on the quantitative section because that is where I make most of the "little mistakes". I'm fairly good at the verbal section: I only get the hard ones wrong. I usually get at least 80% of the verbal section right, all things considered.

On the quant section, however, it is the other way around. I incorrectly answer more of the easy questions than the hard ones. I'm bad at applying and following mathematical rules at risk, and don't have a lot of knowledge of formulas which makes me miss some of the easy questions, but I'm good at thinking outside the box and can come quickly with different solutions to complex problems. I'm pretty methodical at solving the more easily recognizable question patterns and often solve them through intuition and elimination. Do you have any recommendations on how to improve on this aspect other than pure practice?

B

prabhakar09

Manager

Joined: 20 Mar 2016

Posts: 185

Own Kudos [?]: 43 [0]

Given Kudos: 71

Location: Estonia

Concentration: Strategy, General Management

Schools: IE (A)

GMAT 1: 690 Q49 V35

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 04:23

samirabrahao1 wrote:

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi samirabrahao1,

These days, a 600+ score is just above the 60th percentile (and a 650 is right around the 80th percentile), which means that 60% of Test Takers can't score at that level. There are actually a variety of Quant and Verbal score 'combinations' that will land you in that range, so the relative "toughness" of scoring at that level depends on your particular skill set. I can tell you that you won't have to correctly answer any of the hard/weird questions on Test Day to score that high though - but you will have to limit the number of little mistakes you make on the 'gettable' questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Interesting... that was quite helpful.

So you would describe this level as being one where you can afford to miss the harder questions, and has some tolerance, albeit minimal, regarding easy/medium difficulty? Sounds easier than most would describe, and i find your 1-2 month of practice recommendation quite reasonable. What leads so many people to score so low sometimes? I'd like to know that so I can avoid their mistakes, it has to be something more than simple lack of practice...

I think this means I have chosen the right approach to focus on the quantitative section because that is where I make most of the "little mistakes". I'm fairly good at the verbal section: I only get the hard ones wrong. I usually get at least 80% of the verbal section right, all things considered.

On the quant section, however, it is the other way around. I incorrectly answer more of the easy questions than the hard ones. I'm bad at applying and following mathematical rules at risk, and don't have a lot of knowledge of formulas which makes me miss some of the easy questions, but I'm good at thinking outside the box and can come quickly with different solutions to complex problems. I'm pretty methodical at solving the more easily recognizable question patterns and often solve them through intuition and elimination. Do you have any recommendations on how to improve on this aspect other than pure practice?

You would have to know the formulas. That you cannot skip. but you would have read many places. this test it more about reasoning. and most of the quant section will have an easy solution (which i still don't get).1-2 month is possible to improve. but then you need to do extra work.

In practice test. it is a must to follow test conditions. Someone even recommended to use ear plugs.
Last 30 minutes on the test, even in practice test, is so crazy. you need to be used to with that.

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 05:33

prabhakar09 wrote:

samirabrahao1 wrote:

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:

Hi samirabrahao1,

These days, a 600+ score is just above the 60th percentile (and a 650 is right around the 80th percentile), which means that 60% of Test Takers can't score at that level. There are actually a variety of Quant and Verbal score 'combinations' that will land you in that range, so the relative "toughness" of scoring at that level depends on your particular skill set. I can tell you that you won't have to correctly answer any of the hard/weird questions on Test Day to score that high though - but you will have to limit the number of little mistakes you make on the 'gettable' questions.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Interesting... that was quite helpful.

So you would describe this level as being one where you can afford to miss the harder questions, and has some tolerance, albeit minimal, regarding easy/medium difficulty? Sounds easier than most would describe, and i find your 1-2 month of practice recommendation quite reasonable. What leads so many people to score so low sometimes? I'd like to know that so I can avoid their mistakes, it has to be something more than simple lack of practice...

I think this means I have chosen the right approach to focus on the quantitative section because that is where I make most of the "little mistakes". I'm fairly good at the verbal section: I only get the hard ones wrong. I usually get at least 80% of the verbal section right, all things considered.

On the quant section, however, it is the other way around. I incorrectly answer more of the easy questions than the hard ones. I'm bad at applying and following mathematical rules at risk, and don't have a lot of knowledge of formulas which makes me miss some of the easy questions, but I'm good at thinking outside the box and can come quickly with different solutions to complex problems. I'm pretty methodical at solving the more easily recognizable question patterns and often solve them through intuition and elimination. Do you have any recommendations on how to improve on this aspect other than pure practice?

You would have to know the formulas. That you cannot skip. but you would have read many places. this test it more about reasoning. and most of the quant section will have an easy solution (which i still don't get).1-2 month is possible to improve. but then you need to do extra work.

In practice test. it is a must to follow test conditions. Someone even recommended to use ear plugs.
Last 30 minutes on the test, even in practice test, is so crazy. you need to be used to with that.

prabhakar09,

I think the greatest catch here is developing methods to solve questions, not theoretical knowledge. These "easy solutions" which you say you still don't get are probably found through methodical analysis. I dont know about you but I haven't needed to memorize a lot of formulas, only some of the more basic ones, like the sum of the internal angles of a polygon or how to find the size of the largest side of a triangle for example. Knowing that I won't need to get any of the hardest questions right puts me a lot at ease.

I'm planning on preparing for another week and then taking the exam ASAP. If I fail it's no big deal, I'll use the experience to address my weaknesses and then take the exam again shortly after.

B

prabhakar09

Manager

Joined: 20 Mar 2016

Posts: 185

Own Kudos [?]: 43 [0]

Given Kudos: 71

Location: Estonia

Concentration: Strategy, General Management

Schools: IE (A)

GMAT 1: 690 Q49 V35

Send PM

Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 05:45

samirabrahao1 wrote:

prabhakar09,

I think the greatest catch here is developing methods to solve questions, not theoretical knowledge. These "easy solutions" which you say you still don't get are probably found through methodical analysis. I dont know about you but I haven't needed to memorize a lot of formulas, only some of the more basic ones, like the sum of the internal angles of a polygon or how to find the size of the largest side of a triangle for example. Knowing that I won't need to get any of the hardest questions right puts me a lot at ease.

I'm planning on preparing for another week and then taking the exam ASAP. If I fail it's no big deal, I'll use the experience to address my weaknesses and then take the exam again shortly after.

Those are the formulas needed for GMAT. you don't need to go deep into trigonometry for 800 also. Anyway you said it correctly that methodical approach is important.

One suggestion. before you go for next test, check the explanations of the questions that you got wrong. Look for error log. that is another helpful tool.

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 06:53

prabhakar09 wrote:

samirabrahao1 wrote:

prabhakar09,

I think the greatest catch here is developing methods to solve questions, not theoretical knowledge. These "easy solutions" which you say you still don't get are probably found through methodical analysis. I dont know about you but I haven't needed to memorize a lot of formulas, only some of the more basic ones, like the sum of the internal angles of a polygon or how to find the size of the largest side of a triangle for example. Knowing that I won't need to get any of the hardest questions right puts me a lot at ease.

I'm planning on preparing for another week and then taking the exam ASAP. If I fail it's no big deal, I'll use the experience to address my weaknesses and then take the exam again shortly after.

Those are the formulas needed for GMAT. you don't need to go deep into trigonometry for 800 also. Anyway you said it correctly that methodical approach is important.

One suggestion. before you go for next test, check the explanations of the questions that you got wrong. Look for error log. that is another helpful tool.

prabhakar09,

I do that, but I dont often find the answer explanations helpful: they only explain the complex, most time-consuming methematical solutions, and on rare situations they are even misleading. They are good for improving theoretical knowledge, but not very good for developing methods. Maybe its just me, I think you have a totally different approach. The truth is that when I ignore time constraints, I rarely get any question wrong at all, but getting to the answer can take up to half an hour hehehehe... The million-dollar question is often how could I have solved a given problem within the 2 minute time frame.

As of late I've been answering most of the hardest questions about problem solving in 4-6 minutes for practicing sake, but on Test Day I plan to outright guess any questions I deem too hard to answer in 2 minutes. Success will depend on my ability to correctly invest my time resources, but it remains to be seen how far this strategy will take me.

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 06:59

Oh yeah, and one more thing, I personally find that strategies that work for most people mostly do not work for me, this is what I've been trying to say from the start. Take this error log you mentioned for instance... the more I try to be organized, the less productive I am. Whereas most people have trouble developing methods, the hardest part for me is to correctly apply mathematical rules. This adds extra difficulty for me because I don't have a lot of advice to rely on.

sgcfivegm

Intern

Joined: 22 Apr 2016

Posts: 17

Own Kudos [?]: 2 [0]

Given Kudos: 3

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

03 May 2016, 07:18

This has been a very helpful thread with some great advice that I will take home with me. Thanks.

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

07 May 2016, 14:16

Rich,

I took my first cat 3 weeks ago and scored 550.

I took another today and got roughly the same, 530. I saw a HUGE increase in the number of correct answers at quant section and IR, and verbal remained the same. My DS score was greater than 87% of test takers.

Problem was: I barely managed to answer 60% of the quant section within the time limit. My average time spent for each question is over 4:30.

Idk why this happened, I think I've had more trouble concentrating at this time. I've decided to take another week to study. Is there anything you would recommend me to practice my timing?

L

EMPOWERgmatRichC

GMAT Club Legend

Joined: 19 Dec 2014

Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder

Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat

Posts: 21846

Own Kudos [?]: 11668 [0]

Given Kudos: 450

Location: United States (CA)

GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49

GRE 1: Q170 V170

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

07 May 2016, 17:59

Expert Reply

Hi samirabrahao1,

Given everything that you've described, these overall score results are not surprising - you've done just enough work (and you have enough natural ability) to score at an 'average' level on the GMAT (the average score on the Official GMAT hovers around 540-550 most years). However, you have not done enough work to consistently score at a higher level. Your goal score requires considerably MORE training than you've done. Your goal score is close enough to these scores that you could conceivably score above 600 on Test Day, but the practice results don't provide any proof that that's likely to happen. This is all meant to say that you'll likely need far more than an extra week of study time and you'll likely need to invest in some new practice resources.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

09 May 2016, 08:00

Rich,

I got the same score as before without answering 40% of the quant questions, how can this not be an improvement LOL!!

I gotta get used to the quant pacing, thats all. If that is going to be enough, its a whole other story, but right now I think that is my greatest weakness. I was hoping you would give me some advice on how to pratice a timing strategy. Any free CATS I could take?

L

EMPOWERgmatRichC

GMAT Club Legend

Joined: 19 Dec 2014

Status:GMAT Assassin/Co-Founder

Affiliations: EMPOWERgmat

Posts: 21846

Own Kudos [?]: 11668 [0]

Given Kudos: 450

Location: United States (CA)

GMAT 1: 800 Q51 V49

GRE 1: Q170 V170

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

09 May 2016, 11:44

Expert Reply

Hi samirabrahao1,

While there are certainly pacing 'guidelines' that you can follow to help you make sure that you're 'on pace' to finish the full section on time, those types of guidelines won't help you to answer questions faster. Most GMAT questions can be solved in a variety of ways, so learning each of the possible approaches should allow you to choose whichever method is fastest/easiest for each question that you face. If you have a significant pacing problem, then "your way" of approaching the questions is likely the "long way" - and the only way to improve on that is by using different Tactics and getting in enough repetitions so that you can recognize questions faster and your response time improves.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

SamirAbrahao

Manager

Joined: 27 Apr 2016

Posts: 91

Own Kudos [?]: 21 [0]

Given Kudos: 12

Location: Brazil

GMAT 1: 610 Q37 V36

GPA: 2.7

WE:Information Technology (Education)

Send PM

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

09 May 2016, 12:36

Rich,

I don't mean to improve my skills in such a way that I will take on questions faster. Right now I'd like to be able to recognize which questions I should invest my time on, and to learn how to best make an educated guess on the ones I don't see a clear path to solution at first hand.

I just took the free Manhattam CAT and scored as follows:

Section Score Estimated Percentile
Quant 40 47 %
Verbal 36 81 %
Total 630 71%

You said it yourself that I dont need to get any of the harder questions right, and that's what I did on today's CAT. I almost finished the quant section on time, and tried my best to skip most harder questions. This is what I'm trying to practice.

gmatclubot

Re: Preparing for GMAT in a week [#permalink]

09 May 2016, 12:36