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19 Oct 2014, 08:54
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi,
I'll start with giving some background:
I have maths and engineering background from Masters level studies.
I am not a native english speaker but live in the UK and hence use English daily.
GMATprep test 1:
6 weeks ago I took the GMATprep first of two tests by my kitchen table. I got 500.
I made just one error in reading comprehension and one in Critical Reasoning. But got only 18% correct on sentence correction.
Quant was a combination of sloppiness and rusty geometics and inefficient calculus skills (I could solve all problems, but using too slow non time optimized approaches).
What I studied after first GMATprep test 1:
I took 5 weeks to go through the complete set of Manhattan GMAT books. Calculated most problems of each chapter.
Quant focus was placed on fast methods and brushing up geometric skills.
Verbal focus was placed on sentence correction. I did not focus any effort on Reading comprehension, Critical Reasoning. I just looked through the chapter to verify I hadn't missed any smart time saving methods. (Which I felt I had, so I did a few problems with the new approaches).
I did not consider timing at all at this point.
GMATprep test 2:
After the 5 weeks (spending some week days, some weekends, I would say in all less than 50h of studying), I got 610.
This was sort of a expected improvment, but it left some disturbing facts:
I had improved on my quant performance, but eliminated everything but extended sloppiness. Only one error was lack of understanding, the rest of the 13 errors were just sloppiness, many presumably by increasing time pressure.
On verbal I made a leap on sentence correction more than trippleing the number of correct and cutting errors in half. 3/17 to 10/17 correct.
Result on reading comprehension was no change, but the critical reasoning score fell by significantly to only 4 out of 11 correct!
My analysis:
Since I did not focus my first studying on time management at all, I think this is what has hit me hard. I think the sloppiness in quant comes purely from trying to solve problems 90% of the way, then racing to the conclusion prematurely in a weak attempt to save time. Hence I think I need to practice on giving up on problems, spending time on the ones I am most certain to solve, and throw in the towel when not understanding / can't see the fast solution.
On verbal, I think its obvious that since I now have gotten an idea about how to solve sentence correction (before I just basically looked at the problems and guessed what sounded right), I am now spending time on them, taking time off the critical reasoning questions causing stress and hence weak analysis.
Current Status:
I now have 4 weeks left to the exam. Out of which I have two weeks off from work just to study. I of course want to improve as much as I can in this time. The areas I have identified as biggest target for improvement are the following:
1. Time management -- Get rid of quant sloppiness by quitting early on tricky problems and spend the time wise on problems I can solve.
2. Further improvement on sentence correction -- Get back to the book and improve the language skills.
What and how would you advice me to study during the remaining time? Thanks in advance for any advice
I'll start with giving some background:
I have maths and engineering background from Masters level studies.
I am not a native english speaker but live in the UK and hence use English daily.
GMATprep test 1:
6 weeks ago I took the GMATprep first of two tests by my kitchen table. I got 500.
I made just one error in reading comprehension and one in Critical Reasoning. But got only 18% correct on sentence correction.
Quant was a combination of sloppiness and rusty geometics and inefficient calculus skills (I could solve all problems, but using too slow non time optimized approaches).
What I studied after first GMATprep test 1:
I took 5 weeks to go through the complete set of Manhattan GMAT books. Calculated most problems of each chapter.
Quant focus was placed on fast methods and brushing up geometric skills.
Verbal focus was placed on sentence correction. I did not focus any effort on Reading comprehension, Critical Reasoning. I just looked through the chapter to verify I hadn't missed any smart time saving methods. (Which I felt I had, so I did a few problems with the new approaches).
I did not consider timing at all at this point.
GMATprep test 2:
After the 5 weeks (spending some week days, some weekends, I would say in all less than 50h of studying), I got 610.
This was sort of a expected improvment, but it left some disturbing facts:
I had improved on my quant performance, but eliminated everything but extended sloppiness. Only one error was lack of understanding, the rest of the 13 errors were just sloppiness, many presumably by increasing time pressure.
On verbal I made a leap on sentence correction more than trippleing the number of correct and cutting errors in half. 3/17 to 10/17 correct.
Result on reading comprehension was no change, but the critical reasoning score fell by significantly to only 4 out of 11 correct!
My analysis:
Since I did not focus my first studying on time management at all, I think this is what has hit me hard. I think the sloppiness in quant comes purely from trying to solve problems 90% of the way, then racing to the conclusion prematurely in a weak attempt to save time. Hence I think I need to practice on giving up on problems, spending time on the ones I am most certain to solve, and throw in the towel when not understanding / can't see the fast solution.
On verbal, I think its obvious that since I now have gotten an idea about how to solve sentence correction (before I just basically looked at the problems and guessed what sounded right), I am now spending time on them, taking time off the critical reasoning questions causing stress and hence weak analysis.
Current Status:
I now have 4 weeks left to the exam. Out of which I have two weeks off from work just to study. I of course want to improve as much as I can in this time. The areas I have identified as biggest target for improvement are the following:
1. Time management -- Get rid of quant sloppiness by quitting early on tricky problems and spend the time wise on problems I can solve.
2. Further improvement on sentence correction -- Get back to the book and improve the language skills.
What and how would you advice me to study during the remaining time? Thanks in advance for any advice
28 Oct 2014, 08:22
Kudos
Bookmarks
Review your mistakes religiously. Identify the types of mistakes you are making every night before you go to bed.
Then wake up first thing in the morning and go through the mental process of thinking through those questions you got wrong. Do this for each day until your exam and you will perform much better -- hopefully never repeating any mistakes you do make.
Then wake up first thing in the morning and go through the mental process of thinking through those questions you got wrong. Do this for each day until your exam and you will perform much better -- hopefully never repeating any mistakes you do make.
28 Oct 2014, 14:57
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi eaglecoth
For time management, try grouping five math questions together and spend no more more than 10 minutes on them. Use this strategy on both practice questions and simulation exams. If you fall behind schedule, make a strategic guess or two to catch up. Make strategic guesses on questions that you aren’t confident on or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer. That way, you buy yourself some time and you can spend more time on questions that you can confidently answer.
Here is a link to more time management tips: https://econgm.at/b0UNPV
Best of luck!
Jessica
For time management, try grouping five math questions together and spend no more more than 10 minutes on them. Use this strategy on both practice questions and simulation exams. If you fall behind schedule, make a strategic guess or two to catch up. Make strategic guesses on questions that you aren’t confident on or that would take you much longer than two minutes to answer. That way, you buy yourself some time and you can spend more time on questions that you can confidently answer.
Here is a link to more time management tips: https://econgm.at/b0UNPV
Best of luck!
Jessica
