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27 Jan 2005, 16:20
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Hi, all. I found this post on the Business Week message board.
Questor
"From: Ganz121 4:53 am
To: hud (sitkin) (64 of 64)
60614.64 in reply to 60614.63
This was posted somewhere else. It is more than I can say.
I read tons of posts about how to game the GMAT. One common remark revolves around making early errors and trying to figure out the algorithm.
Most applying to top schools will want a score above 700 with an 80/80 split. After much toil I recently scored a 770, up from a 560 when I first started. What I have come to realize is that there is almost no way to scam your way to a top score. No tricks, strategies, etc. Lets face it. This is a really really hard exam. I got a 49/51 on the quantitative section which translates into the 90%. That means that in order to get above the 90%, you can only get one question wrong on the entire math section. Thats it. One wrong.
The stupid strategies that Kaplan and Princeton review teach are absolutely useless to those trying to achieve scores that will make one "safely" considered by the likes of H/S/W. Eliminating choices down to two and having a 50/50 shot. Thats ridiculuous. If you find yourself doing this on more than 4 questions out of 37, you are probably not on track to get a top Math score.
Realistically the only way to defeat this exam is to actually excel at the subject matter. I kept trying to apply tactics and strategies with minimal avail. Kaplan and PR are great for those scoring in the 500s and getting them to a low 600 score. But you know as well as I that unless you have started an African medical clinic that has rescured over 1,000+ or your last name ends in Bush, a 610 will be a very tough number to overcome.
So what did I do.... I think the only things you need to prepare for this exam are the following:
1. The official guide
2. A graduate level text book in grammar
3. a dozen copies of the economist and american scientific
Its not about the quantity of questions you go through but the intensity to which you learn the solutions. The GMAT guide will cover every type of question you will encounter. If you don't recognize them on the real exam, you are probably not understanding the concept underlying the problem.
MATH
Roughly 1/3 of the Math questions revolve around some kind of rate/time question. I can assure you regardless of whether this rate is applied to water, cars or candy canes, the way you set up each question and solve them is the same. Moreover ANY GMAT math question can be solved in under 1 min 45 secs on a side of a standard note card. Trust me on this one.
VERBAL
Nailing the sentance correction is the absolute key to getting a high verbal score. I never realized how little I knew about grammar until I took the GMAT. I basically had to teach myself graduate level grammar through a text book and by attending a community college course. If you address the grammar, you will invariably address the other two verbal sections. Don't waste your time studying a list of idioms. 90%+ of every wrong GMAT answer has a structural error, not merely an idiom error. You must understand the structure and theory of English grammar to excel on this section. Simply memorizing stupid names for common errors such as a dangling modifier is NOT sufficient.
You also need to train your self to read faster. Read the magazines that I highlighted above and purposely look for sections that are painful for you to read. Sit down and read them carefully, proactively and as quickly as possible. Then time yourself and later ask yourself the typical GMAT questions. What was the main arguement, the structure, etc. You will get faster and faster. If you can read these quickly and understand the structure and purpose of the passage, you can at least nail 30% of the questions asked. The remaining questions require you to dig deep into the passage to find the right answers. Believe me, with some practice, reading comp is far and away the easiest section of the entire GMAT.
TIMING
Lastly it is all about timing. Simply practicing the CAT under a timed condition is NOT sufficient. There are questions you can answer well under a minute and there are questions that will take you over 5. The trick is focusing on your trouble spots. I can almost guarantee that if you are running out of time, you are having trouble with the rate questions. Go back to your old practice CATs and look at what you are taking the most time on. You will see what I mean.
This is going to sound strange but my parting advice to all of you struggling to break 700 is that the GMAT is not your fate. In fact it does not even test your intelligence. I doubt that I have increased my intelligence meaningfully since I first scored a 560. As with most things in life, succeeding on the GMAT is more of a function of smart preparation and persistence. While you cannot trick the GMAT you can definitely defeat it with a systematic method of learning.
Remember don't waste your time learning tricks. Learn the material."
Questor
"From: Ganz121 4:53 am
To: hud (sitkin) (64 of 64)
60614.64 in reply to 60614.63
This was posted somewhere else. It is more than I can say.
I read tons of posts about how to game the GMAT. One common remark revolves around making early errors and trying to figure out the algorithm.
Most applying to top schools will want a score above 700 with an 80/80 split. After much toil I recently scored a 770, up from a 560 when I first started. What I have come to realize is that there is almost no way to scam your way to a top score. No tricks, strategies, etc. Lets face it. This is a really really hard exam. I got a 49/51 on the quantitative section which translates into the 90%. That means that in order to get above the 90%, you can only get one question wrong on the entire math section. Thats it. One wrong.
The stupid strategies that Kaplan and Princeton review teach are absolutely useless to those trying to achieve scores that will make one "safely" considered by the likes of H/S/W. Eliminating choices down to two and having a 50/50 shot. Thats ridiculuous. If you find yourself doing this on more than 4 questions out of 37, you are probably not on track to get a top Math score.
Realistically the only way to defeat this exam is to actually excel at the subject matter. I kept trying to apply tactics and strategies with minimal avail. Kaplan and PR are great for those scoring in the 500s and getting them to a low 600 score. But you know as well as I that unless you have started an African medical clinic that has rescured over 1,000+ or your last name ends in Bush, a 610 will be a very tough number to overcome.
So what did I do.... I think the only things you need to prepare for this exam are the following:
1. The official guide
2. A graduate level text book in grammar
3. a dozen copies of the economist and american scientific
Its not about the quantity of questions you go through but the intensity to which you learn the solutions. The GMAT guide will cover every type of question you will encounter. If you don't recognize them on the real exam, you are probably not understanding the concept underlying the problem.
MATH
Roughly 1/3 of the Math questions revolve around some kind of rate/time question. I can assure you regardless of whether this rate is applied to water, cars or candy canes, the way you set up each question and solve them is the same. Moreover ANY GMAT math question can be solved in under 1 min 45 secs on a side of a standard note card. Trust me on this one.
VERBAL
Nailing the sentance correction is the absolute key to getting a high verbal score. I never realized how little I knew about grammar until I took the GMAT. I basically had to teach myself graduate level grammar through a text book and by attending a community college course. If you address the grammar, you will invariably address the other two verbal sections. Don't waste your time studying a list of idioms. 90%+ of every wrong GMAT answer has a structural error, not merely an idiom error. You must understand the structure and theory of English grammar to excel on this section. Simply memorizing stupid names for common errors such as a dangling modifier is NOT sufficient.
You also need to train your self to read faster. Read the magazines that I highlighted above and purposely look for sections that are painful for you to read. Sit down and read them carefully, proactively and as quickly as possible. Then time yourself and later ask yourself the typical GMAT questions. What was the main arguement, the structure, etc. You will get faster and faster. If you can read these quickly and understand the structure and purpose of the passage, you can at least nail 30% of the questions asked. The remaining questions require you to dig deep into the passage to find the right answers. Believe me, with some practice, reading comp is far and away the easiest section of the entire GMAT.
TIMING
Lastly it is all about timing. Simply practicing the CAT under a timed condition is NOT sufficient. There are questions you can answer well under a minute and there are questions that will take you over 5. The trick is focusing on your trouble spots. I can almost guarantee that if you are running out of time, you are having trouble with the rate questions. Go back to your old practice CATs and look at what you are taking the most time on. You will see what I mean.
This is going to sound strange but my parting advice to all of you struggling to break 700 is that the GMAT is not your fate. In fact it does not even test your intelligence. I doubt that I have increased my intelligence meaningfully since I first scored a 560. As with most things in life, succeeding on the GMAT is more of a function of smart preparation and persistence. While you cannot trick the GMAT you can definitely defeat it with a systematic method of learning.
Remember don't waste your time learning tricks. Learn the material."
27 Jan 2005, 17:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
Great Freakin POST!
