Can somebody give me some advice for trying to go from Q35

Question

Can somebody give me some advice for trying to go from Q35 to the Q40-Q43 level.

I want to punch myself in the face for not improving in Quant. I don't know what is going on but I keep getting Q34-Q36 on my GMATPrep exams. I am pretty sure I have the fundamentals down just maybe not quick enough yet when answering questions? I have gone through the MGMAT Math books and going through OG & OG Quant Books.

Thanks a lot in advance for any advice or ideas.

brokerbevo · Answer

I just need a little bit more information:

Can you briefly describe your studying method (how many hours a day, practice tests, content, etc.)
Which study books are you using?
How are you doing your individual practice questions? 
 --Are you using scratch paper?
 --What do you do with the scratch paper once you are done?
 --Are you timing yourself on practice questions?
 --If so, are you timing yourself one problem at a time or in a block of questions?
How are you doing your practice CAT exams? 
 --How are you analyzing the results?
 --How are you assessing your weaknesses/strengths in terms of ability and time spent?

Any other info would help greatly.

Peterrich · Answer

Hey, thanks for the help.

I think my biggest problem is inconsistency. But I just got laid off from work (I work in finance in NYC) so I pretty much have all day to work on problems now. I just started (last week) to use a timer for every problem I do in the OG books and I give myself 2 minutes to answer the questions and if I can't figure a question out at the end of the 2 minutes, I just guess. Before I was laid off, I was probably doing blocks of 20 (12PS/8DS) questions a day, 5 days a week for approx. 8 or 9 weeks.

I use scratch paper but throw it away when I am finished doing problems from the OG, so I don't really review my scratch work. I have done every math problem in both the OG and OG Quant (untimed). And I have done probably half of the MGMAT practice problems from 5 MGMAT books (but these problems are very time consuming) that is why I have only done half of the MGMAT practice problems. I have only used these sources for quant prep.

I have taken 5 or 6 GMATPrep exams and have gotten between Q34 and Q37 on all of them. I did a MGMAT Cat once and gave myself 85 minutes and somehow scored a Q44 (I guess I got lucky there).

I actually think a weakness of mine is quickness with algebra. It seems like you can apply algebra to a lot of problems so you need to have it down pat. That is one area where I know I can improve.

I just need to figure out how to make the best use of my time to enable me to make the jump to 70-80% in quant. Thanks again.

brokerbevo · Answer

Yes, these are the same issues that I had and the same techniques that I used. One of my GMAT tutors suggested that I wasn't studying the right way (surprise surprise) and he told me of a more organized way of categorizing my work for review. First, I made a filing system that consisted of a cheap little filing box that could hold file folders and was somewhat portable. I made a hanging file folder for the following sections and subsections:

1.  Number properties 
  a. Divisibility and Primes
 b. Consecutive Integers
 c. Exponents
 d. Odds & Evens
 e. Positives & Negatives
 f. Roots 
2.  Equations/Inequalities/VIC 
  a. Basic Equations
 b. Exponential Equations
 c. Formulas
 d. Functions
 e. Inequalities
 f. Quadratic Equations
 g. VIC's  (whenever their are variable in the answer choices)  
3.  Fractions, Decimals, Percents 
  a. Digits & Decimals
 b. FDP's  (fractions, decimals and percents together in the problem---conversions required) 
 c. Fractions
 d. Percents 
4.  Geometry 
  a. Circles & Cylinders
 b. Coordinate Plane
 c. Lines & Angles
 d. Polygons
 e. Triangles & Diagonals 
5.  Word Translations 
  a. Algebraic Translations
 b. Combinatorics
 c. Overlapping Sets
 d. Probability
 e. Rates & Work
 f. Ratios
 g. Statistics

So, every time you do a timed problem, have a dedicated sheet of paper for each problem. Once you do the problem on that sheet, write the problem location at the top of the page, what type of problem it is (according to the sections above), and write a simple one page analysis of the problem on a separate sheet with the following in mind:
 1. Why you got it wrong (time constraint, careless error, insufficient skills, trap built into problem, etc.)
2. Why you got it right (did you guess, have you mastered the entire concept, could you create a similar problem, etc.)
3. Did the creator of the problem build any tricks or traps into the problem? (Ex: did he have you divide by zero thus invalidating one of the answer choices?)
4. Were you able to categorize the problem into one of the above categories? (prime numbers, statistics, polygons, etc.)
5. Did you understand every term, sign , abbreviation, concept, etc. presented in the problem and answer choices?
6. Did you choose the right approach? If so, are you comfortable with other strategies that could have solved the problem as well?
7. Actionable items. What you took away from the problem and how will approach similar problems come test day.

Once you have completed this, staple the scratch paper and the analysis together and file it according to question type. This way, when it comes time to review, you will have all your work filed according to question type and you will be able to see why you got it wrong, any major takeaways from the problem, things to focus on, and what you will remember to do if you get that problem type on the actual test. Do this for your individual problems from study books (such as the Official Guide) as well as problems from CAT practice exams---take screen shots of all the problems given to you during your practice exams, print them off and do the same above steps.

Now, at first I thought that this system/concept was cumbersome and unnecessary, but this proved to be the major determinant in my GMAT success. What this does is it helps you to categorize your work and review the reasons why you either got it wrong, what you understood about the problem and what you didn't, any major takeaways from the problem, etc. Simply doing a bunch of problems without analyzing them and categorizing them for future review does not help you to understand the problems, it just shows what you currently know---does not help you to get smarter nor does it help you gain more knowledge of the concepts.... Well, it might help a little.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any more specific questions as I have many more things to say on the subject but this should help you to get organized and study more efficiently in the mean time. Good luck.

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Does anyone else find it weird that the word "GMAT" is not a recognized word in this text editor??

sondenso · Answer

Very nice! Take time I think, but ther is no choice! :lol:

ParrotHead · Answer

How were you doing prior to using a timer? Personally, I'm not nearly as fast at quant as I want and need to be. But my philosophy is that first I need to be able to answer the questions correctly using unlimited time. Only once I can do that can I start working on my timing. After all, if I can't answer a problem correctly in 10 minutes, I sure can't do it in 2!

I've gone through the first 176 questions in the Quant OG in batches of 20 at a time. I got 85% - 95% correct in each batch, which I guess is okay. However, that was with unlimited time--and it took me a LONG time. If I don't pick up the pace, I'm screwed when I take the test!

Can somebody give me some advice for trying to go from Q35

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