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In Episode 3 of our GMAT Ninja Critical Reasoning series, we tackle Discrepancy, Paradox, and Explain an Oddity questions. You know the feeling: the passage gives you two facts that seem completely contradictory....- May 08
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28 Feb 2014, 11:32
Kudos
Bookmarks
I've been studying for the GMAT for quite a while and while my verbal is exactly where I want it to be, I am still not confident in the quant.
I feel like I've been making gains bit-by-bit but not at the rate I need to as I want to get this test done sooner rather than later. I've recently started working on the GMAT Club tests by doing batches of questions from the 600 bank. I like the challenge of these and they're really making me think. I seem to be doing OK as I'm through most of them with about an 80% hit rate (which will hopefully improve after review).
However, I haven't really been holding myself to strict time limits as I've been trying to apply the approach recommended for difficult quant questions in the Manhattan GMAT Advance Quant book.
With regards to PS, this is basically:
1. Understand the basics (asking yourself a variety of questions/writing down what you know/etc)
2. Build a plan
3. Solve
With the GMAT Club tests, the first part of this strategy seems to take a lot of time that is not leaving me able to get to answers under the 2 minute mark.
Is it likely that I'm just weak on my fundamentals or is the strategy time-consuming? Any thoughts?
Also, any recommendations on how best to approach these questions. I'm currently doing them in sets of 5 in study mode, where I review each question after I answer but is this the best approach? Should I be doing sets of 10 with timing and then reviewing?
I think what's holding me back the most on Quant is that I just don't really know what to do with the questions upon review. I read the answers and understand why it's right but I don't think I'm assimilating it beyond that.
Any help would be appreciated.
I feel like I've been making gains bit-by-bit but not at the rate I need to as I want to get this test done sooner rather than later. I've recently started working on the GMAT Club tests by doing batches of questions from the 600 bank. I like the challenge of these and they're really making me think. I seem to be doing OK as I'm through most of them with about an 80% hit rate (which will hopefully improve after review).
However, I haven't really been holding myself to strict time limits as I've been trying to apply the approach recommended for difficult quant questions in the Manhattan GMAT Advance Quant book.
With regards to PS, this is basically:
1. Understand the basics (asking yourself a variety of questions/writing down what you know/etc)
2. Build a plan
3. Solve
With the GMAT Club tests, the first part of this strategy seems to take a lot of time that is not leaving me able to get to answers under the 2 minute mark.
Is it likely that I'm just weak on my fundamentals or is the strategy time-consuming? Any thoughts?
Also, any recommendations on how best to approach these questions. I'm currently doing them in sets of 5 in study mode, where I review each question after I answer but is this the best approach? Should I be doing sets of 10 with timing and then reviewing?
I think what's holding me back the most on Quant is that I just don't really know what to do with the questions upon review. I read the answers and understand why it's right but I don't think I'm assimilating it beyond that.
Any help would be appreciated.
02 Mar 2014, 23:28
Kudos
Bookmarks
You do need fundamentals and basics. You need to get either a set of books or an online course that can walk you through those and give you some exercises to demonstrate what questions can ask and how. You can just jump into the tests.
You have not mentioned what materials you are using, so it is hard to tell, but if you are just using the GMAT Club tests, then you are only shooting with a sniper rifle (you hit some topics that you know and others that you don't). What you need is a machine gun - a book that covers everything and does not leave any doubts so you don't have to guess if you know how to solve it or not - you will have the confidence and knowledge that you should know how to solve and that will help a lot.
Let me know if any other specific questions.
Good Luck!
BB
You have not mentioned what materials you are using, so it is hard to tell, but if you are just using the GMAT Club tests, then you are only shooting with a sniper rifle (you hit some topics that you know and others that you don't). What you need is a machine gun - a book that covers everything and does not leave any doubts so you don't have to guess if you know how to solve it or not - you will have the confidence and knowledge that you should know how to solve and that will help a lot.
Let me know if any other specific questions.
Good Luck!
BB
10 Mar 2014, 17:12
Kudos
Bookmarks
bb
Thanks for the response.
I started with the Manhattan GMAT books months ago (beginning with the math fundamentals) and have gone through all of these books at least twice (some even more than that). I'm on my second go around with the OG13 questions (about 91% correct through 165 questions), which is a solid improvement over my last attempt through 165.
It's hard to convey, but I just seem to struggle with problems that I feel I shouldn't be struggling with. On problems I get wrong, I feel that the initial set-up and analysis is where I get tripped up. To use the algebra problems as an example, I feel that my arithmetic is strong once the problem is set-up and I get into solving it but my errors stem from analyzing the stem and setting up the equations/taking note of the constraints/etc. I read the problems and I just don't see things I should be seeing.
When I read the solutions, I understand them completely. Every OG13 problem I attempt on here and then check Bunuel's explanation. I understand his explanations but on the questions I get wrong I just don't see what I need to (what he does) get to those solutions. It feels like my brain just trips itself up.
I've been over the books to the point that I feel I understand the fundamentals as my MGMAT practice tests have consistently scored around 42Q. I just haven't been able to progress beyond that.
I'd venture to guess that it boils down to improper use of my error log. I still don't understand exactly how I should be using the error log. Do I need to review the MGMAT sections for every problem I get wrong because, like I said above, I understand the explanations. They make perfect sense to me and I can't think of any times where I struggled to understand how the answer was achieved. I don't feel like I'm getting anything from the error log due to my understanding the solutions. But, understanding them and then applying them later on is the struggle.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Also, with regards to the GMAT Club tests, is it better to practice the questions in a timed test setting (i.e. taking a Quant practice test) or should I be breaking them up into group of 5 or 10 and approaching them by topic.
Upon seeing the explanations of the problems I get incorrect, I kick myself for not seeing the answer when I was trying the problem. I understand the explanations and they all make sense.
However, I just struggle with the problems during my attempts. I'm having trouble making the logical connections between steps and I feel that it all stems from the beginning. For example, on the algebra problems I can usually set-up the equations to an extent but then I just trip up going from there.
