GMAT quant advice

Question

Hello everyone,

I need an advice from all those quant specialist and hard working people out there.

I have started preparing for GMAT for past 45 days. As advised in many other forum topics, i started with quant sections before moving to verbal. My personal goal is to achieve 45 in quant before moving on to verbal. I believe i have gained sufficient knowledge of math required for GMAT quant. However, to my surprise, i scored 30 correct out of 48 quant questions (time spent 2.3 mins/questions) in GMAT official guide diagnosis test. I felt so depressed and thought may be i am not good for GMAT. To confirm that i try doing GMATclubs challenge M01 - i scored 29/37 (Times spent 2hrs). somehow i found Diagnostic test bit difficult than M01. Yesterday morning i did another set of 37 GMAT Official guide questions (mix of PS and DS questions). and yet again i scored less - 28/37 (time spent - 2hrs). Finally, this morning, i forced myself to do another GMATclubs test M02 - and to my surprise i scored again less than 20 - score 26/37 (time spent 2hrs 15 mins). Totally devastated.............

So this morning i decide to seek some professional help and advise from you all. I am sure there were many other test takers, who have faced similar situation.

Material used: MGMAT books, GMAT club math book.
Practise material: GMAT official guide, GMATclub challenges, GMAT Hack's 1000 questions, 1000 PS & DS questions.

questions that i ask myself is - Am i lacking questions practise? or am i lacking sufficient knowledge?
As observed from my recent test results - Mostly i was not able to guess the logic or math required to solve the problem. However, when i saw the explanation, i understood the question and its explanation. therefore, i think, i am not lacking basic math knowledge.

My question to you guys is - What shall i do from next?

I appreciates your help in advance.

Many thanks and enjoy your day.

HarishV · Answer

Hi Balaji,

Even i have started my GMAT Club tests a week back and as a matter of coincidence I have the same score as you m01 and m02. The score only keeps getting worse test by test.

Can any of the GMAT experts here guide us in the effective usage of these questions. After every test, I diligently review all the questions but the subsequent test throws up a whole new concept of testing. Although this is the best part of GMATclub tests, I feel that at times it thrashes my confidence in Quants (My GMAT Quant score is the proof for it).

Please let me know the ideal way to go about GMATClub tests.

tirupatibalaji · Answer

Hi Harsiv,

thanks for your reply. At least i got a single reply. No tbad.

When are you writing GMAT? will that be your 2nd attempt? and what material have you used so far?

I am going through the theory at present and i will give another crack on GMAT clubtest this Weekend. Lets see where i stand.

mattapraveen · Answer

Hi Balaji,

I am also presently using the GMAT club tests, presently on M11. I thought I can drop in couple of words.

Having given the GMAT earlier, I can say that, the GMAT club tests though not very representative of the real GMAT Q, are pretty much near to them . The GMAT club tests are a noth higher and aim at subtle basic concepts we tend to miss easily. The aim of the tests is to make you aware of those simple, basic concepts.

The tests should be used to build up your Q stamina. Instead of looking at getting 25-29 out of 37 for every tests, look at the test as 25 tests X 37 questions of goooood mix of Q questions. Look at the tests as a good question bank of Q questions.

I am doing alternate tests as timed and untimed so that I also improve my time management. So, my honest advsie is that, dont get disheartened byt he score in any way. If you consistently score around the 28+ questions right every time, you are on track to get a goooood Q score.

Regards,
Praveen

KarishmaB · Answer

Don't try to test yourself on every Quant set you do. Focus on practicing and assimilating the new concepts you come across. Keep a log. And I can't say it enough, "If you are unable to recognize the concept being tested, it is not because you don't know the concept, but because you did not do 20 different questions related to the same concept." If you practice well, you will be able to quickly jump on the correct train of thought for most questions. Still, there will be some which are too convoluted and you can choose to skip those, save that time and use it on some other questions. Plus, in actual GMAT you can afford to get quite a few questions incorrect and still end up with a good score.

tirupatibalaji · Answer

Karisma & mattapraveen

thanks a lot for your moral support. what i understand from your advice is that it is highly important to practise as many question i could for each topic. By doing so it will get me a good grip of concept tested in GMAT, and to quickly recognise the concept asked in a particular question.

I was wondering if i should practise Jeff sackmann's (GMAT hack) 1000 set question for practise? These sets contains 100 Q based on each concept tested in GMAT. Will you guys advise someone to use this material or will you advise to go about some other resource?

I appreciate you help.

Cheers!!

mattapraveen · Answer

I havent tried Jeff sackmann's, so I wouldnt comment on that. But at the end of the day, you can do only so much of questions. Instead of piling up tons of material and getting confused on what to work, you might as well concentrate on one good source, go to the nitty gritty things and master the topics.

Completing all the 25 tests itself is time consuming, if you are still planning about other material, what about the time for your V? Unless you are a verbal pro. So plan accordingly. Its just not hard work, but planned scientific hard work.

I have read couple of posts giving a good review about JeffS...; but leave it to your wisdom on to subscribe them or not. I reckon they dont come cheap. Instead, there are tons of questions on this forum which are equally hard. Just search for 750+ and any topic you want, you will be scared by a couple of 750+ Q questions on this forum.

Regards,
Praveen

tirupatibalaji · Answer

Pravin, thanks for your advise. I really want to make sure that i don't waste time doing irrelevant question practise, from some bogus source.
How you rate 1000s questions for PS & DS. are they worth doing? 
I have two choice before i kick start question practise. either i go for Jeff's 1000Q or i do 1000s Q. Bit confused about wot to embark on. 
But i am not moving on to verbal till i achieve avg Qu49.
Cheer!

mohater · Answer

Hello tirupatibalaji,

Given the number of books you have gone through, my guess is you're not able to identify what specific topics are giving you trouble. I don't mean DS or PS, I mean what specific part of arithmetic (geometry, algebra, word problems, simple trig, etc.) is keeping you from doing better.

Are you keeping an error log? This is key to reviewing the problems and identifying the WHY you are getting problems incorrect. Blindly reading material and doing problems does not work for many people.

PS: The 1000 series are nothing by pirated retired GMAC material that can be found across many licensed sources (old GMAT paper tests, older OG guides, etc.). I would stick to materials that include explanations (Jeff Sackmann, MGMAT, Veritas, Kaplan, etc.).

tirupatibalaji · Answer

Hi Mohater,

First of all thanks for your advise. 
Yes, i have been keeping a error log of all the questions i have attempted. And i was surprised by the fact that i had made mistakes most of the concepts tested in GMAT. Hence doesn't provide me a clear picture to work with. 
Although, i am also maintaining the log book of concepts, which i learnt from the questions answered incorrectly.

I think i should start with Jeff Sackmann's 1000Q sets, as they contain detailed explanation for each question. Once i complete that i will switch to OG12 & 11. Just to point out that i have already covered all the MGMAT books along with refereed OG12 questions (for each chapter). 
I am almost done with TGM book from Jeff sackmann. TGM contains 10-15 questions for each chapter covered.

I'm sure by end of next week i should be back on track.

any advise or suggestions are welcomed.

KarishmaB · Answer

Yes, it is very important to practice the concepts you are learning. From your scores, it doesn't look like you have problems with fundamentals. If I were to take a guess, I would say your exposure to Math has been limited in the recent past (job/college) though you were decent in Math at school. That could be a reason why you are not able to decipher the concept being tested on some questions. It can be rectified by keeping a log of new concepts you come across in various practice questions and referring back to the log occasionally. Don't look at practice questions as tests, but as PRACTICE questions. Think of it as learning phase, don't jump to testing.

You can practice from any GMAT relevant standard source (it should not be below or beyond GMAT level). Keep in mind that you should check out the explanation of all the questions you do, not just of the incorrect ones. You will pick up quite a few tricks from there.

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