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Apr 2808:00 AM PDT
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Whether you are just beginning your MBA journey or fine-tuning your path to a 700+ score, GMAT Day is designed to give you a competitive edge.
09 May 2020, 09:20
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hello All,
Story So Far:
I am a native Indian retaking the GMAT for the 3rd time in the next month.
Sources used for mocks over a 2.5 month period: Veritas, MGMAT, Kaplan, GMAT Prep, Local Indian source (attended a few classes as well)
Range of scores in mock tests was Q: 47-49 and V: 35-39
Range of overall scores in mock tests were: 690-710
First official attempt taken in 2018 resulted in 650 (Q45, V35, IR7, AWA4)
Sources used for mocks over the next 1 month period: GMATPrep Packs 3-6, 800 Score Tests, Local Indian source (attended a few classes as well)
Range of scores in mock tests was Q: 48-49 and V: 39-41
Second official attempt taken in 2018 resulted in 610
I cancelled my score and gave up on anything related to do with GMAT since 650 was pretty mediocre after my initial efforts and 610 was abysmal given the intense carefully scrutinised efforts on many topics.
Small side note with a weak chuckle: My first attempt ESR showed a 100% on Geometry.
Retake Approach:
It has been 2 years since I touched any GMAT Materials so I believe I am starting fresh.
I have given a window of 1.5 months starting May 1 with a mid-June test date firmly in mind with prep time of 6-7 Hrs per day self study.
First week is done and Im only done with 650-700 level OG questions for SC and CR because
A. Just slowly cutting off from ALL social media over the week, so distractions were there.
B. Time consuming to note Error Logs.
C. Slowing down over the week because burning through SC and CR is fun but very intense.
Week 1 Analysis:
I would be grateful for help in the next steps for preparation to ace my Verbal atleast beyond a V42.
Here are my analyses from whatever I've practiced till date.
Material Sources for Theory: Powerscore CR Bible, SC Whiplash Notes, SC Sameer's Notes. SC Gmat Club V4, SC MGMAT Guide.
All OGs CR 600-700:
Total Accuracy (165 Qs) : 71%
Time Taken (appx) : 1m 45s to 2m 15s
Error Areas & % Area mistakes out of total mistakes:
Weaken 36%
Strengthen 13%
Complete The Passage 9%
All OGs SC 600-700:
Total Accuracy (51 Qs) : 76%
Time Taken (appx) : 0m 45s to 1m 30s
Error Areas & % Area mistakes out of total mistakes:
Modifiers 36%
Observations:
In CR, atleast 80% of the mistakes occurred because even though I took a reasonable time to read the Stimulus, Question Stem and Answer Choices, I ended up not going into the depth of how many answer choices to link them to the Conclusion and Premise. I separate the elements in the whole argument most times and ended up knowing the kind of argument one is looking for. But relating the answer choices like a perfect fit to the gap in question is proving futile. Took 2-2.5 mins for such questions. I enjoy solving CR without doubt. But after every practice session of CR, I always felt I was this close to the answer but kinda gave up on reasoning more with an option. Remaining 20% of the mistakes occurred when the complexity of both Argument and Options boggled me that I had to read slow or give up after 2 mins.
In SC, because I used to read voraciously back on all topics during my school days, I can quickly eliminate the 3 wrong choices in less than 30s. But in the cases where I went wrong, I did not tackle modifiers and sentence constructs well. But this somehow does not explain why I ended up getting a 76% accuracy. I also remember not approaching any question with the attempt to decipher the meaning of the SC statement in the first read but rather proceed with a sense of my prior understanding given how idioms came to me naturally: I'd immediately know something is wrong with the way the sentence is framed.
My Plan moving forward:
Im not quite worried about RC and Verbal because I strongly feel I can pick these sections up quickly. Although my ESRs from my first GMAT 2 years back pegged me at 50% for Arithmetic, 45% for DS, 78% for RC. Which could mean I have a lot more to pickup on. Maybe it's because I took Verbal first and then took my strong section Quant and that also took a hit as a result but all this was a forgettable 2018.
I have scheduled 6 mocks between May 14 and June 14 with ample 4 days gap between each mock. The Online GMAT (fixed section order) would need me to additionally prepare with Whiteboard which I intend to do during Mocks 4,5 and 6 after gaining confidence on solving fast ad getting my test strategies right.
In the coming week, I intend to understand in depth and revise Modifiers, CR rules for the said weak areas and start solving all OGs 700+ Questions for 2 days, Quants for 1 day before I take my first mock (GMAT Prep) Using the Filter option in this wonderful forum, I have neatly outlined the sources I would use to solve the 700 Questions for PS, DS, SC, CR and RC each, sources I could access quickly and with some intelligence on the kind of questions I should solve and parallelly build (or rather cut down filling in) the Error Log! In the final 2 weeks, I would tackle LSAT for CR and GMAT Advanced Questions for pretty much all the sections.
Inputs Required:
I would be grateful to know if any of the experts and GMATClub successful test takers present here could help me in understanding the following:
1. Whether Im on the right path on making less mistakes with every week/mock test
2. Whether my analysis is missing any key component that I need to keep in mind to track
3. Any specific habit/practice I should bring in/avoid in my schedule to better my Verbal scores
4. Any specific points to increase my SC and CR accuracies (I hope I had more time to go back to the 600-700 level Qs but I dont)
5. Exam level inputs (Marking ABCDE on Whiteboard and other tactics seem time consuming on the Online GMAT)
6. Any other specific thoughts.
My gratitude and heartfelt thanks in advance to everyone who is addressing this concern!
Story So Far:
I am a native Indian retaking the GMAT for the 3rd time in the next month.
Sources used for mocks over a 2.5 month period: Veritas, MGMAT, Kaplan, GMAT Prep, Local Indian source (attended a few classes as well)
Range of scores in mock tests was Q: 47-49 and V: 35-39
Range of overall scores in mock tests were: 690-710
First official attempt taken in 2018 resulted in 650 (Q45, V35, IR7, AWA4)
Sources used for mocks over the next 1 month period: GMATPrep Packs 3-6, 800 Score Tests, Local Indian source (attended a few classes as well)
Range of scores in mock tests was Q: 48-49 and V: 39-41
Second official attempt taken in 2018 resulted in 610
I cancelled my score and gave up on anything related to do with GMAT since 650 was pretty mediocre after my initial efforts and 610 was abysmal given the intense carefully scrutinised efforts on many topics.
Small side note with a weak chuckle: My first attempt ESR showed a 100% on Geometry.
Retake Approach:
It has been 2 years since I touched any GMAT Materials so I believe I am starting fresh.
I have given a window of 1.5 months starting May 1 with a mid-June test date firmly in mind with prep time of 6-7 Hrs per day self study.
First week is done and Im only done with 650-700 level OG questions for SC and CR because
A. Just slowly cutting off from ALL social media over the week, so distractions were there.
B. Time consuming to note Error Logs.
C. Slowing down over the week because burning through SC and CR is fun but very intense.
Week 1 Analysis:
I would be grateful for help in the next steps for preparation to ace my Verbal atleast beyond a V42.
Here are my analyses from whatever I've practiced till date.
Material Sources for Theory: Powerscore CR Bible, SC Whiplash Notes, SC Sameer's Notes. SC Gmat Club V4, SC MGMAT Guide.
All OGs CR 600-700:
Total Accuracy (165 Qs) : 71%
Time Taken (appx) : 1m 45s to 2m 15s
Error Areas & % Area mistakes out of total mistakes:
Weaken 36%
Strengthen 13%
Complete The Passage 9%
All OGs SC 600-700:
Total Accuracy (51 Qs) : 76%
Time Taken (appx) : 0m 45s to 1m 30s
Error Areas & % Area mistakes out of total mistakes:
Modifiers 36%
Observations:
In CR, atleast 80% of the mistakes occurred because even though I took a reasonable time to read the Stimulus, Question Stem and Answer Choices, I ended up not going into the depth of how many answer choices to link them to the Conclusion and Premise. I separate the elements in the whole argument most times and ended up knowing the kind of argument one is looking for. But relating the answer choices like a perfect fit to the gap in question is proving futile. Took 2-2.5 mins for such questions. I enjoy solving CR without doubt. But after every practice session of CR, I always felt I was this close to the answer but kinda gave up on reasoning more with an option. Remaining 20% of the mistakes occurred when the complexity of both Argument and Options boggled me that I had to read slow or give up after 2 mins.
In SC, because I used to read voraciously back on all topics during my school days, I can quickly eliminate the 3 wrong choices in less than 30s. But in the cases where I went wrong, I did not tackle modifiers and sentence constructs well. But this somehow does not explain why I ended up getting a 76% accuracy. I also remember not approaching any question with the attempt to decipher the meaning of the SC statement in the first read but rather proceed with a sense of my prior understanding given how idioms came to me naturally: I'd immediately know something is wrong with the way the sentence is framed.
My Plan moving forward:
Im not quite worried about RC and Verbal because I strongly feel I can pick these sections up quickly. Although my ESRs from my first GMAT 2 years back pegged me at 50% for Arithmetic, 45% for DS, 78% for RC. Which could mean I have a lot more to pickup on. Maybe it's because I took Verbal first and then took my strong section Quant and that also took a hit as a result but all this was a forgettable 2018.
I have scheduled 6 mocks between May 14 and June 14 with ample 4 days gap between each mock. The Online GMAT (fixed section order) would need me to additionally prepare with Whiteboard which I intend to do during Mocks 4,5 and 6 after gaining confidence on solving fast ad getting my test strategies right.
In the coming week, I intend to understand in depth and revise Modifiers, CR rules for the said weak areas and start solving all OGs 700+ Questions for 2 days, Quants for 1 day before I take my first mock (GMAT Prep) Using the Filter option in this wonderful forum, I have neatly outlined the sources I would use to solve the 700 Questions for PS, DS, SC, CR and RC each, sources I could access quickly and with some intelligence on the kind of questions I should solve and parallelly build (or rather cut down filling in) the Error Log! In the final 2 weeks, I would tackle LSAT for CR and GMAT Advanced Questions for pretty much all the sections.
Inputs Required:
I would be grateful to know if any of the experts and GMATClub successful test takers present here could help me in understanding the following:
1. Whether Im on the right path on making less mistakes with every week/mock test
2. Whether my analysis is missing any key component that I need to keep in mind to track
3. Any specific habit/practice I should bring in/avoid in my schedule to better my Verbal scores
4. Any specific points to increase my SC and CR accuracies (I hope I had more time to go back to the 600-700 level Qs but I dont)
5. Exam level inputs (Marking ABCDE on Whiteboard and other tactics seem time consuming on the Online GMAT)
6. Any other specific thoughts.
My gratitude and heartfelt thanks in advance to everyone who is addressing this concern!
09 May 2020, 20:14
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Ask1,
I've sent you a PM with some notes and questions.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
I've sent you a PM with some notes and questions.
GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
11 May 2020, 08:36
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi ask1,
I see you have a number of questions, Would you like some general advice regarding how to structure your study plan? Also, in the meantime, you may find it helpful to read this article:
How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success
I see you have a number of questions, Would you like some general advice regarding how to structure your study plan? Also, in the meantime, you may find it helpful to read this article:
How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for Success
