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17 Sep 2005, 17:51
Kudos
Bookmarks
I started my Princeton review class first week of August (3 rd). Prior to that I have not prepared at all. I took 4 tests so far:
First week: 550 (base line, no prep 37Q, 28V)
Second week: 590(39Q, 33V)
Third week: 580 (44Q, 24V)
Fourth Week: 560(37Q, 30V)
Seems to me that I have not improved much at all. I have postponed my test date to Oct 26 th from Sept. 30th. Bought some additional kaplan test material. I intend to keep going at it, spending more time on prep than tests and still planning to take 3-4 tests before the actual GMAT.
However, I can't help but wonder if this is because I am older than the average test taker(I am 37, avg is 27) and I also have a job that keeps me very busy. I get paid about 100K in the midwest US (USD) hence lot of responibility. So, spending 20+ hours a week is simply out of Q. I spend 12-14 at the most.
Any input from older test takers will be appreciated. Also would like input from those that have taken Princenton Review classes.
Thanks!
Rianah
First week: 550 (base line, no prep 37Q, 28V)
Second week: 590(39Q, 33V)
Third week: 580 (44Q, 24V)
Fourth Week: 560(37Q, 30V)
Seems to me that I have not improved much at all. I have postponed my test date to Oct 26 th from Sept. 30th. Bought some additional kaplan test material. I intend to keep going at it, spending more time on prep than tests and still planning to take 3-4 tests before the actual GMAT.
However, I can't help but wonder if this is because I am older than the average test taker(I am 37, avg is 27) and I also have a job that keeps me very busy. I get paid about 100K in the midwest US (USD) hence lot of responibility. So, spending 20+ hours a week is simply out of Q. I spend 12-14 at the most.
Any input from older test takers will be appreciated. Also would like input from those that have taken Princenton Review classes.
Thanks!
Rianah
22 Sep 2005, 04:27
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi,
I am also in the same situation.
Right now i am practising OG.
I have made a table with 15 columns.
and trying to practise 15 Qs at a time and trying to reduce no of errors.
Right now doing good in Q making 0 or 1 mistakes out of 15.
But V is bad.
making 3 - 5 mistakes in SC, 4 - 6 mistakes in CR, and 5 - 7 mistakes in RC. So revising the strategies, practising the OG, to reduce the same.
I am also in the same situation.
Right now i am practising OG.
I have made a table with 15 columns.
and trying to practise 15 Qs at a time and trying to reduce no of errors.
Right now doing good in Q making 0 or 1 mistakes out of 15.
But V is bad.
making 3 - 5 mistakes in SC, 4 - 6 mistakes in CR, and 5 - 7 mistakes in RC. So revising the strategies, practising the OG, to reduce the same.
22 Sep 2005, 05:58
Kudos
Bookmarks
See if you can go beyond the practice test scores to identify the areas where you most frequently get tripped up.
For example, I realized that my key areas of weakness were on data sufficiency in general, geometry, propreties of exponents, combinatrics and probability, rate/work problems, and sentence correction (especially with collective verb subjects). So I spent a lot of time reviewing material on each section - theory and practice.
I also realized my main pitfall in the quant section was timing (I kept running out) and the main reason was that I'm very slow at doing arithmetic without a calculator. So I studied some tips to quickly add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers and learned some of the main ratios and square roots by heart to simplify things. And then I timed myself doing complicated calculations without a calculator to get my speed up. It seems to have helped, because I had way more time on the last couple of practice tests I took in math, and didn't have to rush through the last few questions.
In verbal, I realized the problem was opposite; I was going through the questions too quickly, and not thinking them through enough. I did a number of practice questions extra-slowly, writing out point by point my argument for why I thought it was the answer in longhand on scratch paper before actually confirming the answer. I made the case to myself as though I was typing an explanation on this board, for example. A few times, while making the argument to myself, I realized where I was going wrong, and went back and changed the answer.
I don't know whether all of this will pay off - I'm now test date minus 2 so we'll see how it goes. But I know that identifying areas to study is probably more valuable than just doing a bunch of practice questions.
For example, I realized that my key areas of weakness were on data sufficiency in general, geometry, propreties of exponents, combinatrics and probability, rate/work problems, and sentence correction (especially with collective verb subjects). So I spent a lot of time reviewing material on each section - theory and practice.
I also realized my main pitfall in the quant section was timing (I kept running out) and the main reason was that I'm very slow at doing arithmetic without a calculator. So I studied some tips to quickly add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers and learned some of the main ratios and square roots by heart to simplify things. And then I timed myself doing complicated calculations without a calculator to get my speed up. It seems to have helped, because I had way more time on the last couple of practice tests I took in math, and didn't have to rush through the last few questions.
In verbal, I realized the problem was opposite; I was going through the questions too quickly, and not thinking them through enough. I did a number of practice questions extra-slowly, writing out point by point my argument for why I thought it was the answer in longhand on scratch paper before actually confirming the answer. I made the case to myself as though I was typing an explanation on this board, for example. A few times, while making the argument to myself, I realized where I was going wrong, and went back and changed the answer.
I don't know whether all of this will pay off - I'm now test date minus 2 so we'll see how it goes. But I know that identifying areas to study is probably more valuable than just doing a bunch of practice questions.
