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How to REALLY Improve SPEED in GMAT???

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mercierdaniel
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How to REALLY Improve SPEED in GMAT??? [#permalink] New post   Updated on: 14 Jul 2006, 20:27
Hi everyone,

I'm a bit clueless here. My first attempt at the GMAT was a semi-failure; I wasn't overly stressed out, on the contrary overall quite confident of all my answer choices i.e. the ONES I HAD TIME TO PICK OUT!!!

The thing is (and this also holds true in the case of most practice CATs I've done so far), I always end up chosing the right answers if / when given all the time I need to mull over even the hardest problems or intricate vaporous texts. In life, I've become accustomed to reading for details, making sure about everything, never giving half-baked answers. This just doesn't work out well in a standerdized testing scenario like the GMAT. Worse, as soon as I try to speed up a little in order to stay within the confines of the 75 min. max per section, my scores usually go down from 90-100% RIGHT to almost 50%. In other words, «3/4 all right & 1/4 devil dice», to get a clearer picture. Finally, I feel I understand the tricks more than the underlying concepts for maths, and the concepts more than the tricks for verbal. I AM AS SLOW AS A SNAIL.

I am now in the process of planning a new approach; my current capacity due to bad pacing lingers between 550-610, I need at least 650!

ANY ADVICE WELCOME!!!

Originally posted by mercierdaniel on 05 Jul 2006, 10:51.
Last edited by mercierdaniel on 14 Jul 2006, 20:27, edited 4 times in total.
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u2lover
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[#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2006, 11:00
Timing is a killer for me as well... for both sections... and English isn't my native language as well.

My strategy is to do as many CATs as I can at this point (i finished studying basics)... don't have to be full CAT in the beginning... just to get comfortable with the pace... you can do a section at a time...

I tried 800SCORE tests to deal with timing... they have "pacer" that sort of tells you where you should be during the particular section... but those tests seem easier than the real thing, so don't rely on the scores too much... but it is a good way to start pressing youself with time
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mercierdaniel
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[#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2006, 11:09
u2lover, speaking of pacer... :idea: If you use Opera as a browser you can get a certain widget called Countdown Timer which you can leave always on top so as to work with it even with Word documents. I have just started using this, but it does the job perfectly!

Daniel
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[#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2006, 11:27
mercierdaniel wrote:
u2lover, speaking of pacer... :idea: If you use Opera as a browser you can get a certain widget called Countdown Timer which you can leave always on top so as to work with it even with Word documents. I have just started using this, but it does the job perfectly!

Daniel


Whenever you practice (Eithet word couemtn or from somebook), always time yourself. There is a good spreadsheet on the forum with macros that takes care of all this. I could not find that post but I am attaching that here. You may find it useful.
Attachments

Testgrid Template.xls [67.5 KiB]
Downloaded 144 times

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biggamejames
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[#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2006, 13:27
I reccomend you buy the paper tests on mba.com.

The math and verbal sections are each seperated by categories. There are 6 sections: CR, SC, RC, PS, PS, and DS. Each category only gives you a certain amount of time, so you can gauge how much time to spend on each category in Verbal or Math.

For example, the SC section has 22 questions and you only get 25 minutes. But this is key... GMAC has picked out exactly 22 questions that would take an average test taker 25 minutes to complete.
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u2lover
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[#permalink] New post   Updated on: 05 Jul 2006, 16:02
mercierdaniel wrote:
u2lover, speaking of pacer... :idea: If you use Opera as a browser you can get a certain widget called Countdown Timer which you can leave always on top so as to work with it even with Word documents. I have just started using this, but it does the job perfectly!

Daniel


hey Daniel,

what's OPERA browser? I never heard of it... and how exactly it works? since most of the tests open up their own interfaces.

thanks

Originally posted by u2lover on 05 Jul 2006, 13:33.
Last edited by u2lover on 05 Jul 2006, 16:02, edited 1 time in total.
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gmatmba
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[#permalink] New post   05 Jul 2006, 14:35
u2lover wrote:
mercierdaniel wrote:
u2lover, speaking of pacer... :idea: If you use Opera as a browser you can get a certain widget called Countdown Timer which you can leave always on top so as to work with it even with Word documents. I have just started using this, but it does the job perfectly!

Daniel


hey Daniel,

what's OPERA browser? I never hear of it... and how exactly it works? since most of the tests open up their own interfaces.

thanks


opera.com

Its a new browser ...company based in norway
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chudik
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[#permalink] New post   12 Jul 2006, 07:11
Hi, I ws also very slow at the beginnig. I have read a lot of hints how to spead the process: f.e. if you need to multiple 2345673*7834, just look in the answer list and try to find the answer with the last digit "2" as when we multiple the last digits of 2345673*7834, we multiple 3*4 =12, so the product should have "2" in the end. There are a lot such tricks that could improve the speed. Read in KAPLAN and other books
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