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17 Mar 2017, 19:02
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Hi,
as the topic name already states, my concern revolves about mental challenges I believe a lot of GMAT takers face. Yet, I have not found out how to get these issues: being focused during every single problem both Quant and Verbal, paying attention to details, and succeeding to one's " true " abilities.
First I would like to give some background about myself. I am a female business and economics undergrad from Germany. An important note is that I always have " struggled " with Maths, or generally preferred languages and liberal arts subjects over sciences. Indeed, I have never been bad students, but I just had the feeling that my brain was not wired for science subjects. It was awkward, I have never had problems learning or understanding new concepts, rather my mind got blank when a mathematical problem was differently rephrased during an exam. By all means, I just wasn't able to draw a connection. Moreover, I'm not really an attentive person. On the contrary, I am pretty chaotic, so I indoubtely believe that such an adaptive test is very unfortunated, while I usually do quite well on standardized tests.
So, the first time I took the was last year March 2nd 2016 with the result: 610 Q36 / V37. It was okay, as I have spent around 6 weeks to study, and I have not digged deep into the matter. I decided to retake the test this year in January, and I failed horribly (560, Q36 V27). I was studying for about 7 weeks but using different prep materials I wish I should have not used as I realized it was not beneficial to my way of studying. (Unfortunaktey, I realized it too late and stickers with it through the end). After being quite bumped, and doing nothing for 3 weeks, I decided to give it another shot.
So here I am soon taking (11 days) the test my third and last time. Because I have already spent too much money, I really want to nail it. I complete changed my study habit, and the first time really focused on the advices given in the forum such as through reviewing correct as well incorrect answers or working on weaknesses. I started to go pretty deep into the stuff, and I feel like my perception has changed quite a lot.
So what's the problem now?
I have taking three CATS by now:
03 March: GMAT Club Test Q48
13 March: GMAT Prep Test 650 Q44 V35
16 March: GMAT Club Test Q36 (quite distracted as I was pretty pissed haha)
17 March: Kaplan CAT 650 Q44 V35
I am aiming to score 700+, but I really feel anxious about keeping my quant. I know that I'm super volatile and my performance is not predicatble because of inconsistencies. For example it could very well be that in the next CAT I might score < 35 Q.
I spend a lot of time analyzing why I have this issue. It is important to note, that I actually don't have any issues solving OG problems, most of the time I am able to solve easy/medium sometimes even hard questions correctly within 35 to 60 seconds. In this moment, I " just know " what to do. My mind feels agile, and I see shortcuts, the important " crux " and traps! But during the time exam, it's all gone. I feel like I have to focus hard, and this makes it hard to be " agile ". I do all lot of mistakes I can't understand in retrospect. When I resolve the problem, I don't face any issues. That's the thing, many times I resolve wrong problems without struggling!
What's the matter with that? What can I do be more consistent? What can I do to keep my mental flexibility?
Interestingly, I feel extremely exhausted during the exam, as if I could not think clear. I am really anxious about falling into that kind of mind state, because it hinders to me to perform back. I looked for some strategies to get back in track, but my minds just tired. I can't even understand the questions then haha.
My second issue, which is kinda correlated to the first point, is my lack of focus. There are two ways in which it is illustrated.
First, besides of careless mistakes, I realize that halfway through I kinda get a feeling of " demotivation " eventhough I might feel to perform well. (Especially! When I perform well) It's a kind of " meh, I don't want to do that anymore, screw that, I'll just guess ". It's terrible because it leads to the many errors in a row. (Up to 5 in a row!) Reviewing my CATs, that is my major issue. I am not able to focus through all 37 Q (or later in Verbal, too). I wouldn't say it attitude, it's just my mind doesn't feel that sharp anymore, and looses focus and starts to guess.
What can I do to stay focused during every single question without not trying too hard?
I thought of doing more CATs to get used to it. Maybe I need to skip some hard questions, not to get my mind wrapped up, and thereby fall into the state of mind mentioned above? Does anyone have an advice or exprience?
The second way how my lack of attention shows up is that I miss details or even whole chunks of information, both in Quant and Verbal. For example in Verbal, I just can't vertically scan Answer choices, because I feel like my lack of attention doesn't catch similarities or differences. Even whole phrades could be left out and I would not realize that. I feel like I need to focus very hard to see these kind of things, so I start to read more slowly and word by word, losing a tremendous amount of time!
In my last CAT, I run out of time, because I had to read so throughly otherwise I would not be able to understand or to see any errors. Is it just a matter of pratice? How can I get better at focusing? Are there any tricks or exercises?
I know that I can reach higher than I am currently doing. But so far, I am not able to reach that point as I cannot fix these issues
Even if I were to pratice more problems, review more content, work in topic weaknesses, I feel like it will not necessarily make a big difference.
Is there any advice you could give me? I really appreciate any help, I worked hard the last several weeks and I really want it!
What can I do my last 11 days to boost my score at least 50 points up? (I usually get enough sleep, try to work out a little bit, and eat healthy. I get a lot of hours studying in around 8h, but it does not bother me as I am used to get in a lot of good study hours)
All the best,
Posted from my mobile device
as the topic name already states, my concern revolves about mental challenges I believe a lot of GMAT takers face. Yet, I have not found out how to get these issues: being focused during every single problem both Quant and Verbal, paying attention to details, and succeeding to one's " true " abilities.
First I would like to give some background about myself. I am a female business and economics undergrad from Germany. An important note is that I always have " struggled " with Maths, or generally preferred languages and liberal arts subjects over sciences. Indeed, I have never been bad students, but I just had the feeling that my brain was not wired for science subjects. It was awkward, I have never had problems learning or understanding new concepts, rather my mind got blank when a mathematical problem was differently rephrased during an exam. By all means, I just wasn't able to draw a connection. Moreover, I'm not really an attentive person. On the contrary, I am pretty chaotic, so I indoubtely believe that such an adaptive test is very unfortunated, while I usually do quite well on standardized tests.
So, the first time I took the was last year March 2nd 2016 with the result: 610 Q36 / V37. It was okay, as I have spent around 6 weeks to study, and I have not digged deep into the matter. I decided to retake the test this year in January, and I failed horribly (560, Q36 V27). I was studying for about 7 weeks but using different prep materials I wish I should have not used as I realized it was not beneficial to my way of studying. (Unfortunaktey, I realized it too late and stickers with it through the end). After being quite bumped, and doing nothing for 3 weeks, I decided to give it another shot.
So here I am soon taking (11 days) the test my third and last time. Because I have already spent too much money, I really want to nail it. I complete changed my study habit, and the first time really focused on the advices given in the forum such as through reviewing correct as well incorrect answers or working on weaknesses. I started to go pretty deep into the stuff, and I feel like my perception has changed quite a lot.
So what's the problem now?
I have taking three CATS by now:
03 March: GMAT Club Test Q48
13 March: GMAT Prep Test 650 Q44 V35
16 March: GMAT Club Test Q36 (quite distracted as I was pretty pissed haha)
17 March: Kaplan CAT 650 Q44 V35
I am aiming to score 700+, but I really feel anxious about keeping my quant. I know that I'm super volatile and my performance is not predicatble because of inconsistencies. For example it could very well be that in the next CAT I might score < 35 Q.
I spend a lot of time analyzing why I have this issue. It is important to note, that I actually don't have any issues solving OG problems, most of the time I am able to solve easy/medium sometimes even hard questions correctly within 35 to 60 seconds. In this moment, I " just know " what to do. My mind feels agile, and I see shortcuts, the important " crux " and traps! But during the time exam, it's all gone. I feel like I have to focus hard, and this makes it hard to be " agile ". I do all lot of mistakes I can't understand in retrospect. When I resolve the problem, I don't face any issues. That's the thing, many times I resolve wrong problems without struggling!
What's the matter with that? What can I do be more consistent? What can I do to keep my mental flexibility?
Interestingly, I feel extremely exhausted during the exam, as if I could not think clear. I am really anxious about falling into that kind of mind state, because it hinders to me to perform back. I looked for some strategies to get back in track, but my minds just tired. I can't even understand the questions then haha.
My second issue, which is kinda correlated to the first point, is my lack of focus. There are two ways in which it is illustrated.
First, besides of careless mistakes, I realize that halfway through I kinda get a feeling of " demotivation " eventhough I might feel to perform well. (Especially! When I perform well) It's a kind of " meh, I don't want to do that anymore, screw that, I'll just guess ". It's terrible because it leads to the many errors in a row. (Up to 5 in a row!) Reviewing my CATs, that is my major issue. I am not able to focus through all 37 Q (or later in Verbal, too). I wouldn't say it attitude, it's just my mind doesn't feel that sharp anymore, and looses focus and starts to guess.
What can I do to stay focused during every single question without not trying too hard?
I thought of doing more CATs to get used to it. Maybe I need to skip some hard questions, not to get my mind wrapped up, and thereby fall into the state of mind mentioned above? Does anyone have an advice or exprience?
The second way how my lack of attention shows up is that I miss details or even whole chunks of information, both in Quant and Verbal. For example in Verbal, I just can't vertically scan Answer choices, because I feel like my lack of attention doesn't catch similarities or differences. Even whole phrades could be left out and I would not realize that. I feel like I need to focus very hard to see these kind of things, so I start to read more slowly and word by word, losing a tremendous amount of time!
In my last CAT, I run out of time, because I had to read so throughly otherwise I would not be able to understand or to see any errors. Is it just a matter of pratice? How can I get better at focusing? Are there any tricks or exercises?
I know that I can reach higher than I am currently doing. But so far, I am not able to reach that point as I cannot fix these issues
Even if I were to pratice more problems, review more content, work in topic weaknesses, I feel like it will not necessarily make a big difference.
Is there any advice you could give me? I really appreciate any help, I worked hard the last several weeks and I really want it!
What can I do my last 11 days to boost my score at least 50 points up? (I usually get enough sleep, try to work out a little bit, and eat healthy. I get a lot of hours studying in around 8h, but it does not bother me as I am used to get in a lot of good study hours)
All the best,
Posted from my mobile device
18 Mar 2017, 03:05
Kudos
Bookmarks
I somehow feel you have a similar issue as me. I scored 99.75 percentile in a local standardized test in my country 10 years back and felt confident I could nail any such test but when it came to GMAT time after being a professional for a few years, I am still struggling to even convince myself I am good for 600 let alone 700 because my workbook on this forum would fairly score me at 590 if I were not cheating a little by skipping toughest questions. You at least managed to finish the mock/CAT tests but I haven't managed to sit through one completely as yet and the only one I did, I left midway and let it finish and grade me at 540 or something.
If I understand correctly, you are smart and have your own way of going through things and this has served you well in life so far and you never felt as thoroughly challenged by a test. This is because you don't always have less than 2 minutes of time to answer a critical question and thus you have never felt dumb but GMAT has suddenly made you feel like you lack something that others have in abundance, especially when you hear scores of 710-740 which appear impossible. For SC, you have to read the first long part with all options individually to find a problem and then rule out 2-3 options while stumping at the last two. Is that so. You are close, close to achieving your goal but you just need that little bit of effort and faith. As I gather and probably you can tell better, it is that pressure of having to go through your last possible chance that is adding to your anxiety and thus weight you down as you aspire for a high score. I have also felt a hard time choosing a good preparation course since I fear choosing the wrong one and wasting time on it, more so than the actual test which I would score miserably on if I do not use these aides. If these assumptions on my part are correct, there are at least two people in this thread with this problem as of the time of writing. As of now, I am not free of these problems, but I have tried to keep myself going at it, until I personally gather enough confidence and that would only happen once I practice well enough to quickly go through everything. Reading little tips here and there and noting them down has helped me a little and I am positive revising your own hand written notes or typed notes goes a long way in ensuring consistency as you drop out of practice.
Since you are nearing your test, I suggest you focus on weak areas and make sure your concepts are solid if not concrete (which I somehow believe won't happen since you, like me, are not a maths person). In the last 2-3 days, try and do as much practice questions but do not choose answers on this forum as that blinking wrong answer can shake your confidence. Figure out the solution in your mind or scratch paper and reveal OA instead and compare. If you are wrong, read through the solution and solve it again, but this time on paper to know that you have a better chance of remembering it. Best of lucks!
If I understand correctly, you are smart and have your own way of going through things and this has served you well in life so far and you never felt as thoroughly challenged by a test. This is because you don't always have less than 2 minutes of time to answer a critical question and thus you have never felt dumb but GMAT has suddenly made you feel like you lack something that others have in abundance, especially when you hear scores of 710-740 which appear impossible. For SC, you have to read the first long part with all options individually to find a problem and then rule out 2-3 options while stumping at the last two. Is that so. You are close, close to achieving your goal but you just need that little bit of effort and faith. As I gather and probably you can tell better, it is that pressure of having to go through your last possible chance that is adding to your anxiety and thus weight you down as you aspire for a high score. I have also felt a hard time choosing a good preparation course since I fear choosing the wrong one and wasting time on it, more so than the actual test which I would score miserably on if I do not use these aides. If these assumptions on my part are correct, there are at least two people in this thread with this problem as of the time of writing. As of now, I am not free of these problems, but I have tried to keep myself going at it, until I personally gather enough confidence and that would only happen once I practice well enough to quickly go through everything. Reading little tips here and there and noting them down has helped me a little and I am positive revising your own hand written notes or typed notes goes a long way in ensuring consistency as you drop out of practice.
Since you are nearing your test, I suggest you focus on weak areas and make sure your concepts are solid if not concrete (which I somehow believe won't happen since you, like me, are not a maths person). In the last 2-3 days, try and do as much practice questions but do not choose answers on this forum as that blinking wrong answer can shake your confidence. Figure out the solution in your mind or scratch paper and reveal OA instead and compare. If you are wrong, read through the solution and solve it again, but this time on paper to know that you have a better chance of remembering it. Best of lucks!
nilem94
