One month strategy for retaking the test

Question

I took the test last week and scored a 680 (46Q and 37 V) but I've done much better during practice exams (scored 720). On test days there were four areas where I was having problem with (1) problem solving - reacting to questions rather than looking at answer choices (2) Data sufficiency - wasting too much time trying out potential numbers (3) sentence correction - I just suck at these (I have made Q card with all the grammar rules but I just don't seem to be good at spotting the problem and find myself wasting time rereading answer choices here - any suggestions of the best way to practice these questions other than doing a ton of questions) I hope to write the exam again at the end of this month, giving me four months. Any suggestions on a month long strategy on how to boost my score to a 730 - 750?

Thanks

Thanks

bb · Answer

Welcome to GMAT Club Roundtwo

See this post I put together about retaking: should-i-retake-gmat-thread-retaking-gmat-strategies-83339.html You won't get your score too high up by doing a ton of questions - you need to patch holes in basics. For SC, have you used either MGMAT SC or PowerScore SC? If yes, then try doing 2 things: 1) Get Kaplan Verbal Foundations and 2)Read books - GMAT Fiction (will also help with RC). Also, you need to score a lot higher in your practice tests than 720 to make a good case for retaking. GMAT has an error of 40 points built into it, so not until you are scoring 740+, can you be confident in 700 score and for it to be worth retaking. P.S. Your Math score is pretty good already. Would polish a few things off and try to push it up 1-2 points only. Most of your improvement will be in Verbal. Take a look at GMAT Club tests if you are interested in pushing your quant to 50 (but I would focus on verbal mostly). Also try the gmatclub diagnostic test (link in my signature) to give you a few pointers.

mohater · Answer

Hello roundtwo,

Welcome to GMATClub.

You're only a couple points overall from the 700+ score (one point in each section). Even with your "three problems", you still did quite well.

Problem solving is all about approach. How to approach the problem and solve what the question is asking (not wasting time solving other things).

DS is about eliminating wrong answers quickly. For problems up to ~650 level, you can use the DS strategy we have in the strategy thread (see my sig for the link). Please note: The DS strategy assumes you have adequate problem solving and math skills.

My major vice was sentence correction. If you read my debrief, you'll see what I did to overcome the last bits of SC to break the 700 barrier. You could also try the split/re-split strategy, but again that only works to ~650 level problems.

roundtwo · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the help. Based on the schools that I am applying for, a higher mark is definitely needed. Which I should be able to get as long as I can fix the problems I mentioned earlier, especially being horrible at SC. Hopefully the books that you recommended will be able to help out? Also when studying for SC, is your general approach to become proficient at spotting the obvious errors rather than relying on the answer choices to indicate potential errors. I bought all the MGMAT prep books before and I was thinking of going through all the SC questions again, except this time just focusing on identifying errors quickly. Also when studying for PS and DS, I realize that I understand the concepts because I can always figure out a question eventually but in a timed environment I become reactive when solving problems, i.e. trying to solve it rather than looking to alternatives, such a subbing in numbers or using the answer choices. Any way to break this habit.

Thanks for all your help. This month is going to be brutal as I am simultaneously applying for B-schools

bb · Answer

The best strategy is when you can identify the problem with the question by ear and can spot what's off.
Going through answer choices is very painful, esp if you are dealing with a long sentence.

I would usually try to spot the issue, answer the question in my mind (how I would ideally phrase it) and then just check the answer choices for the match and also for anything "funny" that I missed. Spotting problems ahead of time is a great advantage, even if you have to read the sentence twice.

Reading good-quality formal English books/articles helps with training your ear. Get some books from your local library - check out GMAT Fiction discussion for details.

Shinki · Answer

I am also reading GMAT fictions suggested in one of thread here and its certainly improving my RC.

CaliCpa · Answer

BB - I am in a similar situation where I need to improve both Quant and Verbal. I have seen that you are pushing Kaplan Math Foundation in various posts on here. Not that I have anything against Kaplan at all, but I have read various debriefs that say to stay away from Kaplan. What does the Kaplan math foundation provide that say the MGMAT series won't provide? I am going back through the OG, Quant review, and MGMAT books again before I go back to the GMAT Club tests. If the Kaplan book is really helpful then I would condisder using it.

bb · Answer

The Kaplan Math Foundations is a pretty basic book - i would only recommend it if you are under Q35 or really feel that it would benefit you. For $12 - it is a cheap little thing. The book I usually "push" is the Kaplan Math Workbook - don't confuse the two. I have prepped using the Kaplan Math Workbook. You are welcome to get the MGMAT Series and you will probably get a better level of prep using them, but you will spend 2x time and 10x the money. If you already have MGMAT Guides, don't get Kaplan (unless you feel you still need theory). A good combination is usually Kaplan Math Workbook + MGMAT Number Properties book + Some Probability practice. P.S. Please point out any posts/references to staying away from Kaplan Math Workbook - I'd be interested to learn why. For some sad reason, the latest edition of the math workbook has a few typos/errors in questions and explanations. This is idiotic taking into consideration that the book is virtually the same since 5 years ago. One must be an idiot to do that.... anyway, that's the only reason I could see someone get annoyed.

bb · Answer

I am still cracking up at the "pushing" concept :lol:

CaliCpa · Answer

Glad you had a laugh at it and wasn't upset, but I had to ask. It isn't just that book in general, but I seem to notice that you lean towards Kaplan in general. I think it is probably because you used it and obviously had great success. It seems that a lot of people on here prefer MGMAT, hence the reason I bought the series.

In general, I have seen various posts that tend to say that the CATs are harder than the real thing and not representative of the real test. Also, the GMAT book review says that it is a poor guidebook. top-gmat-prep-books-guides-reviews-comments-77703.html

I didn't mean to make it sound like you were a Kaplan salesman, just that you have a high view of the Kaplan program.

bb · Answer

No worries - you are more than welcome to disagree with me - moreover, I would encourage it and hopefully you can work out a better approach, which I am happy to peddle, sell and push

True - I used Kaplan and feel the Kaplan Math Workbook is a good GMAT math book. Kaplan Premier - it is too fat right now. Way too long - 650 pages! It should 300 or 200 for what it has. Definitely not enough, but I feel it is a good book to start with and a source of some tests. Kaplan verbal is not very close to the actual GMAT (I definitely noticed it) but it is not destructive. Finally - I am cheap, so I feel it is a good value for the money, assuming you are aware of the pitfalls. I originally scored 540 on GMAT Prep and after 3 months with Kaplan books went up to 750 - definitely doable and it was probably a harder way than using PowerScore or MGMAT, and definitely less elegant. Now, I wish I got paid every time I said Kaplan. Probably should lay off a bit. On a serious note - let me know if you know of a good alternative approach to what I am outlining on the website (books, study plans, etc) - just in case my approach is too old-school - would love to hear some fresh ideas and learn from the latest generation of test takers.

CaliCpa · Answer

After I retake in about a month or so, I will let you know if my approach worked.

If the Kaplan approach is currently working for people, then I will continue to suggest it. I used one of their books a while back, and it seemed to be just fine.

roundtwo · Answer

Hey,

Due to time constraints I picked up the Manhattan GMAT Sentence correction book instead of Kaplan. Will I be wasting my time with MGMAT or should I just wait the week that it will take me to get my Kaplan section book.

Thanks

bb · Answer

Time is money. Give it a shot - worst case, you can redo it again. Just be methodical. if it is too tough, then wait or get a grammar book locally.

vyomb · Answer

Hi..

Well I am just done(not actually) with the GMAT and scored 650( QA 48 VA 31).I was really very disappointed by looking at my VA score.First of all let me elaborate about my preparation duration and strategies I followed.I had prepared for around 50 days and had solved the following books-Kaplan 800,OG11,OG12(not full),Manhattan Verbal(SC CR),1000 RC and 1000 SC.For CR,I was always puzzled about how to hone up the concepts by practicing and always felt the lack of questions.I had followed the concepts from Manhattan book for both SC and CR.In RC, I followed the strategy to read and re-read the passage and to understand what the passage is trying to convey,though this consumes time.My speed got slow in real exam and I fumbled up while increasing the speed.I also lacked concentration while solving the CR and RC section.In SC I was comfortable and had stick only to Manhattan concepts which I believe have helped me.
I felt comfortable with QA,except few DS questions.There were questions where I had to really think hard as few DS questions were tricky though they do not require any pen-paper work.

During my preparation I had solved 6 GMAT prep mocks along with section wise(QA and VA) Kaplan mocks.Also to add, I felt that my speed was slow while solving the Verbal section and I require more online practice.My mock scores touched in 650 to 680 range.

I have decided to re-appear for the exam in December and I really need serious advice to devise my strategy to score in 720 -750 range.

Friends..please provide your suggestions or comments.

Thanks,
Vyom

roundtwo · Answer

K, so started using the manhattan gmat sentence correction book which seems to be doing a thorough job covering the grammar rules. Anything that you can think of that this book lacks compared to Kaplans? Thanks for your help, it is greatly appreciated. :-D

roundtwo · Answer

Hey Vyom, I am normally not one to suggest a strategy, since I am still figuring out my own. But, one area I was good at was RC. As you had suggested, reading and rereading a passage is a waste of time, especially if you have to go back and reread certain sections again to answer a question. What worked for me (and I think this is the norm) was reading a passage quickly and annotating as I went along. By annotating, I simply mean writing one - three word phrases of what the paragraph is about and noting key words that describe the paragraph. I also watched out for structure words, such as However, Additionally, etc.., which helped with answering general questions, such as "what is the purpose of this passage". To get good at this, just start reading articles in magazines such as "The Economist", "New York Times", and "Science" (you can get access to articles free online) and see if you can explain the main point of the passage and find important pieces of information fairly quickly.

Hope this helps

bb · Answer

I felt Kaplan Verbal Foundations had more in-depth content and provided more why and how - let me know if you want me to post the Table of Contents to give you an idea and help compare the two.

However, the Kaplan book can also be more basic - it definitely goes back to the very basics, and not everyone will like/need it.

BM · Answer

But what would be good probability/Statistics practice? The only thing I have come across is Project GMAT, a very rare and expensive book that is out of print.

roundtwo · Answer

Hey guys,

K, I just got through SC and finally feel that I have a better idea of how sentences should be structured. Now on to practicing DS. Any recommendations on books or questions that would help with this area. My biggest problem is (1) trying out different numbers (I always find doing this time consuming) and (2) staring at these questions like a deer caught in a head light (also wastes time). Any suggestions?

Thanks guys

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