How to practice OG questions ?

Dear gurpreetsingh
With deep respect, I recognize that you do make excellent points.

I acknowledge that my advice ("never practice untimed") is a bit extreme. I guess I see it as a counterbalance to a tendency I have often observed in students --"I'll learn everything by going slow, and then I'll just pick up the pace later" Folks often don't realize that changing from untimed work to timed work actually involves new skills and a whole new mindset, not just the same skills faster. It's a qualitative, not a quantitative change. Furthermore, I worry that folks finding great success working untimed may be lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that their levels of success will be similar when they switched to timed work. Folks who are both successful and comfortable in untimed work often need goading to move away from that comfortable arrangement to the relatively challenging realm of timed practice --- hence my emphasis: as soon as you experience any success with that problem type in untimed practice, then move to timed as soon as possible. Move before you are comfortable with the idea of moving. Does this make sense?

I think you and I are actually saying very much the same thing, just with different emphases. If you would like to add or clarify anything, I would be happy to hear.

With respect,
Mike

Yes Mike, I fully agree with you that students can not pick up the pace so easily. The prominent reason for most of the gmat failures is wrong strategy.
We must know where we are and where we need to go. Unless we know our base level and our target, we are not into the real Gmat game.

So what students do is they read the debrief's - 750 in one month. 720 in 2 months and try to mimic the same.
Why MBA schools are so selective? Because they know every individual is different. So when we have already taken the biggest step of our lives to do mba and we will be spending thousands of $$ and time into it, not only for the mba but also for the applications. Then why not spend the same $$ and time to build our strong gmat potential?
So My advice to every student is to know yourself. This knowledge will help during the gmat as well as during the applications.

Use the debrief's for the motivations and strategies, but do not copy them. Blend them all and see how it works for you.
I started my journey in the oct 2009 when I thought of giving the Gmat and I got 710 in oct 2012. It is not that I was studying for 3 years. So you never know what situation would force you not to study. I still believe I should have scored more, but I m contend with the score as retaking post 710 would compromise on my application even though 710 is not so spectacular score for an Indian. The reason why I m contend is that I have matured enough since 2009 to understand the priority levels of mba application.

If you have 700+ then retake only if you want re-apply the same college and need to address the improvement in the whole year.

So the crux is give enough time to Gmat. DO not rush. B schools can wait one year. Adcoms are not dying to take you afterall. And you can not become a better mba aspirant by rushing into the apps, rather a better and stronger candidate.

Give the best shot for gmat, if not satisfied retake and shoot for the college you fit. Stop the RAT RACE !!