It's been a few years on this one. I kind of forgot I had started this.
Maybe it will help me study this time around. We'll see how long I can keep it up I guess.
Started the
Manhattan GMAT full course, tomorrow night is class 5 of 9. However, I've also been taking an accelerated pre-calc class as a refresher before going back into Calculus this fall, and I started a new job during the class as well. My study time in the beginning of the class was much better than it has been the last two weeks. I've definitely fallen behind in my prep. Pre-Calc ends this Friday, and I've been in the new job 3 weeks now. I should be able to get back on the study wagon and commit the time to the GMAT that is needed.
My diagnostic with
MGMAT was quite interesting this time around 570 (Q38/V30). It is definitely interesting to see my math go up, to where it honestly should be since I didn't fall asleep during the test this time. But my verbal score going down did surprise me. Nonetheless I think this is a fair assessment of where I was at the beginning of my
MGMAT class, and think I'll be able to make some good progress.
So far I've noticed a few key issues I have on the GMAT at least as far as Quant goes....
1) Stupid arithmetic mistakes. -
MGMAT has a bunch of foundational material that they offer to full course attendees and I'm going through all of that to fix stupid mistakes like 2+2=5 when I try to go to fast on the problems. I'm also doing elementary/middle school drill sheets to get faster and more accurate at basic calculations.
2) Going too fast - On average you have 2 minutes to complete a quant problem. I typically only take 1:30. As mentioned above in #1 I make a lot of careless mistakes. Slowing down and doing the easy math accurately (while using #1 to also improve speed) will probably raise my math score at least 2 points alone.
3) I have completely forgotten everything Geometry related - Self explanatory -
MGMAT covers this in week 6. Since I have other things to work on as well, I'm trying to stick to the program.
4) Properties of exponents - Need to learn to recognize these better
Verbal...
General observation about
MGMAT diagnostic - a two different parts of the exam I want 2/8 and 2/9 correct. Obviously room for significant improvement.
1) Reading comprehension - I have always struggled with this because I am a slow reader, and do not remember what I read very well.
MGMAT's strategies on this I feel have really helped me do better in the practice reading comp problems I've worked on. We'll see what the results of this are on my next practice test this weekend.
2) Critical Reasoning - I try to make too large of a leap with my arguments. I have my old Power Score Logical Reasoning Bible that I'm going to crack into for this one.
MGMAT was slightly helpful, but I feel like I need more on this. Practice and error analysis should help on this as well.
3) Sentence Correction -
MGMAT's strategies should be a big help on this. I'm looking forward to seeing how I do on my next practice test in this area. Also idioms...definitely need to work on those.
Well I guess that's enough of an update for now. Off to read more about Word Problems.
Next practice test will be this weekend. Looking forward to see how my prep has gone so far, given how intermittent it has been.