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Question

Hello, can someone help me with my strategy to go from 45 to 49 in Quant Test Date - 10th Aug Target score - 49-50 in quant Earlier Score - 45 in real GMAT and 44-46 in five MGMATs , almost 80% accuracy in the OG (DS+PS) My analysis === Weaker in Number properties, get hit hard with geometry, co-ordinate geometry, probability and combinations. Take longer with word problems when the question is tougher (but get it right mostly). I think I am bad at DS (mainly because of strategies) Now, resources i have are 1) MGMAT guides and advanced mgmat and OG 2) GMAT club tests (have taken first five tests - get almost 27/28 right

, felt demotivated and stopped taking ) 3) Grockit 4) Knewton (do not think its much of use ) 5) Kaplan Qbanks ( sometimes i feel i have got too many .. don't know ) My confusion 1) Should i start retaking GMATclub tests again ? or do you think that i should first work again on my basics and then start doing gmatclub tests ? 2) I feel pathetic with co-ordinate geometry and geometry (for prob and combi - i have bought the veritas guide, i think i will be good with it) 3) do i require to buy Jeff's Quant collections (advanced one, i think i have enough material for basics) Can someone please help, i feel too much confused as to what to do ? I do not have much problems with the timings (may be because i have a few weak areas mentioned above, so whenever i get problem from that area, i get a sense in 45 seconds, and if i think i am unable to solve the same, i make a guess and move on) I need special insight on one approach that i am following, is it really worth ? Whenever i take a gmatclub test, i analyse each and every question. While analyzing the questions , I keep two kind of problems aside and prepare collection of these two types 1) the questions i get wrong 2) The questions that i think has better explanations I revise these questions from time to time, my apprehension is that am i learning with this approach ? or i am just mugging up the same problems ?. I mean do you think if i study the same problem twice/thrice, does it help ? Thanks very much your help in advance

KarishmaB · Answer

My analysis === Weaker in Number properties, get hit hard with geometry, co-ordinate geometry, probability and combinations. Take longer with word problems when the question is tougher (but get it right mostly). I think I am bad at DS (mainly because of strategies) You can check out Veritas Geometry and Number Properties books (you already have P&C, I think). If you are at Q45, I think you will find most of the things in the book do-able. The reason I am still suggesting you to go through the books is that if you feel you are weak in these topics, it means the concepts are jumbled up in your mind. You need to read how every concept is related to every other concept. The books discuss most of the relevant GMAT theory of these topics in an easy to understand format. They might help you untangle your thoughts. Also, the books discuss 'why' a problem is solved the way it is. You can check them out first at amazon.com Now, resources i have are 1) MGMAT guides and advanced mgmat and OG 2) GMAT club tests (have taken first five tests - get almost 27/28 right

, felt demotivated and stopped taking ) 3) Grockit 4) Knewton (do not think its much of use ) 5) Kaplan Qbanks ( sometimes i feel i have got too many .. don't know ) My confusion 1) Should i start retaking GMATclub tests again ? or do you think that i should first work again on my basics and then start doing gmatclub tests ? Basics? You are at Q45. I assume your basics are already quite good. Work on only your problem areas and then you can take whichever tests you want. 2) I feel pathetic with co-ordinate geometry and geometry (for prob and combi - i have bought the veritas guide, i think i will be good with it) Get the Veritas Geometry book. I am not fond of Geometry either (it's just not fun!) though I do like coordinate. When I ran through the Geometry book, I felt that it covers pretty much all you need to know for GMAT. 3) do i require to buy Jeff's Quant collections (advanced one, i think i have enough material for basics) Can someone please help, i feel too much confused as to what to do ? I do not have much problems with the timings (may be because i have a few weak areas mentioned above, so whenever i get problem from that area, i get a sense in 45 seconds, and if i think i am unable to solve the same, i make a guess and move on) I need special insight on one approach that i am following, is it really worth ? Whenever i take a gmatclub test, i analyse each and every question. While analyzing the questions , I keep two kind of problems aside and prepare collection of these two types 1) the questions i get wrong 2) The questions that i think has better explanations I revise these questions from time to time, my apprehension is that am i learning with this approach ? or i am just mugging up the same problems ?. I mean do you think if i study the same problem twice/thrice, does it help ? If you go through the same problem multiple time to understand the logic, there is nothing wrong with it. If you get a similar question, you will probably be able to solve it. But try to make your own problems from the ones you find difficult (say, if the problem says 'x and y are integers', think what happens if they are real numbers etc) Thanks very much your help in advance

versatile · Answer

Hello,

Thanks very much for your reply and your insights

I took my GMAT in Feb, 2012 and scored 45 in Quant, after that day i have not taken any test because i wanna save remaining test for the final prep.

I request you to give 3/4 mins to analyze the file i have attached herewith. Average time taken is 1 min 10 seconds, I do not have any problem with the timing. I have hardly spent 2.5-3 mins on 4 to 5% of problems.

I know OG is not the right benchmark to predict the score, but I wanna know that whether my statistics indicate that i am ready (in terms of fundamentals, am keeping the strategies/ timing etc aside) for my target of 49/50 of Quant or not.

Performance in Quant also includes performance in DS, i expect similar level of accuracy in DS.

So, since you would have observed the OG accuracy statistics of so many achievers, you can some fair idea as to where do i stand in terms of my goal of 49/50

a) Do i need to go back to strategy guides again ? or you think i should practice more

Thanks very much for your help

KarishmaB · Answer

1. Comfort in OG is a necessary (as in, you must be comfortable with GMAT type of questions) but not sufficient condition if you are aiming to get around Q50 in GMAT. Even if you get 95% in OG questions, I cannot guarantee Q49/50 (though it will be highly likely). What I can say is that if you are at Q 50 level, you should be able to do most (say, 90 - 95%) of the OG questions in a min or two without wrestling with them.

2. You are right that OG is not the right benchmark. In fact, even GMAT prep tests are falling short these days. Quite a few people who get Q49 in GMAT prep tests end up with Q44-45 in the actual GMAT (a recent phenomenon). Either GMAT is getting really trickier by the day or more people are losing it during the actual exam.

3. So how do you know when you are ready to take the exam? You can't know. When you feel good and are able to solve most questions you come across in a reasonable amount of time, you can give it another shot and hope for the best. You set up a test date according to the application schedule and then make the most of the time you have by working on your weaknesses and practicing as many advanced questions as you can.

4. With a Q45 in actual GMAT, I don't think you need to go back to concept books. You just need to expose yourself to more advanced applications.

versatile · Answer

Thanks very much for your reply

Can you help me evaluate my strategy for next 20 days ?

1) To go through the detailed explanation of each and every OG problems 
2) To complete remaining 20 Gmatclub tests, and learn from the mistakes
3) To study basics of the weaker areas as per the mistakes of OG
4) To complete GMAT advance prep - manhattan

After doing all above , complete the quant review 2 and identify the weaker areas again, targeting atleast 95% accuracy.

Do you think i am missing something here in the plan ?

Thanks

KarishmaB · Answer

When working through OG, revisit only the questions you had issues in first time around. The OG solutions aren't necessarily the optimum solutions. On the net, you will find many other ways of dealing with the same problem. Take a couple of full length tests as well.

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