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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
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SavageBrother wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. Do you think my goal is realistic?


Yes I do. Your goal of 620 is very realistic and so is your plan.

I have some additional observations to offer:
1. Give 80% of your attention to what you're going to do in the coming week and 20% to the remaining weeks.
2. Realize that goals have their own life - they evolve. So be flexible.
3. Make sure you put adequate time for recreation and socializing.
4. Have a weekly reward plan.
5. Be sure to share your progress with members of this community. You will find yourself new friends to cheer you to the finish line.

That's all for now... Get going man :beer:
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
AmrithS wrote:
SavageBrother wrote:
Thanks for the quick reply. Do you think my goal is realistic?


Yes I do. Your goal of 620 is very realistic and so is your plan.

I have some additional observations to offer:
1. Give 80% of your attention to what you're going to do in the coming week and 20% to the remaining weeks.
2. Realize that goals have their own life - they evolve. So be flexible.
3. Make sure you put adequate time for recreation and socializing.
4. Have a weekly reward plan.
5. Be sure to share your progress with members of this community. You will find yourself new friends to cheer you to the finish line.

That's all for now... Get going man :beer:


Thank you for your help. I'll update here once a week or something!
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
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SavageBrother wrote:
Thank you for your help. I'll update here once a week or something!


Cool! Frequent updates are desirable... But, we go with what you is okay with mahn! (Sorry.. the Jamaican kicked in... ) 8-)
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Here I am again already, with some doubts to my plan. I've started reading the GMAT club Math Book, but I don't like it as much as I like the OG '15. So I think I'll be keeping the math book on the side, when the OG '15 isn't sufficient on specific problems. Also, I have 4 practice exams available at the moment, and I think it will be wise to use them, isn't it? Would it be wise to plan 2 practice exams, in the coming 4 weeks? Let's say 20th of March, and then the 28th of March again? I'll have about a week to analyze my errors and do something about them. From the 28th of March till the 9th of April is about 13 days.

What do you guys think? Are these adjustments the right thing to do? Or would I be beter off with just one practice exam in the 4 coming weeks?

Oh and this is what my error log looks like;
Attachments

File comment: Gmat error log
GMAT error log.xlsx [13.05 KiB]
Downloaded 56 times

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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Don't know if I'm breaking the rules or not by 'kinda' bumping this post. Can anyone give some advice on my change of plans?
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
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Hi SavageBrother,

As a general rule, I recommend that you take a CAT every 1-2 weeks. As long as you take the CAT in a realistic fashion, those score results will help you to figure out your general strengths and weaknesses and what you have to 'fix.' While you don't have to take a CAT every week, doing so is really the only practical way to track your progress (so you should plan to take more than 1 in this last month).

You're actually remarkably close to your score goal right now, so you should look to fix the easiest problems first. On your last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong because of a silly/little mistake? If you can keep those mistakes from happening, then you should be able to pick up the missing points that you're looking for.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi SavageBrother,

As a general rule, I recommend that you take a CAT every 1-2 weeks. As long as you take the CAT in a realistic fashion, those score results will help you to figure out your general strengths and weaknesses and what you have to 'fix.' While you don't have to take a CAT every week, doing so is really the only practical way to track your progress (so you should plan to take more than 1 in this last month).

You're actually remarkably close to your score goal right now, so you should look to fix the easiest problems first. On your last CAT, how many questions did you get wrong because of a silly/little mistake? If you can keep those mistakes from happening, then you should be able to pick up the missing points that you're looking for.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich


Thanks for the reply man! I'm going to take a CAT at the end of next week and then another one 9 days later or something, that should work.
During my latest CATS (and overall I guess) I am making too much silly/little mistakes, so that's what I'm working on right now.

Thanks for the advice, I'll update my post when I've done another CAT.
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
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That's quite a few CATs, but if you need another test, here it is: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... ctice-test
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
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Hi SavageBrother,

When it comes to correcting silly/little mistakes, the solution almost always involves taking more notes. Here are some other factors to consider:

1) Do you write the actual question on the pad (or a reasonable abbreviation of it) so you KNOW at all times what your 'goal' is?
2) Do you write down a formula before you try to use it (or do you just quickly jot numbers down?)?
3) How much math do you do "in your head?"
4) Do you label your work (or just write numbers down)?
5) When dealing with RC and CR, what type of notes are you taking? Do your notes properly summarize the ideas/logic involved?
Etc.

This all takes just a little more effort per question, but the work itself is pretty easy.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
GMATPill wrote:
That's quite a few CATs, but if you need another test, here it is: https://www.gmatpill.com/gmat-practice-t ... ctice-test


Thank you!

EMPOWERgmatRichC wrote:
Hi SavageBrother,

When it comes to correcting silly/little mistakes, the solution almost always involves taking more notes. Here are some other factors to consider:

1) Do you write the actual question on the pad (or a reasonable abbreviation of it) so you KNOW at all times what your 'goal' is?
2) Do you write down a formula before you try to use it (or do you just quickly jot numbers down?)?
3) How much math do you do "in your head?"
4) Do you label your work (or just write numbers down)?
5) When dealing with RC and CR, what type of notes are you taking? Do your notes properly summarize the ideas/logic involved?
Etc.

This all takes just a little more effort per question, but the work itself is pretty easy.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich


I noticed I got a bit sloppy when I thought I knew the answer straight away (finished several question within 20 seconds for example, with some right and some wrong), and I wasn't taking any notes. I'm now focussing on making notes every single question. Seeing your points; I do it sometimes; but not always. That should be something I could improve on I think, working with the same method every single question.
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Hi SavageBrother,

Hope your game plan is going well and you are starting to feel really good about your next GMAT. You've gotten great feedback already, so I just want to throw in some extra encouragement!

1. Your goal score is absolutely achievable based on what you've scored previously. Day-by-day, you are going to be more comfortable with the exam, that knowledge in addition to actual quant/verbal skills can be a great score booster.
2. Trust your plan! It is a good one, keep executing it. If you have one day where you feel a little off, don't let that deter you. Best advice I've ever read/heard regarding strategies (specific to operations management, but applicable) is this: "stick to the process with absolute discipline...temporarily." So, if you notice some tendencies as you take your additional CATs, maybe tweak your studying a little bit to focus more on DS, or Sentence Correction, or CR weaken questions, whatever. But only a little bit!
3. I'll keep my eye out for April 9, good luck on your test! We'll all be here cheering for you in the coming weeks.
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Thanks for the advice, I'll take it into account! Normally I have Tuesday and Thursday afternoon off from work to study, but this week Thursday changed to Friday, so I've decided to take my first CAT tomorrow, Tuesday! I'll keep you guys posted!
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Sigh. Don't know what happened, but I completely messed it up. Knew it from the beginning I guess, I had loads of trouble solving almost every question. And that resulted in the following score: Total 460, Q26 and V28. This is the lowest I've ever scores (practice 1; 600, practice 2; 500, real deal; 570. This CAT was the GMAT Pill CAT btw.

I got 20 out of 37 correct on Q and 24 out of 41 correct on V.

Quant:
DS: 11 correct, 3 incorrect
PS: 8 correct, 15 incorrect

Algebra: 5 correct, 2 incorrect,
Number properties: 2 correct, 7 incorrect
Sum of sequence: 0 correct, 1 incorrect
Word problems: 5 correct, 1 incorrect
Probability: 1 correct, 1 incorrect
Actual vs. Percentage: 1 correct, 0 incorrect
Geometry: 0 correct, 4 incorrect
Cube roots: 0 correct, 1 incorrect
Numberline: 1 correct, 0 incorrect
Arithmetic: 1 correct, 0 incorrect
Rate problem: 0 correct, 1 incorrect
Functions: 0 correct, 1 incorrect
Number vs. Ratios vs. Percentage: 1 correct, 0 incorrect

Avg. time correct: 1m 40s
Avg. time incorrect: 1m 45s

Verbal:
CR: 9 correct, 4 incorrect
SC: 7 correct, 8 incorrect
RC: 9 incorrect, 4 incorrect

Avg. time correct: 1m 45s
Avg. time correct: 1m 50s

Obviously I need to work on PS and RC. But what the heck, how could this have happened? During practice, the OG guide, I did about 50 DS and 50 PS questions, with approximately 10% incorrect. One thing that comes to my mind is that I have a problem focussing when I know 'it's not the real deal'.

So, I'm gonna work on all the math + SC in the coming days, focussing primarily on PS in math. And retake a CAT in like a week or so?
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Hey there, I'm sorry you didn't get the results you were looking for today.

May I ask how you review your exams after you take them? One thing I like to do after exams is re-visit the questions I got wrong and try again to solve them on my own, without time limit, and without consulting the solution. I find this to be an effective way for me to differentiate between questions on which I just made mistakes and questions that I actually don't know how to solve. I'd be curious with the questions you missed on number properties if it was just a coincidence or if you might have a few skills you can build up there so that you can knock those questions out of the park next time.

If you go back to re-solve some of those questions and find out you can solve most/all of them but just rushed through and made mistakes, it'd be good to keep re-applying the advice that EMPOWERgmatRichC gave above. That's something gets better with more and more practice.
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Hi Savage:

It appears that in the quantitative ability section the following are the topics where you performed poorly - Number Properties and Geometry.

In the verbal ability section you performed poorly in sentence correction.

My suggestion is that you work on only these areas for a few days. Then take the next test to see if your score improves.

Regards,
Amrith
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
quinnie515 wrote:
Hey there, I'm sorry you didn't get the results you were looking for today.

May I ask how you review your exams after you take them? One thing I like to do after exams is re-visit the questions I got wrong and try again to solve them on my own, without time limit, and without consulting the solution. I find this to be an effective way for me to differentiate between questions on which I just made mistakes and questions that I actually don't know how to solve. I'd be curious with the questions you missed on number properties if it was just a coincidence or if you might have a few skills you can build up there so that you can knock those questions out of the park next time.

If you go back to re-solve some of those questions and find out you can solve most/all of them but just rushed through and made mistakes, it'd be good to keep re-applying the advice that EMPOWERgmatRichC gave above. That's something gets better with more and more practice.


Thank you for you reply. I tend to review my scores by looking at the questions/explanations again and see why I did not understand them. Mostly this differs between: 'Oh, I should've known that', 'Damn, I had no clue' or 'That's just a silly mistake'. I think it's devided evenly. After that I just analyze the overall data (where did I make the most mistakes, time management etc).

AmrithS wrote:
Hi Savage:

It appears that in the quantitative ability section the following are the topics where you performed poorly - Number Properties and Geometry.

In the verbal ability section you performed poorly in sentence correction.

My suggestion is that you work on only these areas for a few days. Then take the next test to see if your score improves.

Regards,
Amrith


Thank you Amrith. So you suggest working for like a day or three on those areas and then take a new CAT? Looks fine to me. Which CAT do you suggest? The Economist?

Edit: It's been like 5 weeks now since I did the first GMAT prep practice exam, I don't think I'll remember any of the answers there. So it might be good to take that test and see how I perform now?
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Re: Review of my plan to boost my score [#permalink]
Been studying for a couple a days now, focussed primarily on number properties and geometry, and did a lot of sentence correction the last two days. My plan is to take a practice exam tomorrow. Should I retake my first practice exam (GMAT prep) or take a completely new practice exam (Kaplan/Economist)?

I'm open to suggestions!
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