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Preparation focus

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brazas
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Preparation focus [#permalink] New post   26 Jan 2011, 11:27
Hello Guys,

Yesterday I took the gmatprep for the first time without any preparation and was surprised by the results.

I'm an engineer and a non-native english speaker and was expecting a good score on Quant and a bad score on Verbal.

However, I ended up with a 660 (42q, 41v).

On quant, I was doing quite well, but had to guess the last 15 questions. I totally messed up with the time control.

On verbal, I had 11 mistakes, including 1 cr, 1 rc and 9 sc.

I have a couple of doubts on how to proceed with my preparation:

1- In terms of the level of difficulty, how accurate is the gmatprep compared to the real thing? RC and CR seemed quite easy to me during the gmatprep.

2- I'm a bit lazy and unable to sit down 2/3 hours a day studying for 2/3 months. My plan now is to study only SC on Verbal and to practice as many problems as possible on quants (from og 12) in order to build up speed. I also need to memorize some formulas and shortcuts to solve certain types of problems.

I also have the impression that the "theory" behind CR and RC instead of helping, will confuse me even more.

Any other advice is appreciated,

Cheers!
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Re: Preparation focus [#permalink] New post   26 Jan 2011, 12:00
Don't just work OG problems--learn how to work the problems with some kind of study guides. I'm partial to MGMAT myself. They'll teach you how to identify common GMAT questions and break them down quickly so you're not having to rush through the last few questions. Memorizing standard formulas and equations is a must--you won't have time to derive them during the exam. 15 problems is a lot to speed through, so with better time management you could probably get up to a Q50 without too much trouble.

As far as I know the RC and CR from GMATprep are pretty accurate, but you could always take a MGMAT or GMAC practice for verification of your skills there. If you only missed 1 of each (and can do that fairly consistently) then I would agree you don't need to spend much time on RC or CR.

SC will improve a lot with practice and study. You'll relearn all the grammar rules the GMAT normally tests. Doing a lot of reading will help too--you'll develop a better sense for what does and doesn't sound right.
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Re: Preparation focus [#permalink] New post   26 Jan 2011, 12:25
emont wrote:
Don't just work OG problems--learn how to work the problems with some kind of study guides. I'm partial to MGMAT myself. They'll teach you how to identify common GMAT questions and break them down quickly so you're not having to rush through the last few questions. Memorizing standard formulas and equations is a must--you won't have time to derive them during the exam. 15 problems is a lot to speed through, so with better time management you could probably get up to a Q50 without too much trouble.

As far as I know the RC and CR from GMATprep are pretty accurate, but you could always take a MGMAT or GMAC practice for verification of your skills there. If you only missed 1 of each (and can do that fairly consistently) then I would agree you don't need to spend much time on RC or CR.

SC will improve a lot with practice and study. You'll relearn all the grammar rules the GMAT normally tests. Doing a lot of reading will help too--you'll develop a better sense for what does and doesn't sound right.


Thanks man.

I will take one more practice test to see if I can maintain my performance on RC and CR. If I do manage, I will not study for these sections at all and I will focus my verbal preparation completely on SC.

Thanks for your advice on Quant section. I have some old MGMAT books here, I think I will follow them in order to get that feeling of the common gmat type of questions and how to better solve them.
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Re: Preparation focus [#permalink] New post   28 Jan 2011, 04:23
brazas wrote:
Hello Guys,

Yesterday I took the gmatprep for the first time without any preparation and was surprised by the results.

I'm an engineer and a non-native english speaker and was expecting a good score on Quant and a bad score on Verbal.

However, I ended up with a 660 (42q, 41v).

On quant, I was doing quite well, but had to guess the last 15 questions. I totally messed up with the time control.

On verbal, I had 11 mistakes, including 1 cr, 1 rc and 9 sc.

I have a couple of doubts on how to proceed with my preparation:

1- In terms of the level of difficulty, how accurate is the gmatprep compared to the real thing? RC and CR seemed quite easy to me during the gmatprep.

2- I'm a bit lazy and unable to sit down 2/3 hours a day studying for 2/3 months. My plan now is to study only SC on Verbal and to practice as many problems as possible on quants (from og 12) in order to build up speed. I also need to memorize some formulas and shortcuts to solve certain types of problems.

I also have the impression that the "theory" behind CR and RC instead of helping, will confuse me even more.

Any other advice is appreciated,

Cheers!


Hi Brazas,

My feeling after reading your post is that you can certainly improve your score with better time management. Yes, learning formulas and shortcuts would cetainly help. Also bear in mind that the first 10 or so questions are really important and try and get most of them correct in order to maximize your score. Many people would say that all questions are equally important, to which I agree, yet I found my score jump up everytime I got the initial answers correct.

I would also not recommend studying just one topic, whether in verbal or quants, at a time. That might mean that when you concentrate on the other topics, there is a chance you might forget the concepts you had learnt earlier. A better approach in my view would be to dedicate, even if it's 30 min, to each section every 2 days. That way, the concepts would be fresh in your mind.

Remember, confidence is good; but too much of it can be a curse :wink:

All the Best!
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Re: Preparation focus [#permalink] New post   28 Jan 2011, 14:09
brazas wrote:
1- In terms of the level of difficulty, how accurate is the gmatprep compared to the real thing? RC and CR seemed quite easy to me during the gmatprep.

The GMATPrep is the best indicator of your actual test performance. An initial score of 660 (42Q, 41V), by the way, is an excellent start! The main challenge for you is time management and endurance. Over the next few months, you can improve these two areas. Here are two links that might help you:

timing-strategies-on-the-gmat-80176.html

gmat-anxiety-99374.html

Nine incorrect SC answers is a strong sign that this is your weak area for verbal. Purchase the Manhattan SC guidebook and read it as many times as possible. The OG and the GMATClub forums will be a great help, but be very aggressive with this. Fully read the explanation for every SC question that you encounter. Get involved in answering and discussing SC problems on the verbal forums.

brazas wrote:
I'm a bit lazy and unable to sit down 2/3 hours a day studying for 2/3 months. My plan now is to study only SC on Verbal and to practice as many problems as possible on quants (from og 12) in order to build up speed. I also need to memorize some formulas and shortcuts to solve certain types of problems.

The OG, while essential, might not be enough for the top score that you are certainly capable of. After finishing and reviewing the OG 12 and OG Quant, move on to the GMATClub tests. And if you consider yourself lazy, then this is the perfect opportunity to change this habit! You owe it to yourself to do the best that you can.
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Re: Preparation focus [#permalink]
28 Jan 2011, 14:09

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