Retaking in 3 weeks, strategies to improve Quant. HELP!

Question

Hi GmatClub!

I had my gmat yesterday and I scored 670 (Q42, V40), I'm planning on retaking ASAP since I don't want to lose momentum from my the past few months of study, actually I am retaking my study today.

I was surprised with my Quant score since I felt really comfortable with the questions and I felt they were at the same level as the ones in MGMAT CATs and GMAT Prep CATs were I usually score between 46 and 48. I feel like I know how to tackle most of the questions but my problem is the closing, I did not wanted to waste too much time double checking answers.

Considering this, I will focus on Quant the following weeks, I guess I will go back to basics for some days and then I will be practicing hard questions.

Do you have any tip, strategy or Study Plan that can make my study time more effective for the sole purpose of improving my quant.

Cheers to everyone!

VeritasPrepDennis · Answer

Patodrums89 -

Since you have not provided much detail, the best advice I can give at this point is to go back to the CAT's you have taken and drill into questions (both the ones you missed and the questions you got correct) to see if you can pinpoint any re-curring silly errors and get a handle on your strengths and weaknesses. This will allow you focus your study energies on your weaker areas, allow you to stay fresh on your strong areas and find ways to overcome the bad habits that result in the silly mistakes. You really should not need to go back to the basics, unless there is an area or two that you really need to delve into. And, as you practice the more difficult problems, keep in mind that you should try to understand not only the solution to the problem, but also the strategy the test makers used to make the concept being tested more difficult. Let me know if you have other questions and what you find when drilling into the questions.

patodrums89 · Answer

Thanks a lot for your reply  VeritasPrepDennis !

Well, I will try to elaborate a bit more:

1.- I have read and summarize most of the MGMAT Quant Books, the only one I skipped is Algebra since is an area I feel comfortable with.
2.- I practiced both Quant and Verbal by full sets of questions (37 and 41 questions respectively) from the OG. I kept an error log and I revised every error after each set, then when I went through every question I did full sets of my mistakes until I got 100% of the OG correct.
3.- I also practiced with some questions from the GMAT Club App.
4.- I have developed enough skills to know how to tackle every question type, although sometimes I do not take the quickest or easiest approach.
5.- I have analyzed both MGMAT and GMAT Prep CATs, realizing that my weak areas are the following:
- Combinatronics and Probability.
- Rate Work Problems.
- FDP.
- Mixture Problems.
- Overlapping Sets.
- My silly mistakes were due misreading the questions, something I have worked throughly and I have accomplished to diminish considerably.

I think that you are right in the part about quality and not quantity, may be I focused so much in developing speed and stamina and I did not dedicate enough time in getting a deep understanding in the strategies behind the tough questions. Also, as you stated, there might be another kind of silly mistakes I am making so I will expand my error log adding what kind of mistakes I did during my sessions.

Thanks again Dennis! If you have any other source of questions or strategies that would be really helpful!

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi patodrums89,

Since your Quant Scaled Score dropped so much on Test Day, I have a few questions about how you took your CATs:

When you took your CATs:
1) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
2) Did you take them at home?
3) Did you take them at the same time of day as your Official GMAT?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, take longer breaks, listen to music, etc.)? 
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

What is your score goal?
When is your exact Test Date?
Do you have any flexibility to move it back (even if it's just a couple of weeks?)?

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

patodrums89 · Answer

Hey  EMPOWERgmatRichC !

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I will gladly answer your questions:

1.- Most of the times I skipped the IR section, since usually I don't put too much effort on it, even on the actual GMAT I deliberately guess 2 questions in order to be relaxed and save my stamina for the real deal.
2.- Most of the times I took them at my office but I took some at my place.
3.- Nope, usually I took them in the midday or during nights, which I think has a negative effect on my CAT performance since I am already mentally tired.
4.- Yes, sometimes I paused them since I got interrupted, most of the times I got classical music on the background and yes I probably took quite a few minutes more for break, but it was always after the Quant Section.
5.- Well the GMAT Prep software CAT I took it quite a few times and I saw familiar questions but I never memorized answers (although I knew exactly how to tackle them), in the case of MGMAT CATs I never got repeated questions. Also, I took a couple of weeks between CATs.

6.- My score Goal is above 47 at Quant and keeping my Verbal Score at 40, so I can pass the 700 threshold.
7.- Actual Date: 21st of August.
8.- I actually don't have that much flexibility, right now my Business is demanding too much of me and I also have to continue with the rest of my application, I would love to apply to MIT in Round 1, my other goal programs have deadlines on October or November.

Thanks a lot for your help, I would really like to know your insights about my case. Cheers!

VeritasPrepDennis · Answer

Patodrums89 -

It sounds like you are on the right path. Focus on eliminating the silly mistakes and spend some time on the fundamentals in your weaker areas and that should get you to where you want to be. If you think about your silly mistakes for a minute, missing a question that you should get right because you know how to do it, costs you 3 questions in proving that you are at a higher level. You miss the question you should get right, then get a question of less difficulty, then get a question of the same difficulty that you should have gotten correct in the first place. So doing everything you can to eliminate these really helps your score. As for the your weak areas, let me know if you have any questions on how to approach certain types of problems or if you need some assistance in understanding any of the concepts, strategies, etc.

patodrums89 · Answer

Thanks again for your help VeritasPrepDennis ! :-D

I feel more confident about my approach. I think you are right I have to focus specially on my weaknesses and in avoiding silly mistakes. I used a lot the Veritas Prep explanations on CR and I found them really helpful! If you could share any resource on Combinatronics or Rate Work Problems it would be amazing! Cheers man!

VeritasPrepDennis · Answer

patodrums89 -

Attached are a few study guides for Combinatorics. A couple of important things to remembe on Combinatorics - first, you will probably only see 2 or 3 questions of this type on the exam, so hang your hat on a few fundamental concepts if you really struggle with this. Secondly, understand the difference between a permutation and a combination. To me, the easiest way to categorize them is that a permutation is the different ways to arrange various items (ie, how many ways can 5 friends sit in 5 seats at the movie theater) whereas a combination is the number of unique groupings that can be made (ie, how many groups of 3 books can be created out a set of 12 books). If you conceptualize this, you will see that there will always be more permutations than combinations (because a unique group of 3 books does not depend on the order of the books). Couple this with memorizing the 2 formulae and many times you can eliminate many of the answers even if you do not have the exact correct approach.

I am also attaching a study guide for word problems that has some info for work rate problems and for the other types as well.

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi patodrums89,

The extra information that you've provided is quite useful, as it helps to define what went wrong on Test Day. In real basic terms, you took your CATs in such a way that you were NOT properly training to face the Official GMAT - so you were not ready to face it on Test Day (not either time).

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's what happened here. By skipping sections, taking the CATs at home, pausing the Test, retaking CATs you've already taken, etc., you weren't properly training for the FULL GMAT 'experience.'

Thankfully, that is a relatively easy problem to fix. The two big questions now are "how long will it take you to properly get 'used to' taking the full GMAT?" and "what will it take to raise your Quant ability into the high 40s?" You'll certainly need a new set of practice CATs to work with and you have to put in the necessary time to train your brain (and body) for the FULL GMAT. You might also need to invest in some new GMAT training materials. August 21st is only 2 weeks away, which is not much time.

What is your current study routine?

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

patodrums89 · Answer

Hi  EMPOWERgmatRichC

Thanks a lot for your insights!

My study routine is attached on this post.

Each phase last 5 days and I will do a CAT under GMAT conditions at the end of every phase. Right now I'm focusing exclusively on Quant and on the following week I will retake a bit of Verbal.

I am getting new CAT to practice with and I will uso the GMAT Club app more extensively, since I've done all the OG problems.

I wouldn't like to move my GMAT further, although I have to see my progress next week, if I see I haven't done much I might move up to a couple of weeks but I think that having long study periods gives me diminishing returns.

What do you think about my study plan? What are your recommendations?

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi patodrums89,

Your study plan for the next couple of weeks seems reasonable - since you've already planned it out, I think that you should probably stick to it. It's important that you NOT do too much in the last couple of days before your Official GMAT - we don't want you 'burning out' before Test Day.

You should report back here about 8 or 9 days before your Official GMAT, so that we can review your progress.

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

patodrums89 · Answer

Hi again  EMPOWERgmatRichC !

Thanks a lot for your advice.

For sure I will report back in a couple of days and I will tell you my progress.

I am considering moving the exam 2 or 3 weeks ahead date. What would you change in my study plan if I did that?

Thanks a lot again. Cheers!

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