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07 Dec 2014, 19:55
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Hi Guys
After much contemplation and a feeling of having exhausted all my options I'm posting here in the hope of getting some good suggestions.
Background: I have taken the GMAT twice so far. May 2014 and Oct 2014. The first time I took it after a few months of self study. Score: 580. Following that I enrolled for Manhattan Gmat online courses. Although I followed the course diligently, my second attempt was a disaster. Work had been crazy a month before my GMAT and the pressure was starting to get to me (at that time I was very keen on applying for R2, 2014). On the test day I was extremely nervous and that was reflected in my score. 530! (35Q, 28V). My practice scores had been a roller coaster of results, ranging from 580 to 640.
After this I decided to take sometime off work and concentrate solely on the GMAT for two months. I decided to push my applications to 2015. But I still wanted to beat the GMAT while I was still in the zone. I've taken Nov and Dec off work. So I restarted my prep. I started doing timed and untimed sets of 20 questions each for Q and V. I maintained error logs and made note of areas where I tend to go wrong. My math weaknesses seem to be WP, Probability and timing overall. For verbal I tend to get almost the same number of questions wrong in SC, CR and RC. But my areas of weakness seem to be Parallelism and Comparisons, Weaken Questions on CR and inference questions on RC. My timing is not great and I tend to have just about enough time to finish.
Having identified these I seem to have difficulty in developing a strategy on how to improve in these areas. I've tried working out problems specific to these areas but that doesn't seem to help much. I have taken three MGMAT CATS over the past month and my scores have been 640(42Q, 35V), 620(40Q, 35V), 620(39Q, 35V). As you can see my split has been almost the exact same. :/ I still have a month of leave to focus solely on this so I hope I can improve my score in the coming weeks. The final goal is a 680+ score. I am really trying to keep myself motivated despite the lack of results, so hopefully someone here will be able to shed some light on what I am doing wrong.
Materials I have been using include MGMAT guides, OG Guide 2013 and the official Q & V review.
Thanks
After much contemplation and a feeling of having exhausted all my options I'm posting here in the hope of getting some good suggestions.
Background: I have taken the GMAT twice so far. May 2014 and Oct 2014. The first time I took it after a few months of self study. Score: 580. Following that I enrolled for Manhattan Gmat online courses. Although I followed the course diligently, my second attempt was a disaster. Work had been crazy a month before my GMAT and the pressure was starting to get to me (at that time I was very keen on applying for R2, 2014). On the test day I was extremely nervous and that was reflected in my score. 530! (35Q, 28V). My practice scores had been a roller coaster of results, ranging from 580 to 640.
After this I decided to take sometime off work and concentrate solely on the GMAT for two months. I decided to push my applications to 2015. But I still wanted to beat the GMAT while I was still in the zone. I've taken Nov and Dec off work. So I restarted my prep. I started doing timed and untimed sets of 20 questions each for Q and V. I maintained error logs and made note of areas where I tend to go wrong. My math weaknesses seem to be WP, Probability and timing overall. For verbal I tend to get almost the same number of questions wrong in SC, CR and RC. But my areas of weakness seem to be Parallelism and Comparisons, Weaken Questions on CR and inference questions on RC. My timing is not great and I tend to have just about enough time to finish.
Having identified these I seem to have difficulty in developing a strategy on how to improve in these areas. I've tried working out problems specific to these areas but that doesn't seem to help much. I have taken three MGMAT CATS over the past month and my scores have been 640(42Q, 35V), 620(40Q, 35V), 620(39Q, 35V). As you can see my split has been almost the exact same. :/ I still have a month of leave to focus solely on this so I hope I can improve my score in the coming weeks. The final goal is a 680+ score. I am really trying to keep myself motivated despite the lack of results, so hopefully someone here will be able to shed some light on what I am doing wrong.
Materials I have been using include MGMAT guides, OG Guide 2013 and the official Q & V review.
Thanks
07 Dec 2014, 21:35
Kudos
Bookmarks
rvc27
From your post, it seems like you are trying to increase your score by practicing questions on a regular basis. While it does help, it is a passive way of learning - hoping to understand the concepts from the explanations of the questions.
There are 3 steps to improving: Learn, Practice and Test.
When you focus on the fundamentals, read up the theory from books and go through examples, you are learning.
When you practice a bunch of questions, it is the practice phase.
Finally, when you take full length practice tests, you are in the testing phase.
After you identify weak areas, you need to go to the learning phase - rebuild your concepts first. Practicing and testing come later. If word problems are an issue, go through theory of ratios, percentages, mixtures, time speed distance, work and rate etc. Ensure you understand them very well and then start practicing.
Similarly, read on how to handle weaken and inference questions, try out some new strategies and then practice questions.
Check out this link for some different SC strategies: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/free-gmat-lesson/
The video has 4 parts - check them out using the playlist button on the left top corner of the video.
08 Dec 2014, 04:41
Kudos
Bookmarks
Hi Karishma
Thanks for the prompt reply. I understand what you're saying about the three steps. Have started applying them. Hopefully it will show some results. I think these will help with areas which I have identified as my weakness. A quick question though, in terms of areas which I normally feel comfortable with, I still tend to go wrong when I am working on a timed test. Any thoughts on how I could improve on that? Is it just a matter of timing or is it because there are possibly easier methods to solve the problem which I am missing?
In terms of verbal I'm still not sure what are the strategies you are referring to for CR and RC. Could you elaborate on these as well.
One final question, in my practice phase would it help if I redo OG guide problems or is it better to do fresh sets of problems rather than repeating the same questions?
Thanks
Thanks for the prompt reply. I understand what you're saying about the three steps. Have started applying them. Hopefully it will show some results. I think these will help with areas which I have identified as my weakness. A quick question though, in terms of areas which I normally feel comfortable with, I still tend to go wrong when I am working on a timed test. Any thoughts on how I could improve on that? Is it just a matter of timing or is it because there are possibly easier methods to solve the problem which I am missing?
In terms of verbal I'm still not sure what are the strategies you are referring to for CR and RC. Could you elaborate on these as well.
One final question, in my practice phase would it help if I redo OG guide problems or is it better to do fresh sets of problems rather than repeating the same questions?
Thanks
