EnNoir wrote:
Hey guys,
this is my first post in this forum and to be honest: I signed up quite some time ago to read debriefs but then felt like the huge variety of sources to prepare for the test would just confuse me
. Now, I guess, I need your help because I am not really sure how to proceed to reach my target score --> 600 (min) / 650 (max). Maybe someone is or has been in the same situation and knows a suitable approach.
Material I used for preparation:*
MGMAT books* OG12 (I ordered OG13, but noticed that it is actually the same and sent it back)
* Critical Reasoning Powerscore Bible
I still have the Quant and Verbal Review books, but did not touch them yet because I was running out of time with my preparations. Furthermore, I only did 1
MGMAT CAT and therefore I still have 5 left.
How I prepared:I read the
MGMAT books, summarized the important Information and then solved the exercises for each section. Afterwards I worked through the CR bible and then completed the OG12 in 2 weeks fulltime (Christmas vacation).
Critical Analysis:Q: As I took the test I felt like I had some trouble with translating text in equations and therefore I had to guess on quite a few questions. So maybe I should review math basics or do you think that I did not practice enough?
V: I was confident of the Verbal part because I did well during practice (imho) and because of my TOEFL score (114/120). Especially after reading the CR bible I felt like it suddenly clicked in my head. 32 is not too bad though, maybe I can increase Verbal about 1 or 2 points but honestly I think that the bad quant score has more potential.
Alloted time frame for retake:My plan is to invest another 5 to 8 weeks for preparation. Do you think this will be enough to reach my target score? I should mention that I am working approx. 10 h/day so I do not have the chance to prepare fulltime.
Your feedback, war stories or ideas on how to approach are highly appreciated.
With Q34 and V32, there is certainly scope for improvement. If a student of mine were to come up and ask me what to do to improve, this would be my suggestion:
1. Your fundamentals seem to be fine but not very strong. There are probably some things in your prep books that you don't understand properly but you are ignoring them. Do you understand why a question is solved the way it is? The higher level questions focus on higher order thinking - not on 'how' to solve something but on 'why'. If you don't understand that, you will find it hard to cope up with these questions.
2. Practice is a must. Do all the practice questions given in your prep books. Do all the questions given in OG13 too. The important thing to remember while solving practice questions is that when you taken too much time on a question or solve it incorrectly, you must not only check its solution but must review the concept to figure out why you couldn't solve it in the first place. Where were you lacking - was it speed or comprehension that took you down? After you are comfortable with solving questions of a particular topic, you must practice in a timed manner too.
3. You should take 1 practice test every week. Figure out the pain areas and revisit them. To not repeat the mistakes made in the practice tests in the actual exam, you must give all your attention to "why you were unable to solve it?", "what was it that you forgot or couldn't figure out?"
_________________
Karishma Bansal - ANA PREP
*SUPER SUNDAYS!* - FREE Access to ALL Resources EVERY Sunday
REGISTER at ANA PREP
(Includes access to Study Modules, Concept Videos, Practice Questions and LIVE Classes)
YouTube Channel
youtube.com/karishma.anaprep