Posting here-
Hi Experts,
I really need help in my study strategy. To give a background, I have been studying for the past 3 months and the following are the materials that I have done-
Verbal-
1.
e-GMAT course2. OG13-SC,CR
3. GMAT Prep Question Pack Questions(approx. 30% of all CR,RC and SC)
Quant-
1. OG13
2.
GMAT Club Tests(5 of them , even made topic wise tests for weak areas)
3. Jamboree Blue Book(Must Do Qs. 700-800 level qs- Done only for selected topics)
Now, I already know that I have not done certain things completely such as completing RC from
OG.I have maintained an
error log but I have not revised all the topics from it.
Now, the problem which I am facing is a drop in mock scores. Below are the scores-
1.Kaplan Free Test - 19.6.2016- 580(Q43/V26)
2.Veritas Free Test - 4.7.2016 - 590(Q43/V29)
3.Manhattan Free Test - 19.7.2016- 610(Q44/V31)
4.Manhattan Test 2 - 5.8.2016- 570(Q37/V31)
5.Manhattan Test 3 - 16.8.2016- 570(Q38/V30)
6.GMAT Prep 1 - 1.9.2016 - 490(Q31/V26)
The most surprising and disappointing score is that of 490 in the GMAT Prep 1. Generally, I have read in a lot of posts that Manhattan tests are slightly tougher than the GMAT Prep/Actual GMAT, so I was actually expecting a higher score or at least a similar score as before but such a drastic drop was not anticipated. Also, the test conditions in all these tests have been consistent throughout.
One of the problems which I have noticed during tests is of timing. In quant, I tend to panic if I am not able to solve a question within 2.5 mins. I can't even make an educated guess and just randomly guess on that question after spending 3-4 mins on that question. This has been leading to severe timing problems at the end of the exam. Another problem is dealing with Word Problems where we need to understand the language and then convert them into equations. I have already read the GMAT Club Math Book chapter on Word Problems but somehow, I have not been able to improve in this area.
In verbal, I am generally strong in SC but very weak in CR and RC, but of late I have changed my CR strategy and also have been practicing a lot of CR,so I can see some improvement in that(e.g. getting 6/9 correct in last mock as compared to 6/14 correct in the earlier mocks), but RC still remains to be a pain point. I take about 4-5 mins to read the passage and then approx. 2-3 mins to answer each question. I take approx 3-5 mins to answer Main Point and Inference questions as compared to Specific Detail questions.
One of the problems which I faced in the verbal section in the recent GMAT prep 1 mock is that I spent a lot of time on SC(although this is my strength(approx.80% accuracy) but due to lack of practice, timing became a problem). So, I didn't have any time left for doing 2 RC's which came around Qs.28-35. The blunder that I made was randomly guessing on 2 RC's due to lack of time.
So, I have been following the strategy as mentioned by bb of combining passive learning with active testing, as mentioned in this post(how-to-review-and-analyze-your-mistakes-167118.html), but somehow things are not working out.
Also, I have been employing the guessing strategy wherein I only guess in my weak areas and that too ensure that I do it by spreading them across the exam(except the last GMAT Prep 1 exam)
Actually, I was planning to give the exam in first week of September but now since the scores have been on a decreasing curve, I really need to rework on my strategy.
So, in conclusion, I am currently weak in both quant and verbal and this to be honest really is disappointing. I really require expert advice on -
1. Structuring passive learning with active testing
2. Ability Improvement and maintain timing
3. Zero panic during test
I am open to suggestions of any other type as well apart from the ones mentioned above which can help me out in this pathetic situation.
Thanks in advance!