Struggling to Improve - Prepping since Feb 2013

Dear Ksterr
My friend, it's hard to tell exactly what is going on with you. Just a score with no details gives exceptionally little information.

Here are some questions:
1) What is your background with English? Are you a native speaker? If not, when did you learn the language?
2) In your studies, have you kept a formal error log, so that you are familiar with patterns among your errors?
3) For Magoosh questions, when you got a question wrong, did you watch the VE?
4) When you get a Kaplan or other question wrong, do you always read the explanation?
5) What level of effort do you put in when you make a mistake? For example, an excellent student would work hard enough to guarantee that he never makes that same mistake again. It's very hard to live by that standard. How close to or far from that standard are you? If you make a mistake, what is your estimation of the probability that you will make essentially the same mistake again in another problem down the road?

Regardless of your answers to the above questions, here's a blanket recommendation: READ. If you want to improve in GMAT Verbal, you need to develop a habit of outside reading. You need to read for at least an hour a day, every day --- that's over and above any time you spend on GMAT preparations. You need to read hard, challenging, high-level material. Since you are studying for the GMAT, I will assume that you are interested in getting an MBA and working in the business world. You already should be reading the Wall Street Journal every day and the Economist magazine from cover to cover every week. The New York Times is also excellent. If you don't have a background in the sciences, you need to read Scientific American from cover to cover each month, to force yourself to make sense of science writing. It would also be helpful to get some text books from natural science or social science fields that you haven't studied, and read chapters from these. You have to force yourself, every day, to read difficult passages about ideas you don't already understand. For more suggestions on reading, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/
When you read, you should read for main idea; you should identify the role of paragraphs, and why the author mentions details. Pay attention to arguments --- the Economist magazine presents some very sophisticated and subtle arguments; for any argument, what would strengthen or weaken it? what's the assumption? what kind of evidence would allow us to evaluate the argument? Finally, in all these writings, pay attention to grammar and sentence structure.
I don't know whether you are American or not, but for grammar, I would recommend reading the American State Papers --- the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. Just look at the long complicated sentences in these works. Look at the speeches of Lincoln and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr --- again, very sophisticated sentence structure. Look at the use of clauses, the modifier, the parallelism, the logical issues, etc. etc.

I don't know your background or why you are having the challenges you are having, but it seems that ordinary means are not going to be enough to make the kind of improvement you would want to see. You need to take extraordinary steps, and put in extraordinary effort, if you want to see extraordinary improvement in your Verbal score.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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Hi Mike,

1) What is your background with English? Are you a native speaker? If not, when did you learn the language?
Yes, I am a native English speaker.
2) In your studies, have you kept a formal error log, so that you are familiar with patterns among your errors?
I have not kept a formal error log, I basically used Kaplan's tools to tell me where my strengths and weaknesses were and just focused on those.
3) For Magoosh questions, when you got a question wrong, did you watch the VE?
I go through every wrong question, read the explanation and watch the video. But what I find is, for verbal, I have trouble remembering or learning how to spot those errors again.
4) When you get a Kaplan or other question wrong, do you always read the explanation?
I always go through the explanations, even for questions I get right.
5) What level of effort do you put in when you make a mistake? For example, an excellent student would work hard enough to guarantee that he never makes that same mistake again. It's very hard to live by that standard. How close to or far from that standard are you? If you make a mistake, what is your estimation of the probability that you will make essentially the same mistake again in another problem down the road?
I would say I'm 75% in this department, especially in verbal. I think I get it when I see the explanation but I'm not able to identify the same error again. So it's kind of like I don't get it?


I'm a mechanical engineer and I have never been a fan of reading. I have tried to read more articles, but I have trouble pinpointing clauses, the modifier, the parallelism, the logical issues, etc....

Based on this, I guess I'm not really learning from my mistakes?

@Ksterr,

Hi,

I think you should spend more time on gmatclub daily. I have prepared plan for me according to which I solve min 10-20SC, 10CR and 5RC daily on gmatclub without fail. I participate allot in answering doubts of others and even post my solutions or doubts. In last one year I observed improvement in my skills. Whenever I feel unsatisfied with some SC explanation I search around on other forum, specially at magoosh, manhattan and beat the gmat to have better understanding on the issue and write down everything new I learn in a handy diary, my error log.

Books, prep course etc can help you earn 40% knowledge that is required to crack GMAT, but remaining 60% comes from self study and hunting on forums.

Approximately, I have solved 2000 questions in verbal forum since last year, even the correlation between top scorers in the gmatclub and number of posts they left on the forum encourages for the same. I am not a native English speaker and am from a family in which no one speaks English, but I think by solving more and more questions on gmatclub I can develop gmat ears or second nature towards English.

For critical reasoning I would recommend you to read powerscore CR. you will definitely see improvement in CR.

People take time to prepare for gmat because they do not know the depth of this ocean, and the day when they realize its depth, their real preparation starts onward.

Dear Ksterr,
I'm happy to respond.

Thank you for answering these questions: this gives me a much better idea of what is going on. I will say a few things.

First of all, I want you to consider the huge difference between the attitude of mediocrity and the attitude of excellence. It's very natural to say, "OK, I did what I was supposed to do, what folks recommend, so I am done." That's the attitude of mediocrity. "I did everything recommended. Can I consider myself done?" These are very common attitudes, attitudes that many students adopt. The Great Law of Mediocrity is: if you put in about the same effort and commitment as everyone else, you pretty much wind up with the kind of results that everyone gets. This doesn't make one stand out. ------ To stand out, you need to adopt the attitude of excellence. "How else can I improve myself? What else can I do?" You're reading or watching explanations once, and not retaining them. That raise the question in my mind: how many times would you have to read the same explanation, until you retain it? Obviously, I am not recommending you read the same explanation five times in a row on one sitting. Rather, I recommending that you mark these explanations, and read them once a day on successive days until you know them cold --- that it, until you know you will not make that mistake again. From this point forward, to that with every verbal explanation of a question you get wrong. That is way more effort than most people would make, and that's part of what is distinctive about the attitude of excellence.

It sounds as if you have some trouble with memory. I like think of memory as a muscle that you need to work out. I would strongly recommend: outside of your GMAT preparation, start memorizing things that are meaningful to you. Maybe it's quotes, or poems, or passage of Shakespeare, or US Presidents in order, or the elements of the Periodic Table, or anything. The content is less important. The point is to practice so that you can recite things from memory. Memorize one list or passage, and then start on the next. Build this muscle with daily workouts. Are you aware that, in ancient Greece, it was just a standard part of a young man's education to memorize the entire Iliad? Modern people are memory-idiots compared to the ancients. The potential of the human mind to cultivate memory is there: we just have to develop that potential.

One thing that helps memory also is mindfulness practice. This also is tremendously helpful in detail-management as well as in stress-management. See this series of articles:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/overcome-g ... y-breathe/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/beating-gmat-stress/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/the-gmat-b ... g-picture/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/curiosity- ... n-success/

Finally, I would say: spend a little time reflecting on your intention, thinking about your "why." When you are going through your practice on automatic pilot, it's hard to get very enthusiastic about anything. Why do want to take the GMAT? Why do you want to go to business school and get an MBA? "Earning money" is not an adequate answer. What do you want to achieve in life? What statement do you want to make with your life? Think about that, get excited about it, and bring that sense of purpose and excitement to each moment of your practice. When you are genuinely excited about the direction in which you are heading, that naturally fuels an attitude of excellence. if there is a particular quote or ideal that inspires you, that is a wonderful thing to memorize and own. Enthusiasm brings excellence.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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Mike, thanks for your insightful reply. I think I now have a better idea what I need to do to see some improvements.

I started the 60 Day Study Guide from Beatthegmat. I'm hoping that will better tell me my points of weakness and work from there.
I have exhaust most of the verbal questions in Magoosh. Should I re-do the questions and start by targetting all low levels first?

Dear Ksterr,
Yes, re-do the question. I don't know that it matters so much where you start. Make sure you keep a thorough error log.
Mike
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Hi Mike,

I've been prepping on and off since the last post and have a test date set for March 16, 2015. I thought my studying was paying off until finally doing a full CAT with Essay & IR.
I scored a disappointing Q38, V29 - 560 on MGMAT CAT.
I reviewed my exam thoroughly and this is what I found:

Quant: Strengths (Algebra / Linear Eqn / Ratios)
Weaknesses (Exponents & Roots, Formulas, Quadratic)
Areas where I either spend 3+ mins or need to dump the question immediately (Probability / Combinatronics / Mixtures)

Avg difficulty level of all questions: 540 - 570
In this CAT, I found that I dumped too many questions and ended up with 7 minutes extra. Should I use Magoosh and do sets of 10 questions in each of my areas of weakness?
---------------------------
Verbal: Strengths: Reading Comprehension
Not good but not bad: CR
Weakness: SC
Avg difficulty level of all questions: 700-730

I started out the test really strong and found myself narrowing down to 2 choices really often. I only got 27% of questions correct in SC and I guess although I saw mostly 700 level questions, I ended up with a weighted score of 29.

I have a better sense where I need to improve for verbal because SC was just terrible overall. Sometimes I guess right and sometimes I guess wrong. But for quant, I'm not as sure what to do to keep my in the 40s.

Dear Ksterr,
I'm happy to respond.

First, on the math side: I suspect, in the areas in which you are weak or dumping, you don't know the fundamentals well. If you are at all formula-reliant, remember that the GMAT loves to punish people who's math strategy relies heavily on the use of formulas. Know the mathematical logic. For example, it's true, in exponents, that (a^n)*(a^m) = a^(n + m) and that (a^n)^m = a^(n*m), but if you simply remember these as isolated factoids, they are not that helpful. Make sure you understand the *why* behind each formula --- why those formulas absolutely have to work that way. All this is discussed in the Magoosh lessons.
Here's a blog on mathematical thinking that you may find helpful:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/mathemati ... -the-gmat/
Also, in this blog, I present a couple very challenging counting problems at the top, but after that, I talk about what is difficult about counting problems. What I say there also holds true for probability.
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/difficult ... -problems/
Algebra is very left-brain, rule-driven with clear recipes that work. Counting & probability are more right-brain, about pattern recognition and choosing the right interpretive frame by which to view the problem. I discuss this a little more here:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/how-to-do- ... th-faster/

It sounds as if you are dumping too much in math. You need to get better in those areas in which you are weak. Watch and re-watch the lesson videos, searching for what pieces you missed the first time through. Re-do practice problems in Magoosh. Buy the OK Quantitative Review, and practice those problems. Another good source of math practice is the Nova book:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/novas-gma ... ok-review/

Now, on the verbal side, take a look at this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-im ... bal-score/
I would strongly recommend
(a) watch all the SC lesson videos again, looking for what you missed in the first go-round
(b) read every SC article on the Magoosh GMAT blog.
(c) over the next month, in addition to any GMAT-specific work, read for an hour a day --- read the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times. For more options, see:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-reading-list/
You have to read high quality material in English to develop a sense for sophisticated writing -- you have to "get the sound of it in your ear." That's just as important as, if not more important that, learning the rules. A rules-only approach to GMAT SC is disastrous.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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Thanks mikemcgarry

I read through all the quant links you posted last night. It all makes sense and I've definitely always just skipped or barely attempted the true counting questions. Upon finishing the exercises in the blogs, I did two sets of 10 question quizzes in Magoosh - focusing just on counting.

It was a hit or miss, and I hope to gain more tactics by watching the solutions.

Would the following be a good plan?
Spend 3-4 hours each day focusing only on one math subject? Doing focused sets of 10 questions in : Counting /probability /mixtures/exponents /formulas/quadratic /algebra

After that I focus on SC in Magoosh followed by CR and RC.

I last wrote a practical CAT on Feb 14. If I review as plan I'm thinking of writing another CAT on the 26th.

Dear Ksterr,
I like the idea of intense focus on individual topics. Maybe a little focused practice is good, but in general, I think it is much more helpful, much more test-like, to do as much mixed practice as possible. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/gmat-stud ... vs-random/
Too much single-topic practice is useless, because it doesn't build the requisite level of understanding, the ability to start a new topic cold, jump right in, and remember what to do with that topic.

Also, remember that it's not just about learning "tactics." Probability and counting are about mastering a whole other way of thinking, a mode of thinking that focuses on the right way to see the problem, rather than focusing right away on the right thing to do. In the former mode, when you look at any problem in the right way, what to do usually becomes evident. You are re-patterning the way you use your brain: this is not simply a matter of "tactics," but much deeper!

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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mikemcgarry , I've done individual and some mixed practice all in Magoosh.
I'm starting to see some repeat questions, especially in reading comp (exhausted all q's), so I'm not sure how representative the results may be anymore.

As my question bank decreases for both quant & verbal, I see myself getting mostly the "Very Hard" questions wrong when I do a 10 question practice set. How do I know if I have made enough progress to complete another Full CAT?

I have 2.5 weeks left, 3 CATS from MGMAT left and 1 Practice Test from Magoosh.

I plan to complete the Magoosh Practice Test tonight to see where I stand, thoughts?

Thanks

Dear Ksterr,
First of all, for this study help questions, you should be sending in ticket to Magoosh support. You can do that from any internal Magoosh page simply by clicking the "Help" tab on the left margin.

If you are running out of Magoosh questions, then don't take the Magoosh practice test, because you have already used up the questions used. The MGMAT CATs are very good.

I guess one question I have for you: have you watched the video explanation for every single questions you have gotten wrong? Are you really doing all the work to learn from your mistakes on every questions yet get wrong? It sounds as if your strategy has been focused on blazing through all the questions, but not necessarily reflecting on each one. Doing practice questions in vast numbers is, by itself, minimally helpful. You need to engage with each and every question --- yes, you spend only 90 seconds doing the question, but once you are done, and especially if you get it wrong, you need to spend several minutes carefully studying the explanation.

See this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/gmat-stra ... -problems/

You have already done "breadth" in your studies, exhausting vast numbers of questions. Make your focus in the remaining time "depth" --- diving deep into each and every question.

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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Dear mikemcgarry,

I spent the last few days doing less questions and reading your blogs, they have definitely been helpful and I do feel that my "understanding" has developed.
As such, I decided to complete a MGMAT CAT 4. My overall score was Q40, V29 - 570, still 70 points off my target of 640.

From the CAT results, it appears that I need the most work in Algebra / Number Properties & Critical Reasoning. The results show that my avg difficulty of correct is at 640.
But my overall score doesn't reflect that, does that mean I need work on basics?

I've attached my CAT results and was wondering if I could get some feedback.

Thanks!

Dear Ksterr

First of all, everything this report says about "average level of question right/wrong" --- I am deeply suspicious of this entire idea of saying that individual questions are "such and such" a level. Students tend to place tremendous faith in the idea that one thing is a 650-question and another is a 700-question, and I think that entire idea is little better than snake oil. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/is-this-a- ... -question/

In my opinion, especially in math, summary statistics are useless. Math happens in the details. I need to see each question individually, and I need to see exactly how you approached the problem, how you started, what you though, what you overlooked, and everything that went into the answer you chose. That's where math happens: in the details! Overall ratios of how many questions right or wrong are virtually meaningless. Perhaps the most important thing is what you learn or recognize once you know that you got a question wrong --- in other words, how deeply to you learn from your mistakes? That's a crucial question.

You may also find this blog germane:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/careless-m ... gmat-math/

Does all this make sense?
Mike
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One thing that I realized well before I started my GMAT prep. was that everything boils down to practice, practice and practice.
There is no replacement.
Some guys may do a question once and may remember the solution and their mistakes for very long, while some guys like me need to revise, revise and revise the same damn thing until they know the mistakes and solutions by heart.

The best source for practice is the OG. I recommend that everyone must do all the OG cover to cover at least twice.

Revision is a very powerful tool.It helps opens up new solutions and perspectives as we keep returning to the same question again and again.We might spot mistakes and tricks that never existed in the first go.

Non-GMAT sources must be used with caution. Most test prep. experts acknowledge that there is no replacement for OG questions.

Most sources can't even imitate OG questions.

GMAT club is a great resource .
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Dear mikemcgarry,

I have some disappointing news, I got beat yesterday at the exam. I eneded up with a 570 (Q43, V25, IR3).
In my practice tests, I was scoring 29 - 32 on verbal, and quant was 40 - 44. Verbal has always been my weak spot, would this mean I'm still narrowing down to 2 A/C far too often?

I seemed to be on pace for verbal up until the 20 - 25th question, but ultimately ran out of time and had to guess the last 5 - 6 questions.

I plan to re-write the exam in 6 weeks with the following plan:
- Magoosh (Already subcribed)
- MGMAT Sentence Correction Book
- Powerscore CR
- OG13, re-do questions along the way
- Study 2 - 3 hours during the week and 4 - 5 hours on the weekends.

I'm considering the Magoosh Verbal plan, but 3 months is too long for me. I'm thinking of using it as a guide but speeding it up, since I know most of the grammar terminology and have watched all the videos at least once.

Do you think this is a feasible plan for a score improvement? My ultimate target is a V35.

Dear Ksterr,
I'm sorry to hear your disappointing news.

Some thoughts about your plan.
1) Since you have already done the questions in the OG13, you might get the OG Verbal Review book---more official questions! It's good to have at least some questions with which you haven't practiced already.
2) I don't know much about Powerscore. If you want rigorous practice with GMAT CR, buy an LSAT book, and look at the arguments there: they are considerably harder than anything on the GMAT.
3) I don't know if you looked at this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/how-to-imp ... bal-score/
I really would like to see you reading, every day. Reading real-world, non-GMAT material is the best way to build Verbal skills.
4) Doing the Magoosh 3-month plan at a slightly accelerated tempo, skipping some of the basic material, is fine.
5) Here's the most important thing. Will this plan result in the score improvement you desire? That depends very much on your level of engagement and the habits of excellence you bring to your work. See this blog:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/gmat-study ... 0-or-more/

Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________

Dear Mikemcgarry,

I followed the plan mentioned earlier, read articles from the economist fairly consistantly (at least 1/day). Read most of your blogs through Magoosh, but once again failed when it came to the real deal. I'm a little lost as to what I can really do to improve myself. I scored pretty much the same metrics today - (Q44, V23)

My verbal scores were improving in the CATs but they are a little sporadic compared to my quant scores. But my real GMAT verbal score is far lower than what I score on Gmatprep or Mgmat.

Magoosh estimate: Q36-44, V31 - 38

4/18/2015 - MGMAT CAT 5 - Q43, V29 - 590
5/04/2015 - MGAMT CAT 6 - Q42, V36 - 640
5/14/2015 - GMAT Prep #2 - Q44,V33 - 640
5/20/2015 - MGMAT CAT 1A - Q41, V37 - 650 ***Saw repeat verbal questions***
5/23/2015 - GMAT Pill Free Test - Q33, V23 - 480 ***This seems to be an outlier and not as representative as MGMAT***

Dear Ksterr,
I'm very sorry to hear about your continued struggles.

At least part of this seems to be the effect of test anxiety. See this blog article:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/lower-on-t ... ice-tests/
When the Sympathetic Nervous System is activated, the effects on higher order thinking can be devastating. If you are planning another retake, then it appears that more than most students, you need to do some serious stress-reduction work. See:
https://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/zen-boot-c ... -the-gmat/
You need to work on this stress reduction stuff with the same focus and intensity that you work on other aspects of your GMAT studies.

One problem is that you are so diligent in your studies that you have exhausted several find sources at this point. As you saw, repeated the MGMAT CAT lead to seeing repeat questions, which might have inflated your score that time. As for the free resource, are you familiar with the cynical assessment, "Free . . . and worth every penny"? Any full length test offered for free is likely to be of considerably lower quality. It will be a challenge to continue to find new high quality questions that you have yet to explore.

If you are planning yet another retake, then in your upcoming studies, I would recommend emphasizing quality over quantity. You have already whipped through a large quantity of material. Now, through efficiency out the window and focus on depth. Make it your job, in upcoming studies, to spend inordinate amounts of time analyzing each and every verbal question, so you see every single aspect of the question, so that you understand in vivid detail exactly why the right answer is right and exactly why each wrong answer is wrong. With this approach, it would matter far less if you were seeing the question for a second time. In fact, for this kind of in-depth studying, it is crucially important that you use only the highest quality questions, even if you have seen them before, rather than digging deep into low quality questions. I would recommend the official questions (OG & other official sources) as the highest caliber, and I would say MGMAT and Magoosh have very high quality questions.

Does all this make sense? My friend, I wish you the very best of good fortune in the future.

Mike
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