Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
May 2012:30 AM EDT
-01:30 AM EDT
Struggling to find the right strategies to score a 99 %ile on GMAT Focus? Riya (GMAT 715) boosted her score by 100-points in just 15 days! Discover how the right mentorship, tailored strategies, and an unwavering mindset can transform your GMAT prep.
May 2008:00 AM PDT
-08:30 AM PDT
What’s in it for you- Live Profile Evaluation Chat Session with Jenifer Turtschanow, CEO, ARINGO. Come with your details prepared and ARINGO will share insights! Pre-MBA Role/Industry, YOE, Exam Score, C/GPA, ECs Post-MBA Role/ Industry & School List.
May 1501:00 PM IST
-11:00 AM IST
Start your journey with a fully customized action plan and work with a dedicated mentor to achieve a 735+ score.
May 1912:00 PM PDT
-01:00 PM PDT
Scoring 329 on the GRE is not always about using more books, more courses, or a longer study plan. In this episode of GRE Success Talks, Ashutosh shares his GRE preparation strategy, study plan, and test-day experience, explaining how he kept his prep....
May 2101:00 AM EDT
-02:00 AM EDT
Looking for your GMAT motivation to break through the score plateau? Pragati improved her score by massive 160 points with strategic guidance and hard-work! Find out how personalized mentorship and a strong mindset can turn GMAT struggles into success.
May 2310:00 AM PDT
-11:00 AM PDT
Video explanations + diagnosis of 10 weakest areas + 150+ short videos + study plan!- Jun 10
06:00 AM PDT
-06:15 PM PDT
Register for the GMAT Club Virtual MBA Spotlight Fair – the world’s premier event for serious MBA candidates. This is your chance to hear directly from Admissions Directors at nearly every Top 30 MBA program..
ChiranjeevSingh
Expert
Tutor
Expert reply
23 Feb 2017, 08:30
Kudos
Bookmarks
One of my friends wanted to learn driving. However, nobody was willing to teach him. Why?
Well, probably because he had a peculiar condition: he wanted to begin learning at 60mph.
Some people may not consider him very wise, but he had his logic. He reasoned that since he wouldn’t derive any satisfaction from driving unless he could drive at 60mph, there’s no point in his learning to drive at 10 or 20mph. Why bother to learn to drive at 10 or 20mph when you want to eventually drive at 60mph?
I know a person who stopped going to the school the day he learnt that one has to be a graduate or a post-graduate to get a good corporate job. Why bother going to school if you’re not going to get a job because of it? Why not go directly to college? Well, that’s what my cousin wanted to do.
You may think these people are mistaken. However, they had their logic.
And not so fortunately, I see a similar logic followed by a number of GMAT aspirants.
A significant majority of the people already have a target score in mind when they start preparing for GMAT. Generally, this score is above 700 and sometimes 750+. Let’s say Peter is one of these guys with a target of 720+.
Peter reasons out that to score 720+, he’ll need to be able to solve some of the toughest questions on Quant and Verbal sections within 2 minutes per question. He reasons that he doesn’t need to worry about easy or medium level questions since he won’t see many of them on his test anyways. He can just focus on the difficult questions and try to solve them within 2 minutes each. Gradually, with practice, he’ll get to his goal.
Just as, gradually, an 8-year-old who hasn’t been to school would understand the subjects of college!
How likely is it for Peter to succeed?
Not very, I think.
There is an old story about two Greek islanders vying to become the strongest man on the island.
One trainee bought a newborn calf. The other laughed at him. How could a calf help his rival train? But every day the wise trainee lifted it. Every day the calf got a little bigger and heavier, but he could still lift it because it was only a little bit heavier than the previous day. After a year, the wise trainee saw the calf was now a bull, but he could still lift it.
In the meantime, the unwise trainee had tried every day to lift a bull.
He had failed every time.
The point I’m trying to make is that timing yourself and solving the most difficult questions from the beginning is a bad strategy, based on a flawed reasoning that doesn’t apply to any domain of learning.
When you learn to drive, the first things you learn are the names and the functions of the various parts, and how to operate various parts such as clutch, gear etc. We can call this stage “Conceptual Stage”.
Then, you begin to apply your conceptual knowledge to increasingly higher speeds. As your skills improve, you feel comfortable even at higher and higher speeds. We can call this stage “Application Stage”.
And then comes a stage when you can drive at your desired speed without compromising on the safety. We can call this stage “Timing Stage”.
These are the three stages of learning applicable to all domains of learning. This is the way learning happens. And this is the way you should prepare for GMAT. I explain how you can apply this three-step approach to ace GMAT in this article: https://gmatwithcj.com/articles/three-pi ... -strategy/
However, people try to master all the three stages at the same time, not surprisingly leading to unpleasant results. What would happen if you try to increase your speed when you haven’t built your skills to a sufficient level?
Your chances of crashing will increase. Right?
The same thing happens when we try to improve our timing without building our skills: our accuracy suffers. It becomes an either-or situation: either you have accuracy or you have timing. In such a case, no matter what you choose, your score suffers. In the latter case, you get questions incorrect and in the former case, you end up leaving or skipping questions.
However, it need not be an either-or situation. You can have both.
How? How can you drive at 60mph without increasing your chances of crashing?
By becoming a better driver. By increasing your skills.
Right?
Similarly, the way you improve your timing without compromising on your accuracy is by building your skills, by learning, by mastering the concepts and the approach. When you do so, the questions that looked medium will start looking easy and the questions that looked difficult will start looking medium.
Do you think you would face a lot of timing problems in dealing with easy or medium level questions?
- CJ
Well, probably because he had a peculiar condition: he wanted to begin learning at 60mph.
Some people may not consider him very wise, but he had his logic. He reasoned that since he wouldn’t derive any satisfaction from driving unless he could drive at 60mph, there’s no point in his learning to drive at 10 or 20mph. Why bother to learn to drive at 10 or 20mph when you want to eventually drive at 60mph?
I know a person who stopped going to the school the day he learnt that one has to be a graduate or a post-graduate to get a good corporate job. Why bother going to school if you’re not going to get a job because of it? Why not go directly to college? Well, that’s what my cousin wanted to do.
You may think these people are mistaken. However, they had their logic.
And not so fortunately, I see a similar logic followed by a number of GMAT aspirants.
A significant majority of the people already have a target score in mind when they start preparing for GMAT. Generally, this score is above 700 and sometimes 750+. Let’s say Peter is one of these guys with a target of 720+.
Peter reasons out that to score 720+, he’ll need to be able to solve some of the toughest questions on Quant and Verbal sections within 2 minutes per question. He reasons that he doesn’t need to worry about easy or medium level questions since he won’t see many of them on his test anyways. He can just focus on the difficult questions and try to solve them within 2 minutes each. Gradually, with practice, he’ll get to his goal.
Just as, gradually, an 8-year-old who hasn’t been to school would understand the subjects of college!
How likely is it for Peter to succeed?
Not very, I think.
There is an old story about two Greek islanders vying to become the strongest man on the island.
One trainee bought a newborn calf. The other laughed at him. How could a calf help his rival train? But every day the wise trainee lifted it. Every day the calf got a little bigger and heavier, but he could still lift it because it was only a little bit heavier than the previous day. After a year, the wise trainee saw the calf was now a bull, but he could still lift it.
In the meantime, the unwise trainee had tried every day to lift a bull.
He had failed every time.
The point I’m trying to make is that timing yourself and solving the most difficult questions from the beginning is a bad strategy, based on a flawed reasoning that doesn’t apply to any domain of learning.
When you learn to drive, the first things you learn are the names and the functions of the various parts, and how to operate various parts such as clutch, gear etc. We can call this stage “Conceptual Stage”.
Then, you begin to apply your conceptual knowledge to increasingly higher speeds. As your skills improve, you feel comfortable even at higher and higher speeds. We can call this stage “Application Stage”.
And then comes a stage when you can drive at your desired speed without compromising on the safety. We can call this stage “Timing Stage”.
These are the three stages of learning applicable to all domains of learning. This is the way learning happens. And this is the way you should prepare for GMAT. I explain how you can apply this three-step approach to ace GMAT in this article: https://gmatwithcj.com/articles/three-pi ... -strategy/
However, people try to master all the three stages at the same time, not surprisingly leading to unpleasant results. What would happen if you try to increase your speed when you haven’t built your skills to a sufficient level?
Your chances of crashing will increase. Right?
The same thing happens when we try to improve our timing without building our skills: our accuracy suffers. It becomes an either-or situation: either you have accuracy or you have timing. In such a case, no matter what you choose, your score suffers. In the latter case, you get questions incorrect and in the former case, you end up leaving or skipping questions.
However, it need not be an either-or situation. You can have both.
How? How can you drive at 60mph without increasing your chances of crashing?
By becoming a better driver. By increasing your skills.
Right?
Similarly, the way you improve your timing without compromising on your accuracy is by building your skills, by learning, by mastering the concepts and the approach. When you do so, the questions that looked medium will start looking easy and the questions that looked difficult will start looking medium.
Do you think you would face a lot of timing problems in dealing with easy or medium level questions?
- CJ
23 Feb 2017, 09:18
Kudos
Bookmarks
Nice thoughtful post! and the article too!
Such posts actually help to build your mindset that you need, to prepare for the exam..
Such posts actually help to build your mindset that you need, to prepare for the exam..
28 Mar 2017, 04:29
Kudos
Bookmarks
Excellent post ChiranjeevSingh .
The comparison with the driving is well done.
Explanation is well articulated.
Thanks for sharing...
The comparison with the driving is well done.
Explanation is well articulated.
Thanks for sharing...
