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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....
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The Phases of Preparing for the GMAT
When preparing for the GMAT, a person goes through phases of learning about the topics that appear on the test. In other words, people understand GMAT topics on a continuum that goes from “I know nothing about this topic” to “I understand this topic so well that I can’t get questions from it wrong,” and as they prepare for any given topic, they move along that continuum.Chances are that when you begin preparing, you’ll have a different initial degree of understanding for each GMAT topic. For example, perhaps you’re extremely good at Probability questions. Now, by extremely good, I mean that you almost never, if ever, get those questions wrong on the actual test. However, perhaps you’re pretty bad at Number Properties questions; you almost always get those questions wrong.
As you study a topic, you develop an understanding of that topic. When you study a bit more, your understanding deepens a bit more. The more you study effectively, the deeper your understanding becomes; more proper study translates into deeper understanding. Here comes the problem, and it’s a big problem: Many students incorrectly assume that having a deeper understanding of a topic is tantamount to having a deep enough understanding of a topic. In other words, they mistake improvement for mastery. This phenomenon is the cause of a great of deal stress and, sometimes, confusion regarding why test-takers are not scoring as high as they expect to on the GMAT.
The situation could unfold as follows: At first, you know nothing about Number Properties questions, for example. They confuse you to no end and you consistently get them wrong. So, you begin to study the topic. You do a bit of reading from which you learn some interesting things about the subject. You watch videos of an instructor solving example questions. You feel better about the topic. After all, it was pretty easy to watch the videos, and what was taught made sense. You then solve a handful of practice questions on Number Properties, getting about half correct. At this point, you get up from your desk to make yourself an espresso. As you’re waiting for the beans to grind, you think to yourself, “Wow, I’ve really mastered Number Properties. I feel good!”
With that thinking, there will be rough waters ahead. Have you really mastered number properties? Let’s consider the situation. What happened? You did some reading, watched someone else solve some questions, and answered some questions on your own. You’re better at Number Properties now than you were before you began studying, but you have yet to attain mastery of the topic. The positive feeling about the topic that you’re experiencing results from the fact that three hours ago you knew nothing about the topic, and now you know a little bit. You’ve accomplished something, and this accomplishment feels good. This is a great FIRST STEP. However, too often students see this as the final step.
I see people demonstrate this pattern time and again. They learn a little bit about a topic, but not enough to know all the ins and outs. Then, they are shocked when they don’t earn a higher score on their practice tests or official GMAT. Sometimes, they reason that the issue is their test-taking ability, that under test conditions, they make lots of careless errors. They reason that those mistakes must be what is holding them back. Of course, there is nothing shocking happening, and careless errors are not really the issue. Test-takers who have experiences like these are simply less than prepared.
To avoid this pattern, and for a variety of other reasons, anyone preparing for the GMAT can benefit from having an understanding of the phases of learning. Let’s review each phase along the continuum of GMAT preparation.
Phase I: No Knowledge
You know nothing about a particular topic. You’ve never seen it before. You’ve never even heard of it. You can’t even begin to answer questions that involve this topic.Phase II: Initial Recognition
After some looking around and light study, you begin to recognize the topic when you see it. You know the topic shows up in GMAT questions. However, you know nothing about the concepts, skills, or strategies used to answer questions involving the topic. You get nearly 100% of all questions on the topic incorrect. If someone were to explain to you how to solve one such question, you’d struggle to follow the solution. Your ability to get these questions correct on the test is close to 0%.Phase III: Basic Understanding
After more study, in addition to recognizing the topic when you see it, you have begun to learn some basic rules, concepts, and procedures regarding this topic. You’re able to better follow someone’s solutions to questions involving the topic. In addition, you may be more regularly able to answer the easiest of such questions, but you are slow and prone to making mistakes in answering them. You continue to answer almost all, if not all, of the medium and hard questions in this topic incorrectly.Phase IV: Easy-Level Mastery
After significantly more study, you know well the concepts, rules, and formulas associated with the topic. In addition, you can easily follow an instructor’s solutions to the questions. In other words, you can watch someone else do the work and understand what they’ve done. However, you’re still struggling to correctly answer anything but the easiest of questions; medium and hard questions give you trouble.Phase V: Deep Conceptual Understanding
You begin to see patterns, connections, and time/energy-saving moves when you encounter questions involving this topic. At this point, you have a deep conceptual understanding of the topic and its applications. You could sit down with someone and talk accurately with that person about the topic; you could teach them the major concepts. Easy questions are now a piece of cake for you, and you’re getting better at solving medium-level questions, especially when you are practicing within one topic (for example, you’re solving only Number Properties questions). However, you often take longer than two minutes to solve these questions. You’re accurate but slow. In addition, you regularly get hard questions incorrect. Furthermore, you struggle to correctly answer questions while doing mixed topic sets of questions (for example, a 31-question test of Rate-Time-Distance, Probability, Ratios, and Word Problem questions).To read the complete article, view my full article on Target Test Prep’s blog.
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