Maintaining accuracy in completed subject & Moving to next subject

Question

Hello,  GMATNinja ,  AjiteshArun ,  AndrewN ,  bb ,  Bunuel ,  ChiranjeevSingh ,  GMATGuruNY ,  CrackverbalGMAT ,  egmat

I am facing a very critical question as I am done with SC & moving on to CR & eventually Quant. (Following an approach of getting done with one before moving on to others)

What should I do if I forget SC or lose hold of SC, losing the accuracy I have achieved now??

Basically how to maintain the accuracy/hold of the subject(Concepts also) if I keep completing the subject & then moving on to another?

Practicing everything every day is difficult due to the time constraint of 2 hours a day for the GMAT as I am working.

In the end, I need to achieve the desired score.

Thanks

GmatKnightTutor · Answer

What should I do if I forget SC or lose hold of SC, losing the accuracy I have achieved now??

Consider 'mixing' your prep a bit so your skills don't rust. Even if you're now leaning more heavily into CR, for example, include some SC here and there.

In the end, I need to achieve the desired score.

How to score high on the GMAT. Why solving approach is important.

AndrewN · Answer

Hello,  Akhilshah . I would advise you to work in a small set of Medium-level SC questions, perhaps ten or so, every three to four days to keep your skills sharp in that area. It does not take much, but you do have to put to use the knowledge you have worked hard to gain, or you will lose it, bit by bit. Forget about targeting specific concepts, unless you start to notice that you miss a lot of the same types of questions—e.g., comparisons or those testing verb tense. Official SC questions have a way of testing multiple concepts all at once. Finally, I advise people against putting too much pressure on themselves  to achieve the desired score . It is fine to establish goals, but do not let those goals get in the way of your progress. Some days are going to go really well in your preparation, while others will make you question whether you really want to go to business school at all. Embrace both parts of the process.

One of my lengthiest posts , on common GMAT™ mistakes, may be of help to you in your journey. Do not be afraid of losing anything. Just reinforce your test-taking methods frequently enough to build confidence.

Thank you for thinking to ask me, and good luck with your studies.

- Andrew

MartyTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Akhilshah.

I would add to what has already been said that one way to retain concepts well is to seek to understand the logic of them because, when you understand the logic underlying concepts, rather than having to simply remember them, you have a logical foundation that supports your retention of the concepts.

For instance, in SC, the pronoun "everyone" is always a singular subject. You could seek to simply remember that fact, but you'll remember it more easily and basically forever if you understand why it's always singular, which is that it is a combination of "every" and "one," and it's quite logical that "one" would always be singular. Similarly, it's logical that a modifier set off from the rest of a sentence by commas would be nonessential, because the commas act like parentheses around the modifier.

You'll find that there is a logic that you can use in this way to almost all the concepts you learn for the GMAT.

For some more ideas on how to retain what you learn for the GMAT, see the following post.

How to Learn More, Learn Faster, and Retain More Knowledge While Preparing for the GMAT

EMPOWERgmatRichC · Answer

Hi Akhilshah,

If you're concerned about any particular GMAT skills 'fading' over time, then there are a couple of ways to offset that issues. First, you should look to periodically practice each of the major question types (in the case of your example, that does NOT mean that you need to practice SCs every day - but you should plan to do some SC review/practice each week). Second, simply creating some flashcards (so that you can quickly review rules/formulas/etc. as needed) is a fairly low-tech solution that you could use at any time of day.

Before I can offer you any additional advice for your studies, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far? What “brands” of CATs/mocks have you used?
3) On what dates (or approximate dates) did you take EACH of your CATs/mocks and how did you score on EACH (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your overall goal score?
5) When are you planning to apply to Business School and what Schools are you planning to apply to?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at: [email protected]

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