How to analyze CR answers in the OG?

Question

Hi. So, I'm in the last week or so of my preparation for the GMAT. I had read it somewhere that it's best to do OG questions in the ending phase of your prep. Hence, I'm at it now. The thing is that I'm not sure how to review each answer.

Here's what I've been doing: Do a batch of 10 questions chosen randomly by the software (I'm practicing OG on computer). Then, I review each question, including the ones I get right. Now, this is where it hurts. Do I need to review each question, including each answer choice to see why it was wrong or why it was right? It ends up taking a lot of time, not mentioning how frustrating it gets.

Is my approach the right way to do the CR questions in the OG or am I being too hard on myself? Honestly, I can bear all the frustrations if eventually it's good for my score. I just need to know if my approach is effective or not.

Thanks in advance.

Leadership · Answer

Hi Louis14 .. You have adopted the best method. You need to analyze the answer choices (in Verbal) - why one is right and why others are wrong. You will start to see some patterns once you do some good practice. GMAT experts say - this method is one of the biggest reason by which some people stay in 600-700 range even after months of prepration and some cross the 700 barrier within 3 months. In Quant - you can try to find alternative ways to find a solution. Great Job. Keep it up. All the best

Louis14 · Answer

Thanks for your guidance! I’m glad I’m on the right track. I’ll keep at it, though it’s not gonna be easy at all! It’s like chewing a gum after some time.

As far as Quant is concerned, I was scoring in the range of Q45/46, so I bought and thoroughly went through this book, Manhattan Advanced Quant. I’m hoping it’ll help me get to Q49+. Have you gone through that book, and was it effective? Posted from my mobile device

Leadership · Answer

Hi Louis14 ..

You are scoring Q45-Q46 in which mocks? Official or other prep companies mock series? Sorry, I have not gone through Manhattan but heard a positive feedback for all of its books.

Louis14 · Answer

Kaplan (Q46); Economist Q(45)

Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Hi Louis14,

I don’t see anything wrong with your method. Regarding how to review questions, for sure, review any questions that you answer incorrectly, but if you find it helpful to solidify concepts by reviewing questions that you answered correctly, then do that as well. At the end of the day, regardless of how long it takes, your main goal needs to be to master CR. If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out.

Louis14 · Answer

Thanks, sir for your guidance. Today, I got done with all the CR questions in the OG. My accuracy rate has been like 70%. Given my goal score of 700, do you think I need to improve my accuracy or is a 70% accuracy rate just fine? Thanks.

sushigmat · Answer

Hi Louis14.

Finally, one stone out of the way. Good job on completing the CR from the OG. When you mention a 70% success rate, that is not bad. However, do bear in mind  that the first 60 odd CR Questions in the OG are relatively moderate level of difficulty  (most of them are in the 500-650 range).  The questions get consistently difficult only in the last 80 odd questions.  So to get a better sense of how you are actually going on the CR, do analyze where most of your mistakes occurred- middle or end.

Also, you can identify which question types are you struggling the most in-  the most frequently tested question types are Weaken, Strengthen and Assumption- so make sure your foundations are solid there . 
 If you are missing out on Boldface or other rare question types, do not worry too much. 
Also, consider practicing CR from the gmat 10 official past papers. They have some very good questions.

All the best!

Posted from my mobile device

Louis14 · Answer

Sir, I consistently scored 7/10 or 8/10 while solving the OG CR questions, though there were a couple of exceptions. Since I did the OG questions on computer, and that gave me the option to opt questions in ‘random’ manner, I got questions from every difficulty level in the batches of 10 that I solved. So, I can say that I had a 70% accuracy overall. I did realise that I had problems with assumption question, so I went through the lectures to clear my concepts again. That helped. Btw, my accuracy rate in RC has been 85%. Now, I’m onto OG Quant questions. After which I’ll do SC. And then hopefully I’ll write the GMAT after taking a couple of practice tests.

Posted from my mobile device

sushigmat · Answer

Hi Louis14.
Have you used any other source for practicing Q or V, apart from the OG.

Do consider including the gmat past papers in your practice schedule. They have some very good CR questions.

It would be a good idea to do short mixed drills that include:
15 SC - 20 mins
10 CR- 22 mins
1 RC 6 to 10 mins, depending upon the number of questions. 
All the best!

Posted from my mobile device

Louis14 · Answer

Well, I’ve been preparing for Quant for the last six months, so I’ve covered a lot actually. Apart from almost 600-700 questions that I did in my initial days of prep, I’ve solved 250 Veritas Prep questions, all the hard questions available with Magoosh, all the Manhattan GMAT Advanced Quant questions, including questions within each chapter as well as 150 questions at the end of the book. And now, finally, I’m gonna solve all the medium+hard level OG Quant questions. As far as verbal is concerned, I stuck with the OG because I’m pretty comfortable with grammar and reading long passage. CR has been my primary verbal weakness but since I went through Magoosh verbal lessons and did all the OG CR questions, I’m hoping I should have improved decently. Let’s see how my practice mock goes. Fingers crossed.

Sir, where can I get the past gmat papers as you have mentioned?

Posted from my mobile device

Sir, where can I get the past gmat papers as you have mentioned?

Posted from my mobile device

sushigmat · Answer

You can find them in the official gmat website and am pretty sure they are available here on this forum as well.

Posted from my mobile device

Louis14 · Answer

Sure. I’ll search it. Thanks a lot!

Posted from my mobile device

sushigmat · Answer

Do reach out if you are stuck with any CR Or any other questions.
Happy studying!

Posted from my mobile device

ScottTargetTestPrep · Answer

Honestly, I think you should push your accuracy rate as high as you can get it.

How to analyze CR answers in the OG?

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