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jarkeb
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General question about Magoosh algorithm during practice Q's 28 Aug 2017, 18:40
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This is not related to any singular topic, but all of the practice questions in Magoosh. It seems as if once I learn something, ie, watch the corresponding video for something quant related, I rarely see practice questions pop up that are related to that topic going forward. That is to say, it seems like the practice questions are almost always based on concepts which I have not learned yet. Every now and then, something will trickle in that will be familiar, but more often than not, the questions are based on topics that are covered in future lessons.

Am I just crazy, or is this the general algorithm for Magoosh practice questions? I find myself getting quite infuriated during my practice sessions due to constantly getting problems wrong. I think to myself, well, once I cover this lesson, i'll be all set! I will be able to answer all of these questions go-forward! Then I take the lesson, and hardly see the concept in practice problems again. I usually leave my parameters open when practicing Quant, so I let the computer CAT test me on random topics while practicing.
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mikemcgarry
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General question about Magoosh algorithm during practice Q's 31 Aug 2017, 15:06
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jarkeb
This is not related to any singular topic, but all of the practice questions in Magoosh. It seems as if once I learn something, ie, watch the corresponding video for something quant related, I rarely see practice questions pop up that are related to that topic going forward. That is to say, it seems like the practice questions are almost always based on concepts which I have not learned yet. Every now and then, something will trickle in that will be familiar, but more often than not, the questions are based on topics that are covered in future lessons.

Am I just crazy, or is this the general algorithm for Magoosh practice questions? I find myself getting quite infuriated during my practice sessions due to constantly getting problems wrong. I think to myself, well, once I cover this lesson, i'll be all set! I will be able to answer all of these questions go-forward! Then I take the lesson, and hardly see the concept in practice problems again. I usually leave my parameters open when practicing Quant, so I let the computer CAT test me on random topics while practicing.
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Dear jarkeb,

I'm happy to respond. :-)

To be honest, there is absolutely no algorithm linking what lessons you watch and what questions you get. That would be a tremendous engineering job and I would strongly advocate against anyone every doing it.

You see, when you are at early stages of your planning, we want you to get things wrong. We don't want this because we are mean and want to punish you. We do this because we are trying to maximize your learning. I am going to have you read this GRE blog article:
Good! I Got it Wrong!
In that blog article, I describe the emotionally mature respond to get questions wrong, and if you can embody that response and live it out, you will make astonishing progress in your learning.

Here's a GMAT blog article on a related note:
GMAT Study Approaches: Systematic vs. Random

I am also going to recommend these two blogs:
“Understanding” the GMAT: Practice vs. Exam Performance
Studying for the GMAT: Learning from Your Mistakes
That last blog is particularly important: make sure you give proper studious attention to each and every mistake you make, because that's where you gold is.

Does all this make sense?
Mike :-)