Uhmmm....no such answer?

Question

Was wondering - what's the best strategy when you spend 1.30min on a PS question, solved it, feel like a man until you look up and discover there is no such answer?

Should I re-read the exercise? recheck my calc? guess and move on?

Worst scenario I often end up in is: discover no such answer --> swear --> re-read exercise+ check calculation --> waste 1min --> swear --> guess and move on anyway

advice?:)

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear imoi , I'm happy to respond. :-)

First of all, here's a blog on effective guessing strategies: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/when-to-guess-on-the-gmat/ Also, I would say --- in your practice, when this happens, it's very important to write down, on the side, what you think the answer is, and then afterwards, study the OE, and figure out what mistake in your thinking lead you astray. It's very important that you keep a record of your mistakes, so that you learn from them over time. Learning everything you can from your mistakes is hard to do --- it requires tremendous diligence --- but that is the fastest route to an improved performance. Finally, I would recommend this blog: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2013/careless-m ... gmat-math/ In particularly, if it is at all a common occurrence that you are not reading the prompt question completely or thoroughly, then I definitely think mindfulness exercises could contribute a tremendous amount to your GMAT performance. Does all this make sense? Mike :-)

KarishmaB · Answer

I think Mike is spot on. What I would recommend to my student in a similar situation will be to move on during the test but come back to the question later. If it happens to you often, notice what your most common mistake is! Do you misread the question? Do you make incorrect equations? Do you make calculation errors? Once you spot the most common problem, take care you do not commit that mistake. Also, if you do find yourself in that situation, you know exactly where to go back - to the question stem, or formation of equation or your calculations!

Also, be a little more careful in the beginning of the problem so that you know that you have that covered. That will help you save time when you are actually solving the problem.

imoi · Answer

Thanks guys - great stuff.

It doesn't happen too often, no, but it sometimes does, which i thought was enough to be worried!

I was keeping an excel with my errors, will run through all the careless ones to see if there is a pattern, like you said. Except for that I will take your advice to move on during the test.

Thanks!

Uhmmm....no such answer?

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