Improving Quant accuracy on practice tests and speeding up studying ti

Question

Hello everyone, My question regards the fact that for Quant using TTP, I find myself going VERY slowly and also even if I seem to understand everything that I am reading, take notes and do flashcards, every time that I complete a module and go on to the Chapter Tests, I never meet the accuracy level. I have no idea how to improve my accuracy and to speed up my learning process at the same time as re-reading complete modules seems like a very bad idea considering that I have done only 4 modules of Quant in one month's time

I am scared that I will not be able to finish the course on time and that I will also struggle to be successful on it. Please note that I am currently studying for the GMAT using TTP for Quant and e-GMAT for Verbal. I do not have an exact date for the GMAT but I do have as a plan to take it in 3 months' time (I have already been studying for 1 month). I am currently juggling two internships during the week so I study approximately 2 hours a day and during the weekends I study 6 hours approx. If you would have any tips, ideas, or stories to share that could help me, I would be very grateful. Thank you!

Russ19 · Answer

As you have to go through a lot of concepts for quant, you should try to increase the number of hours. First of all, try to focus on accuracy, and consider the speed once you achieve efficiency.

monikakumar · Answer

I would say start from 600 level question and try to achieve accuracy and then move ahead to other accuracy levels the same way.

pb253 · Answer

When I meant speed, I was referring to my studying time rather than answering questions time, but thank you for your advice!

AnirudhaS · Answer

As far as I've heard, TTP is very detailed and thorough. So you need to put in a lot of hours. If there is a way you can double the hours on the weekend, from 6 to 12 hours, that would be a step in the right direction.

IanStewart · Answer

You really should be using official questions to assess how well you're doing with GMAT concepts - you see official questions on the real test, not any company's questions. Among other issues, company questions (and this is true of all prep companies) are invariably biased in one way or another; they'll overemphasize some concepts and question types and underemphasize others. There are, by now, more than enough easy and medium level published official questions available to practice all of the foundations (it's only when you start doing higher-level practice that good quality questions are in shorter supply).

How precisely you should study depends on your background and initial level. Have you taken any diagnostic tests, and do you have a rough idea where you're starting, and how much progress you need to make to reach your goal score? If you don't have much background in math, or you're starting from a lower level, you should expect study to take a while. If you do have some background in math or are starting from an average level, then you really should be able to cover all of GMAT math in under two months, if you're studying effectively, since the scope of the test is fairly narrow.

One thing I'd point out about study: for most people, it tends to be most effective to study for shorter periods of time, but more often, though with occasional breaks. People who study six hours on a Saturday are usually learning no more than someone studying two hours; our brains lose the capacity to take in new information quite quickly. We also process the information we've taken in during rest periods. Sometimes people think they should be studying more when in actuality they should be studying less - they're not learning as much as they could because they're mentally exhausted and unable to take in anything new.

AnirudhaS · Answer

I just want to add my experience on 6 hours * 2 weekend days

**Just a disclaimer this is based on my personal experience.

I work in a stressful environment and it is really hard to get 2 hours of study every weekday. Initially I thought 3 hours each day would suffice my prep - 3 hr *6 days = 18 hours study + 4 hours mock test on Sunday = 22 hours / week
Now to make those 22 hours up, let us just assume I give 2 hours / weekday , then remaining deficit = 12 hours
This 12 hours only works out if split equally in 6 + 6 hours on Sat and Sun.

Now here is the problem that 6 hours of actual study amounts to almost the entire day. Why? Life comes in the way. For e.g. I track my "actual study" hours and here is an example of one day's split - 
 
Actual study hours - 
6:10 - 7:24 == 1 hr 14 min
10:26 - 12:32 == 1 hr 54 min
16:00 - 17:30 == 1 hr 30 min

As you can see I only studied 4 hr 38 min although "technically" I was with my books all day. Now out of these hours the real productive hours are lower and I completely agree with that. But given my situation, this is better than increasing 1 hour / day, so 3hrs/weekday. 3*5 = 15 hours, deficit around 6 hours, weekend split = 3 + 3 hours == much more manageable. I can barely manage 2 hr/ weekday as mentioned before, so unfortunately had to go with the 6+6 hours weekend split.

The point of this is to say that be realistic to what is achievable and tailor it suit your needs. If it takes more time to prepare - a couple more months - so be it. Not everyone's retention of subject matter is the same. Wish you all the best in your prep.

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