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31 Jan 2021, 15:54
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Sole purpose of this text is to provide a different kind of advice to anyone it might be helpful for. These approaches helped me. I have tried to articulate the observations after a lot of introspection. I believe I could come up with aspects that have not been talked about a lot on this forum.
There are a lot of pointers here. If you like any of these, bookmark the thread and comeback and practice it until that habit becomes natural.
I started preparing on Oct 25th, gave an exam on Dec 20. Got a 610 (Q48 V25 IR 4 AW 5) - that's a horrible 36 percentile in verbal.
Spent 12 days on a trip. Came back and gave 3 practice exams and wrote the at-home version on Jan 14th and got a 710 (Q49 V38 IR7). The wait for score kills you tough
This 100 points difference is entirely a consequence of the psychological adjustments, and this is a topic that is not stressed enough in other debriefs I believe. I gave the first exam scared that if I don't do well I'd have to work hard again (quite a usual occurrence). Secondly, the approach to V in first exam was to finish the section (usual but subconscious occurrence, so not readily conspicuous), whereas in second attempt I sat with a purpose to find the right answers. This is where GMAT prep exams 3, 4 and 5 helped. I got 710, 660 and 690. It helped me to concentrate on finding the right answer and not just sit and solve verbal questions without paying much attention to the questions.
How many times have people wondered that 'they have increased their score from 600 to 660, what else do they need to do to go close to 700 let's say'? What if I told you this can be achieved without solving even one more RC question? This is why trying to do what I mentioned above is crucial.
Now let's talk about Q. People like me (hello Asians) are usually fine with Q, and they can get up at an odd time of the day and get a 48 if the usual ability is let's assume 50. That's a difference of 30 points. Not the end of the world I'm sure, especially given the fact that good schools really don't differentiate between a 690 and a 720. You know what is one remarkable thing about Q? The more you solve the better you get. The slower you solve the faster you become.
Summary so far - Q and V require entirely unrelated approaches. Q requires practice, slow and orderly approach and finding out the exact reason why you got stuck. V requires purpose and determination that you won't budge unless you have convinced yourself that you've found the right answer.
Another piece of advice - Do not invest money in prep company materials. $100 spent on GMAT prep exams 3, 4, 5 and 6 would yield better results than $300 spent on e-GMAT course. Trust me. I hear an argument already that you need to work on fundamentals before you start solving a problem of that category. Cool. If you can't solve a question, look at the detailed solutions on GMATclub. Additionally, Bunuel would have shared links about the theory as well. People have done incredible work on GMATclub. Extremely sorry for not mentioning a few others who are doing incredible work as well along with Bunuel.
One more reason why you shouldn't spend money on prep materials - the questions these guys develop will give you a heartache and a headache. Every now and then you'd spend 4-5 minutes on a question that would never appear on the exam. You'd be left wondering what the heck have you done in last 30 days. GMAT questions could be really tricky, but one thing they are not designed to do is waste your time. Be extremely disciplined about not wandering away from OG questions. Go to gmatclub and then to GMAT tab and then practice questions and then apply filters Source: Official Guide, Source: OG 2021, Source: OG 2012, Source: Q Review 2020, yada yada yada and you are set. If you feel these last 2 points have saved you money you can transfer $20 to my PayPal account. I'll give you the account details I swear. (I got a 580 and 610 on two of my e-GMAT sigma-X mocks, spoiled 3 days of my life that I spent in tears quite literally)
Arguably controversial observation -
Q on the real exam I got 710 (Q49) on was entirely different from Q on my GMAT prep exams 1-5. I got 4-5 questions on sets and although that doesn't scare me, the questions were asked about properties of union and intersection instead of solving problems. At least 2 involved 3 sets. The problem here is that these questions can be solved, but you honestly can't spend time during the real exam to find out whether you can solve the problems. The arguably controversial point I'm trying to make here is that GMAT prep exam scores are not GREAT indicators of your final score. However, I will still strongly recommend that every student solves these exams for these are really good indicators of the experience you will have in the exam. Read about the text related to time spent on GMAT questions that I have mentioned earlier. Solving these exams will help you with pacing. Just don't let the scores affect you too much.
One advice for time toward the end of your preparation - solving one question, checking it's answer and then repeating this for 12 questions is entirely different from solving 12 questions and then checking their answers. Make a habit of doing the latter. Mock exams do the same thing. It will develop a habit of not worrying about your last answer once you have moved to the next question. One problem at a time.
The incredible hand-trick is so damn effective for verbal questions. Whoever mentioned it first is a god and although I can't look up your name right now, I'll update this text to include your name here later when I have your name. Use your fingers in one hand to eliminate answer choices that are absolutely wrong (usually 2 out of 5). But this needs discipline, eliminate quickly only the ones that are absurd. Now remember your mission, convince yourself about the right answer twice.
Confession - I can't speak enough about gmatclub and make it an overstatement.
All the best
There are a lot of pointers here. If you like any of these, bookmark the thread and comeback and practice it until that habit becomes natural.
I started preparing on Oct 25th, gave an exam on Dec 20. Got a 610 (Q48 V25 IR 4 AW 5) - that's a horrible 36 percentile in verbal.
Spent 12 days on a trip. Came back and gave 3 practice exams and wrote the at-home version on Jan 14th and got a 710 (Q49 V38 IR7). The wait for score kills you tough
This 100 points difference is entirely a consequence of the psychological adjustments, and this is a topic that is not stressed enough in other debriefs I believe. I gave the first exam scared that if I don't do well I'd have to work hard again (quite a usual occurrence). Secondly, the approach to V in first exam was to finish the section (usual but subconscious occurrence, so not readily conspicuous), whereas in second attempt I sat with a purpose to find the right answers. This is where GMAT prep exams 3, 4 and 5 helped. I got 710, 660 and 690. It helped me to concentrate on finding the right answer and not just sit and solve verbal questions without paying much attention to the questions.
How many times have people wondered that 'they have increased their score from 600 to 660, what else do they need to do to go close to 700 let's say'? What if I told you this can be achieved without solving even one more RC question? This is why trying to do what I mentioned above is crucial.
Now let's talk about Q. People like me (hello Asians) are usually fine with Q, and they can get up at an odd time of the day and get a 48 if the usual ability is let's assume 50. That's a difference of 30 points. Not the end of the world I'm sure, especially given the fact that good schools really don't differentiate between a 690 and a 720. You know what is one remarkable thing about Q? The more you solve the better you get. The slower you solve the faster you become.
Summary so far - Q and V require entirely unrelated approaches. Q requires practice, slow and orderly approach and finding out the exact reason why you got stuck. V requires purpose and determination that you won't budge unless you have convinced yourself that you've found the right answer.
Another piece of advice - Do not invest money in prep company materials. $100 spent on GMAT prep exams 3, 4, 5 and 6 would yield better results than $300 spent on e-GMAT course. Trust me. I hear an argument already that you need to work on fundamentals before you start solving a problem of that category. Cool. If you can't solve a question, look at the detailed solutions on GMATclub. Additionally, Bunuel would have shared links about the theory as well. People have done incredible work on GMATclub. Extremely sorry for not mentioning a few others who are doing incredible work as well along with Bunuel.
One more reason why you shouldn't spend money on prep materials - the questions these guys develop will give you a heartache and a headache. Every now and then you'd spend 4-5 minutes on a question that would never appear on the exam. You'd be left wondering what the heck have you done in last 30 days. GMAT questions could be really tricky, but one thing they are not designed to do is waste your time. Be extremely disciplined about not wandering away from OG questions. Go to gmatclub and then to GMAT tab and then practice questions and then apply filters Source: Official Guide, Source: OG 2021, Source: OG 2012, Source: Q Review 2020, yada yada yada and you are set. If you feel these last 2 points have saved you money you can transfer $20 to my PayPal account. I'll give you the account details I swear. (I got a 580 and 610 on two of my e-GMAT sigma-X mocks, spoiled 3 days of my life that I spent in tears quite literally)
Arguably controversial observation -
Q on the real exam I got 710 (Q49) on was entirely different from Q on my GMAT prep exams 1-5. I got 4-5 questions on sets and although that doesn't scare me, the questions were asked about properties of union and intersection instead of solving problems. At least 2 involved 3 sets. The problem here is that these questions can be solved, but you honestly can't spend time during the real exam to find out whether you can solve the problems. The arguably controversial point I'm trying to make here is that GMAT prep exam scores are not GREAT indicators of your final score. However, I will still strongly recommend that every student solves these exams for these are really good indicators of the experience you will have in the exam. Read about the text related to time spent on GMAT questions that I have mentioned earlier. Solving these exams will help you with pacing. Just don't let the scores affect you too much.
One advice for time toward the end of your preparation - solving one question, checking it's answer and then repeating this for 12 questions is entirely different from solving 12 questions and then checking their answers. Make a habit of doing the latter. Mock exams do the same thing. It will develop a habit of not worrying about your last answer once you have moved to the next question. One problem at a time.
The incredible hand-trick is so damn effective for verbal questions. Whoever mentioned it first is a god and although I can't look up your name right now, I'll update this text to include your name here later when I have your name. Use your fingers in one hand to eliminate answer choices that are absolutely wrong (usually 2 out of 5). But this needs discipline, eliminate quickly only the ones that are absurd. Now remember your mission, convince yourself about the right answer twice.
Confession - I can't speak enough about gmatclub and make it an overstatement.
All the best
31 Jan 2021, 16:08
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Bookmarks
Ha! An anon debrief! 
Congrats on your score and thank you for your debrief! Interesting points about Verbal and Quand and also GMAT Prep not being a good indicator. What GMAT Prep scores did you get? (I also feel the scores you get on Tests 1 and 2 are more precise and while tests 3-6 may not be quite different, the road to those scores is different with less adaptive tests).
Congrats on your score and thank you for your debrief! Interesting points about Verbal and Quand and also GMAT Prep not being a good indicator. What GMAT Prep scores did you get? (I also feel the scores you get on Tests 1 and 2 are more precise and while tests 3-6 may not be quite different, the road to those scores is different with less adaptive tests).
ramlala
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31 Jan 2021, 19:02
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