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12 Nov 2007, 09:05
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Do not be discouraged by Kaplan practice tests. Although the math questions may not be that much harder than the real thing, the scaling on the test is different and it’s not adaptive. After repeatedly scoring 580s on the Kaplan tests I scored a 680 the first time I took the test and a 760 the second time. I think part of the reason I received a 680 the first time was the nervousness and lack of confidence that resulted from the low Kaplan scores. I would strongly suggest spending the $40 to buy the Manhattan GMAT online tests. They are available off their website. I actually saw one of the harder Manhattan practice questions on the actual test (exactly the same question!). I have some theories on how this could have happened but I won’t speculate. I found the Kaplan verbal section very poorly written. I scored in the 99th percentile on the verbal but was scoring in the 70th percentile on the Kaplan tests.
Practice on the computer. This is one of the most important things I can recommend. I found that I would do a lot better on paper with fewer careless errors. Having to glance back and forth between the computer and the scratch paper is a seemingly minor distraction but it really hurt me initially. You simply cannot get comfortable with the pacing, the interface and the adaptive nature of the test without doing tests online. Do tests on the computer and do them timed!
Know what you are bad at and focus on it. I found it really helpful to study questions thematically. I made a list of the different types of maty questions there are (e.g. rates, averages, statistics, mixture/dilution, overlapping sets, decimals, absolute value, probability etc.) and then looked through the OG and pulled out those questions. I then studied the different types all together. I found this helpful in reinforcing the particular skills needed on the different question types. The GMAT asks questions in remarkably similar ways. This also allowed me to focus on areas where I was weak (e.g. constantly make stupid errors with decimal questions).
Focus on efficiency as well as content knowledge: In other words, don’t just learn how to do a problem, learn how to do it quickly and accurately. I made the initial mistake of studying only to understand the concepts and memorize the rules. This is not sufficient. If you can do a problem with 100% accuracy but it takes you 4 minutes to do it every time, then you might as well be getting it wrong 50% of the time. You need to learn how to do them fast. There are lots of tricks for doing math quickly and you should use them.
Do hard questions: If you want a high score then you need to practice hard questions. Unfortunately, the OG has very few truly difficult questions. Maybe the last two pages of the math section are hard but that’s about it. Practice the challenge questions, and various other “hard” questions you can find. I used some of the harder Manhattan questions but I am assuming there are other options.
The test has changed: This is a point that I cant really back up except with what I experienced. I found some of the practice content (particularly older Veritas materials) composed of computationally intensive questions. I.e. long word problems that required a lot of rote math (e.g. long division). Having taken the test twice, I’ve found that there are very few of these questions on the actual exam and many more conceptual number properties questions (e.g. absolute value, inequalities, factors, divisibility, remainders etc). Perhaps this is because I was getting some of the harder problems but I found this surprising given the composition of the practice materials.
Live to fight another day. This is something people have said over and over again, but I’ll say it again. If a question is really hard, just guess and move on. This does not mean guess blindly. Think about it for a minute and quickly see if you can get it right. Sunk costs are sunk costs. Even if you’ve spent two minutes on a question already, it does not mean you should spend another 20.
Practice on the computer. This is one of the most important things I can recommend. I found that I would do a lot better on paper with fewer careless errors. Having to glance back and forth between the computer and the scratch paper is a seemingly minor distraction but it really hurt me initially. You simply cannot get comfortable with the pacing, the interface and the adaptive nature of the test without doing tests online. Do tests on the computer and do them timed!
Know what you are bad at and focus on it. I found it really helpful to study questions thematically. I made a list of the different types of maty questions there are (e.g. rates, averages, statistics, mixture/dilution, overlapping sets, decimals, absolute value, probability etc.) and then looked through the OG and pulled out those questions. I then studied the different types all together. I found this helpful in reinforcing the particular skills needed on the different question types. The GMAT asks questions in remarkably similar ways. This also allowed me to focus on areas where I was weak (e.g. constantly make stupid errors with decimal questions).
Focus on efficiency as well as content knowledge: In other words, don’t just learn how to do a problem, learn how to do it quickly and accurately. I made the initial mistake of studying only to understand the concepts and memorize the rules. This is not sufficient. If you can do a problem with 100% accuracy but it takes you 4 minutes to do it every time, then you might as well be getting it wrong 50% of the time. You need to learn how to do them fast. There are lots of tricks for doing math quickly and you should use them.
Do hard questions: If you want a high score then you need to practice hard questions. Unfortunately, the OG has very few truly difficult questions. Maybe the last two pages of the math section are hard but that’s about it. Practice the challenge questions, and various other “hard” questions you can find. I used some of the harder Manhattan questions but I am assuming there are other options.
The test has changed: This is a point that I cant really back up except with what I experienced. I found some of the practice content (particularly older Veritas materials) composed of computationally intensive questions. I.e. long word problems that required a lot of rote math (e.g. long division). Having taken the test twice, I’ve found that there are very few of these questions on the actual exam and many more conceptual number properties questions (e.g. absolute value, inequalities, factors, divisibility, remainders etc). Perhaps this is because I was getting some of the harder problems but I found this surprising given the composition of the practice materials.
Live to fight another day. This is something people have said over and over again, but I’ll say it again. If a question is really hard, just guess and move on. This does not mean guess blindly. Think about it for a minute and quickly see if you can get it right. Sunk costs are sunk costs. Even if you’ve spent two minutes on a question already, it does not mean you should spend another 20.
12 Nov 2007, 11:10
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Nicely done, and well stated. Congrats!
12 Nov 2007, 13:18
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Well written. You wrote everything I wanted to and left me nothing... 
To anybody who is aiming 700+ these are golden rules. Some of which I wish I followed better.
To anybody who is aiming 700+ these are golden rules. Some of which I wish I followed better.
