So many questions, so little time

Question

I will take the GMAT on July 21. I seem to have a specific problem with the time. Let me describe what I did so far.

- I took an 8 meetings course from April to May. It was better than nothing, but on completion I didn't feel ready at all.
- I went through most of the questions in the Official Guide.
- I got Manhatten's Number Properties and SC books, went through them.
- I took GMATPrep1 and 2. Scored Q43 V34 on the first, Q44 V42 on the second.
- Took an 800 score test - Quantitative part only. Got 36 (?!).

I feel OK with the verbal part, and the universities I will apply to are mainly interested in the Q part anyway. So my target for the next 2 weeks is to improve the Q part as much as possible. I can spend around 3 hours a day on weekdays, more on weekends.

In all tests, I had the same problem of not getting to the last questions. In fact, in the Q part I manage to answer about 25-27 questions, then on the last minute I just guess the rest. I wonder what is a good way to improve it, and my Q score in general. My idea was to just do more and more online tests. Is it a good approach or do you suggest anything else?

Ideas, suggestions and any advice will be greatly appreciated.

nirimblf · Answer

Anyone?

By the way, I did another 800score test - got Q36 again. I really hope their difficulty level does NOT reflect the actual GMAT level...

aaron22197 · Answer

I think you should spend some time reviewing your weak areas and spend maybe a few minutes everyday to strengthen these areas. Since your exam is abt 20 days away, I also suggest learn and practice to make educated guesses when you feel the solution to a question is time consuming. You mentioned that you cud complete only 25-27 Q's. The last 10 questions might have been pertaining to your strengths which cud have helped you boost your score.

Remember that GMAT will throw time consuming difficult questions at you. If you cannot diagram/write equations for it within the first minute, you are likely to get it wrong and also waste 3-4 mins. So, make an educated guess and move on.

Like I mentioned earlier, Reviewing is very IMPORTANT. Take time to identify your weak areas and allocate some time for it everyday. This can work wonders.

Don't just practice practice practice....

I suggest practice ...review ...practice ...review and practice...review

some of the posts here have mentioned that 800 Quant is much tougher than the real GMAT.

nirimblf · Answer

Thank you for the post. Yes, I don't often let go of a question. I do get stuck in questions for over 3 minutes, and on top of it sometimes get it wrong.

stingraybullray · Answer

Good suggestion aaron!. +1

nirimblf - Thats exactly what I'm doing. I practice and then I review what I practiced. Have you considered OG 11? Give it a try. If you can't complete all the problems try at least the last 1/3rd of them in each section. I'm also having the problem of getting only till like 27 questions on practice tests. I'm planning to improve my math skills in the next month or so.

nirimblf · Answer

I did 2 more 800score tests. Q only. Last two were Q39 and Q47.

Today I did a full Manhattan GMAT test. Got Q40 V39. Again I managed to complete only 27 questions before quickly guessing all the rest in the last 1 minute or so.

I spent over 4 minutes each on 6 different questions (the longest was 4:50 minutes!), and got 2 of them wrong.

I feel bad if I skip a question, like I failed it or something, so I don't give up until it is too late and probably miss the ones I can more easily solve. The only time I got a really good grade in Q (last 800score test in which I got Q47) was the time I allowed myself to skip more questions. However I suspect their algorithm is not really realistic.

---

I would like to ask about your experience with the Manhattan tests. How do you find them in relation to the real GMAT?

aaron22197 · Answer

My suggestion is take a GMATPREP and that will determine where you are in quant. Majority of the ppl who take MGMAT quant find the questions unreasonably time consuming. You will find a lot of posts that share the same view. GMAT gets the better of you if you spend too much time on a question. when you are doing well, GMAT wants to throw a time consuming question to slow you down. You just need to guess and move on.

nirimblf · Answer

Yesh, I will take them again. You know, I reveiwed my answers to the last test, and I found that at least 5 wrong answers were stupid mistakes - just not reading the question carefully enough, or skipping a trivial detail. When trying to solve them again I get them right. In one question I knew the right answer but clicked another one, I was so obsessed about moving to the next one quickly... I noticed that one immediately when I clicked it. So my lesson here is to do the questions quickly, but not to rush it to the extent of missing important details and getting it all wrong.

McDargoiowkel · Answer

My advice would be to practice as quickly as possible. GMATFocus was really good for me on this because I found the questions very difficult and I think you actually get less time per question. As I tried to increase my speed. I really found out which questions were giving me the biggest fits. By the time I did my final run through, I had reached that perfect mix speed, thoroughness, and, most importantly, knowing which questions were not worth my time. You also get a pretty comprehensive breakdown of strengths and weaknesses and time spent on each question. In my opinion, no verbal question is worth more than two minutes; if you don't get it, you don't get it. Save the time for reading the RC sections thoroughly.

For me, skipping questions (by making 20-30 second educated guesses) was hard at first. I felt like I was taking the training wheels off the bike. It was just counterintuitive, like leaning into a turn or pressing down to make the jet go up in the Top Gun NES game. So the most important thing is to practice. Once you've used this strategy, you should see your scores go up. Do it enough, and you'll be able to shake that feeling that it's "wrong" to skip a question. By the time I strolled into that testing center, I was cool, calm, and collected for pretty much the whole test, and finished both sections with time to spare. Hope that helps.

nirimblf · Answer

Thanks, McDargoiowkel. I just did another Manhattan GMAT, Quantitative section only, and got 48! The best I got so far! I guessed every question that I didn't have a clear idea how to solve in say 30 seconds after reading it, and the last two for which I didn't have enough time.

So overall, I can say:
- I get between 34 and 44 when I insist on trying to solve the harder questions and spend too much time there.
- I get between 47 and 48 when I allow myself to skip hard questions. It doesn't feel "ok" just yet (and I did take my time on one question, and got it wrong), but I make myself do it.

nirimblf · Answer

OK, July 21 is tomorrow, I will take the test on 12:15.

I have some questions about formalities and about last preparations.

Formalities:
- The break between Q and V is 10 minutes, right? 
- If we cannot keep anything with us during the exam, not even a bottle of water, how do I get to it during the break? Do they keep lockers there or what?
- I found that after the Q part I am exhauseted and have difficulties to concentrate in reading all those RC in the V part. Do you recommend having a snack or something between those parts?

Last preparations:
- I thought about writing down some points to remember (in geometry, number properties, combinatorics, etc). Maybe review some questions. Not sure about retaking one of the GMATPrep today or not. Don't want to be exhausted when I get there but don't want to spend some valuable minutes adjusting to the test.
- Any last tips?

I will appreciate any feedbacks. My focus is on the Q part, since V part accounts for only 5% of the score in the university I want to apply to, and 0% in my other choices. None care for AWA.

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