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Hello! After lurking around for a while, I've noticed a pretty common trend when it comes to people discussing how to prepare and study for the GMAT.
In terms of GMAT question aptitude, everyone talks about improving their weaknesses and some people talk about understanding their strengths, but I see little mention of actually consciously attempting to improve one's strengths. I believe that while you of course need to work on weaknesses, it is also a good idea to set aside some time to really work on your strengths and actually try and get better at them.
This will (theoretically) do two things for you:
1) Improve your score. Well duh. But who's to say that you'll gain more points by building on a weakness as opposed to building on strengths? It seems intuitive to think that bringing up your weaknesses will result in the larger boost but really it all depends on your relative aptitude and what sort of questions you get served.
2) Confidence. My theory is that if you focus entirely on weaknesses that on the test day you'll naturally be thinking about your weaknesses and whether or not you've prepared sufficiently. This may or may not create a nerve wracking experience... at least if you've spent some time on your strengths you know that there are aspects of the test you needn't worry as much about, that you can probably spend less time on, etc., and that might help with nerves.
I'd like to reiterate: when I talk about "improving strengths" I don't mean just thinking: "yeah I'm good at Reading Comp, go me!" I mean thinking: "yeah, I'm good at Reading Comp... now how can I improve?" and then actually consciously attempting to do so. I think it's a mistake to assume that just because you're good at one thing means that time spend practicing it will not yield a larger skill boost than practicing something you're not so good at. Yes, there are diminishing returns theories in play but for human aptitude that stuff doesn't always hold water.
I realize that a lot of this kind of armchair psychology (if anyone has links to any studies that actually address this issue that'd be cool) but I also think it's worth considering and discussing. What do you think?
In terms of GMAT question aptitude, everyone talks about improving their weaknesses and some people talk about understanding their strengths, but I see little mention of actually consciously attempting to improve one's strengths. I believe that while you of course need to work on weaknesses, it is also a good idea to set aside some time to really work on your strengths and actually try and get better at them.
This will (theoretically) do two things for you:
1) Improve your score. Well duh. But who's to say that you'll gain more points by building on a weakness as opposed to building on strengths? It seems intuitive to think that bringing up your weaknesses will result in the larger boost but really it all depends on your relative aptitude and what sort of questions you get served.
2) Confidence. My theory is that if you focus entirely on weaknesses that on the test day you'll naturally be thinking about your weaknesses and whether or not you've prepared sufficiently. This may or may not create a nerve wracking experience... at least if you've spent some time on your strengths you know that there are aspects of the test you needn't worry as much about, that you can probably spend less time on, etc., and that might help with nerves.
I'd like to reiterate: when I talk about "improving strengths" I don't mean just thinking: "yeah I'm good at Reading Comp, go me!" I mean thinking: "yeah, I'm good at Reading Comp... now how can I improve?" and then actually consciously attempting to do so. I think it's a mistake to assume that just because you're good at one thing means that time spend practicing it will not yield a larger skill boost than practicing something you're not so good at. Yes, there are diminishing returns theories in play but for human aptitude that stuff doesn't always hold water.
I realize that a lot of this kind of armchair psychology (if anyone has links to any studies that actually address this issue that'd be cool) but I also think it's worth considering and discussing. What do you think?
14 May 2010, 18:27
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This is a good point and very applicable in my case. Currently my quant is by far my weak point. Now I am confident I can raise it significantly but I also need the most work here. However it would certainly help and on some level even be easier for me to raise my verbal by more practice and study in this area. I have less room to run on the verbal but would still gain from working on it.
One interesting point that pertains and hasn't been discussed much is the time of the hard versus the easy. I finished the verbal with more than twenty minutes to spare. The math was not completed. By working on pacing myself in both areas I could benefit in each.
What is your current area of strength that you will work to improve?
One interesting point that pertains and hasn't been discussed much is the time of the hard versus the easy. I finished the verbal with more than twenty minutes to spare. The math was not completed. By working on pacing myself in both areas I could benefit in each.
What is your current area of strength that you will work to improve?
15 May 2010, 12:46
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Bookmarks
IMO trying to improve your strengths is probably not an optimal plan. Look at it this way: If you are good at something then to get better would mean to work hard on something that you are already good at. I don't think that the improvement can be that significant. On the other hand, if you are not that good at something, it is much easier to improve. It's like learning a foreign language. Your improvements in the beginning are fast and visible. But the better you know the language, the less visible the improvements are and the longer it takes you to get to the next level. It's like 80/20 rule: It takes 20% of your energy to achieve 80% of your goal and it takes 80% of your effort to get the remaining 20%.
), and I'm pretty good at say, Sentence Correction. In my study plan does it make sense to try and improve DS or build up my SC? It doesn't if putting in 2 hours a day on DS yields a +10 boost in score while 2 hours spent on beefing up my SC yields +15 (and assuming you can't do both for whatever reason). Of course it's nearly impossible to get that specific but I don't believe such a scenario is improbable. Building skills in real life is not necessarily the same as building skills in RPGs (not to imply that you can't tell the difference, just using it as an analogy). 
