analyzing practice questions

[JennieO23]

What is the best practice for recording answers to the analysis questions recommended to do after each practice problem? Do you record your answers into Word, Excel, etc.? Looking for a way to make sure that I am fully understanding the concepts. The questions are copied below:

Did I know WHAT they were trying to test?
How well did I HANDLE what they were trying to test?
How well did I or could I RECOGNIZE what was going on?

The full list of questions can be found in the article How to Analyze a Practice Problem by Stacey Koprince: http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

Thanks in advance!

[StaceyKoprince]

First, I think through what my answers are to the relevant questions (not every analysis question needs to be asked for every problem - it depends on how things went for that problem).

Then, I ask myself, "Okay, what did I just learn or figure out about this problem or about myself that I think will be applicable to some other problem in the future?" These are my take-aways. I try to limit myself to the 2 to 3 most important takeaways per problem, because otherwise I'll be taking notes forever.

I type that into an Excel tracker. I make sure to enter them in a way that will tell me WHAT the note is, WHY the note is important and WHEN I would know to re-use that kind of thinking. (You don't need to use Excel. Word is fine. A paper notebook is fine. Whatever works for you - as long as it's organized - is perfectly fine.)

When I finish a study session, I glance back through my notes and I find the takeaways that I think are the most important because they will be applicable to a broad number of questions / categories / something in the future. I turn the font for these red, so that I can find them again quickly in future.

When I start a study session, I glance back at the red notes from my last few study sessions, just as a memory aide. After I do this a few times, I usually remember these items for future.

Every now and then, I set aside 30 minutes to go back over red notes from many past study sessions. If I have learned some things so well that I know I won't forget, I change the font back to black. If there are a few that I keep messing up, and I still think they're important, I make flash cards to help myself drill. (You can do other things too - the idea is just to put the idea / concept / fact / solution method / whatever in front of you every day for the next week, two weeks, whatever it takes.

Sometimes, I decide that something wasn't as important as I thought it was, and I'm having trouble learning it, so I just forget about it. We can't learn it all. :)

Finally, just note that I was vague about what the "notes" or takeaways are because anything is fair game. It's not just "know this formula" or "know this grammar rule." It includes things like:
- I should guess on these kinds of problems and here's how I should make that guess.
- I made a certain kind of careless error, this is WHY I made that particular error, and this is what I'm going to do to try to minimize the chances of repeating that error in future.
- The trap answers for this kind of question include X and Y. Here's why they look good (why someone would pick them) and here's why they're really wrong anyway (written in a way that would be applicable to any question of that type - eg CR inference).

[JennieO23]

This is sooo helpful! Thank you! I've started to use excel already and will change certain takeaway pts to red; this will save me time when reviewing!

One other question (sorry!) is on stress. When I come upon a new question, I begin to panick when I recognize elements that I've studied, yet don't know how to solve the problem. I've read your article 'but I've studied this' and took away some pts, my only problem is that I am having this stress problem too often during the quant section. Any advice is appreciated!

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm glad that was helpful! If you have any tips to add as you practice, come back and let us know.

Re: stress, yes, that can just hurt you so much during the test. Here are some stress management resources:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... mat-score/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

The other thing I'd recommend is this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

The nutshell of that last article is that the GMAT really tests your decision-making skills, not your quant skills. Sometimes, the best decision you can make is NOT to do something. Good business people decide that all the time. So just remind yourself that you're not "giving up" when you can't figure something out and you have to guess. Instead, you're making the best decision for the situation - and that's really what they're testing your ability to do. :)

[JennieO23]

Great, thanks so much!

[StaceyKoprince]

you're welcome!