Guidance needed to formulate a preparation plan for GMAT

[nuggins16]

Hi Stacey,

First of all I’d really like to thank you, Ron and everyone at Manhattan GMAT for the timely and prompt guidance you offer to the GMAT aspirants. Like most others I too need tips on how I can fair better in GMAT. I took the GMAT for the first time on December 10th 2009.I got a score of 600 (Q 48,V 26).My prep tests included 6 MGMAT tests, which I took 8 times, 2 GMAT tests, that I took around 4 times,4 Kaplan Tests and 4 Princeton Tests. Princeton tests were not of good standard and I always ended up getting more than 720.The Kaplan tests that I found pretty difficult , I ended up with average scores of around 610.In my MGMAT tests , which I took for about 8 times in total , I got an average score of about 660.

Then I decided to give GMAT a second shot. I started preparing in March 2010 with pretty much the same material and the same tests. This time too I took the tests as many times as I took during my first preparation. I got really high scores in MGMAT like around 700 + every time. I would say this dint reveal the correct picture as I remembered quite a few questions. I also retook the GMAT practice tests and I ended up with a score of 710 and 680. Here again I did remember quite a few questions.

On the exam day, there was an 1.5 hr delay in start of the exam as the palm reader (used for bio metrics) wasn’t working. I was given an option to take the test on another day but I thought I should get over with it. I ended up with a score of 660 (Q 49,V 33). I felt that I started loosing concentration after the 17th question in verbal. This probably dint happen in my practice tests as I had taken them a lot of times and so the repetitive questions dint require that much concentration as the new ones that appeared on the exam day.

During the first attempt I got a score of 4.5 in AWA and in my second got a score of 5.0.

I am targeting schools such as NUS, NTU in Singapore where they prefer score of 700 + and I plan to give GMAT one last determined shot. But I am afraid that even if I purchase the MGMAT tests or the GMAT practice tests again I would remember quite a few questions and this wouldn’t reflect the correct picture. I feel pretty confident in the Quant section but please guide me on how to go about the verbal section.

I have around 3.5 years of experience in the Information Technology services sector.

[nuggins16]

REPLY FROM STACEY

We would be very happy to help. Can you do me a favor and start a new thread of your own? I can't unfortunately just split off your last post or I would do it myself.

Just copy and paste to a new thread and put it in. I'll be back on the forums early next week and will answer you then. Also, please give me some additional detail:

1) how long has it been since you last studied for the test?
2) how long has it been since you've taken an MGMAT test or looked at the questions from an MGMAT test?
3) when was the last time you took any kind of practice test?

If you've taken an MGMAT practice test in the last month, please use the below article to analyze your results; I need this info in order to advise you:

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2011/02/ ... sts-part-1

If it has been a while since you last took a test, you will need to take another so that we have some data on which to base your study plan.

I assume your online access to our tests has expired; contact the office to see what you can do to get access again - you may be able to get a discount so that you don't have to repurchase the whole thing again. studentservices@manhattangmat.com 800.576.GMAT, or skype: m.gmat

_________________
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director of Online Community
ManhattanGMAT

[nuggins16]

Additional Information requested by Stacey

1) how long has it been since you last studied for the test?
June 2010 , was the last time I gave GMAT and hence that would be the last time I studied for the test.

2) how long has it been since you've taken an MGMAT test or looked at the questions from an MGMAT test?
For the first attempt that I took in Dec 2009, I looked at MGMAT from August 2009 and December 2009.

For the second attempt that I took in June 2010 , I looked at MGMAT from March 2010 to June 2010.

3) when was the last time you took any kind of practice test
The last practice test was the one that I would have taken a couple of days prior to my second attempt in June 2010.

I haven’t taken MGMAT test in the last one month

I dont mind repurchasing the Manhattan Tests but i have two questions.

1.Even if i remember arnd 3-5 questions,that wld be the difference between 660 and 710 and hence it wld not reveal the correct picture.

2.When you mean repurchase wil i get access to the previous tests and how many new tests do i get.Also i am yet to start my prep ; considering each buy has a validity attached to it ,i dont want to end up buying the package too early as it might expire when i really want to take the tests.Please advice.

A little more information that mite help u assess me

1> I don't read much , just about 4 books a year , primarily fiction and my reading speed is a little slow.I like to read each and every line in detail and i am a bad skimmer.

2>From my previous tests, my self assesment is that i tend to loose pace in the english section.

My target is 720 but i would like to hit 740 in the practise tests , so that with the nervousness on the exam day i achieve my target.

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for re-posting, nuggins.

So, first, you did see a 60-point increase from your first test to your second - nice work! I know you want more, but I just want to acknowledge your progress already!

So it has been almost a year since you last studied or used the materials.

Re: getting access to the tests again, talk to the office to see what the various options are and what timing would work best for you; they might be able to work out a deal (note: I'm not saying they will - I don't work in the office and have no authority over that stuff!!).

studentservices@manhattangmat.com
800.576.GMAT from US or Canada
skype ID: m.gmat

You can re-take the tests even if you remember a small number of questions as long as you follow a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks vaguely familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.

if you see something and think: this looks familiar... look at the timer and make sure to spend full time. Then work through the entire problem again. If it starts to come back to you as you work through it, then see my notes in the previous paragraph.

For reading, start with this article:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... ading-comp

And here are some more that are specific to reading on the GMAT:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/04/ ... mp-passage
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/07/ ... rc-passage

I'd recommend that you first talk to our Student Services department to see what you can do about getting access to the tests again. Once you're ready, take a practice test under 100% official conditions, including essays, then use that article that I linked to before to assess your results, then post here again and we'll help you figure out what to do!

[nuggins16]

So it has been almost a year since you last studied or used the materials.

Re: getting access to the tests again, talk to the office to see what the various options are and what timing would work best for you; they might be able to work out a deal (note: I'm not saying they will - I don't work in the office and have no authority over that stuff!!).

My response : I haven’t been taken a course in Manhattan GMAT ( no tutoring ) , though I purchased the 6 online tests during my previous attempts.Suppose I do get access to my previous tests I might not want to analyze them as I run the risk of familiarizing myself with the question bank.

studentservices@manhattangmat.com
800.576.GMAT from US or Canada
skype ID: m.gmat

My response :I intend to purchase the 70$ pack (online practice exams and 8 question banks) and practice on my own since I feel that I don’t need to start from scratch. I feel that with the practice material and the inputs in the online forum I should be able to achieve my target. However could you throw some light on whether the question bank has been changed since 2010 or does it contain the same questions. This would be of great help.

if you see something and think: this looks familiar... look at the timer and make sure to spend full time. Then work through the entire problem again. If it starts to come back to you as you work through it, then see my notes in the previous paragraph.

My response: I totally agree to what you say but I don’t know if I would have the patience to actually sit and wait, if I knew the question. For this your answer to my previous question (whether the MGMAT question bank from which questions come up in the online tests has changed) would be of utmost help.

I'd recommend that you first talk to our Student Services department to see what you can do about getting access to the tests again. Once you're ready, take a practice test under 100% official conditions, including essays, then use that article that I linked to before to assess your results, then post here again and we'll help you figure out what to do!

My response: Since I have had a considerable break from studying I wish to go through the OG 12 once again and solve a few questions to get my focus back on track and to get into the groove of solving within the time limit. Also brush up on a few topics.
Please let me know if the approach is ok.

[nuggins16]

Hi Stacey,

Please find my response inline in my previous post.

Thanks and Regards,
nuggins16

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay - I thought you took our course before.

The online question banks haven't changed much, no - there are new questions and updates in the CAT exams, but not so much in the question banks.

You're right about not wanting to review the previous tests - it's been long enough that you should just start from the beginning, and you're right not to want to familiarize yourself with the questions before re-taking the tests.

If I were you, I'd actually start with a practice exam under 100% official conditions. See what your starting point is, and then you can make better decisions about what you think you need to do in order to get to the score you want (and what resources you'll need to help you). You'll have remembered some things and forgotten others - there's no way to know unless you test yourself.

[nuggins16]

Hi Stacey,

I bought the 6 online tests from Manhattan as suggested.I took the first test.However i did not write the essays and did only the quant and verbal section setting a time limit of 75 mins per section as per gmat and took a break of 8 mins between the sections.

In Quantz i got a score of 48 (23 correct,14 wrong ) normally my accuracy is better .. so pretty disappointed with it... i also found the math section to be a little tougher than other material such as OG,Kaplan and Princeton...because in other material i got atleast 30 questions right...i feel 14 is way too high

In Verbal too i did a lot of mistakes...got a score of 42 (28 correct,13 wrong ) with 8 mistakes in SC,2 in CR and 3 in RC...
A little bothered cuz my accruacy in SC is pretty good and it is in RC that i generally falter...also i feel that SC scores need to be consitent...


Overall i got a score of 730 ( please advice how this target is achieved in spite of making so many mistakes ) .. also advice how i should go about from here.. i have 5 more tests in manhattan and 2 OG tests that i will get when i book the GMAT to assess my self.. i am targeting sept end.thanks in advance

[jnelson0612]

Hi nuggins,
Stacey is out for a few days and I am filling in for you. I just read through your entire story.

First, 730 is a fantastic score! And yes, you can miss that many questions and get that kind of a score. On my last CAT I missed 11 quant and 10 verbal and got a 770. The secret is to not miss any lower-level questions. If you are only missing 700-800 level questions you will get a very good score. If you go back and review you will probably see that all or almost all of your misses are in the 700-800 category.

Well, in verbal clearly sentence correction needs work. The other two categories are great. I would do a very deep review of all the grammar rules for sentence correction. Do you have our sentence correction strategy guide? If not, you may want to consider obtaining it or another company's material for sentence correction. You need to know all the grammar rules and be able to apply them. You also need to have a good process, such as using differences in the answer choices to make quick eliminations.

In math, I would deeply review every question you missed and see if there is a particular area you are weak in. Go back and study any weak areas.

Given that you have seven tests left, you may want to take about one each week from now until the official GMAT to practice your pacing and get a sense of your weak and strong areas. You should also be working through questions in the Official Guide edition 12.

Good luck!

[nuggins16]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks a lot for the valuable inputs. Yes i have gone through each of my errors in both math and verbal.I have the Manhattan Sentence Correction Guide with me.The problem i face in sentence correction is identifying the mistake and applying the corresponding grammar rule.When i read thru the SC guide i understand the rules, but the problem arises when i do the tests that is to identify the pattern and apply the rule.Also i have finished all the OG question before i started out with the tests.

Thanks and Regards,
nuggins16

[StaceyKoprince]

Also i have finished all the OG question before i started out with the tests.

You may have finished doing them once (or twice), but if you're still having problems with SC, then you're not actually done with the OG questions. There are still things that you can learn from these questions.

Note: I'm going to make a distinction between doing the questions and learning from them. You don't learn much while doing the actual question under timed conditions - that is, when you first try it. Most of what you learn comes afterward, while you're analyzing the question.

For SC, if I were to show you a particular difference in answer choices but NOT show you the full problem (or even the full answer choices), would you be able to tell me which rule is probably being tested? You can probably do this for some things right now (eg, "has" and "have" would be a pretty straightforward split), but you can also probably get better at this. The splits, or differences in the choices, are the major clues that (should immediately) tell us what rules we need to think about / apply for that choice. That will help with both your speed and your accuracy.

Go and pick ten random questions out of OG. Don't read the original sentence; only look at the answer choices. For every difference that you spot, write down what exactly is being tested by that difference. (Note that you will sometimes have to guess, because you are missing the non-underlined portion of the sentence. For example, if I see a subject switching back and forth between singular and plural, but I don't have the verb or a pronoun in the underlined portion, then I would write something like "this could be either pronoun matching or verb matching by number.")

Then go and check yourself against the written explanations. Did you spot all of the differences? Did you accurately identify the issues being tested? If not, ask yourself: "how should I have known that XYZ meant ABC?" It might be something that you have to memorize. It might be that you missed a clue elsewhere in the underline. It might be that the clue was part of the non-underlined portion (which you didn't read), so now you know to match up a particular non-underlined clue with an underlined clue.

Make yourself a list with two columns. Above the first column, write: "When I see..." and above the second column, write: "I should think..."

Start filling that in while you're working on SC from now on.

It's really good, by the way, that you feel comfortable with the info as presented in the SC guide. That means that you do understand most of the fundamental material. Now you need to take the next step, learning to translate.

SC can be just as much about "translating" as quant is. You see certain things and you know their significance in quant already - now you have to learn what those things are in SC GMAT-speak, and that's where you're "When I see this... I should think that" list will help you.

(By the way, think about how different the quant material in the strategy guides often is compared with how the material is tested on an actual GMAT question. When you're just learning the pure content, it often doesn't look anything like a GMAT question. The same is true for SC - you have to take the next step in studying to analyze how the GMAT questions will try to disguise what's being tested, etc.)