Beat The GMAT!

I had a big day of studying today. I began my day somewhat differently from my usual order, doing my Official Guide Critical Reasoning set first. The results were so-so, an 85% hit rate. Not too bad, but not amazing. I always want amazing.

After that I went through some Kaplan 800 critical reasoning problems. They were tough, but I have to admit the explanations in this book are terrific. Kaplan 800 does a good job of breaking down each problem and performing a thorough, clear analysis. Next, I went to town on reviewing past Delta Course and OG Data Sufficiency errors, followed by some OG sentence correction and OG reading comprehension problems.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may have noticed that I am incorporating more and more review and practice into my daily study routine. It's nice having all this practice, but my study time is getting longer, increasingly. For all you GMAT prep folk out there following my study routine, be prepared to allot more time for studying the closer you get to your test date. You're going to need it!

SUMMARY OF DAY 68 WORK:
1. Official Guide Critical Reasoning Set, #51-90, pages 511-521.
2. Reviewed 10 past Delta Course errors.
3. Reviewed 10 past Official Guide Data Sufficiency problems.
4. 10 Official Guide Sentence Correction problems, #1-10, pages 653-654.
5. Official Guide Reading Comprehension passage, #19-24, pages 326-327.
6. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 68 INSIGHTS:
1. When planning your study schedule, keep in mind that you will spend more and more time studying the closer you get to your test date.

Labels: Critical Reasoning, GMAT Verbal

In the last two days I have been in the process of selling my car. This is the first time I've done a private party sale, and I've learned that it is simply a pain in the ass. I think I priced my car too low, so as a result I've received about 3 calls and 5 e-mails per hour from my online listing. After letting a few people test drive my car, I was able to find someone to buy. Great news for me, but my study time has been eaten up as a result.

Consequently, my study was brief today and it put me in a bad mood. I didn't perform very well in my Official Guide Critical Reasoning set: 77.5%. Upon second review I was almost at the point of slapping myself in the face multiple times because of my careless misreading of several passages. I've determined that CR is something that you have to devote all your mental capacity towards. When you are distracted by other crap and not thinking clearly, it's easy to make mistakes.

But hey, at least I am a few grand richer from the day.

SUMMARY OF DAY 67 WORK:
1. Kaplan 800 Critical Reasoning, pages 17-43.
2. Official Guide Critical Reasoning Set, #91-130, pages 521-532.

RECAP OF DAY 67 INSIGHTS:
1. You can't perform well in critical reasoning without fully devoting your attention to each passage. It is so easy to misread!

Labels: Critical Reasoning, GMAT Verbal

It was an absolutely gorgeous summer day today. Not a cloud in the sky, temperatures in the high 70s (translation: high 20s for all you international people)--it was one of those days where you want to just say 'screw it' and run around in the sun.

Fortunately, I was able to beat down these natural urges and do some good studying. I began the afternoon with my usual Delta Course, RC, DS, and SC problems. After that I studied the critical reading chapter of the Princeton Review Verbal Workbook, which I found in pdf form somewhere on TestMagic Forum a long time ago. It was a good chapter, but pretty much identical to the critical reading chapter in Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT. The material was all review for me, but helpful in getting me into the CR mentality.

I was quite pleased today to score a 95% hit rate on my set of 40 Official Guide Critical Reasoning problems. Here's how I attack a typical Critical Reasoning question:

1. Read the question prompt and WRITE DOWN the question type (weaken, assumption, etc.)
2. Read the CR passage actively, noting the location of the conclusion and premises.
3. Look at answer choices and immediately eliminate choices that are out of scope, moving top to bottom. Remember, the CR passage provides a limited set of information. There tends to be a lot of answer choices with out-of-scope information.
4. Review answer choices that are left and pick the one that best answers the question.

I have a pretty simple approach but it seems effective. The only thing that is really giving me problems with regard to critical reading is stamina. I tend to take longer in answering these questions, and reading passage after passage actively is very tiring. But it's all getting better with practice.

Hope I stay productive this week...

SUMMARY OF DAY 66 WORK:
1. Reviewed 10 errors from past Delta Course problem sets.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension passage, #25-30, pages 328-329.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency problems, #1-10, pages 237-238.
4. Official Guide Sentence Correction problems, #11-20, pages 654-656.
5. Princeton Review Verbal Workbook, Arguments Chapter, pages 49-85.
6. Official Guide Critical Reading Set, #131-170, pages 532-543.

RECAP OF DAY 66 INSIGHTS:
1. Practice building your stamina with critical reasoning. It's a lot of reading you have to do, so get used to it now.

Labels: Critical Reasoning, GMAT Verbal

This was a pretty bad week of studying. I have been doing some travelling, which prevented my getting into the books. However, today I was able to accomplish a little bit of work.

On my very first set of Official Guide critical reasoning questions, I got an 82.9% hit rate. This score is definitely lower than what I had anticipated. I have a lot of strength when it comes to reading comprehension, so I thought that critical reasoning would be a walk in the park since these types of problems are similar to RC. I didn't find CR to be that intimidating, but I did notice that I was lacking a good attack strategy when I was going through the problems. I am going to spend next week developing a good CR approach.

3 weeks until test day! Perhaps this is my last weekend of leisure? Nah...

SUMMARY OF DAY 65 WORK:
1. Reviewed 10 past errors from Delta Course Bonus Questions.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension Passage, #31-36, pages 330-331.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency Problems, #11-20, pages 238-239.
4. Official Guide Sentence Correction Set, #21-30, pages 656-657.
5. Official Guide Critical Reasoning Set, #171-205, pages 543-557.

RECAP OF DAY 65 INSIGHTS:
1. Practice has a great way of revealing the moments you are lacking a strategy. I definitely felt this way today doing my critical reasoning questions.

Labels: Critical Reasoning, GMAT Verbal

I had my big sentence correction finale today. I began my day by doing 9 Delta Course Bonus Questions (finally finished all 179 problems!), a reading comprehension passage from OG, and 10 DS problems from OG. Next, I re-read Sahil's SC Notes, which I must emphasize again, are excellent. After that I did some problems from Kaplan 800.

For my last set of 40 Official Guide Sentence Correction problems, I got an 85% hit rate. I'm sad to say that I haven't scored over 90% even once in any OG set, but at least I've stayed fairly consistent, except for one day.

While I'm not completely satisfied by my sentence correction preparation, I'm ready to move on to critical reasoning. I have to keep progressing because my test date is rapidly approaching. Thank God!

SUMMARY OF DAY 64 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #171-179 - Finally completed all 179 questions.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension Passage, #37-42, pages 332-333.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency Questions, #21-30, pages 239-240.
4. Re-read Sahil's SC Notes.
5. Kaplan 800 Review and Problems, pages 171-194.
6. Official Guide Sentence Correction Set, #31-71, pages 658-663.
7. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 64 INSIGHTS:
1. You can't master everything.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I took the last full-length practice CAT off of the Princeton Review CD. It went okay: 720 (45Q, 45V). This is a decent score, but I would like to have seen something in the mid 700s since this is my last PR test. I guess it didn't help that I got the very first question wrong on the verbal section.

One thing that I'm concerned about is my quantitative score. For the real exam, I believe that I need to be scoring around 47-50 in order to have a fair shot at my goal of 750+. So far the highest quantitative performance I've had on any given practice test is 46. Morever, since I hear that the quantitative section on the actual GMAT is a bit harder than can be seen on OG, I'm feeling a little nervous.

But it's Friday, so I'm not going to worry about it until Monday. Enjoy the weekend!

SUMMARY OF DAY 63 WORK:
1. Princeton Review CAT 4, off of PR CD.
2. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 63 INSIGHTS:
1. I hope my quant is much better on the real GMAT, or else I won't reach my goal.

Labels: Practice Tests

I had a very productive day today. The highlights of this afternoon were my reviewing sentence correction strategy from the GMAT Study Strategy provided by DaveForMBA [EDITOR'S NOTE: This link no longer exists, unfortunately], and re-reading Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes. Before the GMAT, I considered myself very strong when it came to grammar, but I've found that GMAT English can be quite different from formal English. Studying the various SC guides online are necessary for anyone who is serious about preparing for the exam.

Today I again performed at an 87.5% hit rate for my set of 40 Official Guide SC questions. I seem to have reached a plateau. Of course, I would like to raise my hit rate, but I am willing to accept my current level of performance since I can make up some ground on the actual test with my strong reading comprehension skills. But dammit, SC is a real thorn in my side.

It was a long freakin' day.

SUMMARY OF DAY 62 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #161-170.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension Passage, #43-48, pages 334-335.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency Problems, #31-40, pages 240-241.
4. Read SC Strategy from GMAT Study Strategy.
5. Re-read Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes.
6. Offical Guide Sentence Correction Set of 40 Questions, #71-110, pages 664-669.
7. Reviewed Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 62 INSIGHTS:
1. As a perfectionist, it's hard for me to accept the fact that I cannot master every area tested on the GMAT with super high proficiency. SC may be a weakness that I will just have to accept--or NOT!

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I had some small redemption today by performing at an 87% hit rate on a set of 40 Official Guide Sentence Correction problems. I think I understand why my hit rate was much lower yesterday: that set had a disproportionately high number of hard bin problems than are normally found in a given set of 40 OG problems. A quick analysis of the errors I have made to date on OG SC reveals that I tend to get more hard problems wrong, which is not good, since I want to be seeing only hard problems on the actual GMAT. I will need to review my errors carefully.

Special thanks to Abhishek, who tipped me off to Sahil's SC Notes. They are an excellent set of SC notes, which all of you out there should download and read.

SUMMARY OF DAY 61 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #151-160.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension Passage, #49-54, pages 336-337.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency Questions, #41-50, pages 241-242.
4. Read Sahil's SC Notes.
5. Official Guide Sentence Correction Set, #111-150, pages 669-675.

RECAP OF DAY 61 WORK:
1. Don't take your hit rates too seriously--they could be inflated. This may be the case for me, since I tend to get more hard questions wrong. OG unfortunately presents an indiscriminate variety of easy, medium, and hard questions in a given set of questions.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

This evening of study started off smoothly--I cruised through my review work without getting a single problem wrong. My confidence was high going into my set of 40 SC problems from OG, and I was feeling pretty good about my answers.

Then I checked the answer key.

I had a 70% hit rate in SC today! What the hell? I had been consistently performing above 80%. You should have heard me while I was checking my answers, I must have muttered the f-word over 15 times.

So it turned out to be a rough day of GMAT studying, but these snags are bound to happen. I can't let these slip-ups affect my confidence because confidence is the most important thing when taking the real GMAT.

Earlier today I discovered a newer version on the PowerPrep software from MBA.com, called GMATPrep. Every GMAT prep person out there must download this software because it contains two new full-length tests and several practice sets based off of real (but retired) GMAT questions. This software is going to be packaged with the Official Guide, 11th Edition, which may be released as early as the end of this month.

Nice software, but I'm still pissed about SC...

SUMMARY OF DAY 60 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #141-150.
2. Official Guide Reading Comprehension Passage, #55-60, pages 338-339.
3. Official Guide Data Sufficiency Problems, #51-60, pages 242-243.
4. Official Guide Sentence Correction Set, #151-190, pages 675-682.

RECAP OF DAY 60 INSIGHTS:
1. Maintain your confidence, don't let the bad days get to you.
2. Download GMATPrep.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I was originally supposed to take the GMAT on Tuesday, July 19, but I have decided to push back my test date to Tuesday, August 16. I believe I will be much more confident about taking the exam once I finish the Official Guide, which will take a few more weeks.

To GMAT test prep folk out there: take the GMAT only when you feel ready to take the GMAT. Change your test date if necessary.

Labels: Strategy, Test Experience

I had a very productive day today--I know, I'm acting way out of character from my usual lazy-ass self. I started with my routine review of past material--10 problems from Delta Course, an OG RC passage, and 10 OG DS problems.

After that I skimmed the Sentence Correction chapter in the Princeton Review Verbal Workout pdf I have--a waste of time. Next, I did some tough SC practice problems from the Kaplan 800 book. Finally, I got to the serious SC stuff--a set of 40 problems, timed, from the OG book. I didn't perform that badly: 87.5%. Still a bit lower than I would like, but hopefully I will be averaging 90+% after this week.

I didn't stop my day there! I reviewed all the explanations to the set of 40 OG problems I did and also went back and resolved 10 OG Data Sufficiency problems I had gotten wrong in the past. I capped off my day by running through my flashcards, which are now an enormous pile sitting on my desk.

Phew! Doing all this shit took a long time, but I'm feeling good about myself. I wish to keep up this pace for the rest of the week.

SUMMARY OF DAY 59 WORK:
1. 10 Delta Course Bonus Questions, #131-140.
2. OG Reading Comprehension passage, #61-66, pages 340-341.
3. 10 OG Data Sufficiency problems, #61-70, page 243.
4. Read through Princeton Review Verbal Workout Sentence Correction Chapter, pages 7-27.
5. Kaplan 800 Sentence Correction Problems, pages 54-71.
6. 40 OG Sentence Correction problems, #191-230, pages 682-689.
7. Reviewed 10 past OG DS errors.
8. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 59 INSIGHTS:
1. Princeton Review Verbal Workout book ain't so good when it comes to sentence correction review.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I got back into a better routine today. I began the afternoon by doing my normal 10 Delta Course problems, an RC passage from OG, and 10 DS questions from OG.

Afterward, I practiced my first set of 40 sentence correction problems from Official Guide. I did okay today--84% hit rate. Half of my errors were careless, so I have some optimism about improving my performance.

Another beautiful summer weekend awaits...

SUMMARY OF DAY 58 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Problems, #121-130.
2. OG Reading Comprehension Passage, #67-72, pages 342-343.
3. OG Data Sufficiency Problems, #71-80, page 244.
4. OG Sentence Correction Set, #231-268, pages 689-695.
5. Flashcards.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I had another brief study session today. I seemed to get sidetracked by redesigning the Beat The GMAT! website. Oops.

This afternoon I studied Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes. These notes on SC are quite famous among the GMAT online fora. I found them to be very informative and I highly recommend them. I took a lot of time today to read through the document well and create some more flashcards from the info.

Hopefully I won't be as distracted tomorrow. But don't you just love the new layout?

SUMMARY OF DAY 57 WORK:
1. Took notes and made flashcards from Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes.

RECAP OF DAY 57 INSIGHTS:
1. Read Spidey's Sentence Correction Notes. Nice and concise.

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

I had a brief study session today, which is a shame since I was somewhat excited to delve into sentence correction. I did a little bit of work on SC using the Kaplan 800 book, but got sidetracked and didn't jump into OG.

I did however find some interesting information about sentence correction. There is a maxim commonly followed for tackling these kinds of questions: when in doubt, choose the most concise answer choice. ETS tends to make the most concise answer the correct answer.

Here's what I found:

***

On the sentence correction questions, when in doubt GO SHORT. In a study of the Eighth and Ninth Editions of the Official Guide to the GMAT there is strong evidence that the shorter answers tend to be right much more often than the longer answers.

# of Times Correct/# of Possiblities % Correct
Shortest answer 101/365 27.7%
2nd Shortest answer 95/365 26.0%
3rd Shortest answer 87/365 23.8%
4th Shortest answer 44/365 12.1%
5th Shortest answer (Longest) 38/365 10.4%

As you can see by the chart, the shortest answers are not always correct, but have a much greater probability of being right than the longest answers. In fact, the shortest answer is almost three times as likely to be correct as the longest answer! If you're debating between two possibilities on the test, go with the shorter one and the odds will be in your favor. (Note: The study was conducted using a visual appraisal to figure out the shortest answers rather than word or letter count. Visual "ties" were split up among each tied answer choice. For example, if the correct answer and another answer were tied for 2nd shortest, both the 2nd shortest and 3rd shortest were given credit and two possibilities were counted.)

***

This information is definitely useful for guessing when you can't narrow down an answer choice.

Hopefully tomorrow will be more fruitful...

SUMMARY OF DAY 56 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #111-120.
2. OG Reading Comprehension passage, #73-79, pages 344-345.
3. Copied all OG DS errors onto a Word document, for future review.
4. Kaplan 800 Sentence Correction, pages 135-154.
5. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 56 INSIGHTS:
1. When you have to guess for an SC question, choose the most concise answer!

Labels: GMAT Verbal, Sentence Correction

Today was my last day of mastering Data Sufficiency. After today I am going to put DS on the backburner, doing about 10 problems per day to stay fresh.

I tackled a set of 41 DS questions from OG and performed at an 88 percent hit rate. A pretty good score, but a bit lower than I would have liked. All of my errors were careless errors, and I was able to re-solve them upon review. I feel pretty confident now about handling these types of questions. I've developed a good methodology for myself. I no longer freak out when confronted with hard questions.

I'm going to shift my focus back to verbal by next focusing my attention on Sentence Correction. SC seems to be the bane of many a GMAT test taker's existence. We'll see if that's true for me as well...

SUMMARY OF DAY 55 WORK:
1. Delta Course Bonus Questions, #101-110.
2. Reading Comprehension passage from Official Guide, #80-87, pages 346-347.
3. Data Sufficiency set from Official Guide, #80-120, pages 245-248.
4. Flashcards.

RECAP OF DAY 55 INSIGHTS:
1. Practice has helped me build confidence. Picture me rollin'...

Labels: Data Sufficiency, GMAT Math