Ask Manhattan GMAT

[Apurv]

Please welcome Kevin Fitzgerald from Manhattan GMAT, who will guide you on GMAT test-taking strategies and tricks on this thread. Each Monday, Kevin will post a long descriptive article focusing on a specific aspect of cracking GMAT. You can discuss this article here and ask him any of your GMAT-related doubts.

Kevin's profile on PaGaLGuY.com is this. Here is his career profile.

Also see (Manhattan GMAT Challenge - Crack GMAT with one Question Every Week)

[KevinFitzgerald]

Breaking the 700 Barrier
Many students ask me what it takes to break the 700 barrier on the GMAT. Let's take a look at crossing that increasingly important threshold.

One of the great GMAT myths is that the first 8 questions in each section "make or break" your score and that nothing you do after that point has much of an effect on the score you end up with. False! Eight questions are not enough to determine your score. If they were enough, each section would consist of 8 questions.

One of the consequences of the myth is the belief that in order to break 700, you must answer those first 8 questions correctly. Untold numbers of test-takers have labored over the first eight, afraid that any mistake will send their scores plummeting to unthinkable depths. While it is true that you should give each question your best shot, the absolute number of questions answered correctly is not as important as their difficulty level. Better to have a 50/50 success rate at a high level than a 50/50 success rate at a lower one, even though the percentage of right and wrong answers is the same.

The most serious upshot of this myth is that its believers spend far too much time on the first eight questions and then find themselves racing to finish the section. Often, these test-takers run out of time and leave some questions unanswered at the end of a section. Given that unanswered questions are essentially counted as incorrect answers, it makes more sense to move at a steady pace throughout the entire section rather than concentrate on any particular subset of questions. In fact, spending too much time on early questions may actually damage rather than help your final score.

Also, keep in mind that even for a test-taker of very high ability, getting the first eight questions correct in a section is highly unlikely, even if that test-taker spends a lot of extra time on those first eight questions! Remember, due to the adaptive nature of the exam, if you get the first question in a section correct, you will be bumped up to a very difficult second question. If you get that second question right, your third question will also be at an extremely high difficulty level. You will continue to see questions at this very high difficulty level until you get a question wrong, at which point the exam will adjust the difficulty level downward somewhat. Even test-takers of very high ability levels usually cannot sustain accuracy through the first eight questions in a section.

Do not become a victim of the "first 8" myth: give every question your best shot, but do not let any one group of questions drive your entire performance.

Many people come to GMAT preparation in mortal fear of the quantitative section. Probability! Exponents and roots! The entire section seems like a parade of horribles. Unfortunately, many of these people spend the bulk of their study efforts honing their math skills at the expense of their verbal preparation. Certainly a great performance on each section is ideal, but experience has shown that an excellent verbal performance affects one's overall score more dramatically than does an excellent performance in quantitative.

Let's take a look at what happens at the highest levels of the exam: 700+. A recent test-taker received a scaled score of 45 in verbal (98th percentile) and 40 in quant (66th percentile) and an overall score of 700 (93rd percentile). Notice how much closer the overall percentile is to the excellent verbal percentile. If the overall percentile were simply an average of the individual percentiles, this person would have received about 640. But because the combination of an outstanding verbal performance with a fair quant performance is so rare, the overall percentile and score will be much higher than the lower quant percentile. Another person, who scored 49 in verbal (99th percentile) and 37 in quant (56th percentile), received 710 (95th percentile), even though the quant performance here was a full 10 percentile points lower than that in the previous example. Again, an outstanding performance in verbal significantly offset a middling performance in quant.

Does this work in reverse? That is, will an outstanding performance in quant so dramatically offset a middling performance in verbal? No. This combination is much more common, given the increasing number of international test-takers, who often have excellent math skills but relatively weak command of English. Even among native speakers of English, it is more common to see relatively high quant scores coupled with fair to middling verbal scores. Because these combinations are less rare, they are not rewarded as highly. For example, a test-taker recently received a 50 in quant (97th percentile) and a 37 in verbal (82nd percentile), but "only" a 670 overall (89th percentile). So the truly excellent quant performance was not enough to pull the overall score above 700.

While an excellent verbal performance can indeed take up some of the slack from a weaker quant score, keep in mind that most business schools want to see strong skills in both sections. In fact, some of the top 20 schools apply the "80/80 rule", which requires that successful applicants reach at least the 80th percentile in both sections. So do not put all your eggs in one basket: make sure you prepare well for both sections.

Next week, we will discuss breaking the 750 mark.

[ahmadazeem777]

HI Kevin,

I am in middle of my preprations for gmat. Now as the d-day is approaching (14th August) , I would like to know : when should I start taking Full length test (Mock CAT's) ???? and what should be the frequency for the same (weekly once/twice) ????
FYI I am done with basic Quant & Verbal cocepts .

Thankx
Azeem

[KevinFitzgerald]

Hello Ahmadazeem777,
Sounds like you are getting near the end. I wish you luck. The big question is what type of approach you want to take. There are two methods: 1) the traditional test prep approach, and 2) the academic approach. Each has their pros and cons.

The traditional test prep approach is what it sounds like you are trying to do. That entails taking lots of practice exams (the more, the better). Do lots of tests over and over again. Look for tricks and shortcuts in the problems. You'll also use back-solving (sometimes called plug-ins) to solve the difficult problems. If this is your approach, you want to do as many tests as you can, as soon as you can.

The other approach is an academic one, and it's what we teach at Manhattan GMAT. This is learning the types of questions the GMAC is testing you on. You actually learn the problems of the exam (geometry, equations, inequalities, fractions, decimals, percents, number properties, word translation, data sufficiency, grammar, sentence correction and critical reasoning). You want to learn the content behind the questions (as well as the fastest and optimum ways of answering the problems). In this approach, it's better to do 1000 problems 5 times each, than to do 5000 problems. You want to reach a level where you can teach the problem to someone else, not just get the answer. When you get above 700, you'll find it's faster to just answer the problem than trying to "trick" it or use back-solving to find the solution. You should balance the practice exams with time management skills and learning the content of the exam. In this method, you'll want to time yourself with the problems and if any take you longer to solve than 2 minutes (on the math side) and 1.5 minutes (on the verbal side) you must study the academic approach to learn what it is the question is trying to test you on.

[amitx]

Originally Posted by KevinFitzgerald

Hello Ahmadazeem777,
Sounds like you are getting near the end. I wish you luck. The big question is what type of approach you want to take. There are two methods: 1) the traditional test prep approach, and 2) the academic approach. Each has their pros and cons.

The traditional test prep approach is what it sounds like you are trying to do. That entails taking lots of practice exams (the more, the better). Do lots of tests over and over again. Look for tricks and shortcuts in the problems. You'll also use back-solving (sometimes called plug-ins) to solve the difficult problems. If this is your approach, you want to do as many tests as you can, as soon as you can.

The other approach is an academic one, and it's what we teach at Manhattan GMAT. This is learning the types of questions the GMAC is testing you on. You actually learn the problems of the exam (geometry, equations, inequalities, fractions, decimals, percents, number properties, word translation, data sufficiency, grammar, sentence correction and critical reasoning). You want to learn the content behind the questions (as well as the fastest and optimum ways of answering the problems). In this approach, it's better to do 1000 problems 5 times each, than to do 5000 problems. You want to reach a level where you can teach the problem to someone else, not just get the answer. When you get above 700, you'll find it's faster to just answer the problem than trying to "trick" it or use back-solving to find the solution. You should balance the practice exams with time management skills and learning the content of the exam. In this method, you'll want to time yourself with the problems and if any take you longer to solve than 2 minutes (on the math side) and 1.5 minutes (on the verbal side) you must study the academic approach to learn what it is the question is trying to test you on.

Hi Sir,
That was nice post to understand some "never told' facts about GMAT.
I'll appreciate if you please elaborate the Academaic Approach with example.....sply for verbal section.
Rgds
Amit

[ahmadazeem777]

Originally Posted by KevinFitzgerald

Hello Ahmadazeem777,
The other approach is an academic one, and it's what we teach at Manhattan GMAT. This is learning the types of questions the GMAC is testing you on. You actually learn the problems of the exam (geometry, equations, inequalities, fractions, decimals, percents, number properties, word translation, data sufficiency, grammar, sentence correction and critical reasoning). You want to learn the content behind the questions (as well as the fastest and optimum ways of answering the problems). In this approach, it's better to do 1000 problems 5 times each, than to do 5000 problems. You want to reach a level where you can teach the problem to someone else, not just get the answer.

Hi Kevin,

Well I agree with the Manhattan approach, but the problem is that I have a poor concentration levels... i.e I cannot concentrate for long periods (like 4 hrs in gmat exam).. so I think the only way to improve that is taking 2 tests per week.... got any sugesstions to improve concentration under the manhattan approach.

Thankx
Azeem

[Maverick2110]

HI Kevin

Need help ...
My GMat is on 20th July .. Ive completed OG10 & 11 ..
This week gave GMAT prep 1 scored 700
Quant 48,
Verbal 38;

What should be my plan for the next month ..Im doing 1000 SC,CR,Rcs
suggest me some specific Quant prep material too.
How to score better ...
Pls help

Mav

[Sushil_4d]

How u will arrange the sequence of GMAT preparation books...

From which to begin....& procced.

I have started with Prinston.......then might go for OGs.....& finally Kaplan800.

GMAT Gurus pls give u r suggestions

[KevinFitzgerald]

The big question is what type of score are you looking for? The strategies to get a mid-level score are different than to get a high, competitive score.

[HitchHiker]

Hi Kevin,
I am trying to decide something and would appreciate your input on this.

Would you say one would be better off by first setting up a date for the test and then preparing uptil that date OR would it be better if one was to start prep and then take the first available date when one starts scoring in a desireable range?

Would u strongly recommend either one of the above approaches ? (or is this something that varies from person to person?)
Vaibhav.