TIME MANAGEMENT DURING PREPARATION

Time Management is very important these days. To be a good manager you must have the ability to manage your time well. Know the difference between important tasks and urgent tasks. All Urgent tasks may not be important. People usually tend to devote more time on urgent task and forget about the important tasks.

In the last 6 months you will somehow manage two and half hours a day for your preparation and this include around 1 hour on reading newspapers, magazines etc. Manage your time well, try to identify the difference between the important and urgent tasks. All urgent tasks may not be important. You may have to compromise a bit on your social activities and entertainment.

Some ways to save time :

1) Reduce time on Traveling by staying near to the place of your college or office. If your total traveling time is more than 1:30 hours a day, use public transport and use the traveling time to read magazines ( will depend on how good the public transport is in your city )

2) Forget about the Cricket matches, Movies, Traveling to other cities for the next few months. These things consume a lot of time. Once in a while you can reward yourself for your hard work by indulging in these activities.

3) Form a small study group of 3 to 6 people, it helps a lot. Share your problems and doubts with other members of UrPercentile. It will help.

4) Let your friends and relatives know that you are preparing for exams for the next 6 months so that they unknowingly don’t disturb your study schedule.

5) Try to do as many tasks as possible over the phone or on internet. ( www.UrPercentile.com)

6) Plan your time and keep in mind the activities you need to carry out in near future.

You don’t need to shed any of your responsibility to be successful, all you need is to manage your time well. Prepare a schedule on basis of your strength and weaknesses and try to stick to it so that you don’t miss any area and don’t over do any area. There are some task that one needs to do, to exist in this world which we can call Type 1 tasks, while other tasks are the ones that one need to do to improve the quality of life, which we can call Type 2 tasks. Try to minimise the time consumed for the Type 1 tasks and spend the time saved on Type 2 task. Identify the difference between the important and urgent Tasks. Not all urgent tasks are important.

Example of Type 1 tasks : Cooking, cleaning, laundry, commuting to office, working in office etc.

Examples of Type 2 tasks : Gaining Knowledge, Learning new things, Developing good relationship with family members, friends and colleagues etc.

Ways to save time :

1) Outsource some of the work for type 1 tasks . Can hire maid to do cooking, cleaning, laundry etc.

2) Do Type 2 task along with Type 1 task. You can work in the office or meet your guest and at the same time gain knowledge ,develop good relationship , learn new things etc.

3) Seek expert’s opinion before taking up any big task. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. If you need a legal opinion , consult a lawyer instead of reading through the law books. If preparing for MBA spend sometime to find out what you are suppose to do from those who have gone through it.

4) Minimise the time spent on Type 1 task, like you can reduce the traveling time by staying near office , use public transport ( depends on city you are in ) and utilise the time studying magazines etc

GMAT:-One of our weaker points:- The end.

As human beings, our attention tends to drift away when we are close to the end of the question, and therefore many mistakes happen at this sensitive stage.

As human beings, we are not very good at finishing things. When beginning a new task, most of us are usually very enthusiastic. As time goes by, we become less and less interested in it, and as we come close to conclusion, we do it just because we have to, or because we know we shouldn’t leave things unfinished. Still, most of us have “one or two” unfinished projects in our past.

When solving GMAT questions, staying on guard from start to finish is a key factor for success.
A week or two before their tests, many students have come to seek my advice about “stupid mistakes” they make when solving GMAT simulations. When trying to find out why these mistakes occur, I often find that the problem is simply a loss of focus at the final stages of the question. The student is one step before the final answer, feels that he/she is finished, and that’s when that small mistake is made. Haste and loss of focus can cause you to make mistakes where you would otherwise easily answer correctly.

What you should do to make sure no such mistakes spoil your GMAT score is to consciously bring your focus back to the final stage of the question. Make sure you look at your answer and recheck it to be certain you answer what you were asked. This small step alone can prevent an average of 2-3 mistakes per exam!

GMAT:-How to review your answer wisely?

Check Yourself

There is no way of going back after confirming your answer. Therefore, we warmly recommend that you review your answer before moving on.
Read how to do it wisely, without wasting too much of your time.

An inherent problem in the way most students solve problems is that they are usually satisfied with the first solution they find. This inherent human characteristic is essential for us to move on with our everyday tasks in a satisfying way without stopping to find the best possible solution for any situation. Although this mechanism might be good enough for most life situations, it could prove insufficient in solving a GMAT exam. Most solvers work their way through a question as fast as they can. When they find an answer that is one of the 5 answers appearing in the question they feel a sense of satisfaction and hence tend to forget to check their answer. The GMAT writers know that and make sure that in every question (where it is possible) a second best answer choice appears. This second best answer choice is the most common mistake made by test takers. Test writers know they only have to fool you in a few questions for you to come to take the test again 31 days later.

Checking your answer in the usual way -going back to the beginning- is a heavy time consumer, and it is usually quite problematic, since most of us are relatively “blind” to our own mistakes (as you probably already know from your own tests experience). Thus, different ways of checking are recommended:

1. Is this what I was looking for? A common mistake is to do everything right and get the right numbers, but not to answer the question you’ve been asked about. For example: If Dave is twice the age of John and John is 5 years younger than Dave, what is the sum of their ages? When solving the question you get two numbers: 5 and 10. Usually both numbers will appear as possible answers! After reaching the numbers, remind your self what you were asked about -”the sum”- and solve accordingly.
2. Is the solution reasonable? Dedicate 2 seconds in order to check whether the answer you’ve reached is reasonable. For example, if you are asked about the age of a certain person, as in the previous example, reaching the answer 107 for instance, should raise some doubts, and will demand a careful rechecking.
3. Plugging the answer you’ve reached in the first equation used. This step is intended to make sure the answer fits the data given in the question.

When taking time to review your answers, you give up precious time that might have helped you solve 2-4 additional questions.

Therefore we have 3 recommendations for you:

1. Focus on the first two ways that are mentioned above. These two methods are very quick to implement, and can help you avoid many of your mistakes.
2. Take the time to review the first 12-15 questions of each section. Use all three ways mentioned above in order to do so.
3. Practice it! Don’t wait until the GMAT exam itself to review your questions! You must be skilful enough with these methods so that the benefit will be greater than the cost (the lost time…).
   Therefore, every simulation that you take must be treated as if it was the real GMAT exam, including the review.

The second most important thing you should know about the GMAT

After making sure you know all you need about the GMAT structure, reviewing all the GMAT subjects and practicing hundreds of questions, it is time to practice your test taking strategy.

The GMAT score is determined by a complicated adaptive algorithm that follows your answers closely and decides accordingly what the next question should be and what your current score is. How this is done exactly is unknown and should not matter to you. However, a few simple rules that need to be well practiced and followed during the test, could make a huge score difference.

The rules:

1. Give the first 15 questions more time, don’t rush!
The first 15 questions on each chapter are the most important questions on the GMAT. These questions have the greatest influence on your final score. Be as certain as possible that they are correct before you move on. Take some more time if necessary. Check yourself thoroughly. You can give this part up to 3 minutes per question on average. If you get stuck on one or two questions in this part, give them up to 7 minutes before guessing. Finish this part in 40 -45 minutes.

2. Solve questions 16-25 (16-27 on the verbal section) faster.
By now, you should still have about 30 minutes remaining in the exam. Give about 20 of them to this part. This should give you around 2 minutes per question on average. This should be enough time to solve carefully and rapidly check your answer. Do not give more than 3 minutes for any question in this part. If necessary, make an educated guess and move on. Here too, the first questions in the batch are the more important ones.

3. Solve questions 26 (28 on the verbal section) and on as fast as you can.
When you reach this part, you still have around 10 minutes. Give 1 minute per question on average. Here, your goal is to make educated guesses and get as many correct answers as possible within a tight time limit. Make sure you constantly watch the time and keep moving on.

4. Never leave a question unanswered.
Make sure you answer all the questions. Leave around 10 seconds for each question you need to guess. The GMAT exam calculates your score relative to what you answered. So, if you miss answering a question your score automatically decreases.

5. Cancel your score if you aim high.
The GMAT allows you to cancel your score before you get it. When applying to Ivy League universities, they receive all your scores from the past 5 years. The last thing you need is for them to see your 580 and then 730.
There are a few signs that you can use to determine whether to cancel your score. The first sign is that you are sure you made more than one mistake in the first 5 questions. The second sign is that after questions 7-8 on either chapter, you feel a sharp and lasting (more than 1-2 easy questions) drop in the difficulty level. The third sign is when you left more than 3 questions on either chapter unanswered (you ran out of time before you could guess). Any two of these signs, combined, are enough for canceling your score. Remember that the university can see that you cancelled a score but do not know why.

6. Pay no attention to the level of difficulty.
Except using it as a sign for score canceling, do not pay any special attention to the difficulty of the questions you are given. First, difficulty is subjective. What you consider a difficult question can actually be easy for most test takers and vice versa. Second, it is normal to feel that the level is slowly dropping since you are tenser as you begin the test and relax after a few questions; this makes the questions seem easier as you advance. Third, there is nothing you can do to change the level, so there is no point in wasting your time monitoring it. Focus on what you can change, and that is the number of correct answers you give.

When taking a simulation test, try to practice these rules. They have helped hundreds of students score much higher. Remember, these rules cannot replace your ability to correctly answer the questions but are a necessary complement to it.

Common Mistakes In Data Sufficiency Questions

Data Sufficiency questions pose a special challenge to most GMAT test takers. Read about the common mistakes in Data Sufficiency questions and learn to avoid them.

The following are the common mistakes test takers make in data sufficiency questions. Some other types exist but are quite rare and can be completely eliminated using good practice material.

1.

Forgetting to ignore statement (1) while checking statement (2). This mistake points to answer choice B instead of C.

Example:
At Papertown, all residents buy either newspaper A or newspaper B. How many of the residents of Papertown bought newspaper B?

(1) Of the 125 Papertown residents, 20% bought newspaper B.
(2) 87 people bought newspaper A.

Here, the number of residents is supplied in statement (1) only, and not in the question itself. When checking statement (2) alone, some test takers apply the total number of residents supplied in the first statement (125) to the second statement to conclude that 38 people (125-87) bought newspaper B.
However, the total number of residents given in the first statement must not be used for the second statement. The answer should be A and not D.

2.

A statement that proves that the question is incorrect is sufficient to answer the question. Yes or no are legitimate answers. This error might lead to the conclusion that the statement is not sufficient when it is.

Example:
Did more than 25% of the 120,000 students choose college A?

(1) 63% of the students chose college B.
(2) 27,816 students chose college A.

In this question, the first statement might lead to an assumption that there are only two colleges, which of course might not be true. Therefore, statement (1) is insufficient to answer the question.
After a short calculation (not needed here) it is clear from statement (2) that the 27,816 students that chose college A are less than 25% of the 120,000 students. Some test takers make a mistake here by saying that since the A college was not chosen by more than 25% of the votes, statement (2) is insufficient to answer the question. Remember that it does not matter whether the college was chosen by more than 25% of the students or not. It only matters if the data in statement (2) is sufficient to answer the question.

3.Clearly, statement (2) is sufficient, and the answer is B.

Forgetting to check both statements together. This mistake points to answer choice E instead of C.
Example:
Mary paid $180 for football tickets. How many of the tickets cost $30?

(1) Every ticket costs either $45 or $30
(2) More than 3 of the tickets cost $30

Statement (1) leads to three options:
a. Zero $30 tickets and four $45 tickets add up to $180.
b. Three $30 tickets and two $45 tickets add up to $180.
c. Six $30 tickets and zero $45 tickets add up to $180.
Since there are three different options, it is impossible to answer the question.
Statement (1) is insufficient.
Statement (2) can lead to a large number of options since only the price of one type of ticket is given. Statement (2) is also insufficient.
Here, some test takers quit and choose E as the answer.
Of course, they did not check both statements together.
When using both statements, it is evident that the third option from Statement (1) (Six $30 tickets and zero $45 tickets add up to $180.) supports both statements, and the answer is C.
Always try to find all possible options before deciding. When each statement alone is insufficient, always remember to check both statements together before choosing E

4 Checking both statements together before checking each statement alone. This error might point to answer choice C, when it could be A or B or D.

Example:
What is the price of 12 nuts and 12 bolts?

(1) 7 nuts and 30 bolts cost $11 together.
(2) 5 nuts and 5 bolts cost $7

In this question, Statement (1) alone is insufficient to solve since it has two unknowns and no correlating ratio with what is asked.
Some test takers decide here that since Statement (2) also has two unknowns, it also has no correlating ratio with what is asked. Consequently, they jump to using both statements together, and choose C as their answer.
Of course, a closer look at Statement (2) shows the same ratio as in the question itself:
5N+5B=$7. Just multiply it by 2.4 to get 12A+12P=$16.8
The second statement is sufficient alone, and the correct answer is B.

5.Failing to take into account all of the possible different options that stem from the data.

Example:
Box A and box B are in a high stack in a warehouse. What is the total number of boxes in the stack?

(1) There are 7 boxes above box A, and 8 boxes below box B.
(2) There are 3 boxes between box A and box B.

In this question, clearly each statement alone is insufficient to answer the question. Using both statements together, however, seems to some test takers to be sufficient, since it gives data as to how many boxes are above, between, and below box A and box B. They then choose C as the answer. However, there is no data as to which box is below which. Is box A below box B, or the opposite? Since there are two different options for the total number of boxes in the stack, the answer is E.

6

Failing to solve equations or inequalities all the way might lead to various mistakes. There are many common mistakes in equations and inequalities that can be prevented by solving all the way even though this is not mandatory in data sufficiency questions:

a. Some equations could lead to answers such as, “Every X or no X can solve the equation” – Since two equations with two unknowns can actually be the same equation in disguise.
b. A quadratic equation might have two, one, or no solutions. In some cases, it is not possible to determine the number of solutions beforehand.

In order to avoid these common mistakes, the question should be solved just as a problem-solving question would be solved. Solve to make sure an answer can be reached.

Example:
What is the value of X?

(1) (X-2)/(Y+3) = 4/5
(2) 4/(X-2) = 5/(Y+3)

Statement (1) alone is insufficient since it has two unknowns. Statement (2) alone is also insufficient for the same reason. Using both statements, we get two equations with two unknowns. Some test takers might choose C as the answer without solving. However, the two equations given are the same equation in a different arrangement.
The correct answer here is E.

Remember, usually there is no need to solve Data Sufficiency questions all the way. All you have to check is whether there is enough data to solve.Solve all the way only to make sure you made no mistake.

Filed under: CAT :- Frequently asked questions, Cat-2009, Common Mistakes In Data Sufficiency Questions, GMAT | Tagged: Common, Data Sufficiency, Mistakes, Questions