Monday, March 31, 2014

Critical Reasoning:
1) Pay attention to the switching of directions.
2) Pay attention when the question has the word "Except" in it.  Answer the right question.

Completed: PS 106, CR 104, Sentence Correction: Prounouns from OG12 (still need to do the ones from the Verbal book)


Problem Solving;  For sum of number questions, determine the number of terms first.

Completed: PS 90,  DS 101, CR 100

Saturday, March 29, 2014

RC 110: CR 93

Critical Reasoning:  Watchout for the word "some" in the answer choices.  That means not 100% of people are acting in a certain way.  All people don't need to react in a certain way.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

I completed Sentence Correction, but after I get down to two possible answers I guess, and often times its the wrong one.  I need to sharpen my skills with sentence structure and memorize Idioms I encounter on the official guide.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Sentence Correction is getting better, but I'm still not getting the harder questions right.  Often times I'm picking the second best answer, which is good to know I'm getting more familiar with wrong answer choices, but not enough to improve my score.

Completed: SC 129, DS 78


Goal is to also practice wrong answers and do the questions in the Verbal only guide.

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Joann just got her residency at United in St. Paul, MN and now that we'll be in MN for another year, I really want to get into Booth.

Reading Comp:
I got most answers right, granted they were mostly categorized as "easier", but it still has been boosting my confidence.

- WRITE DOWN all trigger words that change direction and POV of the passage.  This time I missed a question because I didnt hone in on the word, "Surprisingly"

Dates (years) are important for answers that require knowing the chronology of events in the passage.

Critical Reasoning:  Evaluate the Conclusion question is tricky.  Here were are trying to find the answer that either strengthens or weakens the conclusion.

Find the assumption: look for the logic gap



Completed:  RC 86, CR 83, SC 105

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Reading Comprehension is getting better.  The trick is read more carefully, stay calm under pressure, and feel the mood of the passage and record all the changes in direction (i.e. howevers)

Completed: RC 74, SC 100
Sentence Correction:  For problems that have the complete sentence underlined, try looking at meaning to see if the answer choices are even logical.  Then test all other basic principles.

CR 65, SC 98, PS70

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Critical Reasoning:  For Find the Discrepancy problems  find what is similar and what is different and try to find an answer that explains the difference. 

Problem Solving:  Use Estimation for Exponent problems

Completed: CR 58, PS 65

Saturday, March 15, 2014

I took more time on the reading comprehension problem and got most of the answers correct.

The trick for me is to stay calm and thoroughly read the passages to understand.  I didnt even exactly follow all the material, but was able to get the answers right.

This also wants me to be excellent at Sentence Correction to afford more time on RC and CR.

Sentence Correction:
- Watch out for answer choices that takes out information from the original sentence ex 87.
-  Questions with pronouns were weak today
- When I see "both", "and" or "or" look for parallelism

Finished:  RC 62, SC 94, DS73

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Critical Reasoning:  Obscure long and wordy passages can be a drain.  Figure out the main points and mood of the passage.  Write them down and eliminate wrong answer choices.

Finished:  CR 45, SC 82

Monday, March 10, 2014

Goal for today and everyday:  don't make the same mistake twice.

For data sufficiency problems, don't rush to find an answer.  Work the process of elimination to get one final answer.

Sentence Correction:  comma needed before which

Completed: RC 51, SC 76

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Critical Reasoning:  One some of the Critical Reasoning questions that I am getting incorrect and are listed with as "Easier", I'm noticing that I am over thinking the possible answer choices.  Keep it simple, David.

Sentence Correct:  When in doubt check for verb-subject agreement and parallelism.

Quant: Stay Organized on my scratch paper,  can save time if I have to rework problems.


Finished: CR 32, SC 66, PS 60

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Took a two day break from studying because I had to pull an all nighter on Monday to do more POGs.  I didn't finish until 1:30 AM and by that time my hands were numb from all the mouse clicking and typing and I was just out of it all day Tuesday.

I am fully rested today, but lacked the motivation to study.  I started feeling anxious again and stressed about how long I've wanted to do well and take the GMAT and started to regret and feel embarrased that after many many years I haven't progressed a whole lot.  Now I don't think I'll be able to score well enough in the next two months, which would be the dealine to apply to Booth's Fall Weekend MBA program.   I need to refocus and rededicate.  I need to man up and power through.  Lord help me!


Today's tip for myself is to draw a number line when doing inequality problems, especially those involving data sufficiency.

Finished SC 50

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Clean Slate

I deleted all my answers from the OG Archer, a database within MGMAT, and am doing all the questions from the OG 13th review with a fresh mindset.

First thing I think I should do for verbal, is quitely read the questions outloud.  I think I'm skimming too much, which is unintentional and a product of me trying to go too fast.  SLOW DOWN AND READ, DAVID!!!!


Completed: SC 41, RC 41, DS 56