How to Get the Most out of the GMAT Official Guides
Now that the new 2016 GMAT Official Guide books are out, I’d like to talk about how to use these problems to get the most out of your study. I also want to talk about what not to do, as a lot of people end up essentially wasting these great study problems (not to mention valuable time!).
What should I NOT do?
Your goal is to learn from the GMAT Official Guide (OG) problems in such a way that, if you see something similar on the real test, you’ll recognize what to do on that new problem.
Keep some things in mind:
- Your goal is NOT to memorize how to do the problems that you’re studying. You won’t see these exact problems on the test! Can you tell me exactly how to do a particular problem? That’s great. But I care far more whether you can tell me how you know what to do and why you want to take the steps that you take. If you can, then you’ll know how to think your way through a new problem on the real test.
- Your goal is NOT to try to get everything (or even most problems) right. Sometimes, what you want to recognize fairly quickly is that you should guess immediately and move on. Other times, you want to recognize that your best strategy is to spend some time making an educated guess—and then move on. Still other times, you’ll have to be able to recognize that you initially thought you could do this one but it’s just not happening, so you’ll need to cut yourself off, guess, and move on.
This is all true not just when the clock is ticking but when you’re studying as well. Take a look at Problem Solving #152 in the 2016 Quant supplement (the smaller, Quant-only book). I thought about this problem for about 15 seconds, then laughed and admitted that I will never get a problem like this one right (unless I get lucky!). My brain just doesn’t work this way. I’m not even going to bother studying this problem; if I see something like it on the real test, I’ll pick my favorite letter and move on immediately. And I won’t feel bad in the slightest. ?
Most people could lift their Q and V sub-scores by 2 to 3 points just by making better decisions about what not to do while the clock is ticking.
- Your goal is NOT even to do all of the problems. Rather, your goal is to learn everything you can from the problems that you do study. Here’s the thing: probably 80% of what you learn will come after you have picked your answer! Your analysis of the problem itself and your own work / thought process will do the most to help you get better at thinking your way through new problems.
Okay, so what SHOULD I do?
You’re going to use GMAT Official Guide problems in three different ways. The below steps apply to everything except Reading Comprehension (RC). I’ll talk about RC after.
First, as you study particular topics or question sub-types (say, quadratic equations, modifiers, or CR strengthen the argument), try 2 to 3 problems from that particular area when you’re ready to test yourself to see how well you learned the material. Start with easier to medium problems (in general, lower-numbered problems tend to be easier than higher-numbered problems). Don’t do the hard ones yet! Just make sure you’ve got the basics down.
Second, during the phase of your studies when you’re still learning all those basics (Quant and grammar rules, the different CR question types, etc.), try doing small, semi-mixed (and timed!) sets of 4 to 6 questions. “Semi-mixed” means, first, that you’ll mix types (DS + PS, SC + CR + RC, or two of those three). It also means that you’ll mix up topics or question sub-types. Learning science (the science of learning!) has established very clearly that interleaving topics allows you to learn much better.
What does that mean? Interleave is the formal term for mix it up! Make a set of questions that mixes up topics you’ve been studying for the past week or so. Do not sit down and do a bunch of Rates & Work questions all in a row (this is called blocking or blocked study). You will think you’re learning well, but you won’t be learning as well as you would if you interleaved the topics.
Take a look at this video from Dr. Robert Bjork, a UCLA professor who specializes in human learning and memory. Yes, it can be a little dry, but stay till the end; the big payoff is in the last 90 seconds (it’s only 6 minutes long).
Here’s the big payoff, just in case: interleaving your study feels harder than doing blocked study, but we’re actually wrong when we think that we’re learning more via blocking. Interleaving will allow you to recall more in the long run!
Third, after you’ve learned* the general content and question type strategies, start doing longer mixed sets of about 8 to 15 questions; again, time yourself and make yourself stick to the time limit! The real test isn’t going to give you one second extra. These sets will be truly mixed; don’t include more than a couple of questions from the same sub-category and always include some questions that are randomly chosen—that is, you have no idea ahead of time what the question tests. At least 50% of the questions in the set should be randomly chosen; sometimes, do sets that are 100% random.
*Note: “learned” means you will have now gone through your study material once (say, all of your non-OG books or your classes), but you will likely have a list of things that you want to review again. Still, move to stage 3 of your OG problems. Trust me: you will learn better by studying under official conditions. Remember, on the real test, you have no idea what’s coming next and you have to figure it out each time a new question pops up on the screen!
What about RC?
RC questions come in sets with a passage, of course, so here’s what you’re going to do.
Passages generally have 3 to 9 questions. For any passages with 3 to 5 questions, do that passage and all its associated questions in one batch. For any passages with 6 to 9 questions, split the questions into two batches.
The first time you do that passage, do the odd-numbered questions. Then, put that passage aside for a month or two. When you come back to it, you can do the even ones. (Note: I picked the order of odd vs. even randomly; you can reverse that if you like. But to keep your life simpler, make your choice consistent, so that two months from now, you’re not asking yourself, “Wait, did I do the odd ones or the even ones last time?”)
Is there an easier way to set up the GMAT Official Guide problem sets?
Yes! When you’re doing the shorter sets of 4 to 6, you are just going to pick them out of your book yourself; use sticky notes to mark the pages so that you can flip quickly while the clock is ticking.
You can do the same thing when you do longer sets, for the specific problems that you do choose, but note that the randomness works in your favor now. It doesn’t matter what you do for 50% (or more) of the set: pick anything! Just remember to jot down the question number.
Plus, when you want to do completely random sets, you can let the OG online program set those up for you. (Look at the cover page for chapter 1 for instructions on how to access the online program.)
Here are some more detailed instructions for putting together larger sets of OG problems on your own.
Take-aways
(1) Initially, use a very small number of GMAT Official Guide problems just to test your understanding of some new question type or content area.
(2) Do most of your OGs in timed, mixed sets. Remember, interleaving your study may feel harder but you learn more in the end!
(3) Most of your learning will occur after you have finished the problem. Make sure you are thoroughly analyzing the problems you’ve already done before you start on a new set of questions; if you don’t, you’re just wasting those questions (and your study time!). ?
Stacey Koprince is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Montreal, Canada and Los Angeles, California. Stacey has been teaching the GMAT, GRE, and LSAT for more than 15 years and is one of the most well-known instructors in the industry. Stacey loves to teach and is absolutely fascinated by standardized tests. Check out Stacey’s upcoming GMAT courses here.