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Guess what? You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free\u2014we\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>It\u2019s been said that \u201ca mistake is only a mistake if you don\u2019t learn from it,\u201d which probably explains the shambles of my dating life.<\/span><\/p>\n Hopefully by now you\u2019ve created an error log<\/a> and have been redoing problems you need to redo. This is crucial to your improvement on the GMAT. I\u2019m a little tired of students coming in for a session and saying, \u201cI\u2019ve done every problem in every book I can find, but I\u2019m not scoring better on practice tests! Why?\u201d Because doing a problem isn\u2019t learning from a problem. You have to do it, review it thoroughly, and then come back to that problem. More than once. Your memory needs a chance for the concept you\u2019re learning from that problem to stick.<\/span><\/p>\n For such things, we\u2019ve advocated that you keep an error log for problems you need to redo. When my students miss a question, or get it right but it takes a while, or get it right but it was a little lucky or didn\u2019t feel \u2018smooth,\u2019 I tell them to log it into an error log and redo it on a set schedule: in 2-5 days, then a week after that, then 2 weeks after that, then 3 weeks after that, etc. This gives more and more space between their re-dos so that a long-term memory can form. If at any point they get the question right or they can\u2019t remember <\/span>why<\/span><\/i> the answer is what it is or how to get there, I tell them to go back to 2-5 days and start over. <\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s a new trick I\u2019ve thought about, though, that might make the error log even more useful. Let\u2019s say you get a question right, in time, and smoothly the first time you come to it. Are you done with it forever? Perhaps. But you should still review it. See if there\u2019s another way. See if there\u2019s a way you could have guessed. Maybe you could have backsolved? It might have been slower on this particular problem relative to the way you solved, but you should still be able to backsolve for the test\u2014are you able to do it here? If not, you might want to put this into your error log with an additional note for your redo: \u201cmust backsolve.\u201d Or tell yourself that you can\u2019t use whatever method you had used. That is, tie your hands behind your back on the problem (I call it the \u2018Fifty Shades of Grey\u2019 approach). <\/span><\/p>\n Prevent yourself from using the method you found easiest. <\/span><\/p>\n Why? Because it\u2019s entirely possible that for some other problem, your first method won\u2019t work or will be especially daunting, but the alternative method will be useful, so you\u2019ll need that alternative method. For instance, I know <\/span>several<\/span><\/i> ways to do weighted average problems. For most questions, I know that one particular method works perfectly, but I once came to a question on which the numbers the GMAT gave made that method an arithmetic nightmare. However, one of my other approaches\u2014one I use less often\u2014made the math downright easy. I wouldn\u2019t have been able to use that method had I not practiced it on other problems when I didn\u2019t <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> need to use it. <\/span><\/p>\n So let\u2019s say I do an SC question, and I eliminate every answer choice but one really quickly, because there\u2019s an opening modifier problem and only one answer modifies correctly. Great, but I should now ask myself, \u201cwhat if this particular split wasn’t there?\u201d I go on a hunt, and after a bit of time (and a review of the explanation), I find that two answers can be eliminated using parallelism and the others have a subtle verb tense issue. This is an opportunity to learn, so I shouldn\u2019t waste it. On my error log, I specify to myself, \u201cmust ignore the opening modifier errors.\u201d This will help me improve recognition of these other mistakes I\u2019m not as keyed into noticing so I can more quickly find them on other questions. <\/span><\/p>\n Or say you have this Quant question:<\/span><\/p>\n The chickens on Tom\u2019s farm increased by 20% every year for 5 years and at the end of 5 years he had 7,776 chickens. How many chickens did he start with?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n You solve it using a perfectly nice algebra equation (it\u2019s not perfectly nice, but well done). And then you review this question and someone on our <\/span>forums<\/span><\/a> points out, \u201cIf I\u2019m increasing by 20% and I both start and end with integers, my original number must be a multiple of 5.\u201d You might think, \u201cWhat? Why? How did he know that?\u201d so you wrestle with it until you understand. But then you note, \u201cTwo of the answers are multiples of 5, though, so this trick only helps me get to 50-50.\u201d Well, your algebraic approach is probably better for this question. However, this is a nifty number property that might serve you in other questions. So you can put it in your error log with the instruction, \u201cCannot set up equation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n When you do this, don\u2019t let yourself forget the best way to work through these problems. Remind yourself what that is, and practice it occasionally to stay sharp. But if you want to milk a little bit of extra knowledge from your problems, you can force yourself to do them a different way. In the end, you\u2019ll broaden your understanding of the methods available on the GMAT, you\u2019ll be prepared to mix up strategies or to make an educated guess, and you\u2019ll become a better test-taker. ?<\/span><\/p>\n
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