{"id":12872,"date":"2020-05-26T12:31:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T12:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/?p=12872"},"modified":"2020-05-26T14:16:14","modified_gmt":"2020-05-26T14:16:14","slug":"why-a-review-log-is-vital-to-your-gre-prep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/blog\/why-a-review-log-is-vital-to-your-gre-prep\/","title":{"rendered":"Why A Review Log is Vital to Your GRE Prep"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GRELike many folks these days, I\u2019m catching up on some TV shows, but I\u2019m still teaching too. For\u00a0<\/span>anyone out there studying for the GMAT, LSAT, or GRE, there\u2019s a valuable lesson that I want to\u00a0<\/span>share with you that I learned recently from, of all places, a TV show. It\u2019s about the danger of\u00a0<\/span>failing to review your work, and the associated importance of keeping a detailed review log.\u00a0<\/span>That show is called \u201cMasterchef,\u201d hosted by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Masterchef is a decent show all-around, but there\u2019s one segment that I always love to watch:\u00a0<\/span>the one where Ramsay demonstrates how to make a particular dish featured in that particular\u00a0<\/span>episode, and the contestants recreate the dish. The instructions always go something like this:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cRight? OK. Pan nice and hot. Clams go in. Sweat them off. Put the lid on. Do NOT season. Lid-\u00a0<\/span>stand back. Be careful. Flambe. Once your clams start to open, lid off, and you drain. OK? Now\u00a0<\/span>we\u2019re going to puree the beans. In we go. Lid back on!\u201d And so on for about 2 more minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, having heard the instructions for the dish only this one time rattled off at lightning speed,\u00a0<\/span>the contestants haplessly try to recreate Ramsay\u2019s masterpiece. Hilarity ensues.\u00a0<\/span>There are two things that I love about this segment. One, that the contestants\u2019 failure is so\u00a0<\/span>inevitable. Two, that it is a perfect metaphor for how many people attempt, with predictably\u00a0<\/span>bad outcomes, to study for tests like the GMAT and the GRE. Think about it; if your study\u00a0<\/span>routine consists of reading a chapter in your GMAT textbook, trying a problem from the Official\u00a0<\/span>Guide to the GMAT and getting it wrong, reading the book\u2019s explanation of that problem for\u00a0<\/span>about a minute, and then moving on to the next task, your odds of success are about as good as the first guy kicked off Masterchef. Worse, actually, because at least that guy got to try cooking the dish right after he heard the instructions. You, on the other hand, are going to have to take the skills you\u2019re currently learning and perform them again, in a different context, weeks from now. It\u2019s as if Gordon Ramsay gave his usual instructions, but then asked the chefs to come back a month later and cook the dish from memory in a kitchen that only has cast-iron pans. I think you\u2019ll agree, that\u2019s a\u2026wait for it\u2026recipe for disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an interesting question, though: If Ramsay\u2019s method of teaching is so unhelpful, why\u00a0<\/span>does he continue to do it? Entertainment value, perhaps, but I actually think it\u2019s the same\u00a0<\/span>reason many test prep students keep studying in a similar way: it gives the illusion of\u00a0<\/span>competence (that\u2019s not my phrase, by the way, it\u2019s a term borrowed from learning science). The\u00a0<\/span>idea, quite simply, is that reading instructions in a book for how to something that you haven\u2019t\u00a0<\/span>done correctly in the past makes you believe that you will now be able to do it correctly in the\u00a0<\/span>future. In this way, bad studying might be worse than not studying at all; if we don\u2019t study, then\u00a0<\/span>at least we know our limitations, and can try our best to work around them.<\/span><\/p>\n

How To Use A Review Log<\/b><\/h3>\n

So how do we fight this illusion? With one simple tool: a review log. A review log is a place\u00a0<\/span>where, after each problem or problem set we do, we write notes on how we performed, both\u00a0<\/span>positive and negative. Extending the Masterchef analogy, imagine that the contestants could\u00a0<\/span>review the tape of themselves cooking, and get a transcript of chef Ramsay\u2019s instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine they could write notes like, \u201cThe clams came out perfect; normally, I would have\u00a0<\/span>seasoned them, but Ramsay cautioned us not to and that was the right advice. However, I\u00a0<\/span>overcooked the beans. Either Ramsay\u2019s timing was off or my heat control was off \u2013 I should\u00a0<\/span>taste the beans toward the end next time.\u201d Then they got to try cooking the dish a second time\u00a0<\/span>for the panel of judges. Wouldn\u2019t that be so much more effective? Wouldn\u2019t they perform so\u00a0<\/span>much better? Then why aren\u2019t we all doing this when we study for tests?<\/span><\/p>\n

Using Review Logs the Week Before the GRE<\/b><\/h3>\n

One final tip: review logs are great for \u201ccramming\u201d for the real test. A week or two before your\u00a0<\/span>test date, go through as much of your review log as you can, revisiting problems that gave you\u00a0<\/span>trouble the first time around. Make sure you can do them now without referencing your notes\u00a0<\/span>at all, then review your notes and make sure you remembered the key points. Because you\u2019ll be\u00a0<\/span>seeing everything for the second time, you\u2019re much likely to retain the most important lessons\u00a0<\/span>by the time you get to the real test center. So don\u2019t be a hapless Masterchef contestant with an\u00a0<\/span>illusion of competence: get started on your review log right now. <\/span>Manhattan Prep instructor\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Elaine Loh has some great tips on how to make one<\/span><\/a>, or sign up for a Manhattan Prep class<\/a> and\u00a0<\/span>access one of our templates via your student portal!<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0<\/strong>How to Review GMAT Practice Questions<\/a><\/p>\n

You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free! We\u2019re not kidding. <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

\"ryan-jacobs\"Ryan Jacobs<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in San Francisco, California.<\/strong>\u00a0He has an MBA from UC San Diego, a 780 on the GMAT, and years of GMAT teaching experience. His other interests include music, photography, and hockey.\u00a0Check out Ryan\u2019s upcoming GMAT prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many folks these days, I\u2019m catching up on some TV shows, but I\u2019m still teaching too. For\u00a0anyone out there studying for the GMAT, LSAT, or GRE, there\u2019s a valuable lesson that I want to\u00a0share with you that I learned recently from, of all places, a TV show. It\u2019s about the danger of\u00a0failing to review […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[921840],"tags":[133,158,1365346,411,1365347],"yst_prominent_words":[1365340,1364542,1363126,1365328,1365327,1365342,1365329,1365338,1362672,1365345,1365331,1363041,1364466,1363419,1365337,1365343,1365344,1365339,1363199,1365341],"class_list":["post-12872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gre-prep-2","tag-gre","tag-gre-prep","tag-gre-review-log","tag-gre-study-strategies","tag-review-log"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12872"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12879,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12872\/revisions\/12879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12872"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}