Tactical Strategy Session

STRATEGIES RESPONSIBLE FOR 70+ POINT

IMPROVEMENT IN YOUR GMAT SCORE

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

3 parts to this Webinar

The Company

Tactical
Strategies

The People
12 minutes

100 minutes

20 minutes

e-GMAT e-GMAT the Company The ComeGpany

Born : Sept 2011 to Help Non Natives
Students: 12,000+ in 45 countries
Achievements:
- GMAT Clubs Most Successful Company
- 70% of all Non-Native Reviews

GMAT Clubs Most Reviewed

893+

715
280
191

119

GMAT Clubs Most Successful Company

3 Key Reasons for Success

1. Learning Architecture
1. Progressive Learning
2. Feedback every 25 minutes
3. Mimics a private Tutor

2. Audio Visual Instruction

- 5X more efficient than books
- Better Retention, crisper application

Core skills
- Basics to the Most Advanced Concepts
- 4X to 5X more Focus on Application

Two Kinds of Courses

Online

Live Prep

5X more efficient than books.

Cover everything from core
foundation to most advanced
application.
Provide better value than
books.

Verbal Online

Quant Online

GMAt Online

Indv. Courses

Online + Live
Instructor Interaction
Guaranteed Score
Improvement
Better value than + a
lot of flexibility

Verbal Live

Quant Live
GMAT Live

Verbal Courses
LIVE AND ONLINE

1. Verbal Online
Designed for Students looking for
improvement in 30 days or fewer.
Contains
Verbal
IR
Mocks
GMAT Club tests
Lots of Practice

~418 Reviews

What does Verbal Online contain?

2. Verbal Live Prep (Currently $299)

Worlds most successful course
for non-natives
Worlds most Reviewed Online
Course

31 refunds/3,200
Students

~382 Reviews

Highest Number of Success Stories on

Share GMAT Experience
=> VLP = VO + Live Sessions + 3 Workshops + Score Improvement Guarantee

How does it Compare?

$299

Nov Batch Calendar

S.No

Session Name

Day

Date

Session Time

Sunday

Nov 8

Saturday

Nov 14

7:00 a.m.
7:00 a.m.

Sunday

Nov 15

7:00 a.m.

Saturday

Nov 21

7:00 a.m.

Strategy Session

SC1 How to Approach SC

SC2 Solving SC Questions with Verb Errors

SC3 Parallelism

SC4 Modifiers

Sunday

Nov 22

7:00 a.m.

CR1 - Inference

Saturday

Nov 28

7:00 a.m.

CR2 Pre-thinking and Argument Structure

Sunday

Nov 29

7:00 a.m.

CR3 Evaluate

Saturday

Dec 5

7:00 a.m.

CR4 Strengthen

Sunday

Dec 6

7:00 a.m.

10

CR5 Weaken

Sunday

Dec 6

9:00 a.m.

11

CR6 Bold Face

Saturday

Dec 12

7:00 a.m.

12

RC1 - Efficient Reading and Comprehension

Sunday

Dec 13

7:00 a.m.

13

RC2 Session

Saturday

Dec 19

7:00 a.m.

14

Verbal Workshop

Sunday

Dec 20

7:00 a.m.

Key Characteristics of every course

7 day return policy
Get your money back if you
dont like the course

Unlimited access
1. Attend as many batches as you like
2. Get access to recordings as soon as
you complete your purchase

Painless upgrades
Start with the cheapest course
and upgrade by paying the
difference

First Time Takers

1. Improve more than retakers
2. Improve faster

3 parts to this Webinar

The Company

Tactical
Strategies

The People
12 minutes

100 minutes

20 minutes

Two Goals Score Improvement and Maximum Performance

Repeatable & Predictable

Score Improvement

Maximum Performance

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

an adaptive test
works?

Adaptive test algorithm

60%
accuracy

5 questions above
average difficulty level

higher
score

Case 1

60%
accuracy

Average Difficulty Level

Case 2

Only 1 question above

average difficulty level

Question #

Challenge 1: Get difficult Questions

Challenge 2: Answer them correctly

Your GMAT score is governed by your ABILITY to answer DIFFICULT QUESTIONS CORRECTLY.

GMAT a test of your ABILITY

43

97 percentile 7500 rank

32

65 percentile

87500 rank

1 thru 10

11 thru 20

21 thru 30

31 thru 41

1 thru 10

11 thru 20

21 thru 30

31 thru 41

11

21

31

11

21

31

12

22

32

12

22

32

13

23

33

13

23

33

14

24

34

14

24

34

15

25

35

15

25

35

16

26

36

16

26

36

17

27

37

17

27

37

18

28

38

18

28

38

19

29

39

19

29

39

10

20

30

40

10

20

30

40

41

Accuracy = 71%

41

Accuracy = 71%

1. Student got more # of difficult questions.

2. Student correctly answered more # of difficult questions.
Your GMAT score is governed by your ABILITY to CORRECTLY answer DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.

How does Ability fare in your

Preparations?

Ability and the Fabric of GMAT

Your (Comparative)Percentile Rank

Your GMAT Score

CR

Out of 60/100

Quant

Verbal

SC

Out of 800/100

RC

Algebra

Arithmetic

Geometry

At its Core, GMAT tests (multiple) Ability

Advanced Problems

Out of 60/100

This is not something that we have cooked up

Verbal Performance
++ SC
CR
RC
Little benefit in
working on SC.
Most Work
required in RC

How does Ability fare in your

Preparations?

Repeatable & Predictable

Score Improvement
To Improve from 650 to 730, I need to Improve
1. RC ability from 40% to 70%
2. CR ability from 55% to 85%
3. Geometry ability from 45% to 85%

How many of you think this way?

Lets Examine Ability!!

What is Good Ability?

RC

SC

CR

How to Prepare Efficiently?

Principle: Take a Section, master it (70% ability), and only then move to the next section
First Time Test Takers
Prepare
for SC

Evaluate
Ability

Isolate
Weakness

Retakers (V>30)
Evaluate
Ability

Isolate
Weakness

Focus on
Weakness

Challenges while Implementing the plan

1. How do you Evaluate your
Ability?
Only 4 GMAT Prep Exams
Not designed to predict
individual Sectional Abilities
2. How do you isolate areas of
weakness?
Get a Private Tutor? (at
least $100 per hour)

E-GMAT Students = Scholaranium

Ability at Core

V33 to V41 by working on his ability

... 1. SC: e-gmat all the way... Before e-gmat, my SC accuracy was in the 50-60% range.
Post e-GMAT's verbal-live workshop and process-practice, I consistently hit 87-95% (under
timed conditions). Timing averaged 1:30. I believe their (referring to the team members!)
method is more thorough, and therefore not as quick as the conventional "split-method".
However, with practice you will see both accuracy and speed increase...The e-gmat team is
clearly committed to making sure students kill it on verbal.
2. CR: I do like e-gmat's focus on pre-thinking. Pre-thinking can truly impact your CR
Ability. Understanding the logical-structure and prethinking answer-choices are
incredibly useful tools to boost your CR hit-rate.

http://gmatclub.com/forum/660-to-740-q49-v41-ir-8-and-awa-6-0-matter-over-mind-163451.html
Learn and master the process to increase your ability

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

How many of you have a timing problem?

Why do we take long to answer a question?

CR Assumption Question

Ability to read and

comprehend

Student 1
Understand the argument

30-45 S

Student 2
30 S

Understanding of the
concepts

Attack Strategy
(Process)

Pre-think the answer

15 S

0S

Familiarity with
question types

Agility of the mind

15-30 S

Evaluate the answer choices

60 to 90
seconds
Following a structured process improves timing & reduces anxiety during exam.

60 150S

90 to 180
Seconds

Timing is not a cause. Its a symptom. The

problem is generally process

What is Takt time?

Takt time, derived from the German
word Taktzeit, which translates
to cycle time, sets the pace for
industrial manufacturing lines

For GMAT, it sets the pace

of answering questions.

Takt Time = Time required to CORRECTLY answer a question

Time < Takt Time
Lower accuracy
Lower score
V38
80%

V30
50%

1:45 Mins

1:25 Mins

Given your ability, if you spend < than TAKT time, you jeopardize accuracy. If > TAKT time, you lose TIME.

Accuracy for Question of

Particular difficulty

Accuracy (confined set) Vs. Takt Time

50%

15 25 S
Time

Scholaranium Computes your Takt Time

How to determine Takt Time?

Create at least 2
mixed quizzes of
25 questions each.

Section

SC
CR
RC

Take each quiz one by one

without timing yourself, but
record the time to answer each
question.

Easy Medium Hard

2
2
2

3
2
2

4
4
4

For each section,

calculate average time
to answer questions
CORRECTLY.

Section

Total time
taken for
CORRECT
answers

SC

18

29.70

1.65

CR

16

39.20

2.45

RC

16

41.60

2.60

Takt time is specific to each question type.

Average
Time
(min)

Case 1: V37 to V40 by leveraging Takt Time

...There was a video from eGMAT that introduced me to the idea of Takt time. Takt time is the
optimum time an individual needs to mark a question of a certain type
There is a school of thought that suggests that you must answer SC questions by 1 minute. In
my case, the strategy did not work. After I got introduced to the concept of takt time, I observed
that 1:30 minutes is the average time I needed to mark an SC question correctly. I improved
only marginally on that timing later on through practice. In my actual test the average time I
took to answer SC questions should have been somewhere close to 1:20 minutes but not 1
minute. However, CR was my strength and I observed that on an average I needed 1:45
minutes there. I read almost all RC passages big or small between 2 to 3 minutes and took 1
minute to answer the questions that followed.
Typically, in the test, you will receive an average of 4 RC passages with a total of 13 questions,
14 CR questions and 14 SC questions. If you do the math, my timing strategy fits perfectly into
the total 75 minute span for Verbal. The bottom line is that there is no one size that fits all
when it comes to timing strategy. There is no point compromising on accuracy on questions
where you tend to be naturally slow. Improve timing where it can be improved and only to an
extent that is possible without giving up accuracy.
http://gmatclub.com/forum/750-q50-v41-how-i-bettered-my-mock-test-scores-158043.html
Understand your limitations and strengths through Takt time and use this information judiciously in the test.

What is a good Takt time?

Section

Takt Time

SC

1' - 1' 30"

CR

1'45" - 2' 30"

RC

1'45" - 2' 30"

Myth
To get 700+ score, one needs to solve
SC question is less than a minute.

Reality
If you have the ability, even if your Takt
time is 10-15 more than the
recommended limits above, you are OK.

If your Takt time > limits, then work to reduce it!

How can I improve Takt Time?

I have tImIng Issue. I take more than
2 to solve sC questIon.
You dont have timing issue, you have gaps in approach or concepts
Meaning
Review detailed solutions
of each question and
figure out in which step of
the structured process
you went wrong.

Sentence
Structure

Grammar

POE

Understand
Conclusion

Prethinking
Answer

POE

Read and
Comprehend

Prethinking
Answer

POE

Review each question in detail to diagnose the longer time to solve questions.

Come to any SM session and we will

demonstrate how to reduce Takt Time?

Case 2: Bringing it all together Another data point

GMAT Prep 3 V34

GMAT Prep 4 V38

Take Away: Takt Time Allows you to focus on Strength

Bringing it all together Another data point

What made the difference

1. Focused on Strengths
2. Improve Improve Maintain
Maintain

Take AWAY
750+

Recipe for
success in
GMAT
Your
Ability

Takt
Time

prepare for Mocks?

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

Why do you take a mock Test?

What preparation do you do before taking a mock?

What do you do after taking the mock test?

(Possible Scenarios)

The outcome of Mock test depends on..

ABILITY
SC
SC
CR
CR
RC
Arith.

Stamina

Timing

Mock
Score

Algebra

Geometry
Word Prob.

Lack of Preparation Bad Mock Scores + Wasted Effort

Designed to estimate
your Exam
Performance

Results are impacted

by timing

Most mock tests are

not designed to
provide ability

Not a reliable measure of

your preparation till you
have prepared for all
three sections (or PS &
DS in Quant).

Accuracy - A Flawed Measure

30 Questions Correct

V42

96 percentile

V38

85 percentile

V32

66 percentile

V22

30 percentile

On GMAT Prep (11 incorrect)

66 percn. difference
despite Identical
Accuracy (73%)

Different section bringing the score down

Not just an isolated case many users experience the same

Source: http://gmatclub.com/forum/gmat-prep-software-analysis-and-what-if-scenarios-146146.html

660
640

670
650

30 days

660

Why does this happen?

1. Imprecise Targeting

2. Change in Direction

3. Lack of Self Belief

What should you be able to do.

Precision Targeting

Ability Calculation

Help students isolate

weakness

Accurate estimation
of Ability in a
Pristine environment

Mock Preparation
Students should be
confident of their mock
strategy

Periodic Assessment
Students should be
able to assess their
preparation at any
time.

How to Evaluate Your Preparation?

Drill Down

RC

SC

Sectional Abilities
Overall Verbal Ability

How do I get this ?

Create Custom Quiz

Ability Quiz

2
3 Days

Target

Ability
Achieved

Student Feedback
An Absolutely Brilliant and Innovative tool from e-GMAT that is a must have for every
serious GMAT aspirant I am thoroughly enjoying this tool. Also the interface provides a
really easy way to take notes of concepts tested in a question and also an easy way to
bookmark questions that we would like to revisit

I am really impressed with the feature of Scholaranium to show the weak area in skill data.
It is helping me to identify which files I should go back to improve my basic concept and
strengthen that area.

The platform provided an accurate account of the ability in particular section such as SC,
CR etc. It would be great if Takt time & total productive time can also be evaluated in the
system.

Take AWAY

Before Exam

Maximize
your scoring
in Mocks

750+
Understand your strengths and
Weaknesses.
Know your Takt Time

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

Timing Strategies
FOR YOUR MOCKS

GMAT a test of your ABILITY (recap)

43

97 percentile 7500 rank

32

65 percentile

87500 rank

1 thru 10

11 thru 20

21 thru 30

31 thru 41

1 thru 10

11 thru 20

21 thru 30

31 thru 41

11

21

31

11

21

31

12

22

32

12

22

32

13

23

33

13

23

33

14

24

34

14

24

34

15

25

35

15

25

35

16

26

36

16

26

36

17

27

37

17

27

37

18

28

38

18

28

38

19

29

39

19

29

39

10

20

30

40

10

20

30

40

41

Accuracy = 71%

41

Accuracy = 71%

1. Student got more # of difficult questions.

2. Student correctly answered more # of difficult questions.
Your GMAT score is governed by your ABILITY to CORRECTLY answer DIFFICULT QUESTIONS.

so
Should I not spend more time in solving
first 10 Questions?

No, not more than necessary!

Workshop 1

set A

70%

Q8 - 15 set B

40%

Q 1- 7

your TAKT time!!!

Is set B more difficult or did fatigue/rush set in?

Workshop 2

set B

43%

Q8 - 15 set A

66%

Q 1- 7

Despite spending
more time for Q1 to 7,

students could not solve

set B questions correctly.

You cannot solve question correctly by spending more time on it. You can do it only by improving your ability.

Q 30

Maintain

Maintain

Q 20
Q 10

Question Number

Q 40

How should I pace myself?

Improve

Get to your
target
Percentile

Improve

55 mins

35 mins

Maintain
Your
Percentile

17 mins

# of ques

Designated
min./Ques
Time

1 thru 10

10

20

11 thru 20

10

20

21 thru 30

10

18

1.8

31 thru 41

11

17

1.5

1 mins

Time left

Spend no more than 20 minutes for first 10 questions!

75

Recap Application of this Strategy

What made the difference

1. Focused on Strengths
2. Improve Improve Maintain
Maintain

But
I Cant solve questIons In less than 2
You dont need to! Yes, the following are true:

You cant spend less than your Takt time

Your Takt time may be > 2 for some questions

Hence comes the concept of SKIPPING

75

41 questions

1 50

75 (skip 5 questions)

36 questions

2 08

Skip questions that are from your weak areas!

Smart skipping is the key!

Section

# of questions

Upper Limit of Takt Time

SC

15

90

CR

14

150

RC

12

150

Total Time (sec)

5250

Total Time (min)

87.5

Time - 75'
# of ques to be skipped

12.5

Skipping strategy works hand in hand with the concept of Takt Time to capitalize on your ability.

Take AWAY

Before Exam

Maximize
your scoring
in Mocks

750+
Understand your strengths and
Weaknesses.
Know your Takt Time

In Exam

Skip Questions if you are

running out of time.
Spend approx. your Takt Time
on your weakness.

Total Productive
Time
FOR YOUR MOCKS

What is Total Productive Time (TPT)?

TPT = Total time spent on correct questions in a mock.
Right

Wrong

23

18

Time spent

41:20

33:40

Avg. Time/question

1:47

1:52

Use Case: Applicant 1 with Mock score 35

# of questions

Clearly, this applicant tried to answer all questions correctly and did not try to improve his total
productive time
As you will see in the spreadsheet; he was 8 minutes behind by the time he reached question #22
He had a 21 percentile drop from 98 (#21) to 78 (#41)

Skipping according to ones Takt time is vital

TPT (contd.)
First 20 Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.

Overall Accuracy: 70% (14)

Total Time Spent: 42.14 minutes
Total Productive Time: 29.27
Avg. Time Spent/Question: 126 seconds

Average Time Correct: 126 Seconds

Average Time Incorrect: 127 Seconds

Next 21 Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.

Overall Accuracy: 43% (9)

Total Time Spent: 32.86 minutes
Total Productive Time: 11.43
Avg. Time Spent/Question: 94 seconds

Average Time Correct: 78 Seconds

Average Time Incorrect: 104 Seconds

Capitalize on your strengths!

Recap - Getting Ready for Mocks

Getting Ready

1. Leverage Scholaranium
2. Measure your Takt Time and accuracy during the quizzes.
3.

Try to replicate the same in the mock

While taking mocks

1. Measure ability in various sections/question types.

Consistent with your ability quizzes

2. Use Improve Improve Maintain Maintain strategy

3. Total productive Time (+3 minutes for next mock)
4. Use your knowledge of section Takt Time while skipping a question.

Agenda
1. GMAT and Ability
Why ability is the most
important metric on the GMAT?

2. Timing
Do you really have a Timing
Problem?

4. In Mocks Timing and Smart Skipping

Strategies to ensure that you get the maximum
score for a given ability?

5. Crafting your 30 day Plan

3. How to Prepare for Mocks
Do the Pre-Work to avoid
surprises in Mocks

Putting everything together to move from 650 to

720+ in 30 days?

define 30-day plan

High Level Plan

Total score

Math
score

V score

Math
correct

630

47

30

30

Today

Goals

Tackle
quant
Q49/50
V 29-31

Verbl
correct Overall Score SC - Corr
RC 7/13 CR
23
50
8/12 SC 8/16

4 days/10
hrs

RC - Corr

67

53

Tackle
SC

Tackle
RC

Tackle
CR

Q49/50
V 32-34
SC = 70%

Q49/50
V 33-35
RC = 70%
SC = 70%+

Q50/51
V 35-37
CR= 75%+
RC =70%+
SC =70%+

Mock
Test
Time to
MOck

CRCorr

8 days/30
hrs

8 days/30
hrs

5 days/15
hrs

How much time will it take me?

Build Muscle

Lose Weight

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Sample Plan

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

1
(630, Q47, V30)
(RC 7/13, CR 8/12, SC 8/16)

Define your Q
Weakness

Work on your Q
Weakness revise theory

Work on your Q
Weakness -

Work on your Q
Weakness -

Prepare for next

mock. Revise all
previous mocks
and all sections

Revise mock,
notice the area
for improvement

Tackle SC

Mock test
9

10

Tackle SC

16

11

SC

17

12

SC

18

SC

19

RC (holiday)
Mock test

SC

20

RC

14
15
Prepare for next Prepare for next
mock. Revise all
mock. Revise all
previous mocks
previous mocks
and all sections
and all sections
21

RC

22

RC

RC

Break

23
24
Prepare for next
mock. Revise all
previous mocks
and all sections
Mock test
30
31

Mock test

13

25

26

CR

Notes:

27

CR

28

CR

CR

29
Prepare for next
mock. Revise all
previous mocks
and all sections

Putting it all together

Best Practices
1. Ability first, timing next.

2. If your ability is less than 70% in any section, then work on

fundamentals. Try out the corresponding e-GMAT course.
3. Have a 2/3 Question goal for improvement for each mock.

4. Make sure that you tackle your weakest areas

5. Knowing your Takt Time can help you make judicious decisions in
the mock.
6. Aim to improve your Total Productive Time with every mock.

Two Goals Score Improvement and Maximum Performance

1. Acing the GMAT is not Rocket Science.

You can achieve Repeatable, Predictable
Score Improvement

2. Follow these strategies in

your mocks and you actual test
to Achieve Maximum
Performance

Take e-GMAT Diagnostic

1. Take e-GMAT diagnostic

2. Determine your ability
3. Review detailed Solutions