GMAT Strategy

I just bombed the last practice CAT and I'm feeling pretty defeated.

Here is all my CAT scores

Baseline (Veritas Practice Test 1) 480 Q28 V28
Veritas Practice Test 6 630 Q43 V30
Veritas Practice Test 2 650 Q40 V39
GMAT Prep 1 550 Q35 V31

My test date is 7/26 and my goal is to score a between 680-700. Should I just cancel/postpone this exam?

Reviewing the data I got a bunch of problems that really exposed my weaknesses in quant and in verbal my SC still sucks after this extra time I've devoted to it and my critical reasoning performance has drastically declined.

Hey there,

So let's be real: the GMATPrep 1 is the MOST accurate and you scored a 550 on it, so I think you'd be pretty unlikely to break a 600 at this point. If your plan is to take it in 10 days and you HAVE to get a 680, then I think it's pretty dangerous to take the test until you're scoring at least a 700 on the GMATPreps.

Veritas exams are great for strategy and pacing practice, but I would NOT equate their scores with the actual GMAT exam. That said, you DO seem to be improving, which is great! You've gone from 480--->630--->650 on the Veritas Preps, so you're heading in the right direction. You're just not quite there yet.

If you really want to make a 550 to 680 jump, we're talking 130 points. That's a big jump, and I'd give yourself at least six weeks minimum to do it.

If your SC still "sucks" and your CR is declining, you need to know WHY. How have you been reviewing these practice CATs? Do you have an error log you can share? What's your step-by-step approach for EACH Q-type? I'd suggest meeting with a tutor for a couple hours to set up a new study plan to really hone in on your weaknesses. If you'd like a free Error Log template, feel free to email me at [email protected]. You may also need to step up your practice materials as well.

[email protected] wrote:Hi kdn508,

You might find it worthwhile to push your Test Back a couple of weeks, just so you can settle yourself and do some review.

I'd like to know a bit more about your CATs:
1) Why did you go from Veritas CAT1 to Veritas CAT6, then back to Veritas CAT2?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT every time (including the Essay and IR sections) or did you ever skip sections?
3) Was there anything about this last CAT that didn't match what you were doing in the prior CATs (time of day, location, skipping sections, etc.)?
4) Did you have pacing problems on any of these CATs?

A full question-by-question review of this CAT is also warranted. Defining WHY you got questions wrong is essential (so you can fix the little mistakes).

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Veritas has two sets of CATs 1-5 & 6-10 so I wanted to try out both to verify progress, all practice full lenght CATs. The last one was at 2pm but same location. Pacing was an issue for Verbal this time. I

VivianKerr wrote:Hey there,

So let's be real: the GMATPrep 1 is the MOST accurate and you scored a 550 on it, so I think you'd be pretty unlikely to break a 600 at this point. If your plan is to take it in 10 days and you HAVE to get a 680, then I think it's pretty dangerous to take the test until you're scoring at least a 700 on the GMATPreps.

Veritas exams are great for strategy and pacing practice, but I would NOT equate their scores with the actual GMAT exam. That said, you DO seem to be improving, which is great! You've gone from 480--->630--->650 on the Veritas Preps, so you're heading in the right direction. You're just not quite there yet.

If you really want to make a 550 to 680 jump, we're talking 130 points. That's a big jump, and I'd give yourself at least six weeks minimum to do it.

If your SC still "sucks" and your CR is declining, you need to know WHY. How have you been reviewing these practice CATs? Do you have an error log you can share? What's your step-by-step approach for EACH Q-type? I'd suggest meeting with a tutor for a couple hours to set up a new study plan to really hone in on your weaknesses. If you'd like a free Error Log template, feel free to email me at [email protected]. You may also need to step up your practice materials as well.

I don't have a actual error chart but I do review the questions afterwards and take some notes down. WIth SC I just feel extremely overwhelmed with all the information that is needed to break them down. When I started I couldn't tell you what a modifer was. I've made some improvements but, obviously I think I just need more time to really learn the material. I feel like my timeline for preparing for this test has been rushed and I tried to do too much with my schedule.

An Error Log CANNOT be optional if you really want a top score. Here's a template. You should complete it and then USE it to learn about your own thinking immediately following EACH CAT. You can know ALL the content and still miss questions -- your Error Log will hold you accountable.