michael.dinerstein wrote:Hi Stockmoose16,
While you have the right concept for how much you are penalized when you leave a question blank, you are applying the 4 percentage point penalty to the OVERALL percentile and not the individual subscore percentile. Hence, your verbal score would have been in the 84th - 85th percentile due to your blank question, which would have only boosted your score to a 660 - 670 overall, for another 1 - 2 percentile increase.
What you need to do right now in terms of studying is to put your percentile score on the ManhattanGMAT CATs out of your mind. Our tests, while fairly accurate, are not going to be an exact reproduction of how you will perform on the GMAT. This is due to the fact that we cannot exactly approximate the questions GMAC will come up with at the time of the test.
Judging by your practice test scores between the 5th and 6th CAT exams, you need to work on building your higher level quant skills to boost your score overall. Look at the assessment reports and analyze which sections you're underperforming in and then review your study material for these sections so that you can better understand the concepts. Getting hung up on the nuances of ManhattanGMAT's practice tests will not help you fix the gaps in your prep. The only way you can improve is by using the CATs to help guide your studies.
Going forward, it seems like you should focus less on the verbal (you're scoring consistently over the 80th percentile) and focus more on weak quant areas.
Good luck studying! If you have any other questions, please let me know.
Best,
Michael,
Thanks for the advice. I've been studying the quant section hard, but I seem to have peaked, scoring in the 70th percentile on each of my last 4 CAT exams. My verbal score, on the other hand, is highly volatile. On the first CAT I ever took -- about 13 weeks ago -- I scored 91st percentile. On the four tests that followed that baseline exam, I scored 72nd percentile. On my sixth test, I scored 91st percentile again. And finally, on my 7th test, I scored 84th percentile. I don't understand why my quant scores are steady and my verbal scores are all over the place. I really haven't studied verbal at all, so the scores should be consistent across all the CATs.
This unpredictable volatility of my verbal score is problematic: If I score 91st percentile verbal and 70th percentile math, I'll get a 690 on the GMAT; however, if I score 72nd percentile verbal with 70th percentile quant, I'll score around a 640. I just can't explain the
volatility. I've taken all the tests under the same conditions. If the MGMAT CAT is an accurate depiction of my ability, then I shouldn't be regularly jumping between 72nd percentile and the 91st percentile -- it just doesn't make sense. Can you please offer some insight?
Additionally, I'd like to know your recommendation on what I should be studying with three weeks left until my GMAT test day. I realize my weakness is quant, but if i score 70th percentile quant, and get my verbal up just a few percentile points higher -- assuming I'm currently at the 91st percentile -- then I'll score a 700.
Though I realize that improving my quant would help my cause, it just doesn't seem possible at this juncture. I've gone over all the MGMAT strategy books, but the 700 level questions are simply too difficult and time-consuming to solve in under 2 minutes. The strategy guides are great refreshers for the concepts. One needs no further evidence than to look at my baseline quant score, which landed me in the 19th percentile, to see that the strategy books really helped me improve. The problem is, the strategy guides aren't helpful for solving the complex, involved questions that usually show up at the 700 level.
Do you think that, at this point, given that I'm so close to my test day, I should focus on improving/steadying my verbal score, rather than trying to improve my quant score?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
