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Help me interpret practice test trajectory...

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Help me interpret practice test trajectory...

by hood » Sat Apr 02, 2011 2:51 pm
I know there have been many posts on the topic, but can anyone help me interpret my practice test trajectory and how this may impact my actual GMAT? I have 2 weeks left until the actual test and I'm within striking distance of my goal (730-750), but not quite there (and not sure if I can get there based on my practice results). Here's the data:

January 23 -MGMAT 1 - (Q-43, V-45) - 720
February 12 - MGMAT 2 - (Q-42, V-38) - 660
March 5 - MGMAT 3 - (Q-42,V-41) - 690
March 12 - MGMAT 4 - (Q-47,V-45) - 740
March 26 - MGMAT 5 - (Q-45,V-40) - 700
April 2 - GMATPrep 1 - (Q-44,V-44) - 710

The initial decline from test 1 is does not concern me because I essentially used my own approach for test 1 and have since been implementing more efficient approaches based on the MGMAT guides (such as learning a few key grammar rules, algebra refresh, DS gridding, etc.)

My only concern is that I can't seem to crack the Quant section. I've got the timing down overall, but I am consistently running behind by 2-3 minutes beginning around question 9-10 and spending the rest of the section in a slight rush. Ultimately, my accuracy suffers in the last 10-12 questions and my score ends up trailing off. More specifically, the 700-800 level DS (especially VICs) KILL me on timing.

Also, the GMATPrep math section "felt" MUCH easier than any of the MGMAT quant sections, though that didn't exactly show in my score.

Any advice? Does anyone see other trends in my scoring that would be helpful to be aware of? How do you think this plays out on the actual GMAT?

Thanks in advance for everyone's help.
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by ldoolitt » Sat Apr 02, 2011 6:21 pm
hood wrote:...
More specifically, the 700-800 level DS (especially VICs) KILL me on timing.
...
Are you using the MGMAT strategy of plugging in (good) values for the variables in VICs? If you are that just makes the VIC like any other PS problem. Just a though on that specific issue.

EDIT: Did you mean VIC in DS? There isn't such thing because DS always has the same answer choices. Maybe post an example problem or reference one like you are talking about in the OG?
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by hood » Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:42 am
I meant to indicate that both high-level DS and PS VICs are killing me on timing. I drilled through about 10-12 VICs last night and am doing fine in terms of accuracy, but they're still slow.

As for plugging in good values, I've found that my accuracy is generally higher, but my timing is slower because I have to work through each answer choice.
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by ldoolitt » Mon Apr 04, 2011 6:30 am
hood wrote:I meant to indicate that both high-level DS and PS VICs are killing me on timing. I drilled through about 10-12 VICs last night and am doing fine in terms of accuracy, but they're still slow.

As for plugging in good values, I've found that my accuracy is generally higher, but my timing is slower because I have to work through each answer choice.
Your accuracy is good with unlimited time, which to me is GREAT. That's always my first step in attacking a problem area.

DS
You say that your timing is to long on these high-level DS problems. How far off are you? I think the average time to spend on a Quant problem is like 2.something minutes and I spend up to 3 minutes on 700-800 level DS quant questions, and make up time earlier on the test completing the easier questions quicker. I almost never spend more than 1:15 on the first 2 questions of the test (because they are 500-600 level questions) which already adds 2 minutes or so to the end of the test particularly for me to handle difficult items (High level DS and geometry questions give me problems)

VIC PS
I always glance (or at least catch out of the corner of my eye) at the answers. When I see a VIC problem I look at all the answers. When I pick my "good" number it not only works with the problem to make calculations easy but works with the answers as well. Thus I usually only have to plug in 1 number into an answer just to check it because I can already see what the answer is. I'm sure there are some 700-800 level questions where that may be difficult but see my DS response about spending extra time.
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