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How to move from here?

by akhilsuhag » Sat Aug 16, 2014 1:14 pm
Hi,

I have been prepping for about a month and a half and over the course have given 4 practice tests (2 at the very beginning of my prep, one about 2 weeks into it and the final one today). I have usually been ok with time but today I was rushing through both the section. Guessed a lot of them because of this- Time management really got the better of me- and more importantly the stress induced by being behind time. Here are my scores.

GMATPrep 680 Q47 V35
EconomistGMAT 670 Q48 V35
EconomistGMAT 670 Q49 V34
GMATPrep 710 Q46 V41

As you see this has been my worst quant performance since I even started prep. Although my prep so far was decently Quant focused and I inherently felt much better about doing better in quant. On the verbal part although I had gone through SC theory I had worked on ironing out CR/RC for now.

1) I usually checked time after 10/20/30 questions. This time I decided to check every 5. Would this have put additional stress.

2) In Quant I was doing great till Question 14 (Only 2 incorrect) and then i got all from 15 to 21 incorrect (7 in a row, never happened before). And again (24 and 26 to 31) and if you notice both series are around a multiple of 5. Is over checking time bad?

3) I think I had a decent verbal but had to rush the final parts getting 4 incorrect in the final 5.

Although I must say that after just 2 incorrect in first 14 I started getting some question I had no clue how to even touch. I really want to solidify my verbal score so that I can focus on verbal, which I think can still be improved as I have not yet focused on SC (which is my weakest area).

I want to get 740+, how far do you think I am from it.

I had gone into this exam with 2 goals (according to my prep)- (1) a 49 or above on Quant; (2) Not more than 1 mistake each in CR and RC. Except just 1 RC incorrect all my other goals seem to have gotten the better of me for now ! Hopefully not for long ;)
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by [email protected] » Sat Aug 16, 2014 2:35 pm
Hi akhilsuhag,

You bring up a number of interesting points in your post; I think you'll find some "answers" to your questions once you review this CAT in its entirety.

Until then, here are some things to consider:

1) Your first 3 CAT scores are all "bunched" in a particular set of score ranges. This latest CAT has a much higher Verbal Scaled Score (a V41 is above the 90th percentile), so you've either made some great strides in your Verbal work or you got a bit lucky on some of your 50/50 questions (how often do you narrow a question down to 2 choices and then 'guess'? Those 'guesses' can provide a big 'swing' to your score if you either get most correct or get most incorrect). I bring this up because you mentioned that you haven't done much work on SC and that it's your weakest category. To solidify a strong performance on Verbal, you cannot afford to have a weak category.

2) Review the questions that you got wrong in the Quant. I'm sure that some of them were difficult, but they couldn't all be difficult. Your lower Quant score likely came down to missing a few mid-level questions (due to silly mistakes).

3) The clock tends to stress out most people at some point; looking at the clock more often than usual could very well have affected your mindset and performance.

4) You should post some of the questions that you had trouble with; there are plenty of people here who can help you to figure them out.

5) If your Quant Scaled score on this CAT had been a 49, then you might have ended up with a 740.

When are you planning to take your Official GMAT?

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Rich
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by akhilsuhag » Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:24 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi akhilsuhag,

You bring up a number of interesting points in your post; I think you'll find some "answers" to your questions once you review this CAT in its entirety.

Until then, here are some things to consider:

1) Your first 3 CAT scores are all "bunched" in a particular set of score ranges. This latest CAT has a much higher Verbal Scaled Score (a V41 is above the 90th percentile), so you've either made some great strides in your Verbal work or you got a bit lucky on some of your 50/50 questions (how often do you narrow a question down to 2 choices and then 'guess'? Those 'guesses' can provide a big 'swing' to your score if you either get most correct or get most incorrect). I bring this up because you mentioned that you haven't done much work on SC and that it's your weakest category. To solidify a strong performance on Verbal, you cannot afford to have a weak category.

2) Review the questions that you got wrong in the Quant. I'm sure that some of them were difficult, but they couldn't all be difficult. Your lower Quant score likely came down to missing a few mid-level questions (due to silly mistakes).

3) The clock tends to stress out most people at some point; looking at the clock more often than usual could very well have affected your mindset and performance.

4) You should post some of the questions that you had trouble with; there are plenty of people here who can help you to figure them out.

5) If your Quant Scaled score on this CAT had been a 49, then you might have ended up with a 740.

When are you planning to take your Official GMAT?

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

Thanks for getting back.

1) Let me clarify. I gave this exam after going through entire GMAT theory- even Verbal. And practiced decent levels. I had just put an extra effort on RC/CR because I am strong at them. My idea was that initially hone your strengths to such a degree that they become flawless and then work on really polishing SC which you just practice the rest. So I was expecting a 40 in this exam, also because I had prepared for GMAT in 2010 (had to leave it midway for personal reasons) and had started hitting 41/42 in a months time. The 3rd test in this case seems like an anomaly to me, because it showed no increase- it I think was one of those off days.

2) I started the review yesterday itself and in the first 8 incorrect I could solve 4. But the rest are still very difficult. I think it was the psychological effect of time and them appearing in the middle of super tough questions that caused my brain to go dead.

I have thought to give it around mid-oct early -nov. I thought I would book a date once I hot 740 or above on two practice tests- is that the right approach?.

Also, since timing brought me down in both sections, do you think I should give more practice tests or how would you suggest I work on it?

Thank you so much.
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by [email protected] » Sun Aug 17, 2014 10:11 am
Hi akhilsuhag,

Since the GMAT is an adaptive Test, there should be some questions that you find hard/challenging, so you can't expect the entire exam to "feel" easy. At the highest levels, some of the questions you would see are remarkably dense/complex, but that's the nature of this type of Exam. Your practice CATs are also designed that way. If you want to score at the highest levels, then you cannot afford to have your brain "go dead."

With a potential Test Date in October or November, you still have plenty of time to continue studying. If your RC and CR skills are as strong as you say, then picking up those missing SC points could have quite an impact on your Verbal Scaled Score (and by extension, your overall score).

Pacing problems cannot be "fixed" by taking lots of CATs, they can only be "measured" by taking CATs. Practice - in the form of questions, quizzes, drills, etc. will be how you fix any pacing problems you have. The CAT gives you an approximation of how you would score at that point in time and points out the weaknesses in your overall performance.

You might find that scheduling your Official Test Date adds a level of motivation to what you're doing. You can always change it later, if you need to, but most people work a little harder (and perhaps even "better") when they're working against a deadline.

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