Hey Silver Lining,
So a few things worth noting.
As you probably know, your timing is still a major problem. On your most recent test, you were running ten minutes behind by question 10. You then had to rush here and there to catch up, and guess on the last three questions. Make sure you're benchmarking; you should never fall more than five minutes behind. Your pacing on verbal is great.
Assessment reports here are tough, because the time between all the tests is fairly significant. If I run the report on just the last two tests, I get this:
Problem Solving 44 22 22 0 50% 2:01 2:25 640 690
Data Sufficiency 30 15 15 0 50% 1:31 1:59 610 680
Sentence Correction 30 20 10 0 67% 1:40 1:26 690 730
Critical Reasoning 28 13 15 0 46% 1:54 2:08 610 680
Reading Comprehension 24 14 10 0 58% 1:53 1:40 630 690
Starting here, we can see the primary weakness in critical reasoning. 50% is also lower than we'd like to see on quant (breaking 700 requires running at about 60%-65% correct, as far as I know). Sentence Correction is your strongest area, which is good, because it's very important.
QUANTITATIVE
Geometry 11 3 8 27% 2:04 2:03
Number Properties 13 7 6 54% 1:45 2:18
Algebra 17 13 4 76% 1:20 1:51 FASTEST
Word Problems 20 7 13 35% 2:11 2:38 SLOWEST
Fractions, Decimals, & Percents 13 7 6 54% 2:17 1:50
Here on Quant we can see a few things. Geometry has the lowest correct percentage (27%), and definitely needs work. Equally interesting is the 35% correct on Word Problems, though that category includes so many different things (combinatorics, probability, overlapping sets, etc.) that it can be difficult to work on efficiently. 54% on NP and FDPs isn't terrible, but they still could use some work.
The truth is that the numbers tell lots of good things. First of all, your arc of improvement is fantastic. You've gone from a 470 to a 640. That's huge! To see more improvement, however, you need to make sure you're really changing up your process whenever you can. I asked you a bunch of questions before, right? Here are the correct answers:
1) What would you look for in the answer choices of an SC question that would signal it's a Subject-Verb Agreement question? A parallelism question? A modifier question?
Answers: For SV-Agreement, you would look for splits in the singular/plural of the subject or the verb of the sentence. For parallelism, you would look for markers such as either/or, and, neither, but, although, etc. For modifiers, you would look for relative pronouns (which/that/who), participles (-ing, -ed words), prepositional phrases, adjectives and adverbs.
2) Are you taking notes for CR? Have you ever tried it? If not, there's your problem. If you have, are you checking your conclusion/premise against the official ones? Are you getting it right every time?
Answers: Yes, I am taking notes for CR. I am writing down the conclusion and premises of every assumption family question. When I'm done, I check and see if I identified the conclusion and premises and wrote them down both efficiently and accurately. If I did not, I mark the question for later study.
3) Are you taking notes for RC? Have you ever tried it? If not, there's your problem. If you are, are you writing a structural outline? Do you get the main idea correct every time?
Answers: Yes I am. Yes I have. I write a structural outline, making sure to write down the main idea of the entire passage, as well as what structural role each paragraph plays in supporting that main idea. I nail it every time.
4) Can you describe a gerund to me? A participle? Can you explain the major differences between a CR Inference/Draw a Conclusion question and a CR Strengthen question?
Answers: A gerund is an -ing word acting as a noun. A participle is an adjective that kinda looks like a verb, usually ending in -ing or -ed. The differences between an Inference and a Strengthen question are myriad. First, one of them has a core (conclusion/premise), while the other only has premises. The answer to an inference question is usually a restatement of something in the passage, where the answer to a strengthen question is often something totally new.
For some of these questions, you gave good answers, but for many of them you did not. Keep studying, and make sure you're always generalizing out, coming up with rules that can be applied to other questions of the same type. Good luck!
-t
