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Practice test scores decreased - help

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Practice test scores decreased - help

by momentary_lapse » Sat Mar 10, 2007 5:37 pm
Hi,

I am an engg. major studying for GMAT. Its been almost a month now. I started with Kaplan Premier Edition and then did the OG 11th edition.

After the Kaplan Premier I took a diagnostic test from the GMAT Prep software and got 690. I studied the entire OG and today gave another test. I got a 660 :(

I dont understand how this could have happened. I was pretty confident. Looking through my incorrect answers, I found that I missed almost 8 questions in the quantative - I Couldnt even get to them. Could that have reduced my score a lot. I also messed up a lot of verbal questions. Somehow it seemed easier to study from the OG book than to solve the questions from the CAT on the computer screen. This seems strange coz I work on a computer most of the day.

Any advice anyone? What could I be doing wrong and how can I correct this?

THanks
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Re: Practice test scores decreased - help

by aim-wsc » Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:30 pm
momentary_lapse wrote:
I dont understand how this could have happened. I was pretty confident. Looking through my incorrect answers, I found that I missed almost 8 questions in the quantative - I Couldnt even get to them. Could that have reduced my score a lot.
THanks
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Thats the probable reason I can see.
If you miss last few questions in CAT your score goes down marginally.
Also you need to practise taking exams on computer so that you get acquainted with CAT. :)

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by momentary_lapse » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:13 pm
Yes. but i dont understand how the score could have decreased so much. :(
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by fsar45 » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:28 pm
It's actually pretty common for your scores to fluctuate as you prep, so don't worry about one score drop. It could have been related to how early in the test you got questions wrong, if you didn't finish, etc. Don't sweat it.

Instead, focus on the questions you got wrong, and look for patterns in your mistakes.
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by Stacey Koprince » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:39 pm
It's also the case that a 30-point change is not a significant change. The people who make the test say that when someone earns any specific score, the range of expected scores is +/- 28 points from that score. So, if you score a 690 one day, you can expect to score anywhere from a 660 to a 720 on other days. (We'll leave aside the question of how valid the test is if the testwriters expect such a wide range...)

As aim said, leaving 8 questions blank at the end really hurts your score. For any questions you leave blank, the test assumes you would have answered them all incorrectly and calculates your score accordingly.

Finally, the reason why it's harder to do the questions on the computer is b/c the test is adaptive and it is constantly pushing you to work at the edge of your comfort level. You aren't seeing as many easier questions as you do when you study from the books - instead, you're constantly working on questions that are right in your range or too hard for you.

When you study, don't only study things that you don't know how to do. Learn how to be more efficient with problems / topics you already know how to do or you won't have enough time to answer the increasing number of harder problems you'll get as you improve.
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by momentary_lapse » Sun Mar 11, 2007 10:32 pm
Thank you so much Stacy and aim.. I hope I do better the next test I take.

I did try and look for patterns and I noticed in questions picking numbers is important I tended to take too long.

Im still analyzing the verbal and I hope I find something there.

Also I did get a couple of questions wrong at the beginning itself so maybe that did hurt.

So far Im planning to take the 6 CAT's from Kaplan, the 2 tests from GMAT Prep twice each.

Is there anything else anyone would suggest. I feel (though IM not yet certain till I finish my analysis) that my problem is more getting used to the timing and the test environment itself than the preparation. I say this because today I took the paper test (which I bought from the GMAT site) and I managed to do the quantative sections with just two mistakes and the verbal with just 4 mistakes. Also I finished them in time. I guess that could be because of what Stacy pointed out about not being at the edge of my comfort level.

Anyway thanks all. Ill get back after another test and if you can think of any other computer based tests, please let me know.
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by Stacey Koprince » Sun Mar 11, 2007 11:03 pm
The paper tests aren't a good use of your time - they're completely different than the CAT. They're much easier and, then, the percentage correct really did matter a great deal to your score. I don't recommend practicing with the old paper tests.
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by momentary_lapse » Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:21 am
Stacey,

Which CAT's would you recommend? I also have Kaplan's 6 tests to do. Thanks.
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by momentary_lapse » Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:24 am
Oh and I also bought the Sentence Correction guide from Manhattan . SO i guess i have access to the 6 online tests from them too. Are those good ?
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by Stacey Koprince » Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:58 am
I think our (ManhattanGMAT's) tests are good, of course, and you should definitely get the two free official GMAT practice tests from mba.com. I personally prefer Princeton Review's tests to Kaplan's tests.
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by momentary_lapse » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:30 am
Thanks Stacy. I will do that.

BTW I gave another test and scored 730 (Q 49 and V41)

I noticed that the SC is the toughest for me. I tried to study the Manhattan GMAT and though it has helped, I still end up getting confused between the last 2 choices.

Does anyone have any idea how to overcome this? It is very difficult to remember the rules and apply them appropriately esp since sometimes applying the rules may not result in the correct answer.
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