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MGMAT CAT 2: 580. Score dropped after 1 week of hard work..?

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MGMAT CAT 2: 580. Score dropped after 1 week of hard work..?

by josh80 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:00 am
Nov 3rd: MGMAT CAT 1 - 610 (66%), Quant 40(52%), Vrebal 34(69%)

Learned to apply new strategies on Quant and RC. Put in close to 30-35 hours in 6 days.

Nov 10th: MGMAT CAT 2 - 580 (56%), Quant 39(49%), Verbal 31(59%)

I am not sure what to say about the above scores. I tried to improve on the first CAT by going through the answers and developing a strategic approach to Quant and RC this past week, and put in a lot of hard work. I was expecting the scores to climb near 650 or so.

To put in so much hard work and analysis, and then get a lower score is quite disheartening.

Maybe GMAT isn't my cup of tea?
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Nov 10, 2013 9:14 am
How many tests have you taken? Are these the only two? Have you taken the official GMATPrep at all? Did you do the same thing for both tests? Or did you do the full test one time and not the other? Did you take them at the same time of day?

What I am saying is that some variation is natural especially if the conditions under which you took the tests are different at all. Two tests is a small sample. Do not yet give up hope.

Have you read this article? I believe the key is not your current test score but rather what is in your heart. https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/01/ ... n-the-gmat
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by VivianKerr » Sun Nov 10, 2013 11:59 am
Remember, not all CATs are equal. It's possible the MGMAT CAT 2 just happened to have more challenging questions for you in areas where your content knowledge is lacking. Furthermore, just because MGMAT is ballparking your score at a 610 and a 580, that isn't necessarily what you'd get if you took the actual GMAT today.

Expecting to climb 40 points in 6 days is a bit ambitious, IMO. What in your practice drills told you you were set to make that kind of gain? When you're applying your Quant and RC strategies untimed, are you getting at least 80% of the questions correct? If not, your strategies might not be as effective as you think.

Sorry to be such a downer, but I'd map out your GMAT Study Plan with an eye on the long-term. A 30-35 hour cram session over 6 days is just not an effective model. It's hard for your brain to absorb so much in such a short amount of time, and depending on WHAT you're doing in those 30-35 hours it could either be really serving you, or be a complete waste of time/effort. Really try to emphasize QUALITY of study over QUANTITY. Quantity by itself really means nil where GMAT is concerned.

As per your last question, if you're already in the high 500's/low 600's on practice tests and you're new to GMAT, you're probably a pretty strong testtaker with a good grasp of many of the GMAT concepts already, so actually I'd say that the GMAT probably IS your "cup of tea." :-) Keep at it, but I'd space your practice tests at least a week apart, and don't worry if one of them is slightly lower week-to-week. The score that is churned out is not the real reason to take a practice test -- you're trying to build stamina and flex your pacing muscle, and trying to stick to your strategies under timing pressure. I think you could definitely rock a high GMAT score -- it's just a matter of setting your study plan.
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by [email protected] » Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:23 pm
Hi josh80,

Those two scores (610 and 580) are close enough to one another that you likely haven't adapted your approach enough to pick up the missing points that you're after. I'd suggest that you do a thorough review of your most recent CAT. Count up the number of "silly mistakes" vs. the number of "hard questions"; the missing points will add up in a hurry.

I'm going to echo something that Vivian stated: it takes time to absorb new ideas, especially if you've just learned them. You wouldn't be an expert at playing the guitar after a couple of lessons and a week of practice, so you shouldn't expect it with the GMAT either. Keep your eye on the bigger picture; you're learning new tactics that you need to practice MORE. Again, the CAT review should give you an opportunity to do so.

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by josh80 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 5:07 pm
David@VeritasPrep wrote:How many tests have you taken? Are these the only two? Have you taken the official GMATPrep at all? Did you do the same thing for both tests? Or did you do the full test one time and not the other? Did you take them at the same time of day?

What I am saying is that some variation is natural especially if the conditions under which you took the tests are different at all. Two tests is a small sample. Do not yet give up hope.

Have you read this article? I believe the key is not your current test score but rather what is in your heart. https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/01/ ... n-the-gmat
David,

These are the only 2 tests I've taken in as many weeks. I have not taken any GMATPrep yet. I did the same things for both tests and both were taken starting at 8am in the morning (that's what my GMAT time is scheduled for).

I don't want to sound like I'm whining, but my post-exam analysis is that Quant and RC were quite tough on this 2nd MGMAT CAT. Quant had 5 coordinate geometry problems (including on a parabola?) for a total of 7 geometry questions, and algebra was harder than what I have practiced so far - for a couple of questions, the wording was difficult.

I got 4 RC passages (reach 55 lines) and the fourth one was extremely technical and convoluted. I still scored 50% as in the last CAT. So even though I was clocking more than 80% in practice questions with my new strategies, it did not affect the test score. I still feel my RC has improved after I started making 6-10 word summaries of each para in the passage.

Overall, I am certain that the new approach improvements are showing results in practice sessions but not translating into a better score on the test.

Frayed nerves and over anxiety to get question right might be a bigger problem here than fundamentals.

I am not sure what to do in this coming week before my 3rd CAT next Sunday, Nov 17th.
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by josh80 » Sun Nov 10, 2013 5:28 pm
@ Vivian and Rich: Maybe I need to do sectional tests on quant and verbal separately to practice new strategies, instead of doing them on CAT with little practice?
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by VivianKerr » Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:13 pm
Absolutely -- and you should also be doing series of questions completely untimed so you can gauge how well your strategy is serving you. For example, let's say you do 20 "Assumption" CR questions completely untimed and get only 13 of them correct. That tells me you're fundamentally not grasping how to identify an assumption and you're not methodically moving through the passage, question-stem, and answer choices in a planned (strategic) way that is serving you.

When you sit down to study, make sure you have a GOAL for your study block. Are you going to work untimed for a section to gauge your strategy effectiveness? Are you going to read through chapters in a MGMAT book to build your content knowledge in a specific area? Are you going to do a dozen Quant questions in 24 minutes to work on your pacing? Each study-task should have a point. Don't throw everything at the wall and see what sticks, and don't simply do sectional tests simply because that's what you'll see on Test Day. Right now, I think you should take a step back from full sections and hone in on your content weaknesses and refine your strategies so that you're getting 90% of questions correct untimed.
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Thank you for all the "thanks" and "follows"! :-)
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by josh80 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 12:52 pm
Thanks Vivian. That is some really good and insightful advice. I guess I am trying to push too hard to do a lot in a small amount of time, and this is proving (has proved) to be detrimental.

As you rightly pointed out, I will be better of dealing with the specific weaknesses in Quant and Verbal sections based of my 2 MGMAT CATs as well as get my strategies some practice with some untimed sectional tests.

Do you think the official questions pack from GMAT that is available to purchase would suffice?
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