GMAT Strategy

GMAT (3/09): 640 (V35/74%, Q43/68%)
Kaplan Diag (8/23/09): 670 (V36/Q44)
CAT1 (9/19/09): 710 (V42/Q49)
CAT3 (9/26/09): 660 (V27/Q50)
CAT4 (10/3/09): 670 (V29/Q51)
CAT2 (10/11/09): 680 (V30/Q52)
CAT5 (10/17/09): 640 (V29/Q47)
UPT1 (10/24/09): 670 (V48%/Q99%)
CAT6 (10/31/09): 620 (V35)Q40)
GMATPREP1 (11/02/09): 680 (V32/Q50)

What I don't understand is that in my real GMAT in 3/09, diagostic, CAT1 I actually did decently on my verbal. I think my quant improved simply by practicing (I am an engineer). At CAT3 and forward, I simply "lost" it on verbal. Is my V42 at CAT1 simply lucky? I knew I was not guessing and I actually finished with 5 minutes to spare.

I am struggling horribly at CR and RC at this point. In class and homeworks, I am using the verbal strategies and I understand them but I simply struggle during the CATs.

Does my scoring trend make sense? All I need is a 700 and I believe I will have a well-rounded, competitive application for all the schools I am applying to. It is really stressful at this point for me because I feel like I need to score "perfect" on quant in order to get a high 600

Hi jzdchou,

As much as I'd like to tout my professional expertise, you are the one who needs to judge your test results. The reason is that your mastery (or lack thereof) of content is far from the only determinant of your score. What have your stress levels been like? You work schedule? Which tests did you do after work, and which on days off?

Beyond that, don't give up on your CR and RC. The Kaplan method for RC, in particular, can take a while to master, but pays off in spades once you have.

Also, be prepared to approach the entire test from a strategic standpoint. Are there any particular subjects that stump you on RCs? Any question types that you can't answer among the CRs? If there are questions you get wrong every time, then don't bother with them--skip them, and use the extra time to make 100% sure you get other, tough-but-solvable problems.

Finally, don't stress! You've pulled a 700+ at least once, so you know it's within reason. Also, you'll be going in to test day with your entire focus and effort behind it, something you certainly can't say about your practice tests. I'm confident you will do well when the big day comes.

Good luck, and let me know if I can help!

jzdchou wrote:GMAT (3/09): 640 (V35/74%, Q43/68%)
Kaplan Diag (8/23/09): 670 (V36/Q44)
CAT1 (9/19/09): 710 (V42/Q49)
CAT3 (9/26/09): 660 (V27/Q50)
CAT4 (10/3/09): 670 (V29/Q51)
CAT2 (10/11/09): 680 (V30/Q52)
CAT5 (10/17/09): 640 (V29/Q47)
UPT1 (10/24/09): 670 (V48%/Q99%)

What I don't understand is that in my real GMAT in 3/09, diagostic, CAT1 I actually did decently on my verbal. I think my quant improved simply by practicing (I am an engineer). At CAT3 and forward, I simply "lost" it on verbal. Is my V42 at CAT1 simply lucky? I knew I was not guessing and I actually finished with 5 minutes to spare.

I am struggling horribly at CR and RC at this point. In class and homeworks, I am using the verbal strategies and I understand them but I simply struggle during the CATs.

Does my scoring trend make sense? All I need is a 700 and I believe I will have a well-rounded, competitive application for all the schools I am applying to. It is really stressful at this point for me because I feel like I need to score "perfect" on quant in order to get a high 600

I feel you as a fellow engineer lol. It's absurd to put all the weight on your quant side - while you certainly don't want it to be a liability, the room for improvement is much less than verbal.

It seems that the first verbal CAT was an anomaly - the verbal score is not in line with any of your other verbal scores, but your math score is. Anything in particular you remember about it? Perhaps you didn't simulate test enviornment enough: Did you not do the essays? Did you allow yourself breaks? etc

But the elephant in the room is knowing the content. As KapTeacher says, you need to break down your weaknesses farther than just "CR" or "RC". Are there certain types of questions you get wrong more often?

If you don't know all the content...I'd also advise against taking practice tests as your sole source of problems. Instead, I'd get the OG and practice out of there - each problem has an explanation you can refer to as many times as you like, and there are many more problems you can practice.

Which verbal strategies are you using? I like PowerScore's CR method (boosted my hit rate from 75% to 94%), and I just made a post on some princples to try in RC over on the RC board: check it out and see if there's any new information for you to try out there.

Ok, that's all. But as an engineer, you're good at breaking down problems. Break your test prep into small enough chunks where you can see weaknesses you can bolster, and pretty soon I bet you'll see overall improvement.

Good luck!

Well just took another CAT and this time got a 620

620 (V35/Q40)

screwed up on quant.

game over

Hi!

You can definitely score a 700 on test day. You have already done so at least once. I've seen students never crack 700 on the CATs, and then walk away with a 710, even 720. I had a student whose highest CAT score was 720, and then scored 780 on test day (no word of a lie!)

I am definitely not saying this is the norm. What I'm saying is confidence is the most important thing in the final few days. And I have found that those who go in confident (ie, don't let test-day anxiety overwhelm them) almost always match (and sometimes better) their best CAT score.

Don't worry about your quant score on the last CAT. You've already demonstrated strong performance in quant. I suggest the reason your quant score is low this time is a bunch of silly errors having to do with nervousness and/or focus. And your score indicates you've definitely improved in verbal, despite the anamalous CAT1 verbal score. It is not at all game over...the game has yet to begin!

In the final days before the test day (I'm assuming your test is real soon since you have already written UPT), you need to be confident. And the secret of confidence is not a secret. Two people, equally talented, but one consistenly performs better. The difference? The one who performs better knows how good they are, knows how well they know their stuff. Even though they know that stuff no better than the other person.

And the secret to becoming GMAT-confident? Working on your strengths in the last few days, dwelling in everything you know, visualizing yourself using those tactics...is waaaay better than doing a bucnch of new questions that stump you in the last few days.

...Oh but you still have stuff to learn you complain?
Two responses: a)if you haven't learned that stuff yet, it's a bit too late; b)you don't need to know nearly everything to get a great score; and c) you are assuming that trying to do a bunch of new questions and bunch of CATs in the last few days will be better for your score than what I am suggesting (fine, I cheated, three responses).

Seriously, jzdchou, go beat the gmat.

I just took GMATPREP 1 yesterday and scored 680 (Q50V32).

I am a little confused by the GMATPREP score because I got 7 QUANT wrong and still ended up with 50. Also on the verbal section, the RC is definitely easier than all the Kaplan RC I have been seeing. In fact the RC was 3 short passages and 1 long passage? I got 14 Verbal Q wrong but only V32?

I took the GMATPREP with no AWA but I took it at the end of a 10-hour workday (the last hour being in a meeting getting yelled at by my fearless jackass project leader lol). So I took the test hungary, tired, and irritated, I figure that is about as bad as a mental state I can be in to take a test

I talked to my GMAT teacher this past weekend. He suggested not to take any more Kaplan CATs and instead take the 2 GMATPREP CATS. He also gave me a list of SC workshops/quizzes to go over. I plan to take the second GMATPREP on Wednesday and the real GMAT is this Saturday.

680 I would be happy. 700 I am ecstatic.

jzdchou wrote:I just took GMATPREP 1 yesterday and scored 680 (Q50V32).

I am a little confused by the GMATPREP score because I got 7 QUANT wrong and still ended up with 50. Also on the verbal section, the RC is definitely easier than all the Kaplan RC I have been seeing. In fact the RC was 3 short passages and 1 long passage? I got 14 Verbal Q wrong but only V32?

I took the GMATPREP with no AWA but I took it at the end of a 10-hour workday (the last hour being in a meeting getting yelled at by my fearless jackass project leader lol). So I took the test hungary, tired, and irritated, I figure that is about as bad as a mental state I can be in to take a test

I talked to my GMAT teacher this past weekend. He suggested not to take any more Kaplan CATs and instead take the 2 GMATPREP CATS. He also gave me a list of SC workshops/quizzes to go over. I plan to take the second GMATPREP on Wednesday and the real GMAT is this Saturday.

680 I would be happy. 700 I am ecstatic.

Don't forget that some questions are experimental. You may have missed a bunch of experimental questions. Furthermore, a harder question would count less against your score than an easy question, so if you were consistent, and only missed one or two hard questions that actually counted, I could easily see getting a 50.

I know when I took GMATPREP, I got around 7 quant questions wrong and got a 48.

Pray tell, how did you fare?

https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmat-beat-me ... 47883.html

Bombed it

640 Taken 11/7/09

Same score as 8 months ago and lower than my Kaplan 670 diagnostic score.

Registered to take the GMAT for the fourth and final time on 12/12/09. It will be the last one. I took the last few days off completely not thinking about the GMAT and in stead worked on a school application (handed it in with my 640 GMAT).

I will want to make a decision in the next couple days if I want to repeat the Kaplan Course (which does not make much sense) or just study on my own using OG12, Powerscore CR, and Manhattan SC1000 (or something like that).

At this point, I have completely lowered my expectation. 680. That is all I need to be competitive ANYWHERE.

Took the GMAT for the 4th time today.

690 (Q51 V31) and I am done with GMAT. Did not get 700 but I was satisfied with my score....

Congrats on your determination, persistence and 690. Good luck!

Regards,
CR