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sunman
- Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:05 am
- Location: San Diego, CA
- Thanked: 14 times
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- GMAT Score:750
Hi, my name is Sonny, I'm a Marine Officer and a 2009 alumnus of the University of Illinois. I've been trolling this forum and receiving the emails for a while now, and a common theme I've noticed was that "just take one of two CATs, especially ones from GMATPrep to see where you're at, but don't bother taking CATs over and over again".
Here I would like to respectfully beg to differ. I've taken approximately 8-10 CATs now, and each time after I take one, I would go back and review the questions I struggled with and read the explanation until I understand what I did wrong.
It's trial and error, and sheer determination. It's like running the Iso over and over again for 4 yards at a time, you're eventually bound to reach the endzone.
The first timed CAT I ever took was the one that came with Peterson's GMAT book. I scored a 610, which was very demoralizing to me. However, I went online and did some research, and the consensus seems to be that the scoring algorithm and the accuracy of the question type may be of dubious quality in Petersons' product, so I switched over to doing the Manhattan GMAT CATs.
I haven't taken the real GMAT yet, because I want this to be a 1 shot, 1 kill deal. I don't have an endless supply of $250 to pour down the drain, but the following are my results in chronological order:
Petersons': 610 (sorry, can't find my scores)
MGMAT1: 43Q 35V, 640
MGMAT2: 43Q 36V, 650
MGMAT3: 48Q 34V, 680
GMATPrep: 680 (forgot the Q and V subscores, it's on my government computer at work)
MGMAT4: 45Q 39V, 690
MGMAT5: 47Q 35V, 680
MGMAT6: 45Q 41V, 710 (finally broke the 700 barrier)
And the coup de grace:
GMATPrep2: 48Q 42V, 730
Of course, I didn't reply solely on the CATs and reviewing wrong questions. I used MGMAT's sentence correction strategy guide to address my critical vulnerability in sentence correction (as evidenced by my extremely weak initial verbal score gradually improving to the 95th percentile of 42), I have also completed about 8-10 GMAT Prep workbooks from various companies, but as of a month ago, my modus operandi has been taking CATs and addressing questions I don't understand, especially from the quantitative section.
The added dimension of timed stress, and the reward of being able to see how I did at the end provides the double benefit of simulating actual test conditions and the incentive to work through 37 Q and 41 V problems in one sitting instead of doing them piecemeal from a book and being distracted or getting lazy. If you take a CAT, you're guaranteed to invest 3 hours in "studying". It's a good way to force yourself.
Lastly, one thing I've noticed from workbooks is that only a small part of it is usable to me (the part with the most difficult questions), so it's kind of a waste of money when I'm only going to use 25% of the book. If you study with a CAT, they'll be spitting their toughest questions at you as soon as you start getting a few right.
Anyway, I hope this helps!
Very Respectfully,
Sonny
Here I would like to respectfully beg to differ. I've taken approximately 8-10 CATs now, and each time after I take one, I would go back and review the questions I struggled with and read the explanation until I understand what I did wrong.
It's trial and error, and sheer determination. It's like running the Iso over and over again for 4 yards at a time, you're eventually bound to reach the endzone.
The first timed CAT I ever took was the one that came with Peterson's GMAT book. I scored a 610, which was very demoralizing to me. However, I went online and did some research, and the consensus seems to be that the scoring algorithm and the accuracy of the question type may be of dubious quality in Petersons' product, so I switched over to doing the Manhattan GMAT CATs.
I haven't taken the real GMAT yet, because I want this to be a 1 shot, 1 kill deal. I don't have an endless supply of $250 to pour down the drain, but the following are my results in chronological order:
Petersons': 610 (sorry, can't find my scores)
MGMAT1: 43Q 35V, 640
MGMAT2: 43Q 36V, 650
MGMAT3: 48Q 34V, 680
GMATPrep: 680 (forgot the Q and V subscores, it's on my government computer at work)
MGMAT4: 45Q 39V, 690
MGMAT5: 47Q 35V, 680
MGMAT6: 45Q 41V, 710 (finally broke the 700 barrier)
And the coup de grace:
GMATPrep2: 48Q 42V, 730
Of course, I didn't reply solely on the CATs and reviewing wrong questions. I used MGMAT's sentence correction strategy guide to address my critical vulnerability in sentence correction (as evidenced by my extremely weak initial verbal score gradually improving to the 95th percentile of 42), I have also completed about 8-10 GMAT Prep workbooks from various companies, but as of a month ago, my modus operandi has been taking CATs and addressing questions I don't understand, especially from the quantitative section.
The added dimension of timed stress, and the reward of being able to see how I did at the end provides the double benefit of simulating actual test conditions and the incentive to work through 37 Q and 41 V problems in one sitting instead of doing them piecemeal from a book and being distracted or getting lazy. If you take a CAT, you're guaranteed to invest 3 hours in "studying". It's a good way to force yourself.
Lastly, one thing I've noticed from workbooks is that only a small part of it is usable to me (the part with the most difficult questions), so it's kind of a waste of money when I'm only going to use 25% of the book. If you study with a CAT, they'll be spitting their toughest questions at you as soon as you start getting a few right.
Anyway, I hope this helps!
Very Respectfully,
Sonny
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has" - Margaret Mead
