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Having trouble beating the gmat, 4 months , 440 490 470 CATs

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Having trouble beating the gmat, 4 months , 440 490 470 CATs

by bmierz86 » Sun Mar 06, 2016 12:40 pm
Hi All,

I took the manhattan gmat prep course in October, finished early January. I took 3 practice CATs so far, scores were 440 490 470. The Q/V is in the mid to high 20s range. I try to do problems each night, do Verbal section on various apps on my phones when I travel to work, but it seems I hit some sort of plateau and just haven't been making any progress or as much as I wanted to. My goal is to hit 600-650 range, I will be happy with that. I spent money on the MGMAT class, took it twice actually, I have all their books, I am not sure what I am doing wrong or how to get better at this to break out of the 400s into higher brackets.

I am not sure what to do, I read a lot of the posts here and the stories. Whatever I am doing, isn't working. I Have 3 notebooks full of problems that I got right, wrong, and continue to do problems but my scores aren't showing anything. Now that the class finished, and I have gone through all the homework problems in the syllabus I am sort of lost on how to continue learning on my own or developing a more sufficient study plan than what I already have...any thoughts how can I improve bette?
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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:29 pm
Hi bmierz86,

Raising a score from the high-400s to the low-600s will take some serious work (and you'll likely need to make some big improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections). Thankfully, that score goal is reasonable AND the GMAT is a predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

To start, I'd like to know a bit more about how you took your CATs:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each CAT?
2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)?
3) Did you take them at home?
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)?
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once?

And as far as your timeline is concerned:
1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) When are you planning to apply to Business School?

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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:43 pm
I suggest a systematic (even methodical) approach, in which you take the time to master each topic/concept (e.g., percents, ratios, assumption questions in critical reasoning, comparison questions in sentence correction, etc).

So, for each topic/concept, you should:
1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
2) Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it

Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

To help you focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

While completing questions from the Official Guide (OG), you should you use an Error Log (aka Improvement Chart). You can find a free downloadable Improvement Chart at the top of this page: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log
This will help you identify and strengthen your weak areas.

You should also spend a lot of time reviewing the responses from the Experts on this site. They model the steps one should take when tackling problems.

In addition to learning the core concepts and GMAT-specific strategies, be sure to work on your endurance and test-taking skills (e.g., time management) by taking several practice tests. If you're interested, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Finally, you might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide).
Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

Here's an outline of all 60 emails: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide-outline

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by bmierz86 » Sun Mar 06, 2016 5:08 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi bmierz86,

Raising a score from the high-400s to the low-600s will take some serious work (and you'll likely need to make some big improvements to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections). Thankfully, that score goal is reasonable AND the GMAT is a predictable Exam, so you CAN train to score at a higher level.

To start, I'd like to know a bit more about how you took your CATs:

1) What were the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on each CAT?

CAT 1 = 23Q 28V, CAT 2 = 32Q, 26V, CAT3 =
29Q, 27V

2) Did you take the ENTIRE CAT (including the Essay and IR sections)? I only did Essay and IR for CAT 2.
3) Did you take them at home? Yes.
4) Did you ever do ANYTHING during your CATs that you couldn't do on Test Day (pause the CAT, skip sections, take longer breaks, etc.)? No.
5) Did you ever take a CAT more than once? I took 3 CAT exams total.

And as far as your timeline is concerned:
1) When are you planning to take the GMAT? When my score is high enough. Although I am getting annoyed since i am 29, working full time in consulting, and I am tired on weekdays, and getting lazier as I get older. I would like to put an end to this this year. I thought I will be ready by March, clearly I am not.

2) When are you planning to apply to Business School? same as above.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Mon Mar 07, 2016 5:16 am
bmierz86 wrote:Hi All,

I took the manhattan gmat prep course in October, finished early January. I took 3 practice CATs so far, scores were 440 490 470. The Q/V is in the mid to high 20s range. I try to do problems each night, do Verbal section on various apps on my phones when I travel to work, but it seems I hit some sort of plateau and just haven't been making any progress or as much as I wanted to. My goal is to hit 600-650 range, I will be happy with that. I spent money on the MGMAT class, took it twice actually, I have all their books, I am not sure what I am doing wrong or how to get better at this to break out of the 400s into higher brackets.

I am not sure what to do, I read a lot of the posts here and the stories. Whatever I am doing, isn't working. I Have 3 notebooks full of problems that I got right, wrong, and continue to do problems but my scores aren't showing anything. Now that the class finished, and I have gone through all the homework problems in the syllabus I am sort of lost on how to continue learning on my own or developing a more sufficient study plan than what I already have...any thoughts how can I improve bette?
Can you tell us a little bit more about what you see when you review old practice tests? Are you arriving at the conclusion that many of the questions you miss, you simply don't know how to do? Or is it the case that you understand how to solve most of the questions, but, for whatever reason, you have difficulty doing them with a time constraint? Do you find that you're doing complex algebra when you could be using a simple strategy, such as picking numbers? Are you running out of time and having to guess on long strings of questions at the end of sections? These are all common problems, but each requires a different adjustment. (And it might be helpful for us if you post a question from an old practice exam and actually discuss how you thought about it, so we can see where some strategic tweaks might be helpful.)
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by [email protected] » Mon Mar 07, 2016 9:27 am
Hi bmeirz86,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - you CAN train for it though, but you have to make sure that you take your CATs in a way that will match up with what you'll face on Test Day (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

From your CAT scores, your Verbal performance is fairly consistent, but your Quant performance fluctuates. In context, both of those numbers imply that you don't have a consistent, formal approach to either section of the Test (in basic terms, it looks like you just 'wing it' as you're working). Reusing materials that you've already used will not help you to fix any of those issues.

Given everything that you've described, I think that you're going to need 2-3 months of consistent, guided study for you to hit your score goal. I also think that you would benefit from committing to a timeline/deadline. By not having an Official Test Date, you'll 'find reasons' to put off your studying and push this process into a longer timeframe than it needs to be. 3 months from now would put you in early June - you should think about 'locking in' a Test Date so that you have that external force motivating you.

Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
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by bmierz86 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:06 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi bmeirz86,

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - you CAN train for it though, but you have to make sure that you take your CATs in a way that will match up with what you'll face on Test Day (take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

From your CAT scores, your Verbal performance is fairly consistent, but your Quant performance fluctuates. In context, both of those numbers imply that you don't have a consistent, formal approach to either section of the Test (in basic terms, it looks like you just 'wing it' as you're working). Reusing materials that you've already used will not help you to fix any of those issues.

Given everything that you've described, I think that you're going to need 2-3 months of consistent, guided study for you to hit your score goal. I also think that you would benefit from committing to a timeline/deadline. By not having an Official Test Date, you'll 'find reasons' to put off your studying and push this process into a longer timeframe than it needs to be. 3 months from now would put you in early June - you should think about 'locking in' a Test Date so that you have that external force motivating you.

Most GMAT Companies offer some type of free materials (practice problems, Trial Accounts, videos, etc.) that you can use to 'test out' a product before you buy it. We have a variety of those resources at our site (www.empowergmat.com). I suggest that you take advantage of all of them then choose the one that best matches your personality, timeline and budget.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich - thank you for the write up. Yes you are right about "both of those numbers imply that you don't have a consistent, formal approach to either section of the Test (in basic terms, it looks like you just 'wing it' as you're working)."

Now that the class is over, and I finished the MGMAT syllabus almost, I do not know how to develop a formal study plan. If I should be attacking Quant by sections until I get decent at it, or if I should be mixing it up.

The way I have been doing it, is do some foundation problems on certain topic, hit the OG guide and do problems in that category, then review some of the ones I got wrong, but I haven't been able to learn anything or consistently show improvement. It's weird because I feel like I am obsessed about the exam, but my scores do not show anything and its very demotivating.

I do not have a exam date yet but you are right I should book something to put the pressure on me and stop messing around. I just don't know how to develop a study plan, which study plan would work for me, or how to study to actually learn and retain the material.
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by bmierz86 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:08 am
DavidG@VeritasPrep wrote:
bmierz86 wrote:Hi All,

I took the manhattan gmat prep course in October, finished early January. I took 3 practice CATs so far, scores were 440 490 470. The Q/V is in the mid to high 20s range. I try to do problems each night, do Verbal section on various apps on my phones when I travel to work, but it seems I hit some sort of plateau and just haven't been making any progress or as much as I wanted to. My goal is to hit 600-650 range, I will be happy with that. I spent money on the MGMAT class, took it twice actually, I have all their books, I am not sure what I am doing wrong or how to get better at this to break out of the 400s into higher brackets.

I am not sure what to do, I read a lot of the posts here and the stories. Whatever I am doing, isn't working. I Have 3 notebooks full of problems that I got right, wrong, and continue to do problems but my scores aren't showing anything. Now that the class finished, and I have gone through all the homework problems in the syllabus I am sort of lost on how to continue learning on my own or developing a more sufficient study plan than what I already have...any thoughts how can I improve bette?
Can you tell us a little bit more about what you see when you review old practice tests? Are you arriving at the conclusion that many of the questions you miss, you simply don't know how to do? Or is it the case that you understand how to solve most of the questions, but, for whatever reason, you have difficulty doing them with a time constraint? Do you find that you're doing complex algebra when you could be using a simple strategy, such as picking numbers? Are you running out of time and having to guess on long strings of questions at the end of sections? These are all common problems, but each requires a different adjustment. (And it might be helpful for us if you post a question from an old practice exam and actually discuss how you thought about it, so we can see where some strategic tweaks might be helpful.)
Hi David,

A lot of times for the Math part, I look at a question and do not know where to begin or what to do. I just stare at the Q, and cant come up with any ideas how to approach it or what to write on paper. I pretty much come across most of the points you just mentioned as I am doing these questions, almost mindlessly. I am having difficulty developing a formal, structured study plan that will actually show me results, thus far, its been 4 months, and my scores are within the same range, even tho I did so many different problems in both the MGMAT Strategy guides, and OG16 book.
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by bmierz86 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:16 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:I suggest a systematic (even methodical) approach, in which you take the time to master each topic/concept (e.g., percents, ratios, assumption questions in critical reasoning, comparison questions in sentence correction, etc).

So, for each topic/concept, you should:
1) Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
2) Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
3) Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
4) Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it

Then, and only then, move on to the next topic.

To help you focus on one topic at a time, you can use BTG's tagging feature. For example, here are all of the questions tagged as statistics questions: https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/ ... statistics
See the left side of that linked page for more tag options.

While completing questions from the Official Guide (OG), you should you use an Error Log (aka Improvement Chart). You can find a free downloadable Improvement Chart at the top of this page: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log
This will help you identify and strengthen your weak areas.

You should also spend a lot of time reviewing the responses from the Experts on this site. They model the steps one should take when tackling problems.

In addition to learning the core concepts and GMAT-specific strategies, be sure to work on your endurance and test-taking skills (e.g., time management) by taking several practice tests. If you're interested, we have a free GMAT time management video at https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1244

Finally, you might consider signing up for Beat The GMAT's free 60-Day Study Guide (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide).
Each day, you'll receive an email with a series of learning activities that guide you, step-by-step, from Day 1 to test day. This will ensure that you will cover everything that the GMAT tests.

Here's an outline of all 60 emails: https://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-guide-outline

Cheers,
Brent
Hi Brent,

How would I develop a sectional study plan? Are you saying I should only do all "word problem" type questions, then move on to FDPs, then Ratios etc. One topic by one, same for verbal ?

Is there a study plan outline to achieve this type of studying already that other students have used? I know MGMAT gave me an outline of all questions in the OG16 by topic, I just haven't thought about studying that way.
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by bmierz86 » Mon Mar 07, 2016 10:39 am
I scheduled my exam today to feel more pressured, and focused. I will take it in mid-June.
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by diegocml » Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:51 am
Hey bmierz86,

I believe we're on the same boat. I'm 29 and work full time (plus overtime) in accounting.

I need to score a minimum 600 by May 13th so that I can submit my unofficial score by the application deadline on May 15th. I basically only need the GMAT and TOEFL(Taken this past Saturday) scores.

I scored 380 (Q23 V22) on my first CAT (Economist) in January. After that, I spent over 100 hours working only on the GMAT Manhattan Foundations of Math because I really felt as if my math skills had vanished into thin air.

I was feeling a bit lost on how to prepare and which subjects to tackle/master first so I've signed up for the 60-day Study Plan and I'm following it together with the Videos, Manhattan and OG15 books. The Last day will be on test day! :)

I'm studying Monday to Friday from 5am to 7am and one hour after work when I can. Plus, a minimum 3 hours of studying on both Saturdays and Sundays.

It is going to be an arduous road, but I don't want to fall into despair! I'm sure you can do it!!
Diego

1st GMAT attemp: 410 (Q18 V27)
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by [email protected] » Mon Mar 21, 2016 9:56 am
Hi diegocml,

During your studies, it's important to take FULL-LENGTH CATs (with the Essay and IR sections) on a regular basis (1 FULL CAT every 1-2 weeks). If you've only taken one CAT (back in January), then you should plan to take a new FULL CAT sometime soon. When you have those scores, you should report back here and we can talk about your how you might adjust your current study plan.

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by diegocml » Mon Mar 21, 2016 10:38 am
Thank you Rich! I'll take a full CAT this Saturday (either Kaplan or GMATPrep) and will post the results here.

All the best,
Diego
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:18 am
bmierz86 wrote:
Hi Brent,

How would I develop a sectional study plan? Are you saying I should only do all "word problem" type questions, then move on to FDPs, then Ratios etc. One topic by one, same for verbal ?

Is there a study plan outline to achieve this type of studying already that other students have used? I know MGMAT gave me an outline of all questions in the OG16 by topic, I just haven't thought about studying that way.
Yes, I'm suggesting a topic-by-topic plan. BTG's 60-day study guide is laid out like that.
Alternatively, we have a similar guide to accompany our free video course here: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/learning-guide/overview

Cheers,
Brent
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by diegocml » Sat Mar 26, 2016 4:21 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi diegocml,

During your studies, it's important to take FULL-LENGTH CATs (with the Essay and IR sections) on a regular basis (1 FULL CAT every 1-2 weeks). If you've only taken one CAT (back in January), then you should plan to take a new FULL CAT sometime soon. When you have those scores, you should report back here and we can talk about your how you might adjust your current study plan.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
Hi Rich,

I have just finished taking the CAT1 from MGMAT completely under testing conditions - Results were not promising I would say.

460 (Q27 V27) - Far from the 600 I need on test day.

Image

- I took the entire CAT
- I took it at home
- I took both of the 8-minute breaks. No more, nor less.

Compared to my first Economist CAT back in Jan, (380 Q22 V23), I've shown a 21% improvement.

I've burned/wasted 2 of the free GMATPrep CATs a while back while quitting in the middle of the test due to severe frustration.

I must say that the methods I have seen so far on Empower (currently finishing 1.4 QUANT: Data Sufficiency - Part 1 in the syllabus) have helped me. Particularly 'Test It' and how to attack a DS problem. There are indeed many math concepts and strategies I still don't master, but I am 100% committed and willing to achieve my ultimate goal.

I intend to finish all the Empower content one week before the test day so that I can take one final CAT and do any last minute fine tuning.

Let me know if you would advise any other course of action.

Thank you,
Diego
Attachments
Quantitative.xlsx
Quantitative 27
(13.14 KiB) Downloaded 131 times
Verbal.xlsx
Verbal 27
(14.21 KiB) Downloaded 120 times
IRProblemOverview.xlsx
IR 2.3
(9.15 KiB) Downloaded 122 times
Diego

1st GMAT attemp: 410 (Q18 V27)
2nd GMAT attemp: 490 (Q35 V23)
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