Sentence Correction

Hi All,

Please can someone help me in Interpreting my latest score in GMAT Prep??

I've just taken today my 2nd GMAT prep score and i scored 730 (Q:49 , V:40)

I got a 670 (Q:48, V:34) on my 1st GMAT prep that i took one month ago

On the MGMAT CATs i got the following:

CAT 1: 640 (V:34) (roughly 6 weeks ago)
CAT 2: 630 (V:34) (roughly 4 weeks ago)
CAT 3: 590 (V:34) (I took it 1 week ago)

All tests were taken as in real test conditions (timing/with IR +AWA)

Now i know that my score is inflated because on the verbal section i've had 3-4 questions which i've seen before on the internet , but of which only 1 i still remembered the solution, and still i spent 2 minutes per question to avoid any over inflation.

The weird thing is that on GMAT prep exam 1 i did 14 mistakes and i got V:34 while on Exam 2 i did 11 mistakes and i got V:40.

And as far as i know the verbal section in the MGMAT CATs is very near to the actual GMAT so how come my score was stagnant for roughly 2 months on the MGMAT and suddenly it jumped to V:40 on the GMAT prep exam??

Any advice from anyone, what should be my current level?? my exam is on the 9th of September and i was aiming initially for 720+, but after my successive failures in the previous CATs i reduced my expectations a bit to 700.

Thanks.

Regards,

Joe

Hi Joe

I understand your anxiety, something I experienced very recently. It is a common tendency to try to know what will the actual score be on the test day but unfortunately the answer is not very straightforward.

One thing you have on your side is a good GMAT Prep-2 score. And I would suggest that you use it to boost your confidence and not think too much about what your actual score be. You are fairly close to your exam and I suggest that you complete any unfinished task you might have set for yourself and review the concepts/ shortcuts/ mistakes at this stage. If there is a specific weakness, try to address that through remaining tests from MGMAT.

True that MGMAT verbal is pretty close to the GMAT as per my experience. You may analyse closely as to what went different in your GMAT prep-2 exam which you were not able to achieve in your MGMAT tests. It is not very clear from your post whether you worked on addressing anything specific between your last MGMAT and GMAT prep-2. That might be a reason for improvement too.

As far as verbal scores are concerned, your GMAT score is a function of accuracy as well as difficulty level of the questions. Hence, if you compare two tests with same accuracy %, the scores may still be very different due to difference in average level of difficulty in the test.

I see no reason for you to lower your expectations. You are sincere in your approach - evident from the fact that your intentions have been to be as close to actual exam as possible. Put in your best for the remaining days, work on the common traps, review and consolidate everything and go into the test with full confidence.

Cheers

Hi Gaurav,

Thanks for your reply.

I actually realized an important difference between Prep 1 and Prep 2 Exam.

On the 1st i got the last 5 questions wrong as i was pressed in time and lagging behind.

On prep exam 2 i got the last 7 questions correct and i felt they were difficult, i m not sure if this is a decisive factor in scoring.

Regarding my preparation, i've started an intensive review for the verbal section right after my prep exam 1, a months ago, i realized the importance and the weight of this section on the overall score. And to be fair i had weaknesses in all 3 sub-sections SC, RC and CR.

So i tackled them all, i felt a huge improvement in RC and SC but the CR was really hard to improve. As a non native i have a hard time in understanding all arguments within the 2 min time frame. I am able to get the correct answer once i revise the question under no time constraints. But overall i felt an improvement during my preparations in terms of timing and accuracy.

However, last week i took my third MGMAT CAT but still i got a 34 on the verbal, so it really discouraged me; it gave me the impression that i reached a plateau in my studies.

I am planning on buying the GMAT prep Exam 1 pack 1, maybe this will give me a better idea of my level.

I still have 10 days to go, of which i can only use 5 full days or studying, so i would rather not waste my time with MGMAT.

Not sure though what is the best approach for the last week?

Thanks.

Regards,

Joe

Joe

Taking more gmat tests is better than other CATs. However, I would caution you against taking too many tests in last few days. You should rather concentrate on getting most out of each test. 3-4 days for every test is something which can be handled along with all the other revision that you will have to do for last 10 days.