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Practice Exam Analysis

by ShaneK » Sat Feb 23, 2013 1:44 pm
Finally broke the 700 mark on a practice test. Real deal is March 16th.

On other exams, SC has clearly stood out as the most frequent incorrect answer. My plan was to focus my efforts on this subject next week. However, MGMAT lets you analyze your exam. This is the breakdown for my 700:

Image

You can see that SC would appear to be the weak link if gauging by # incorrect- however, does this (see red circle) mean that CR is my real Achilles heel?

Any insight is appreciated.
Last edited by ShaneK on Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by brianlange77 » Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:06 pm
ShaneK wrote:Finally broke the 700 mark on a practice test. Real deal is March 16th.

On other exams, SC has clearly stood out as the most frequent incorrect answer. My plan was to focus my efforts on this subject next week. However, MGMAT lets you analyze your exam. This is the breakdown for my 700:

Image

You can see that SC would appear to be the weak link if gauging by $ incorrect- however, does this (see red circle) mean that CR is my real Achilles heel?

Any insight is appreciated.
Shane,
Your instincts are spot on.... think of it like diving 'degree of difficulty' in the Olympics. THe harder the question (the harder the dive), the more it's worth... so, if anything, SC is actually your 'strongest' area.... in order of where i'd focus... CR, CR, CR, then PS, and then RC.
Just my $0.02. Let me know if you need additional thoughts/guidance.
-Brian
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by ShaneK » Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:20 pm
brianlange77 wrote:
ShaneK wrote:Finally broke the 700 mark on a practice test. Real deal is March 16th.

On other exams, SC has clearly stood out as the most frequent incorrect answer. My plan was to focus my efforts on this subject next week. However, MGMAT lets you analyze your exam. This is the breakdown for my 700:

Image

You can see that SC would appear to be the weak link if gauging by $ incorrect- however, does this (see red circle) mean that CR is my real Achilles heel?

Any insight is appreciated.
Shane,
Your instincts are spot on.... think of it like diving 'degree of difficulty' in the Olympics. THe harder the question (the harder the dive), the more it's worth... so, if anything, SC is actually your 'strongest' area.... in order of where i'd focus... CR, CR, CR, then PS, and then RC.
Just my $0.02. Let me know if you need additional thoughts/guidance.
-Brian
Interesting.. and I thought CR was a strong suit of mine! Granted, it probably was before I studied (i.e. did the questions in OG13).

Awesome analysis tool MGMAT- efficiency is key for me, and this may be the breakthrough I was looking for to finally get over that V40 mark more consistently.

Any CR resources you'd recommend?
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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Feb 24, 2013 7:50 pm
How have your critical reasoning results been in practice problems and on the GMATPrep practice test?

You still missed a lot of sentence correction questions. This analysis could just mean that the critical reasoning questions that you were offered were rated lower on this particular scale. It appears that you were not offered very many "difficult" critical reasoning questions. You got 9 out of 14 right but you were only offered questions at the 640 level.

I am not saying that you should not study critical reasoning, I am just saying that if you have data showing that sentence correction is a weakness, I would not think that this one test would change that since you did miss 9 out of 15 questions.

Happy studying!
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by brianlange77 » Sun Feb 24, 2013 8:49 pm
David brings up a really important point here -- and one I should have caught earlier. Can you run your analysis across multiple exams? One exam is a valuable, but small sample size.
Thanks.
-Brian
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by David@VeritasPrep » Mon Feb 25, 2013 4:21 am
This is a pretty fun tool and one that could show a weakness that would not be exposed by simple numbers of right and wrong questions. All of this information is valuable and the more you know the better! I might take one of these practice tests myself...
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by ShaneK » Mon Feb 25, 2013 5:34 am
brianlange77 wrote:David brings up a really important point here -- and one I should have caught earlier. Can you run your analysis across multiple exams? One exam is a valuable, but small sample size.
Thanks.
-Brian
I can run the analysis across multiple exams. However, those exams were taken prior to studying SC/RC.

I did take a Veritas a few days later- Q45 V39 (this is where I seem to average, any tips to break these plateaus is appreciated!). Let me check what I missed in the V..

Okay, so I got 10 wrong on my latest Veritas V. SIX were RC, but I've always felt that the Veritas RC was a little extra-hard. When I went through the OG, I got 89% of them right under timed conditions. I got 2 CR wrong earlier in the exam, and 2 SC wrong late in the exam. I think that this would indicate that my SC is strong.. with a 39V, the back end of my test should be 700 level questions, no?

I am teetering on that 700 mark and have 3 weeks and 2 weekends left to prep. I just bought the add-on question pack for the GMATPrep software (why did it take me 4 months to realize these were available?). I have done the entire OG with the exception of CR.

Week 1: CR Focus

Weekend 1: 2 MGMAT Practice Exams- reanalyze results and find weaknesses

Week 2: Concentrate on a key weakness, do the 404 questions I bought from GMATPrep

Weekend 2: 2 Veritas Exams

Week 3: I think I want to do math problems this entire week.. I have done as well as Q48, but not consistently. Any suggested resources for someone at the Q45 level?

I am off Thurs/Fri and then write the GMAT on a Saturday. I have done all of my practice tests @ 10:45 AM Saturday/Sunday to mimic the real deal.

I have 1 GMATPrep test left, any suggestions as to where I insert it? My first take was after 3 months of study and received a 690 (again, Q45, V39). I will be so mad if I 690 on test day... lol.

Thanks guys!

Edit: Sorry, there's a bit much in this post.. but once last question- is a Q45 good enough for Kellogg? I'm more into strategy than the finance end of things.. should I just spend the next 3 weeks polishing my quant? I'm afraid 70th percentile isn't acceptable. I do not intend on doing my MBA without a Top 10 admittance, so I'd like to put my best foot forward. I know that once you're over 700, the total score won't matter much.. but if I get my V to a 41 or so with a Q45, would it be more prudent to, say, Q47 V39?
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by brianlange77 » Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:08 pm
ShaneK wrote: Edit: Sorry, there's a bit much in this post.. but once last question- is a Q45 good enough for Kellogg? I'm more into strategy than the finance end of things.. should I just spend the next 3 weeks polishing my quant? I'm afraid 70th percentile isn't acceptable. I do not intend on doing my MBA without a Top 10 admittance, so I'd like to put my best foot forward. I know that once you're over 700, the total score won't matter much.. but if I get my V to a 41 or so with a Q45, would it be more prudent to, say, Q47 V39?
Candidly, I'd encourage you to take a deep breath. 45/41, 47/39 -- I don't think there's anything you can do in your prep work that would make you be able to interpret whether you are tracking towards a 45 or a 47. Either way -- if you want to get above 700, you need to try to maximize on both parts of the test.

Here's a link to an article that you may find helpful -- helps lay out some considerations as you look to make the leap from 'good to great'.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/7 ... erence.cfm

Plus, some tips and suggestions on what to do in the last 14 days (or so) to get you to the finish line.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ew-part-2/

Hope this helps.

-Brian
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by ShaneK » Mon Feb 25, 2013 7:18 pm
brianlange77 wrote:
ShaneK wrote: Edit: Sorry, there's a bit much in this post.. but once last question- is a Q45 good enough for Kellogg? I'm more into strategy than the finance end of things.. should I just spend the next 3 weeks polishing my quant? I'm afraid 70th percentile isn't acceptable. I do not intend on doing my MBA without a Top 10 admittance, so I'd like to put my best foot forward. I know that once you're over 700, the total score won't matter much.. but if I get my V to a 41 or so with a Q45, would it be more prudent to, say, Q47 V39?
Candidly, I'd encourage you to take a deep breath. 45/41, 47/39 -- I don't think there's anything you can do in your prep work that would make you be able to interpret whether you are tracking towards a 45 or a 47. Either way -- if you want to get above 700, you need to try to maximize on both parts of the test.

Here's a link to an article that you may find helpful -- helps lay out some considerations as you look to make the leap from 'good to great'.

https://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/7 ... erence.cfm

Plus, some tips and suggestions on what to do in the last 14 days (or so) to get you to the finish line.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ew-part-2/

Hope this helps.

-Brian
Perfect. I've been reading too many rejected applicant stats.

Can't thank you enough.

*Deep Breath*
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by ShaneK » Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:28 am
Just finished verbal in OG 13.

CR - 88% Correct
RC - 86% Correct
SC - 72% Correct

More "by the number" evidence to suggest SC is my weakest link.

Thought: These numbers are put together when I'm focused on a specific question type for that day. It's possible that my CR skills falter more significantly that other topics when I'm losing stamina (i.e. after an Essay, AWA, Quant)?

Is the best way to improve stamina by doing practice tests? I do not drink caffeine (I tried that at the beginning, the exposure caused test scores to decrease dramatically! I believe I made more errors as I was less relaxed. I could do 80% quality work for 6 hours instead of 95% quality work for 3. Something to consider for you teachers out there.)
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by brianlange77 » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:44 pm
ShaneK wrote:Just finished verbal in OG 13.

CR - 88% Correct
RC - 86% Correct
SC - 72% Correct

More "by the number" evidence to suggest SC is my weakest link.

Thought: These numbers are put together when I'm focused on a specific question type for that day. It's possible that my CR skills falter more significantly that other topics when I'm losing stamina (i.e. after an Essay, AWA, Quant)?

Is the best way to improve stamina by doing practice tests? I do not drink caffeine (I tried that at the beginning, the exposure caused test scores to decrease dramatically! I believe I made more errors as I was less relaxed. I could do 80% quality work for 6 hours instead of 95% quality work for 3. Something to consider for you teachers out there.)
Shane:

Are those numbers for ALL of verbal in OG 13? If so -- wow.. you have been a busy dude! It would certainly appear that SC is 'weaker' than the other two areas -- but also need to ask obviously about how diligently you timed yourself, etc.

The thing that's great about practice exams is that they, no pun intended, allow you to practice for the exam. And get close to replicating the mental agility required to move from essays to quant to SC to RC to CR, etc. Doing 100 SC problems in a row is fun (in a sick sort of way) but not sure if it really helps you prepare for the test in any meaningful way.

Thoughts?

-Brian
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by ShaneK » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:53 am
brianlange77 wrote: Shane:

Are those numbers for ALL of verbal in OG 13? If so -- wow.. you have been a busy dude! It would certainly appear that SC is 'weaker' than the other two areas -- but also need to ask obviously about how diligently you timed yourself, etc.

The thing that's great about practice exams is that they, no pun intended, allow you to practice for the exam. And get close to replicating the mental agility required to move from essays to quant to SC to RC to CR, etc. Doing 100 SC problems in a row is fun (in a sick sort of way) but not sure if it really helps you prepare for the test in any meaningful way.

Thoughts?

-Brian
Yep, that's the entire OG13 verbal section. As far as timing, I used my mental clock. I've routinely finished the verbal section with 20-40 minutes to spare so pacing is not an issue.

I'm hoping that the absurd amount of questions finished (thinking about going through SC again) will help me learn to answer author-style questions intrinsically and cut down on mistakes. I'm at the point that I know the material, but make 3-6 sloppy mistakes on the exam. These were a moot point early-on, but now they need to go away.

Think I'll take GMATPrep #2 for the first time this weekend.
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by brianlange77 » Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:30 pm
ShaneK wrote:Yep, that's the entire OG13 verbal section. As far as timing, I used my mental clock. I've routinely finished the verbal section with 20-40 minutes to spare so pacing is not an issue.

I'm hoping that the absurd amount of questions finished (thinking about going through SC again) will help me learn to answer author-style questions intrinsically and cut down on mistakes. I'm at the point that I know the material, but make 3-6 sloppy mistakes on the exam. These were a moot point early-on, but now they need to go away.

Think I'll take GMATPrep #2 for the first time this weekend.
Allow me to offer two suggestions -- one, pacing is an issue. You're working through the verbal section too quickly, which is very likely contributing to some of the mistakes. Second, when you say that you know the 'material' -- talk to me about your definition for material. Do you know the questions? Or do you know and understand (and could you teach it to others) the underlying theory/topics being tested?

Thoughts?

-Brian
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by ShaneK » Sun Mar 03, 2013 11:36 am
Update:

Veritas #5: 38Q 46V - Total 690

Blew the quant and smoked the verbal this time around.. interesting, since I've done nothing but study quant after I finished the CR section of OG13. Had 15 minutes left on my V section (slowed down a LOT, thanks for the "actually, your pacing sucks" advice).

All I need to do now is get my Q back to where it usually is, and keep my focus during V (definitely the game changer on this exam). A 45Q 46V is a 740- I'd be more than happy with that! Haha..

12 days left to review. I'm comfortable with my verbal. My most recent Q score has me.. perplexed, but I'm expecting to get that back into range. I've been doing MGMAT Advanced Quant for the last week- I think this might actually be a hindrance.

What do you think of this theory: I felt unable to get "inside" the quant problems, whereas verbal was definitely flowing today. By studying quant night and day for the last week, do you think it's possible that my brain was all like "no thanks"? Perhaps I felt that way because the questions weren't in my wheelhouse. Exponents, for instance, are a weakness of mine, so I've been concentrating hard on them. I didn't see a single exponent question.. lol.

Edit: Took MGMAT Q section immediately after- Q41 which makes me feel a little better. I hit 90th percentile as of #20, but then tapered off. I was 70th percentile questions 20-30 but missed the last EIGHT in a row to drop me from a 45 to a 41. I was running low on time which MGMAT is known for, and fatigue was setting in. Had to guess every other question. I feel better now, though.

P.S. Spent 15 minutes on the essay, got a 5 on the IR (minimizing energy expenditure).
P.P.S. I really hate doing math with a board/marker. I miss my pencil.
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by brianlange77 » Fri Mar 08, 2013 7:28 pm
ShaneK wrote:Update:

Veritas #5: 38Q 46V - Total 690

Blew the quant and smoked the verbal this time around.. interesting, since I've done nothing but study quant after I finished the CR section of OG13. Had 15 minutes left on my V section (slowed down a LOT, thanks for the "actually, your pacing sucks" advice).

All I need to do now is get my Q back to where it usually is, and keep my focus during V (definitely the game changer on this exam). A 45Q 46V is a 740- I'd be more than happy with that! Haha..

12 days left to review. I'm comfortable with my verbal. My most recent Q score has me.. perplexed, but I'm expecting to get that back into range. I've been doing MGMAT Advanced Quant for the last week- I think this might actually be a hindrance.

What do you think of this theory: I felt unable to get "inside" the quant problems, whereas verbal was definitely flowing today. By studying quant night and day for the last week, do you think it's possible that my brain was all like "no thanks"? Perhaps I felt that way because the questions weren't in my wheelhouse. Exponents, for instance, are a weakness of mine, so I've been concentrating hard on them. I didn't see a single exponent question.. lol.

Edit: Took MGMAT Q section immediately after- Q41 which makes me feel a little better. I hit 90th percentile as of #20, but then tapered off. I was 70th percentile questions 20-30 but missed the last EIGHT in a row to drop me from a 45 to a 41. I was running low on time which MGMAT is known for, and fatigue was setting in. Had to guess every other question. I feel better now, though.

P.S. Spent 15 minutes on the essay, got a 5 on the IR (minimizing energy expenditure).
P.P.S. I really hate doing math with a board/marker. I miss my pencil.
You know -- you're not the first student who's ever asked the "have I gone too deep into this?" Obviously, I can't comment specifically on your particular experience here, but, it does remind me of advice that I give to my students before they sit for the 'real' exam.

Essentially, I tell them to put pencils down 36-48 hours in advance of the test. There's value in letting your mind clear, having an adult beverage, watching some TV, falling asleep at a reasonable time, etc. The GMAT is not a test you 'cram' for -- it's a test you 'plan' for. Planning doesn't happen in a crunch -- it happens over time.

Have you taken the full exam yet?

-B
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