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Need 400 for admission; scored 560 on first practice test...

by crhXilm » Tue Oct 25, 2016 11:59 am
The school I'm applying to requires 400 for admission. They don't really look at IR or AWA either, so I skipped the AWA for my practice. I looked up some tips and stuff on how to proceed with it on test day, but I do a lot of report writing at my job and was eager to see the other scores, so I did not complete that part of the assessment. I've been out of school 4.5y at this point, working full-time, and I honestly haven't been studying. I probably should have, but anyway, here are my scores from this VERITAS practice exam:

IR: 4
Q: 33
V: 34
Total: 560

I've been reviewing the questions I got wrong so I can understand what I need to work on and refresh my memory on some of this stuff, but do you think I'm ready to schedule and take the test? Or I guess would you say it's reasonably safe? I need my scores in to the school by Dec 1, and I'd like to leave myself enough time to take the exam twice (God forbid) in case I choke on exam day (although I would like to avoid shelling out the $$ to take it again.) Appreciate the feedback.
Last edited by crhXilm on Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:04 pm
If 400 will get you admitted, I think you're good to go.
To add some more certainty, you might try one more OFFICIAL practice test - https://www.mba.com/the-gmat/download-fr ... tware.aspx

If you score more than 500, I think you can safely schedule your test.

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by crhXilm » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:09 pm
Thank you Brent. I'll certainly continue to work on it until the test day, as I know the better prepared I *feel* going in, the less chance that test day jitters will impact me negatively. The test I took was one from VERITAS-I forgot to mention that. Do you happen to know how that assessment stacks up compared to other prep tests as far as an indicator of success on the real deal? I will definitely look at the one you linked. Thanks again.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Tue Oct 25, 2016 1:07 pm
Veritas is a solid company, so I suspect their tests are pretty close to the real deal. That said, the official practice tests are the best indicators of your GMAT skills.

On the topic of "test day jitters," you might be interested in reading the following articles:
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/min ... -destroyer
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/jun ... g-big-gmat

Cheers,
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by [email protected] » Tue Oct 25, 2016 2:16 pm
Hi crhXilm,

If we're measuring this CAT score against just a 400, then you certainly appear to have the necessary skills to score at that level (or higher) on the Official GMAT. However, before we immediately define you as "ready" to face the GMAT, it would help if you provided a bit more information about your timeline and goals:

1) Is this the only School that you plan to apply to? Are there other Schools that you would consider if you scored higher?
2) Are you applying for any Scholarships?

Test Day is a rather specific 'event' - the details are specific and they matter, so you have to train as best as you can for all of them. The more realistic you can make your CATs, the more likely the score results are to be accurate. The more you deviate, the more "inflated" your scores can become - and that's something that we want to try to avoid. As such, you should plan to take another CAT - but do so in as realistic a way as possible (so take the FULL CAT - with the Essay and IR sections, take it away from your home, at the same time of day that you plan to take the actual GMAT, etc.). Once you have that score, you should report back here and we can discuss your timeline going forward.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by crhXilm » Wed Oct 26, 2016 6:42 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi crhXilm,

1) Is this the only School that you plan to apply to? Are there other Schools that you would consider if you scored higher?
2) Are you applying for any Scholarships?
Rich,

1) Yes, this is the only school I'm applying to. It's a brick and mortar State University with an accredited program available in an online format that happens to have the concentration I'm interested in at a very affordable value (about $8K). So, it meets all of my personal criteria :) I considered other schools at one point but prestige is not really a benefit in the market where I live and I've already put down roots here with no intent of looking elsewhere. As long as the school where the degree is earned is 'legit' and the program is accredited then it doesn't matter what tier B school it comes from.

2) I haven't seen any that seem to be applicable for me. I'd be open to applying for some in order to minimize my expense, but I definitely have to get my scores in to the school Dec 1 for a Jan program start.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Oct 26, 2016 8:06 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:Veritas is a solid company, so I suspect their tests are pretty close to the real deal. That said, the official practice tests are the best indicators of your GMAT skills.

On the topic of "test day jitters," you might be interested in reading the following articles:
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/min ... -destroyer
- https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/jun ... g-big-gmat

Cheers,
Brent
I'll echo what Brent wrote: typically, my students' Veritas test scores are in the ballpark of how they perform on the actual exam (and, though you see every kind of fluctuation, on average, the test-takers I've tracked have scored a bit higher on the actual exam.) If you're +160 on one of our tests compared to your required score, you should be good to go. That said, it's still worth it to take the official practice exam as another data point. (And as for test-day stress, check out this fascinating study about how the way we interpret this stress can shape our results:https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/ ... xiety.aspx

A short summary: if you tell yourself that your anxiety is actually excitement, you perform better. Weird, but true.
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by crhXilm » Wed Oct 26, 2016 9:14 am
Thank you all for your feedback! I am VERY excited to get this show on the road, and I'll absolutely keep building on my skills until I get to the actual exam. I've been reviewing my quant section, and have realized that my basic math is extremely rusty/dusty and I would be much more comfortable on test day if I could improve on that. I haven't had a 'math' outside of Stats in about 12-14 years (where I finished with Calc 2). I use stats in some form or fashion almost daily at my place of employment and I actually retook a stats course last year (b/c I needed to have taken it within 5 years of applying to a program) with no textbook and made a 98 in the course. I wouldn't consider myself math challenged, so much as I am math memory challenged.

Anyway, here is my quant performance broken down a bit:
I completed all items, no random guessing at the end, with maybe 12s to spare.
I got 47% of Data Sufficiency items correct, and 85% of Problem Solving items correct.
The 3 most difficult items I got right were all Problem Solving items in the 500-550 range.
The 3 easiest items I got wrong were 2 Data Sufficiency items and a Problem Solving item, all in the 400-450 range.
Because of my performance on the lower level items, I was never shown any of the higher level items where I think I might have *possibly* done better.

I'd like a REALLY affordable ($25 or less?) refresher option that can take me through these basic algebra/geometry problems with examples and explanations so I can shake these cobwebs from my brain. I'd like to be able to work through 2-3 different TYPES of problems per day until I take the exam in a few weeks and I'd like to try to have the resource in hand today or tomorrow. Is there one resource that would better suit my wants/needs than another?
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Wed Oct 26, 2016 10:52 am
crhXilm wrote:Thank you all for your feedback! I am VERY excited to get this show on the road, and I'll absolutely keep building on my skills until I get to the actual exam. I've been reviewing my quant section, and have realized that my basic math is extremely rusty/dusty and I would be much more comfortable on test day if I could improve on that. I haven't had a 'math' outside of Stats in about 12-14 years (where I finished with Calc 2). I use stats in some form or fashion almost daily at my place of employment and I actually retook a stats course last year (b/c I needed to have taken it within 5 years of applying to a program) with no textbook and made a 98 in the course. I wouldn't consider myself math challenged, so much as I am math memory challenged.

Anyway, here is my quant performance broken down a bit:
I completed all items, no random guessing at the end, with maybe 12s to spare.
I got 47% of Data Sufficiency items correct, and 85% of Problem Solving items correct.
The 3 most difficult items I got right were all Problem Solving items in the 500-550 range.
The 3 easiest items I got wrong were 2 Data Sufficiency items and a Problem Solving item, all in the 400-450 range.
Because of my performance on the lower level items, I was never shown any of the higher level items where I think I might have *possibly* done better.

I'd like a REALLY affordable ($25 or less?) refresher option that can take me through these basic algebra/geometry problems with examples and explanations so I can shake these cobwebs from my brain. I'd like to be able to work through 2-3 different TYPES of problems per day until I take the exam in a few weeks and I'd like to try to have the resource in hand today or tomorrow. Is there one resource that would better suit my wants/needs than another?
"Free" tends to work nicely with most budgets. All of our recorded lessons are available on our app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gmat-vi ... 60224?mt=8
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by Jeff@TargetTestPrep » Thu Oct 27, 2016 5:41 am
Hi crhXilm,

Given that you scored 160 points above what you need to score on your GMAT, you probably could take the test tomorrow and score above a 400. However, if you are concerned that your 560 may be a fluke, take an official MBA.com practice exam to see how you score. When taking the exam, try to replicate the test-day experience as much as possible: go to the library instead of taking the test in your house or apartment; be sure to complete all sections (AWA, IR, Quant, and Verbal); only take the allotted breaks.

Based on the score from that exam, you will be even more certain of whether you are ready to schedule and take your GMAT. Definitely reach back out if you take another practice exam, and I can provide some further advice.

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by crhXilm » Sat Nov 05, 2016 9:15 am
Thank you to all who responded. I took my exam yesterday and scored a 640 and my IR came up to an 8 from a 4. I'm sure if I had taken the time to prepare as I really should have, and come here well in advance to utilize your wealth of experience, knowledge, and advice, I could have seen a marked improvement in my quant scores and probably got +700 (I ended up with 38 Q and 40V I think, score report is not right in front of me). But, a 640 is good enough for entry to any of the programs I've considered, so again I say: Thank you. :)
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by diegocml » Sat Nov 05, 2016 10:36 am
crhXilm wrote:Thank you to all who responded. I took my exam yesterday and scored a 640 and my IR came up to an 8 from a 4. I'm sure if I had taken the time to prepare as I really should have, and come here well in advance to utilize your wealth of experience, knowledge, and advice, I could have seen a marked improvement in my quant scores and probably got +700 (I ended up with 38 Q and 40V I think, score report is not right in front of me). But, a 640 is good enough for entry to any of the programs I've considered, so again I say: Thank you. :)
Congratulations, crhXilm!

You kicked it off with a 560 on your first CAT and a 640 on the real exam, and it seems you didn't have to put that much effort into your preparation! :) You made it seem easy!

Good luck with your application!
Diego

1st GMAT attemp: 410 (Q18 V27)
2nd GMAT attemp: 490 (Q35 V23)
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by crhXilm » Sat Nov 05, 2016 10:52 am
diegocml wrote:
Congratulations, crhXilm!

You kicked it off with a 560 on your first CAT and a 640 on the real exam, and it seems you didn't have to put that much effort into your preparation! :) You made it seem easy!

Good luck with your application!
I appreciate that Diego. I promise I really had planned to do more preparation but working full time AND also part time, plus wifely/motherly duties (kid in scouts and soccer) and being 7mo pregnant (I know these are all poor excuses, which is why I didn't bring them up before) has made it hard to find the time to do that. I won't be working when the program begins so I know I'll be able to devote the appropriate attention to the program- I just needed to make sure I get there. :)
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by crhXilm » Fri Nov 11, 2016 5:34 am
My score report came in today, so I just wanted to update with full scores.

Verbal 40 (91%)
Quant 38 (38%)
Total 640 (71%)
AWA 6.0 (90%)
IR 8 (92%)
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