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Please Help..GMAT in next 20 days

by imskpwr » Sun Nov 24, 2013 3:25 am
I don't know what further needs to be done now. I know it's not correct to ask very specific q. Still, I will ask as I don't have any other option left. I just gave my GMATprep-2 and scored a 650(Q48, V31).
I don't know what happened exactly because I had pretty good accuracy in SC and CR.

I will write down the q no with its section and answer.

1 SC Correctly answered
2 CR Correctly answered
3 SC Correctly answered
4 SC Correctly answered
5 SC Got wrong
6 SC Correctly answered
7 SC Correctly answered
8 CR Correctly answered
9 CR Correctly answered
10 RC Got wrong
11 RC Got wrong
12 RC Correctly answered
13 SC Got wrong
14 CR Got wrong
15 SC Got wrong
16 RC Got wrong
17 RC Got wrong
18 RC Correctly answered
19 CR Correctly answered
20 CR Correctly answered
21 CR Correctly answered
22 SC Got wrong
23 SC Correctly answered
24 CR Correctly answered
25 SC Correctly answered
26 SC Correctly answered
27 CR Correctly answered
28 SC Correctly answered
29 RC Correctly answered
30 RC Got wrong
31 RC Correctly answered
32 RC Got wrong
33 CR Correctly answered
34 CR Correctly answered
35 SC Correctly answered
36 SC Got wrong
37 SC Correctly answered
38 RC Got wrong
39 RC Correctly answered
40 RC Correctly answered
41 SC Got wrong

I got in SC 12/17 correct and in CR 9/10 correct. Even though I did only 5/13 Correct in RC, I don't know how it screwed the entire verbal section for me.

Please suggest what further can be achieved in the next 20 days. I am Looking for at least 700.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:51 am
Your scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the level of difficulty of the questions you answer correctly.

Aside: If you're interested, we have a free video explaining the GMAT scoring algorithm: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1251

So, your score of 31 on the Verbal section reflects the overall level of difficulty of the questions you answered correctly.
I got in SC 12/17 correct and in CR 9/10 correct. Even though I did only 5/13 Correct in RC, I don't know how it screwed the entire verbal section for me.

Please suggest what further can be achieved in the next 20 days. I am Looking for at least 700.
My #1 suggestion is that you don't spend any more time thinking about the scoring algorithm. I often see students agonize over its inner workings when they should be studying. The most important thing to recognize is that an improvement in your Verbal skill will translate into a higher Verbal score.

It sounds like your CR skills are pretty strong. So you should devote more time building your SC and RC skills to the same level.

If you're interested, we have a free set of videos that cover all sorts of Reading Comprehension strategies: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension

Cheers,
Brent
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by imskpwr » Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:25 am
Brent@GMATPrepNow wrote:Your scores are not based on how many questions you answer correctly; they're based on the level of difficulty of the questions you answer correctly.

Aside: If you're interested, we have a free video explaining the GMAT scoring algorithm: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gener ... es?id=1251

So, your score of 31 on the Verbal section reflects the overall level of difficulty of the questions you answered correctly.
I got in SC 12/17 correct and in CR 9/10 correct. Even though I did only 5/13 Correct in RC, I don't know how it screwed the entire verbal section for me.

Please suggest what further can be achieved in the next 20 days. I am Looking for at least 700.
My #1 suggestion is that you don't spend any more time thinking about the scoring algorithm. I often see students agonize over its inner workings when they should be studying. The most important thing to recognize is that an improvement in your Verbal skill will translate into a higher Verbal score.

It sounds like your CR skills are pretty strong. So you should devote more time building your SC and RC skills to the same level.

If you're interested, we have a free set of videos that cover all sorts of Reading Comprehension strategies: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat- ... prehension

Cheers,
Brent
Thanks for the reply.
It appears to me that the 5 q that i got wrong in a row changed the overall difficulty level. Any thought on the same.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:28 am
imskpwr wrote: It appears to me that the 5 q that i got wrong in a row changed the overall difficulty level. Any thought on the same.
I think so.
I've heard that the scoring algorithm penalizes test-takers for incorrectly answering several questions in a row.

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by David@VeritasPrep » Sun Nov 24, 2013 9:39 am
I would like to expand on something that Brent said, "So, your score of 31 on the Verbal section reflects the overall level of difficulty of the questions you answered correctly."

What this means is that the Verbal section adapts as a whole. This means that even though you got a high percentage of SC and especially CR correct, your poor performance in RC means that those questions were not a high level of difficulty. So you are not getting much credit for being good at CR because RC is bringing you down.

It is imperative that you NOT have any of the three verbal sections lagging far behind. This is how you can have a high percentage of correct answers and a low percentile score.

This is the MAIN Takeaway from your results. Now don't be shocked if improving your RC means that you miss a few more SC and CR questions on your next practice test. It may be the case that your RC is dragging you down enough that you are not fully being tested on CR. It is okay if you end up missing a few more questions overall, because your score will be much higher.

So that is enough about the scoring algorithm of the test...the important thing is "What are you doing to improve your RC???"
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by imskpwr » Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:26 pm
David@VeritasPrep wrote:I would like to expand on something that Brent said, "So, your score of 31 on the Verbal section reflects the overall level of difficulty of the questions you answered correctly."

What this means is that the Verbal section adapts as a whole. This means that even though you got a high percentage of SC and especially CR correct, your poor performance in RC means that those questions were not a high level of difficulty. So you are not getting much credit for being good at CR because RC is bringing you down.

It is imperative that you NOT have any of the three verbal sections lagging far behind. This is how you can have a high percentage of correct answers and a low percentile score.

This is the MAIN Takeaway from your results. Now don't be shocked if improving your RC means that you miss a few more SC and CR questions on your next practice test. It may be the case that your RC is dragging you down enough that you are not fully being tested on CR. It is okay if you end up missing a few more questions overall, because your score will be much higher.

So that is enough about the scoring algorithm of the test...the important thing is "What are you doing to improve your RC???"
I know the truth but it's good to get it authenticated from an expert(to accept the reality), so thanks to you both for your valuable reviews.

I am analyzing OG once again looking for similar patterns of qs that I did wrong while attempting RC in my GMAT PREP.
I hope I will find something to correct my strategy. But I will appreciate your views also on this subject matter.
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by imskpwr » Sat Nov 30, 2013 1:49 pm
I took another GMAT PREP from pack-2. Again, I scored the same 650(49Q,29V).
This time I got similar correct answers in SC(12 correct out of 17),
But I got strange results in RC(9 correct out of 13) and CR(5 correct out of 11).

Instructors please help me in interpreting these results.

1 SC INCORRECT
2 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
3 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
4 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
5 CR CORRECTLY ANSWERED
6 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
7 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
8 RC INCORRECT
9 CR INCORRECT
10 SC INCORRECT
11 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
12 SC INCORRECT
13 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
14 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
15 CR CORRECTLY ANSWERED
16 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
17 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
18 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
19 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
20 SC INCORRECT
21 CR CORRECTLY ANSWERED
22 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
23 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
24 CR INCORRECT
25 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
26 CR CORRECTLY ANSWERED
27 SC INCORRECT
28 CR INCORRECT
29 CR CORRECTLY ANSWERED
30 RC INCORRECT
31 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
32 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
33 CR INCORRECT
34 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
35 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
36 CR INCORRECT
37 CR INCORRECT
38 RC INCORRECT
39 RC CORRECTLY ANSWERED
40 RC INCORRECT
41 SC CORRECTLY ANSWERED


I am aiming for >700, but both the results are nowhere near.

Please help me. What strategy I MUST follow now while preparing to get my DESIRED score.
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by [email protected] » Sat Nov 30, 2013 3:01 pm
Hi imskpwr,

With this additional CAT score and same score, you can now look at your "mechanics." You're clearly doing certain things well (and consistently), but you're also making the same mistakes consistently. I'd suggest that you go through the ENTIRE Verbal section. Count up the number of times that you "narrowed it down and guessed." How many times did you get the question right? How many times did you get the question wrong? I think that THAT level of instability is what's keeping you from 700+. It means that you need to do a little bit more work to eliminate the guess-work and hone in on the correct answer.

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by imskpwr » Mon Dec 02, 2013 8:23 am
Any other suggestion by our experts. Since time is less, it's better for me to know most about the areas of concern. Any other observation is definitely good for me to know now than later.
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by imskpwr » Sat Dec 07, 2013 7:05 am
I just took Manhattan Cat-6 today and found some of the weaker areas where I always lag.
I am 10 days away from actual gmat exam. Hope any expert can shed some more light on the areas where I can improve.

I have attached an assessment report of the same cat for reference.

Hope to get a ray of hope somewhere.
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by [email protected] » Sat Dec 07, 2013 2:41 pm
Hi imskpwr,

The attached chart gives us the types of questions that you got wrong, but it doesn't tell us WHY you got them wrong. You should review the entire section (including the questions that you got correct) and try to define what happened. HOW were you going about solving these problems? What notes did you take? How often did you "narrow it down and guess" and how often did you still get the question wrong? What details did you miss?

Improvement on RC and CR almost always involves more note-taking, so you might consider that as you continue to practice.

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by imskpwr » Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:48 pm
[email protected] wrote:Hi imskpwr,

The attached chart gives us the types of questions that you got wrong, but it doesn't tell us WHY you got them wrong. You should review the entire section (including the questions that you got correct) and try to define what happened. HOW were you going about solving these problems? What notes did you take? How often did you "narrow it down and guess" and how often did you still get the question wrong? What details did you miss?

Improvement on RC and CR almost always involves more note-taking, so you might consider that as you continue to practice.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich
One surprising fact is that in 600-700range I got most bizzare result. Both I failed in both SC and CR in this area. RC was weak in all ranges.

Fact1: I had a major timing issue in this one. I had 22min for last 21q in Verbal.I guessed last 10.

Fact2: I was exhausted after Quant section of MANHATTAN. I feel manhattan quant is too tough(>GMAT).
I wasnot able to maintain my stamina in the verbal portion.

Fact3: I need to improve my timing and accuracy in mid and low level qs in CR.I took >5/6min for some q.

Fact4: My strategy completely failed in RC. RC to CR shift is very difficult.

My current strategy is to review OG once again.

Please explain how to work out from here. Shall I postpone and go for Private tutoring ?
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by [email protected] » Sun Dec 08, 2013 11:19 am
Hi imskpwer,

I don't think that you have to reschedule your GMAT since you're performance is close enough to 700 that a few adjustments are all that you need. Guessing on the last 10 questions is a problem though. Based on the the data that you provided, your pacing problems are in RC AND SC. You don't have time to read/consider all 5 answer choices. You have to KNOW what you're looking for so that you can quickly eliminate the incorrect answers and 'zero in' on the correct one. Taking notes while you're reading each RC passage should help.

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by imskpwr » Mon Dec 09, 2013 8:40 am
[email protected] wrote:Hi imskpwer,

I don't think that you have to reschedule your GMAT since you're performance is close enough to 700 that a few adjustments are all that you need. Guessing on the last 10 questions is a problem though. Based on the the data that you provided, your pacing problems are in RC AND SC. You don't have time to read/consider all 5 answer choices. You have to KNOW what you're looking for so that you can quickly eliminate the incorrect answers and 'zero in' on the correct one. Taking notes while you're reading each RC passage should help.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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I feel so disturbed; still your comments are always positive.
Yup! I agree need to work now on timing. TIMING is a much bigger issue now than RC or CR.
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by imskpwr » Tue Dec 10, 2013 11:50 am
Thanks to David, I read your older posts, including the one with "E.A.S.I." questions. It helped me a lot in changing my mindset from "in it to kill it" to "in it to RESPECT it". I am seeing signs of improvements in my score. Still, timing is an area that needs much more improvement.

I thought that difficult qs are the ones that need time & attention, But actually the easier ones are much MORE important.

Thanks to Rich for being the "good guy" here.
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