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Prac Tests Inflation

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Prac Tests Inflation

by champwix » Wed Mar 20, 2013 11:04 am
I took both GMAT Prep Prac tests and scored 590 on both. I scored 600 on real GMAT.
Since last month, I have started practicing for my retake scheduled in mid-April.
Now, when I gave both prac tests again last weekend, I scored 640 and 660. I saw 10-12 repeated ques and out of which I got 2-3 incorrect.
How can I judge my improvement with these scores? Do they reflect inflation because of repeated ques OR actually my performance improvement? How much should I consider range for this improvement??
One thing certainly I can say - you should get those ques right which you can.. :)
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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:08 pm
Repeated questions can impact your score in two different ways.

1) you can get question(s) right that you would not have gotten right simply because you remember the correct answer.

2) You could answer questions very quickly simply because you remember the correct answer. If you get questions right very quickly then this could mean that you have more time for other questions than you normally would.

To combat the second of these, work through the entire question as you normally would so that you take the same time that you would have taken even if you had not seen the question.

Now as to the first problem, getting questions right...you cannot totally eliminate this, but you said that you missed 2-3 of these anyway. Not sure how many you would have missed.

All-in-all I would say that you likely have improved since last time!!
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by champwix » Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:45 am
Thanks David !!

You are correct. I did answered few ques because I remembered the answers, but I took sufficient time to work on all ques I usually would.

Since my retake preparations, I certainly improved on my weak CR&RC areas. Currently, I plan to only practice and practice for the rest of the journey till 15th April, which is my test date. I am practicing CR&RC without time limits as of now so as to improve the accuracy on these.
I am really much acquainted with the test taking strategies, skills and the time management. So, starting next week (or mid of next week), I will switch on to practicing within time limits on these sections.
Is that fair enough? Would you suggest working on anything else specifically?

I have to get at least 660-690.

Thank you!!
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by David@VeritasPrep » Thu Mar 21, 2013 7:17 am
Just a few things -

Remember that each section adapts as a whole, so that as you improve your RC and CR you will face tougher SC questions. Now this is a good thing! because you will have a chance to show your stuff on SC and earn higher difficulty levels on that subject. But it may also reveal any weaknesses that you have on SC. Maybe you are very good at, say 50th %ile SC questions, but when your other areas improve you will face 60 - 70th %ile SC, so make sure that you can do these as well or your CR and RC improvement will not be taken to a full advantage.

On the Quant side, it is always a very good idea to be sure to minimize any silly errors that you might still be making. Do you still miss any questions because you answered the wrong question, stopped too soon on a problem (the question asks for 2x and you answer for x), made any assumptions (sure it has to be an integer, right??) or even made calculation errors?
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by champwix » Thu Mar 21, 2013 11:53 am
Nice tip David. Yes, I need to take along whole section simultaneously and it will come with full length prac tests. I do certainly score on SC with accuracy of about 90%, so I guess should be fine. But, still I will make sure to beat this challenge as well.

On the other hand in my last attempt itself, I eradicated the habit of making silly mistakes and calculation errors. Moreover, now I am pretty confident to take this form of exam as I believe my concentration and endurance certainly increases during the exam. I was able to gain these improvements with the help of meditation and deep-breathing. :) It really helps!!

Thank you David!!
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