GMAT Strategy

So, I take the GMAT on Dec 1... I just did Kaplan's Online Advanced course.

Right now, my Verbal scores are fine. They improved with every practice CAT, and have been 99th percentile on the last two CATs I took. But, my Quant scores have been all across the board....

Here's a rundown

Kaplan CAT 1 (Diagnostic) - 620 (Quant 55, Verbal 74)
Kaplan CAT 3 - 670 (Quant 77, Verbal 78)
Kaplan CAT 4 - 650 (Quant 59, Verbal 89)
Kaplan CAT 5 - 690 (Quant 68, Verbal 99)
Kaplan CAT 6 - 350 (Quant 94, Verbal 1) -- accidentally hit "End Exam" after the Quant section, so didn't do Verbal
Kaplan CAT 7 - 690 (Quant 59, Verbal 99)

What's with my Quant scores just being all over the place? I've always considered math to be my best subject, and I was damn near perfect on the SAT's Math section back in HS. (780). I don't get how I can be 94th percentile on Sunday, and then come back and be 59th percentile on Wednesday.

Just all over the place with my Quant scores. To the point where I'm actually starting to get a little worried about it...

Maybe its just a bad day for you.. Or some other reason.. Did you try taking GMATPrep?

No, I haven't taken the GMATPrep CATs yet. I plan to though.

WilliamGCash wrote:No, I haven't taken the GMATPrep CATs yet. I plan to though.

You should take GMATPrep as many times as possible. Since your exam is just 3 weeks away, you should start working on GMATPrep tests. It is said to be the most accurate indicator of your real score. Do some good analysis after every test and learn from your mistakes. Also, record new things in your flashcards and review your flashcards regularly. This will really help you get your target score.

papgust wrote:You should take GMATPrep as many times as possible.

There are only 2 GMATPrep tests though. So, how can you take then as many times as possible? Just take each once... within the next couple of weeks was my plan.

Kaplan's Online Center wasn't working for me today for some reason, so I just took the Free Manhattan GMAT CAT....

SCORE & OVERVIEW OF RESULTS
TYPE SCORE ESTIMATED PERCENTILE RANK
Quantitative 48 86 %
Verbal 39 89 %
Total 710 94 %

That's an okay score I guess. Lower on the Verbal than my last two Kaplan CATs, and still not quite where I want to be on Quant.

where do you get the kaplan quants from?

I would highly reccomend you take the GMAT prep, but that will not answer your question on consistancy.

Maybe review all questions you got wrong and try to deliberate a pattern?

5abi wrote:where do you get the kaplan quants from?

I would highly reccomend you take the GMAT prep, but that will not answer your question on consistancy.

Maybe review all questions you got wrong and try to deliberate a pattern?

From the Kaplan class I'm took. Kaplan Advanced. Came with 9 CATs.



I just did the "Kaplan Test Day Experience" and made a 640. Kind of shocked and very disappointed at getting that low of a score....

More ridiculousness.

Made a 640 on the Kaplan CAT 7 on Wednesday - 70% on Quant, 64% on Verbal.


Just took GMATPrep CAT 1 Today.... Made a 750 (49 on Quant, 42 on Verbal).


I'm just all over the place on these CATs. How is a 110 pt range in 5 days even possible?

WilliamGCash wrote:More ridiculousness.

Made a 640 on the Kaplan CAT 7 on Wednesday - 70% on Quant, 64% on Verbal.


Just took GMATPrep CAT 1 Today.... Made a 750 (49 on Quant, 42 on Verbal).


I'm just all over the place on these CATs. How is a 110 pt range in 5 days even possible?

I would take Kaplan CAT's with a grain of salt. I would focus on GMatPrep scores followed closely by MGMAT CAT's and then by Knewton and Veritas CAT's. I am kind of amazed how you took so many Kaplan CAT's and not a single MGMAT or Veritas or Knewton CAT's which are supposedly more reliable.

I don't think you had a swing of 110 points.

I see that you have taken the GMATPrep once so there is no swing.

I had a tutoring student score 590 on an unofficial test and score over 700 on the GMATPrep official practice test two days later. She also scored over 700 on test day.

papgust was right - now is the time to focus on the official GMATPrep test!

Trust me when I say this... you got this test in the bag. Scoring mid 600's in a kaplan means you'll score about 60-100 points more on the real thing. I think their algorithm underestimates your score.

I was about to say you are on par with scoring over 700 in response to the original post, but then scrolled down and saw u did so on the gmatprep.

A few things:

1. You asked, "How can I take the GMAT Prep more than twice?" You can reset it. It has enough questions in it that you can reasonably expect to take it 4 times. Don't do any more kaplan CATs. You've done enough of them to qualify for their guarentee so you don't need to do any more.

2. About your verbal: You probably don't want to hear this, but it's been my experience that students who score consistently high on their Kaplan Verbal don't always do as well on the real test for verbal. Sorry! BUT It's going to be ok. You just have to do the Official Guide for Verbal. Do every question in there. Every time a student emails me and says their real verbal score was unexpectedly low on test day, I ask if s/he did the Official Guide work and no, s/he didn't. So, do it! Even if it seems easy. Do every question and read every explanation.

3. About quant: Scores fluctuate for so many reasons. Don't think about scores. Think about progress. Why did you get those questions wrong that you got wrong? Don't just keep taking test after test after test. It's a common misconception that you only get better by taking tests. I take a full length test only 4 or 5 times a year -- and that's when I'm taking a real GMAT! Of course, I live and breathe GMAT, but really, why do you need to do a full test?

4. Are you writing your essays? Every time? Sometimes people get high scores when they don't write their essays and low scores when they do. Write your essays! EVERY TIME! Learn endurance.

5. My final advice:

a) Begin practice pacing sets. You can use the Kaplan Q-bank -- their Quant isn't bad. Practice doing 12 questions in 25 minutes. Turn the timing off (use tutor mode). If you can do 12 questions in 25 minutes, you can do the test. Don't let their explanations talk you into picking numbers all the damn time. Sure, it's helpful sometimes, but not ALL the time.

b) Consider hiring a tutor. A few hours with a tutor can do more than 20 hours with a teacher. I know it can be pricey but so is business school! If you can afford to spend more than 100k on business school, then don't skimp on the thing that'll get you into the right one.

c) Pick up the Manhattan GMAT number properties book. I hate their stupid "prime box" business but otherwise it's great.

d) Pick up a few practice sets from gmatproblems.com They're kinda pricey but they're soooooo good. I always use them with my students. I especially recommend Number Properties, Algebra, and exponents/roots. These are key issues to focus on.

e) Don't do that many more practice tests. Do maybe two more, one a week before your test. Use the GMAT prep and write your essays. you don't learn from taking practice tests. In the end, only one score matters : the real one.

I hope this is helpful!

Took the GMATPrep CAT 2.... Actual GMAT on Wednesday, so I think I'm done taking practice CATs.

Only got a 700 this time - 47 on Quant, 39 on Verbal.

Not as pleased with that, I definitely want a 720 or above on the actual test.

Also, about the GMATPrep CATs - what I don't really like about them, is that there is no explanations.

Also in the Official Guide, they don't always have great explanations. Anybody have any recommendation for the Manahattan Offical Guide Companion? -- I just have access to the Lite online, but there's no explanations on there, it just keeps track of your answers basically...

Another thing I've noticed when taking practice CATs is that, endurance is more of an issue for me when I take the CAT later in the day. The 750 on the GMATPrep was one of the earliest ones I did (I did it at 8am to try to mimic when I take the real thing).

So, my goal/strategy now is to bascially just go over what I've gotten wrong on the two GMATPrep CATs and then to go through the Official Guide more today and tomorrow. Tuesday, I might do some light studying with Kaplan Quizbank just to stay fresh... but I'll study hard today and tomorrow and go real light Tuesday... so that I get enough rest for the actual test Wednesday. Any other suggestions about strategy from here on out?

Laura GMAT Tutor wrote: 2. About your verbal: You probably don't want to hear this, but it's been my experience that students who score consistently high on their Kaplan Verbal don't always do as well on the real test for verbal. Sorry! BUT It's going to be ok. You just have to do the Official Guide for Verbal. Do every question in there. Every time a student emails me and says their real verbal score was unexpectedly low on test day, I ask if s/he did the Official Guide work and no, s/he didn't. So, do it! Even if it seems easy. Do every question and read every explanation.

Thanks. I wonder if it's commonly sentence correction that Kaplan students do worse on on the actual thing than on Kaplan's tests....

Because, just looking at my two GMATPrep CATs... between the two of them, I missed 16 questions total on the verbal. Broken down as 11 in SC, 3 in CR, and 2 in RC.

I was definitely doing pretty well in Kaplan's SC questions, but some of the GMATPrep SC's were worded so funny that they really threw me off and had me guessing or just trying to go by ear which answer I thought sounded right.

Definitely need to put in a lot of work on SC questions - I'll definitely do every SC question in OG 12!!! Bout to work on that now!!!

Oh, and I also checked out your blog by the way... good post on the Autopilot. I've definitely always been a strong math student, and on the first couple of CATs I took, I would never be able to finish the Quant section...

On the last GMATPrep CAT I took, I finished with 10 minutes to spare, and I think a lot of that has to do with how I approach the Quant section now (I think the best resource I got from Kaplan was the video I watched the other day called Target 800). I'm definitely looking at the answer choices and thinking more logically about how I can get to the right answer by avoiding doing actual math if I can...
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WilliamGCash wrote:

Laura GMAT Tutor wrote: 2. About your verbal: You probably don't want to hear this, but it's been my experience that students who score consistently high on their Kaplan Verbal don't always do as well on the real test for verbal. Sorry! BUT It's going to be ok. You just have to do the Official Guide for Verbal. Do every question in there. Every time a student emails me and says their real verbal score was unexpectedly low on test day, I ask if s/he did the Official Guide work and no, s/he didn't. So, do it! Even if it seems easy. Do every question and read every explanation.

Thanks. I wonder if it's commonly sentence correction that Kaplan students do worse on on the actual thing than on Kaplan's tests....

Because, just looking at my two GMATPrep CATs... between the two of them, I missed 16 questions total on the verbal. Broken down as 11 in SC, 3 in CR, and 2 in RC.

I was definitely doing pretty well in Kaplan's SC questions, but some of the GMATPrep SC's were worded so funny that they really threw me off and had me guessing or just trying to go by ear which answer I thought sounded right.

Definitely need to put in a lot of work on SC questions - I'll definitely do every SC question in OG 12!!! Bout to work on that now!!!

Oh, and I also checked out your blog by the way... good post on the Autopilot. I've definitely always been a strong math student, and on the first couple of CATs I took, I would never be able to finish the Quant section...

On the last GMATPrep CAT I took, I finished with 10 minutes to spare, and I think a lot of that has to do with how I approach the Quant section now (I think the best resource I got from Kaplan was the video I watched the other day called Target 800). I'm definitely looking at the answer choices and thinking more logically about how I can get to the right answer by avoiding doing actual math if I can...
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Hi, I am also enrolled in Kaplan's course. Where do I go to see the target 800 video? PS - your story about your experience with the Kaplan's scores are eerily similar to mine.