GMAT Strategy

Hi Guys,

A little background info:

I took the GMAT on November 3rd, 2010 after about a week of half-assed studying (clearly not realizing how difficult the test was) and scored an abysmal 460 (34Q, 20V). I need to get at least a 600 and my test is scheduled for December 29th, 2010. I took a little time off after that horrible performance and started studying again around Thanksgiving time, so all in all I will have had about 3-4 weeks of studying under my belt (probably 1-2 hrs a day) before I go take it again.

I've taken the GMATPrep practice tests for the 2nd time each since my last test and I got a 540 (31Q, 33V) on the first one and a 530 (33Q, 30V I believe) on the 2nd one, basically my Quant is steady between 30 and 35 and I really want to get my verbal up since I did so poorly last time and I just feel more comfortable on the verbal than the math (weird since I did better on the math).

So I just took the MGMAT free practice test and got a 590 (39Q, 33V) somehow. I have no idea how this happened. I rushed through and guessed on about the last 5-7 verbal questions, but I believe I tried my hardest on the Quant section.

So I guess I have a few questions:
1) How accurate/good is the MGMAT as a predictor? Is the Q harder than the V or vice versa?
2) When/how often should I keep taking the GMATPrep (I Know those are the best indicators)

Hope someone takes the time to read this, thanks in advance.

-J

Sorry, forgot to mention 2 things:

1) I'm also using the OG 12th edition guide for practice questions
2) I'm concerned about the validity/difficulty of MGMAT since I found an error in one of the questions

Can an expert maybe advise on this please? Everything I have read has gone against what I am experiencing, with everyone saying they find the MGMAT quant harder and actually score lower on the quant, however this is the highest score on quant I have ever received....?

jheller2 wrote: 1) How accurate/good is the MGMAT as a predictor? Is the Q harder than the V or vice versa?

There are some issues with MGMAT scoring algorithm. For starters the quant questions are hard not because it is tough in an elegant way (the way the questions are in the actual GMAT) but tough in a tedious way (in that it takes just way too much time for you to solve it). Secondly many questions from CR and RC are at times not GMAT like. This is based on what I have seen. Finally MGMAT algorithm rewards you more than you deserve for getting the first set of 10 questions right, and penalizes you way less than you deserve for getting questions wrong towards the end. This ends up sometimes artificially inflating your scores if you do well in the initial part of the test.

jheller2 wrote: 2) When/how often should I keep taking the GMATPrep (I Know those are the best indicators)

Take the GMATPrep whenever you think you want to assess yourself. Questions can repeat only if you are still at the same level. So if you start out and get a 500 but improve to score a 650 you will almost see NO repeats (except for the first 1-2 questions). But if you are stuck at the same level you might end up seeing quite a few repeats. If the RC questions are repeated it will skew the scores unnaturally - since you don't just get the questions correct but also save a hell lot of time. However there is no answer to your question of WHEN you should be taking it. I would say take it just about when you want to test yourself.

Finally I would like to mention one more point. You are NOT doing as well in Quant as you are doing in Verbal. Same raw score doesn't equate same number of mistakes. For example around 10 mistakes in Quant can still give you a 49 but in Verbal it will pull you below 40 (ofcourse there are other considerations that I have written about here https://www.crackverbal.com/?p=45 but I will omit it for the sake of simplicity). So I think you need to work harder on your Quant as well.

Arun

Thank you so much for the great detailed response, this definitely helped.

I just finished retaking the GMATPrep Test 1 again (4th time I believe) and I got a 650, I'm a little worried about the validity of that because now there are starting to be more repeats, but I still got, I would say, 80% new questions, so maybe I will move on to GMATPrep 2

I have 12 more days until the real thing. Hoping for a 600

jheller2 wrote:Thank you so much for the great detailed response, this definitely helped.

I just finished retaking the GMATPrep Test 1 again (4th time I believe) and I got a 650, I'm a little worried about the validity of that because now there are starting to be more repeats, but I still got, I would say, 80% new questions, so maybe I will move on to GMATPrep 2

I have 12 more days until the real thing. Hoping for a 600

Great! One more piece of advice is that take the test along with the AWA section.

Arun