GMAT Strategy

Sometimes a student will send a message into Magoosh, looking for tips on how to improve. In their message, they might write something similar to the following:

"A week before exam, my Verbal score range on the Magoosh dashboard was 151-156. When doing untimed practice sessions in Verbal, I'd get the predicted score range of 155-160. When doing timed practice of 30 minutes, I've been able to do 14-16 questions comfortably with roughly 80 percent accuracy..."

This is a worrisome message to receive from a student for a few reasons. For one, the student waited until a week before his exam to ask for tips. The other issue, though, is particularly troublesome and harmful for the student. Unfortunately, it's a natural mental model that students use to evaluate themselves, but it limits their ability to really assess themselves.

Can you see this troubling mental model?

This student, and many others, assess their GMAT level timed and untimed. This is grave mistake. Let's talk about why.

- See more at: https://magoosh.com/gmat/2014/timed-vs-u ... gmat-level