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Score plateau - please HELP!

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Score plateau - please HELP!

by gmatz22 » Thu Oct 06, 2016 1:08 pm
I have consistently been scoring in the 630-640 range for the past 2 months, across 3 MGMAT CATs and 1 GMAT Prep CAT and have not seen any improvement in scores. This is really frustrating as I have completed the MGMAT Course, have been consistently studying over this time, and have gone through a significant chunk of the OG questions. I have also worked on improving my timing over this time and implemented the MGMAT water-tight timing techniques on these practice exams.

My practice scores are listed below:

June 7 - MGMAT CAT (Diag) - 510 Q28, V32, 34th percentile
July 15 - MGMAT CAT - 590 Q37, V34, 58th percentile
Aug 24 - MGMAT CAT - 630 Q42, V34, 71st percentile
Sep 8 - MGMAT CAT - 640 Q40, V37, 72nd percentile
Sep 20 - GMAT Prep - 630 Q44, V32, 72nd percentile
Oct 6 - MGMAT CAT - 640 Q42, V35, 72nd percentile

Round 2 deadlines are fast approaching and I don't know what I need to do to improve to obtain a 700+ score. Please help!
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by [email protected] » Thu Oct 06, 2016 4:42 pm
Hi gmatz22,

Your 4 recent CAT scores are remarkably similar to one another. Assuming that you took each of these CATs in a realistic fashion that matches up with what you'll face on the Official GMAT, then it stands to reason that your current GMAT ability 'level' is in the low-600s. If you continue to study in the same ways that you have been studying, then you will likely continue to score at this level. To consistently score at a much higher level, you're going to have to make some significant changes to how you handle BOTH the Quant and Verbal sections - and that will likely require at least another 1-2 months of consistent, guided study with an emphasis on learning and practicing some new Tactics.

1) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
2) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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by gmatz22 » Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:49 pm
Thanks for your response, Rich. I took all 4 exams in a realistic setting - timed, with appropriate breaks.

I have approximately one month before I write the GMAT and aiming to get into Wharton or Columbia. After seeing these abysmal test scores, I am not sure if I can make it in.

Any guidance you have is greatly appreciated.
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by MartyMurray » Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:07 pm
Hi gmatz22.

A lot of the techniques taught by major test prep companies generate pretty much exactly the scores that you are seeing, around 630 - 640.

To go higher, you have to think at a higher level.

For example, while the "splits" method sometimes works for getting the answers to easy and medium level sentence correction questions, applying it to harder questions can be useless or counterproductive.

One thing that many people do that keeps them in the 600's is doing all practice questions timed. To take your thinking to a higher level, you have to take your time doing practice questions and train yourself to see more.

For instance, I have people go over a CR question, not for two minutes, but for as long as necessary to completely understand the prompt, identify the conclusion, find key flaws in the argument, define exactly why each wrong answer is wrong and the right answer is right, AND figure out what paths someone might take to picking some of the trap answers. You wouldn't do all those things when you are taking the test, but the point is to train yourself to see and understand what's going on in the questions.

Meanwhile, in practice you should use enough time to generate a hit rate of 90 - 100%. To hit the type of score you are targeting takes getting right answers consistently, and so your training has to involve learning not just how to get to answers but how to get the right answer almost every time.

Meanwhile, your quant score has moved up. So something has been working To get to the Q48 t0 Q51 level, go beyond doing OG questions to doing topic by topic questions to strengthen your skills in areas you are less strong in. In other words, go over your practice tests, possibly by using the Manhattan analytics, and see where opportunities lie in terms of types of quant questions you could be getting right more or answering faster, and work on those types.

One source of, mostly, great categorized quant questions is the question bank here, https://bellcurves.com. You can access it by going to the GMAT area and setting up a free practice account.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Oct 07, 2016 4:43 am
One more suggestion:

Try taking practice tests a bit more regularly and after each test, do a thorough analysis. The goal is to come away with 2-3 concrete strategic adjustments you can make before the next exam. The adjustments can be simple - slow down on easier questions to make sure you're not making careless mistakes - or they can involve more drilling in content areas. Once you've absorbed these adjustments, take another practice test, preferably no more than 7-10 days after your previous one. Wash/rinse/repeat.
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Fri Oct 07, 2016 5:44 am
In my opinion, many students don't dig deep enough while learning the concepts tested on the GMAT.

So, once they've covered/learned the concepts tested on the GMAT, these students spend too much time answering random/unrelated practice questions (a geometry question then a statistics question, algebra question, geometry question, probability question, etc.).

This strategy doesn't allow you to fully explore the intricacies of each concept, and this is very limiting, because the test-makers can take ANY concept (no matter how simple) and create dozens of wildly different questions, each requiring a different approach. So, to achieve a great score, you must answer tons of practice questions that are specifically-related to each concept tested on the GMAT.

Please note that, when I say "concept," I'm not referring to broad topics like Statistics or Geometry. I'm referring to the individual concepts that comprise those topics. For example, the concepts that fall under the umbrella of "Geometry" include the properties of parallel lines, triangles, right triangles, special right triangles, quadrilaterals, circles, etc. For each of these, you need to understand/anticipate all of the various ways the test-makers can challenge your knowledge.

Given all of this, I recommend a systematic approach, in which you take the time to thoroughly address each topic/concept. So, for each topic/concept, you should:
  • - Learn the underlying concepts (rules, attributes, notation, etc.)
    - Learn GMAT-specific strategies related to that topic
    - Practice dozens of questions all related to that one topic.
    - Don't stop working on that topic until you have mastered it
Then, and only then , move on to the next topic.

Our free course is specifically designed with this approach in mind. For example, at the bottom of the lesson page on inequalities (https://www.gmatprepnow.com/module/gmat ... /video/979), you'll find links to dozens of practice questions that test the 1 or 2 specific concepts covered in that one video.

Having said that, you can use the same approach with ANY prep course. To help you fully explore the ins and outs of each topic, you can use Beat the GMAT's question-tagging tool (https://www.beatthegmat.com/forums/tags/gmat-math). This will give you access to tons of topic-specific practice questions.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
Brent
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by gmatz22 » Fri Oct 07, 2016 6:31 am
Thank you all for the helpful suggestions!

Marty, I am definitely a culprit of attempting practice questions under timed constraints. I was doing that for a while until I realized that maybe I should change this approach. As of a couple of weeks ago, I gave myself whatever time was necessary when I went through the OG quant questions. While I did get a few more questions correct, I still don't think I have made a significant improvement. Perhaps I need to keep doing this?

David, I was planning to do more frequent practice tests but after seeing the nearly identical scores in the last four, I just felt that I'm burning through them without taking anything away. I like your suggestion of coming away with 2-3 concrete strategies. Do you have any examples of strategies that students typically formulate after debriefing these practice tests? Understand that the strategies I need to develop would be based on what I need to work on, but I'm not sure where to begin.

Brent, your analysis is on point! While I have done quite a range of questions, I have yet to focus on specific concepts at a time. I will definitely take a look through your course and the resources you posted.

I have the MGMAT analytics to use as a tool to determine what concepts I need to focus on. The only issue is while my ultimate score is consistent across the last four tests, the section by section metrics vary quite a bit. Accuracy and timing are both quite volatile across the concepts. Do you think it would be beneficial for me to have someone analyze these metrics for me and help devise a plan to help me achieve my target score?
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Fri Oct 07, 2016 7:18 am
David, I was planning to do more frequent practice tests but after seeing the nearly identical scores in the last four, I just felt that I'm burning through them without taking anything away. I like your suggestion of coming away with 2-3 concrete strategies. Do you have any examples of strategies that students typically formulate after debriefing these practice tests? Understand that the strategies I need to develop would be based on what I need to work on, but I'm not sure where to begin.
Of course - I was working with a student the other day whose takeaway list was something like this:

1) If the algebra is too complex pick simple #'s! (Two questions involved a quantity increasing by x%. So say x = 100.)
2) Brush up on combination/permutation questions. (Sheet of drills)
3) Always re-read the question, particularly early on (Three careless mistakes during the first 7 questions.)
4) In SC questions make sure to reread the entire sentence before selecting, always consider the logical meaning of the sentence, and remember to examine parallel construction and modifier placement.

Seems simple, but these types of adjustments can contribute to incredibly rapid score improvements.
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by [email protected] » Fri Oct 07, 2016 9:04 am
Hi gmatz22,

You've named a couple of really competitive Schools, so beyond having a competitive GMAT score, you need a strong OVERALL profile AND you need to 'market yourself' to each individual School. As such, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba-a ... t-f40.html

With the Round 2 application deadlines, you still have plenty of time to study and improve though, so it's not clear why you're trying to 'cram' all of this into 1 month.

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