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Need help in analyzing my practice test scores

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Need help in analyzing my practice test scores

by beatgmatny1 » Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:01 pm
Hello,

I am planning to take exam in 20 days! I need help in analyzing my practice test scores and identifying areas to focus. Below are the results of my past test scores. My last test score was really bad. I am very nervous as I have been preparing for months yet I am not able to progress esp. on RC.


GMAT Prep test 1 (retake) - 670
GMAT Prep Exam 1 - 620 (Q46, V29)
GMAT Prep Exam 2 - 590 (Q41, V29)


Verbal RC has been tough for me. I practice 3 OG passages everyday. I tend to score between 75-80%. However, when it comes to the GMAT Prep exam, I tend to miss most of the questions. For example, in my previous test, I got a total of 8 RC questions wrong. 2 questions wrong for CR and 4 questions wrong for SC. My verbal section started with an RC passage! Below are the number of questions and the order in which I got them wrong.1,2,3,6,8,11,15,20,23,24,26,38,40,41(blank).

Can you please advise on how to improve upon my RC score? I usually approach the following way. I read the passage first, make notes along the way, and answer questions. At this point, I realize that I need to change my strategy on the way I approach the questions. Any suggestions in this section would be very helpful.

I have been scoring around Q46 consistently. However, I am surprised to see it dropped for the last test. I did rushed towards the last 5 questions. In regards to Quant, what's the best way to ensure that I score consistently on the tests? Below are the number of questions and the order in which I got them wrong. 2,5,6,10,11,18,23,24,31,34,35,36,37

Any suggestions that you can provide on this would be very valuable for me as I plan out my schedule for the next 20 days!.
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by [email protected] » Sat Mar 08, 2014 7:32 pm
Hi beatgmatny1,

If you can answer a couple of questions, then I'll be happy to advise:

1) How long have you been studying?
2) What resources are you using to study?
3) Can you push your Test Date back to extend your study schedule?

4) When you study Verbal material, are you using a book or a computer-based program?

My first thought is that your difficulty with parts of the Verbal section are primarily due to fatigue and the physical difference between doing RC on paper vs. doing RC on a computer.

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Rich
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by beatgmatny1 » Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:17 pm
Hi Rich,

In regards to your questions, I have been studying for the past 3 months. I have been doing 3 passages everyday. I usually do 1 passage at a time and review. I am using mostly OG 12, OG 13, OG verbal and Quant Review. I am studying from my ipad. I read the passage through the iPad and use a notebook to write my answers. When I tackle OG RC passages, I tend to get between 75%-80% right. However, on the Practice test, I tend to get majority of the RC passages wrong. Also, one thing that I noticed is that when reviewing the GMAT EXAM 2, I tend to get most of the RC questions right. I am not able to find out what I am doing wrong. I will be out of country for a month or so in April. so, I would like to take the test before I leave. In regards to Quant, I am not sure how GMAT EXAM 1 & 2 calculates the Percentile. When I got 620, my Quant score was 46 yet I got 17 questions wrong. In my previous test, my Quant score is 41 yet I got only 13 wrong. Does this mean that I am getting the easy questions wrong? or i am not hitting the hard questions? After reviewing the questions, I realized that I got 5 questions wrong because of time constraints. I was rushing towards the end. Any insights that you can provide on these is greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch!
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by [email protected] » Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:21 pm
Hi beatgmatny1,

The OG books are great sources for practice material, however, they don't simulate test-like conditions nor do they test your endurance in the same way that a CAT (or the actual GMAT) will. While your procedure to read on an iPad is inventive, it's not test-like either. Since you'll be taking your GMAT on a desk-top work-station, your practice should mimic those details in as much detail as you can manage.

When reviewing your CAT performance, you seem to do quite well, so it seems as though you have to capacity to be scoring higher. You'll have to put some time in to try to figure out how you can clear your own head and "refresh" yourself before starting the Verbal section. That process will vary from person to person, but it's quite the useful tactic before starting each portion of the GMAT.

Your score on the GMAT is not based on the number of correct answers; some of the questions are experimental (and don't count), so those correct answers can make it appear that you "did better" while your score stayed the same (or even dropped). A better question to ask is WHY you got certain questions wrong. If it's due to silly mistakes, then you have to fix that problem to pick up points. Your pacing problem could absolutely affect your overall scores as well, since having to guess on a bunch of questions at the end (or worse, not answering them at all) likely means that you got some questions wrong that you probably shouldn't have. While your goal is certainly to attempt to correctly answer as many questions as you can, you ALSO have to get to all of them.

With the time that you have remaining, you can certainly get some good practice in, but it sounds like you've been doing things a certain way for awhile now and it takes time to really learn and master new ideas. I'd suggest that you focus on fixing the silly mistakes. That might be enough to bump up your score given your time constraints. If you don't score high enough to your liking, you can always continue studying and retake the GMAT when you have a bit more time.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
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by beatgmatny1 » Mon Mar 10, 2014 7:38 am
Hi Rich,

Thank you for your advice. I will try to minimize the silly mistakes and focus on "refreshing" my brain for the verbal portion. After thoroughly reviewing the CAT portion, I realized that I made 5 silly mistakes on the Quant portion. I plan to focus more on the verbal portion for the remaining time while enhancing my strengths on the Quant portion. I believe that I can score higher if I can manage timing on boths sections and improve on RC.

Thank you for your encouragement!
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