Any takers of Manhattan Free online test

This topic has expert replies
Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:22 am

Any takers of Manhattan Free online test

by surajsagi » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:17 pm
Hi,

As most of you might be aware that manhattan offers a free online test. Something which all of us can and should give

Therefore, i recommend creating a post which has scores of the free test of everyone and share their experience

For example - i am 20 days from my Dday - gave a test yesterday - 660 - 45q and 34v (got 33% right in SC :-()...feeling scared now :(

Thanks,
SM
Source: — GMAT Strategy |

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:14 am
660 is a very good score! You said you got 33% of your SC questions right. What was the difficulty range and what was your timing (you can see that data in the assessment reports)?

I ask because the percentage alone doesn't tell you the whole story. If the difficulty level is on the higher end, then it makes sense that the percentage is lower - that kind of thing.

How do you plan to adjust your study given the data you found in the assessment reports? (Taking a practice test is only marginally valuable if you don't examine the data to figure out what you want to do the same vs. differently the next time you take a GMAT!)
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:22 am

by surajsagi » Tue Jul 22, 2008 1:25 am
Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the mail and encouragement. Earlier i had decided to give a full exam every alternate day, but now i have decided to focus on my weak areas instead.

I have given 3 MGMAT test so far and here are my results (loved the consolidated analysis)

------------------- CR ------------RC -----------------SC
300 to 500 - 100% ------------100%--------------100%
500 to 600 - 100%--------------60%---------------- 71%
600 to 700 - 65%--------------50%-----------------35%
700 to 800 - 35%-------------40% ----------------25%

I intend to do following for each sections

- CR - i am very confident about this section - will work on diagram approach for difficult questions

- RC - something which has been bothering me a lot. I just finsihed the MGMAT RC book and will try the new approach tonight.

- SC - finsihed MGMAT SC book yesterday (2nd time) and will do all OG 10 and 11 questions again (but topic wise) (hope this is good approach). (Comparisons, Idioms and verbs are my weakest so far - 0% accuracy after 2.5 mpnths of study...lol )

Let me know, if this is a good plan or i should make some changes to it

My D-day is on 8th Aug and a 700+ is a must for me - I intentend to the remaining 4 MGMAT tests and GMATPrep (each twice) in the remaining days. Major focus on my study would be - to cover all the OG's (questions which i have wrong in the past). In addition to MGMAT - challenge probelms and question bank

Thanks a ton
SM

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:13 am
Good. Some suggestions.

For RC and CR, also study why wrong answers are wrong. This allows you to use process of elimination to narrow down your answers, and it also gives you something to do when you've narrowed down to 2 and can't decide. If you know how the test tends to make very tempting but wrong answers, that can help you guess between the final 2.

For SC, do only some topic-by-topic (that is, so that you know what that question is supposed to be testing before you start doing it). Save some to do in random sets. The test doesn't tell you "parallelism question coming up next" - you have to figure that out. So you need to practice figuring that out.

Another thing that can help. Get a notebook (or make a computer file) and, on one side, list a rule (eg, parallelism). On the other, list clues in sentences that could tell you parallelism might be an issue. For example, lists of things, a comma followed by the word and, "XY" type idioms (both X and Y, not only X but also Y, etc.), comparisons (and then do another list for: what are common markers for comparisons? eg: like, as, unlike, as ___ as, ___ than, etc.)

Basically, consciously study how you recognize that a particular issue might be going on in a particular sentence so that you have an idea of what to do when you're reading a new problem.

Also, just be careful about your practice tests. Different people have different theories about this. Mine is that practice tests should be taken about 3 weeks apart until you get close to the test, and then you should take one 2 weeks before and another one 1 week before. That's it. Again, just taking practice tests without reviewing them and basing your study on them doesn't do a whole lot for you. And reviewing and changing your plan takes time.

At the very least, don't take a practice test within 3 days of the real thing. There's really no upside (you're not going to take that data and figure out how to incorporate new stuff with just a couple of days to go) and there are serious potential downsides - you could tire yourself out mentally, you could score poorly and psych yourself out right before the real test, etc.

Good luck - let us know how it goes!
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:22 am

by surajsagi » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:40 pm
Hi Stacey,

I think creating the clinker list for the SC is a very good idea. I will start working on it today (In case, anyone has/in process or has found something similar on the net, please feel free to share it with the group)

Just to be on the same page - what you are suggesting is implies

1. list down the 8 common SC errors
2. Write down the common mistakes and words tested for each section

Let me know, if this is what you are suggesting

Thanks a ton for the continous support. Had i known of MGMAT few months back, i would had have definatley taken up the complete online course

SM

Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts
Posts: 51
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:22 am

by surajsagi » Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:45 pm
Hi Stacey,

I think creating the clinker list for the SC is a very good idea. I will start working on it today (In case, anyone has/in process or has found something similar on the net, please feel free to share it with the group)

Just to be on the same page - what you are suggesting is implies

1. list down the 8 common SC errors
2. Write down the common mistakes and words tested for each section

Let me know, if this is what you are suggesting

Thanks a ton for the continous support. Had i known of MGMAT few months back, i would had have definatley taken up the complete online course

SM

GMAT/MBA Expert

User avatar
GMAT Instructor
Posts: 2228
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2006 3:28 pm
Location: Montreal, Canada
Thanked: 639 times
Followed by:694 members
GMAT Score:780

by Stacey Koprince » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:12 am
yes - essentially, how to recognize that a particular type of error might be "in play" on this question.

eg, if I see the same noun in all five answer choices, and sometimes it has an "s" on the end and sometimes it doesn't, then I know that noun is going back and forth between singular and plural. And I also know that this could point to two things: subject-verb agreement or pronoun agreement. So now I can go check for those two things, figure out which one it is, and eliminate some of the answers. So under both s-v agreement and pronouns, on my list, I would write "noun switching between singular and plural" as a clue.
Please note: I do not use the Private Messaging system! I will not see any PMs that you send to me!!

Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT

Contributor to Beat The GMAT!

Learn more about me