I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it's good that your practice test was similar to the real test - that can give us data on your strengths and weaknesses.
On the practice test that you just took, do the following analysis (and share the results here, if you like). Start by going to the problem lists and looking down the "time" column. How did your time progress through the test? Are most questions pretty close to the average expected timeframe? Or do you have a lot that were too high and an lot that were too low?
From the problem lists, find:
- problems on which you spent >30 sec above or >45sec below what you were supposed to on problems of that type (eg, for quant, under 1m15s or over 2m30s)
- problems below your level that you got wrong - eg, if you're currently scoring 650, look for problems in the 500-600 category
Then run the assessment reports to find:
- areas on which you scored <50% correct
- areas on which you averaged >20sec above or >30 sec below what you were supposed to average
- areas on which there is >30sec (overall question categories) or >45sec (question subcategories) disparity in timing (in either direction) between the ones of that type that you got right and the ones that you got wrong
Pat yourself on the back for things on which you scored >50% correct (the higher, the better) and for things you answered correctly in the general timeframe you were supposed to spend. For things you answered correctly very quickly, do still pat yourself on the back, but know that doing something too fast increases the chances you'll make a careless mistake - it's not necessarily a virtue to get something right really fast, because you never know when you're going to make a careless mistake.
Note on some of the timing data: if your timing got messed up in the section (eg, you spent too much time early on and had to rush later on), then your data will be skewed because you will have been forced to do questions towards the end much faster than you'd otherwise have done them (possibly to the point of making random guesses in a few seconds). If this happened in either section, you'll have to dive down into the data for individual problems rather than use the assessment reports to do the work for you, because the average timing may seem to be okay even though you had a bunch that were too long and a bunch that were too short.
Also, start an error log from this test. Look at EVERY question (even the ones you got right). In your log, note:
- if you got it wrong, why (as specifically as possible)
- if you got it right, did you really know what you were doing or did you get lucky? if you got lucky, why? why should you have gotten it wrong?
- if you got it right and did know what you were doing, why would someone else get it wrong? what are the traps? what makes it a tricky question?
- what could you do to minimize the chances of making the same error in future? (whether you actually made an error or not!)
- did you do the problem in the best way it could be done or is there a better way? (better could mean "less likely to make a mistake," "more efficient," or both)
- how will you recognize problems of similar type in future so that you can either repeat your original success or apply your new "best way" to the problem?
After you've done the above, if you'd like to share the data with us, we can help you to figure out more precisely what went wrong.
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Stacey Koprince
GMAT Instructor
Director of Online Community
Manhattan GMAT
Contributor to Beat The GMAT!
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