Disastrous MGMAT first two CAT scores

[yogami]

I took the first two CATs and scored a miserable 680 in both. I have identified my weak areas and have realized that, without the silly mistakes, I could have scored in the 700 - 720 range.
Is MGMAT quant tougher than actual GMAT? Some questions are brutal!!!. Verbal is fine though.
I took a three day break between the two tests and haven't seen any marked improvement. I am not going to worry much about RC and CR because they have gotten to a point where I cannot improve them further other than just timed practiCe. However I can definitely improve on my SC and avoid silly mistakes. I also realized that I spent 6 minutes on one quant question, 5 minutes on another and 4 minutes on another. Do you guys guess the answers when you exceed the time limit??

Finally, has anybody seen a marked improvement in their MGMAT scores over a period?? I am sincerely considering postponing my GMAT if I score less than 720 in my third one.
Please advise!!!

[gmat_dest]

I can reply on sunday evening:P

I took up MGMAT 3 and MGMAT 4 on saturday & sunday respectively.

MGMAT CAT 3, I was over the boil with some Qs, Got 680(Q46, V36)
I went over my mistakes. RC and CR were brutal. Very close choices.
Did't brood too much over quant. I scored 48-51 on every GMAT focus test
+ Q51 on Princeton(overall 730) and Q51 on Veritas (overall 710).

MGMAT CAT 4, I was more calm and scored 710(Q48, V38)

My target is to better that score. And that is possible by cutting down on V mistakes. I learn more out of MGMAt CATs than any other non-GMAC test.

So, I took up GMAt Prep 1(re-take after 2 months), saw 30% repeated Qs and scored 770(Q50, V45).

My target on MGMAT CAT is 720+ for MGMAT-5 and MGMAT-6.

Lets see how the weekend goes. Bring them on.

cheers

[yogami]

dude but what do you do when questions are really tough nut to solve within two monutes or so...i do solve em but sometimes i take over five minutes..cos i get the easiest way to solve them right in the end....(sometimes though)

[awesomeusername]

I took the first two CATs and scored a miserable 680 in both. I have identified my weak areas and have realized that, without the silly mistakes, I could have scored in the 700 - 720 range.
Is MGMAT quant tougher than actual GMAT? Some questions are brutal!!!. Verbal is fine though.
I took a three day break between the two tests and haven't seen any marked improvement. I am not going to worry much about RC and CR because they have gotten to a point where I cannot improve them further other than just timed practiCe. However I can definitely improve on my SC and avoid silly mistakes. I also realized that I spent 6 minutes on one quant question, 5 minutes on another and 4 minutes on another. Do you guys guess the answers when you exceed the time limit??

Finally, has anybody seen a marked improvement in their MGMAT scores over a period?? I am sincerely considering postponing my GMAT if I score less than 720 in my third one.
Please advise!!!

680 is a great score on MGMAT. Quant is harder than the actual GMAT so don't let that psyche you out. I was really happy when I scored a 680 on the MGMAT (CAT 3). My first score was a 640. My last test, was a 740 (Q47/V45). Just keep at it, you'll see improvement. The more CATs you take, the better you'll get at test taking. Of course, you need to not make the same stupid mistakes over and over.

On another note, let's be careful about calling 680 miserable. To you, maybe, but to others, it could be a score they would die for.
https://www.beatthegmat.com/best-tip-les ... 41331.html

[gmat_dest]

@Yogami,

dude, u seem desperate, asking for a 750 score to rescue yourself from a mid/quarter-life crisis...lol...

I understand that , even I am in the same boat :P

Coming to your point, don't spend 5 mins on a SC/CR question(of course that depends on you are at what point of the test). I can understand LSAT CRs, they screw your life :)

But MATH questions in MGMAT take a little more time to unravel, so don't worry. You will do fine. 680 is a good score in MGMAT series, I believe.

[JasonReynolds]

I'm not sure if this helps, but here is my take.

When I first started studying for the GMAT, I took 4 paper tests (like the old ETS Tests you can find online). My Scores were 740, 730, 750, 730. I got a Q50 each time, and ranged between V40-V44.

Obviously the paper tests are pretty different from the real thing, so then I started taking CATs.

Princeton Review Diagnostic was 710 (V41, Q47)
Manhattan GMAT 1 was a 690 (V38, Q46)
Manhattan Gmat 2 was a 710 (V39, Q47)

I was pretty frustrated at this point because before taking the Manhattan GMAT tests, I was pretty sure the only thing I needed to work on was SC. When I went through OG 11, I got 88% SC right, 93% RC right, and 96% Critical Reasoning. I also know that I struggle with the really Sentence corrections.

After taking Manhattan GMAT practice tests, I felt like everything needed work. I was missing critical reasoning and reading comp questions in significant amounts. What I noticed was when I went over the questions, a lot of the questions I missed didn't feel like real GMAT questions. Now, I don't know if everyone can use this excuse, but I'm very confident in reading comprehension as a whole. I don't expect to ever miss CR or RC questions, and I realized that the MGMAT wasn't helping me focus on what I needed to focus on. The books are still great though.

I ended up taking a few weeks off, because I was discouraged. And then randomly one day, I sat down and took GMAT Prep I (I was trying to save up my GMAT prep tests, but I felt like it was necessary).

I scored a 750 on Gmat Prep Q49 and the verbal was either 42 or 44. I didn't miss any reading comp questions, missed one critical reasoning question, and I missed 3 or 4 of my sentence correction questions.

Basically I verified what I had originally thought. If I can move my Quant score to 49 or 50, and then limit my sentence correction errors to 2, I'll be looking at 760 or 770.

I don't know if this helps at all, but my point was that you should perhaps take the GMAT Prep test to see where you are. Perhaps even some of the paper tests. Also, it is possible that GMAT Prep scores are slightly inflated if you have gone through all the OG questions, because there are occasional repeats. Though, I think you would only really feel this effect if you got an entire passage again, or you remember the SC question from last time because you got it wrong.

[yogami]

Thanks jason. Your post inspires me to keep a cool disposition. And gmat_dest we gotta move this boat upstream somehow if yo know what I mean Let me know how your improvement goes

[gmat_dest]

@yogami, sure dude...

BTW am done with my MGMAT 5 and MGMAT 6.

MGMAT 5 - 710 - (Q48, V38)

MGMAT 6 - 780 - (Q51, V45)

The last one beats me, I knew I had done good in quant.
But Verbal, the RCs were the longest and the most boring I had seen in any of the other MGMAT tests. I though I had bombed it. CR I guessed a couple .

Other MGMAT tests (esp the verbal section.), I was very confident of my scores till I clicked on View scores. MGMAT 6 I was reluctant to do so, when I did, a 780 threw up. Only 2 SCs, 3CRs and 4 RCs wrong.

I did not follow the Manhattan strategy of noting down because they were too long.

I have my actual test on 8th next month. Now I dont know what to do!
SHould I throw the kitchen sink and go ahead with the test?

My MGMAT scores are like:

MGMAT1 and MGMAT2 were done before my previous GMAT attempt.

680(Q46, V36) - MGMAT 3
710(Q48, V38) - MGMAT 4
710(Q48, V38) - MGMAT 5
780(Q51, V45) - MGMAT 6

My challenge is to take verbal upto 40s as I am pretty string in quant.

Scores in other mock tests testify:

Princeton - 730 - Q51, V41
Veritas - 710 - Q51, V38

I am not doing GMAT Prep, because I have seen almost every Q, and I invariably end up scoring 770 :-)

[yogami]

Dude you got it all good. Depending upon how much time and patience you have i would still give as many tests as possible. There's gmatfocus and gmatlive, not sure which one is better. But considering your scores I have little doubt in my mind that you are below 700. You look you are set for 730+.
I scored 710 on my next MGMAT and I got two more remaining. I feel kinda jaded at this point !!!

[gmat_dest]

Mate, I have done GMAt Focus...but thats for quant only right? Or is there verbal part too?

If you have done MGMAt Quant, GMAt Focus is a cake walk..I have done so, hence confirming :-)

[yogami]

Yeah in that case you are right...mgmat quant is tougher than gmatfocus. what about kaplan quant? is kaplan quant comparable to mgmat quant? I dont think there are other prep tests which are as hard as mgmat quant but I could be wrong

[gmat_dest]

I did 4 tests of Kaplan before my previous attempt and I think their tests are piecees of ****. Their verbal was tough , but quant was pretty easy.
Many people think their tests are more academic-oriented. Just browse over the forum. i wont touch their tests, if I were you.

I will say stick to GPrep/MGMAT and the other available free tests like Veritas/Princeton. You will have 10 tests in total.

If you still need some practice, 800 score tests are there. Their quant is tough. The tests are good practice.

cheers