PowerPrep/GMATPrep 710 then PR 570 !!! - Help Needed

[masri]

Dear Experts,

I have a strange situation, and would appreciate your analysis.

Yesterday I took my first PowerPrep test, I scored 710 (Q50/V35). Many of the Q questions were questions in OG 11 that I solved before during my preparations, so I managed to solve them easily even though they were of the harder ones (OG 211-249), however, even the ones I saw for the first time, around 30, I managed to get 27 of them right. In V almost all questions seemed new to me. I know my score was a bit skewed up, but I didn't mind as I scored 710 in my first GMATPrep CAT as well, and I am shooting for mid 600s any how.

Today I took my 4th PR CAT and I was so upset to see a 570 (Q43, V25) in Q I got 5 wrong (including the last 3 questions) and ended up with a 43, that was OK, but I was astonished with a V25, I got 16 wrong, in two occasions 4 in a row. My hit rate in SC was 86%, CR 50% (much more twisted than OG or MG), and RC 43%. I know RC is my weakness and I am dedicating few days for it this week.

I never scored above 27 in any of the 4 PR CATs I did (27, 25, 27, 25), however my V average in the 3 MG CATs, PowerPrep CAT, and GMATPrep CAT was 33.6 !!! (MG1 29, MG2 34, MG3 34, GP1 36, PP1 35)


Am I not getting along with PR V, or is it a PR scoring alg. thing, because it does not make sense to me to assume that I was focused in all 5 different V CATs other than PRs, and was day dreaming while doing the PR ones.

Your analysis and insights are highly appreciated, as I am seriously confused.

Thanks in advance

[bbuisson]

I'm in a similar boat....in V I got 9 wrong (78% correct) and scored a 33, yet in Q I got 13 wrong (65% correct) and scored a 35. Obvi Q isn'y my strong suit, but 78% should yield a higher score than a 65%, right?

[masri]

Hi bbuisson,

It's not only the count of right/wrong questions that builds up your score, it's also the difficulty level of each question....You might have got a couple of silly questions in V wrong that lowered your score considerably. Also the order in which you get questions wrong count, for example, when I get 4 questions in a row wrong it tends to lower my score much more.

I know i need to focus my studies on Verbal the coming ten days, but what puzzles me is that while my verbal average in five different CATs of MG, PP, and GP is 33.6, it was never higher than 27 in PR (average 26).

I appreciate the experts' inputs on this !

Best

[mayonnai5e]

Here's my view of this: your focusing on the tree and losing sight of the forest.

So you think PR has a bad algorithm. Ok. So are you planning on petitioning PR to change their algorithm? Or you think PR has bad verbal questions - are you going to write new ones for them?

The point I'm trying to get across is that you have no control over the 3rd party GMAT material providers, but what you do have control over is what to do with your time and how to focus your studies. Moreover, the time you spend thinking about statistics, comparing percentages, arguing over which algorithm is better, and evaluating answer patterns can be spent doing other things - things that will have a meaningful impact on your score. It's not really that important in the grand scheme of things where you got questions wrong, it's far more important to understand WHY you got questions wrong.

Getting 33 on avg on 4 cats and 25 on avg in another 4 tell me one thing and one thing only - that you have fundamental weaknesses in verbal. This holds true on a PR cat. This holds true on a MGMAT cat. And will be true for any other cat you take. So avoid wasting time on ancillary items and focus on what you NEED to do.

[masri]

wow....that was tough, but mostly true.

I have ten days to go. What do you advise to improve my verbal in such a time frame. My initial plan is:

1. Since I have already went through most of the OG CR already, I am going to go through all of the ones I got wrong again (timed) and then check the OG explanations for every choice carefully.

2. I have the supplement OG Verbal book, so I want to practice what I learn in 1 above doing all the of its CR questions.

3. For RC, I didn't go through all of the OG11 and its supplement questions, so basically I will practice more on the ones I did not tackle so far. I do not go through the first few lines of each paragraph as some strategies suggest, as I find my self doing better when I carefully read the whole text in 3-5 minutes and then giving every question around 1.5 minutes.

4. I have 4 more CATs to apply the lessons I learn under test conditions.

[mayonnai5e]

Your plan sounds good to me. The only thing I would like to know is whether you have a firm grasp of the different question types in CR and RC and the complimenting strategies for each. Can you name the types and exactly what to look for in each? What are the traps associated to each one and what can you do to avoid these traps?

The strategy of reading the first sentence of each paragraph is total crap to me. I found it completely useless especially in the 700+ level questions - at that level the questions are often focused on specific details that most test takers will miss. In addition, those questions can sometimes combine information from various parts of the passage including different paragraphs and that makes it much harder for someone who is just skimming the first line of each paragraph to answer correctly. I proceeded just like you are planning - reading the passage carefully (yet quickly) and answering the questions quickly.

[masri]

Hey. Thanks for the reply.

To answer your question:

The only thing I would like to know is whether you have a firm grasp of the different question types in CR and RC and the complimenting strategies for each. Can you name the types and exactly what to look for in each? What are the traps associated to each one and what can you do to avoid these traps?

In CR I went through Kaplan800 CR chapter once before to understand the question types (did not solve much of their questions though), but the short answer is that I do not have a FIRM grasp of the complimenting strategies for different question types.

I find my self using self-developed strategies like what you once called in your blog: the “Truthiness Technique” to differentiate between premises and conclusions. In general, I read what the question is asking about twice and POE all choices that are irrelevant to the particular issue the question is investigating, I then either manage to find the choice that is making sense, spotting it right away, or be challenged with two possible answers, in the later case I reread the whole argument trying to search for a key word that supports one of the two choices.

I do not have a clear strategy regarding RC, as mentioned I would read the passage in 3-5 min carefully, and then answer each question in 1.5 minute, if it’s a general question and I am not sure of the answer I would reread quickly the first few lines of the first paragraph and the last few lines of the last paragraph, if it’s a tough specific question I would go back to the relevant part of the passage, and reread it before staring to evaluate the choices.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but I do not think this is a firm grasp of complimenting strategies for different question types. I was thinking of covering the CR and RC chapters in Kaplan800 and solve their questions to be more comfortable with different types/strategies and then implement what I learn solving OG questions, would you recommend this (or other strategy sources, I have Princeton too), or shall I try to come up with such strategies as I tackle the OG questions and read their OG explanations?!

Using my current strategy I end up guessing on the last few (4-5) questions, I am trying to overcome that with more and more practice to be able to get done with a CR question in 2 min as currently it’s taking slightly more. (SC timing is fine with an average of 80 seconds per question)

[mayonnai5e]

If you do not feel you have a firm grasp of the strategies then you probably do not. For the next practice session, try doing something very simple. Go through the questions you've gotten wrong and build a table in your notebook. For each question, mark the specific type of question, what the important point to note is for that question type and write down the important point.

For example, if you see a CR weaken question, in your table you should have "weaken" marked down. For weaken questions, there are certain "ways" to weaken the argument - for example you can find an alternative explanation. So you could add the specific way to attack the conclusion to the table. Then you can mark down the actual alternative explanation.

In addition, for each CR question you got wrong, you should break down the passage into premises and the conclusion. Always, always determine the premises and conclusions first before attempting to answer the question. You'll be surprised by how many careless mistakes are made by mistaking a premise for a conclusion and vice versa.

Basically, be structured about your learning of the fundamentals. I did this in a notebook and it took a lot of time and a lot of paper/ink, but after doing about 50-75 CR problems like this, I was able to forego all the writing and immediately breakdown CR questions in this fashion in my head.

As you go through this, compare your table, your notes, your premises and conclusions to that of the OG solutions (by the way, do this ONLY with OG questions) and see if there are significant differences between the two. If there are, this can help pinpoint where your mistakes are being made.