Has anyone taken the new pattern?

[Saana]

Hey Im taking the GMAT on the 25th and Im freaked!
Has anyone taken the new pattern with IR?
Any pointers?
Thanks!

[meanjonathan]

Sadly, I'm in the same boat as you--so I'm hopping on this thread to follow the conversation as it emerges. So far, there doesn't seem to be the flurry of conversation about IR that I had anticipated.

My experience so far in studying IR is that, frankly, this section is a total bear. Whereas I'm scoring in the 70-80%iles in math and 80-90%tiles in verbal, I bearly make it through half of the IR.

What are your personal experiences with it and what resources are you using? Does anyone else have tips or advice?

--timing or strategy
--ramifications on Q/V section performance
--partial credit
--when to skip and when not to?

Thanks everybody.

[Saana]

Hi! Me too, Im currently scoring about 90% in quants and 70-80% in verbal but IR is the worst part. My brain gets so clogged in the beginning of the exam itself! :@
I really need to know how it goes for the others! Lets wait and see
Good luck with your prep!
When are you taking your exam?

[meanjonathan]

Taking it June 18th. It's a Monday. :/

I just posted this re: IR. https://www.beatthegmat.com/finishing-th ... 13853.html

Care to weigh in?

[Saana]

Mine is a week after yours! A monday as well :/!
Do let me know how yours goes!

[Saana]

Hi! how was your exam ??

[meanjonathan]

Saana!

Oh man! Something unexpected happened 1 hour before gametime. Through me completely off. I had no choice but to postpone. Too bad too, I felt so prepared.

Let me know how yours goes?

(And as a proportion of your total study, how much time are you putting into IR? Verbal? Quant?)

Thanks.

[Saana]

Hey!
That's really bad. When have you rescheduled it to?
And well as of now, Im taking the MGMAT tests everyday (Im assuming you have already taken them?) How much were you averaging?
I spend about 1.5 hours on quants and 2 hours on verbal and about an hour on IR as of now. My head is quite saturated after taking the test!

[pmiklius]

Took it today. IR was not that bad. At least not bad enough to worry a lot about. It actually seemed a little easier then the GMAT prep questions I studied with. When I found out I would have to take it I just worked in spurts of ten questions into my practice. I used the og thirteen and question pack questions. They are a really good representation of what you'll see on exam day. I ended up with a 690 (q47 v37). Pretty much on par with my practice exams. Overall I wouldn't stress too much on IR


Good luck

[meanjonathan]

pmiklius, thanks for the info! if you don't mind me asking, what percentiles did your q47 and v37 work out to? did you receive an ir score today, as well?

mj.

[pmiklius]

Q47 was a 76 and V37 was an 81. The 690 was an 88 percent total. And no I didn't get an IR score today. If I'm not mistaken my practice scores with a Q47 were at or slightly above the 80 percent. It seems it's getting tougher to hit 80. But I'll double check my practice tests and reply again

[pmiklius]

Just as I thought a q47 was an 81 percent in MGMAT practice test. How did your test end up ?

[sam2304]

Took it yesterday with IR and scored a 680 Q48 V35 (Yet to get the IR score). The questions were easier than the ones available in GMATPrep. I already had OG 12, so used only GMATPrep questions and the ones in mba.com never bought any materials for IR. IR definitely tests your endurance. Earlier when I used to prepare in the old format, I never felt tired at the end of the verbal section, but yesterday I was totally psyched out and that's probably one of the reason for my low score. I was expecting a V38+ but got only V35. If you are going to prepare for the worst then try a 75 min quant section instead of essays and IR because they have got only one set of IR and essay, which will take very less time when you solve it again and again. Take 8 min breaks and start off with another quant and verbal. That will help you stay focused in verbal in the actual test.

[meanjonathan]

pmiklius, thanks for looking into that. Yes, I've come to the same conclusion that math is getting more competitive. Looks like 80%ile is now q48, a high score considering q51 is perfect. My exam has been pushed back to July 15th so I'll let you know how it goes.

sam2304, I feel you. IR is stressful and requires additional endurance; however, I imagine that some of the fatigue we're experiencing stems from increased anxiety rather than genuine cognitive fatigue. Perhaps, then, the best practice is to take full tests, i.e., essay, IR, quant, and verbal, adhering to time benchmarks and relaxation/breathing techniques.

any thoughts?

--mj.

[ldiffen]

i wished they would just stop playing around with the GMAT. enough already!