First CAT score

[ajohnson77]

Hello,

I wrote the previous post "QUANT DRIVING ME CRAZY" and got a lot of helpful feedback. Today I took my first CAT (400 score, 36 percentile verbal, 8th percentile quant, and 24th percentile on integrated reasoning). Disappointing yes, but its not way off what was expected. I am aiming for a 550-600 for my schools of choice, and that's on the upside. My exam is March 22nd so I need a 150+ point increase. I have the OG 13th edition, both Verbal and qaunt reviews for the OG series, Kaplan Premier and Magoosh. Any suggestions on what approach should be taken to reach my target score? I intend to purchase the exam pack 1 and the additional 400+ questions from GMATPREP. My quant weaknesses are algebra and geometry. Verbal, I would say reading comprehension is the hardest. Integrated reasoning I have literally spent no time studying so that score is very skewed.

My work schedule is full time and I have a newborn at home which makes studying 3-5 hours Monday-Friday impossible. Currently I get in about 1.5 hours after work 3-4 days a week, and sneak in some Magoosh practice problems at work each day. The weekends it usually 5-6 hours each day. Quant is by far my weakness, surprisingly I do better on DS than problem solving. Also how much can a 3 or 4 score on the writing impact your overall GMAT score?


Regards,

Anthony

[[email protected]]

Hi Anthony,

A 150+ point increase is more "modest" than a 200 or 300 point increase, but it's still a lot in a relatively short period of time (6 weeks). Since percentiles vary from Test to Test, can you provide your Scaled Scores for the Quant and Verbal sections of your practice CAT? Those numbers can provide some insight into your strengths and weaknesses.

The AWA/Essay portion of the GMAT is a separate score (0-6) that has NO impact on your score out of 800. That score is based on your performance on the Quant and Verbal sections.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[VivianKerr]

Hey Anthony,

Was your CAT the GMATPrep 1? Remember, that the scores that most practice companies will give you after a CAT is really just a ballpark estimate

So with 1.5 hours each weekday and 10-12 hours on the weekends, it's going to be tough to climb 150+ points. There's simply too many concepts on the GMAT to comprehensively cover all of them, so I think you have to just accept the fact that you're not going to be able to do everything, and so go completely in the opposite direction: get REALLY specific with WHAT you're studying and WHY.

When you say "Quant is by far my weakness," can you pinpoint exactly where your weaknesses are within the concepts? Do you miss more Word Problems than Geometry, more Y/N DS than Value DS, always missing opportunities to pick numbers or backsolve, etc. Most people don't do enough self-analysis. They take a few CATs, overload themselves with practice material, but then don't know how to properly USE it. So let's change that.

Step 1 - Make an Error Log with your CAT

Go through all your incorrect Quant and Verbal questions on the CAT and log each incorrect question into an Excel spreadsheet.

Column 1 - Question Type (DS, CR, RC, etc.)
Column 2 - Primary Skill Tested (Ratios, Number Properties, Triangles, etc.)
Column 3 - Secondary Skill Tested (Coordinate Geo, Parallelism, Idioms, etc.)
Column 4 - Why Incorrect (misread the question, didn't know the formula, no clue how to set up equations, etc.)
Column 5 - Action Steps (need to learn "nth term" for Sequences formulas, review slope/y-intercept, refresh usage of "which" versus "that", etc.)

Basically, be honest with yourself about 1) what types of Q's you get wrong, 2) why you get them wrong, and 3) what you need to do to NOT get them wrong.

Step 2 - Choose 5 concepts from your Columns 2/3 to focus on each week. Try and have a good mix of Verbal and Quant.

Example List:
-CR: Assumption
-RC: Inference
-SC: Comparisons
-DS: Number Properties (odd/even, positive/negative)
-PS: Word Problems (rate/work)

Then for this week ONLY STUDY THESE 5 CONCEPTS. Since you have 1.5 hours each day, I'd really spend 45 minutes on one, and 45 minutes on another one. Answer questions that test that concept, read relevant chapters in your books that deal with that concept, do OG questions that blatantly test that concept (the tested concepts are listed in the back of each OG section with the answer explanations), read BTG blogs that deal with that concept, etc. EXHAUST THE CONCEPT. Become the expert.

On the weekend, I'd spend Saturday doing a healthy mix of all 5 concepts, then on Sunday I would take another CAT, add your incorrect questions to your Error Log, and choose your 5 target concepts from what you get incorrect. I suggest taking 1 CAT each Sunday, doing the GMATPrep 2, GMATPrep 3, GMATPrep 4, and then supplementing with the MGMAT CATs if need be.

Step 3 - Cement your strategies.

As well as targeting the material you don't know, you need to be approaching each Question-type in a systematic way. You can find a ton of material on strategies, but basically you need a Step-by-Step approach to utilizing your scratch pad for DS, PS, CR, SC, and RC. For RC especially, you need to be breaking down the passages as you read, and writing down the topic, scope, author's point of view, function of each paragraph, and primary purpose for EVERY passage before you hit the answer choices. You might want to schedule time with a tutor to really be sure you have excellent strategies.

To answer your question, the AWA is separate, so I wouldn't even worry about it for a few more weeks. Memorizing a quick template and writing a couple each will be sufficient.

Good luck!

[ajohnson77]

Thanks Vivian for the great advice and yes that score was from the GMATPREP 1 exam. I do plan on increasing the amount of hours studying especially on the weekends by at least 15-20%. My scaled scores were 20 Quant, 25 Verbal and 3 for Integrated reasoning. But again, I have spent no time going over IR so I am not taking that score seriously. You mentioned taking all four GMATPREP CAT's which I am, but I am not going to do the MGMAT CATS since I have Kaplan Premier which comes with 5 CAT'S. I have not had the time to go over my first CAT responses so I'm unable to determine any major weaknesses at this point.Once I have the time, I'll get a log, and have time to go over all the questions right and wrong.

Geometry,Algebra all issues rather its a word problem or just numbers. Your right I have not done enough self analysis which i Plan to complete this week. Taking my first CAT was an experience. It did not matter how many strategies I read or wrote down like back solving etc... when i was doing the CAT all I could do is watch the clock.On the reading comprehension I did not jot down notes or focus on the main points, honestly I was very nervous and in a rush. Your quote below " Most people don't do enough self-analysis. They take a few CATs, overload themselves with practice material, but then don't know how to properly USE it. So let's change that." pretty much sums up my study habits. I have a lot of material and I am focused on going over all of it, and not focusing on my major weaknesses.
The good thing is that my application deadline is in August so if I come up short I can always retake in 60 days after the first exam. Another point is I am not looking to score 700+ If I got a 600 I would be ecstatic.


UPDATE: I have just briefly gone over my CAT questions and can say Algebra, Geometry and exponents and DS for those topics are my weak points. Verbal RC and SC, but I made stupid mistakes because I was clock watching and not focused. What I don't understand is not having the ability to see the answer explanations on the GMATPREP 1 exam. Is this because I have not paid for the addition exam pack and answer explanations are only available to paying members? Its hard to figure out what I did wrong without an explanation. And its harder to creat an error log without knowing where I went wrong.

[ajohnson77]

Rich,

My scaled scores were 20 Quant, 25 Verbal and 3 for Integrated reasoning. But again, I have spent no time going over IR so I am not taking that score seriously. Here is what i dont get.

[[email protected]]

Hi Anthony,

Your Scaled Scores show that you're a bit stronger in the Verbal than the Quant. This is interesting because you performed better (relatively speaking) in the latter part of the Test. Since you have a short prep timeline, you should be looking to focus on the BIG categories in the Quant (the ones that impact the greatest number of questions): Data Sufficiency, Algebra, Arithmetic and Number Properties. Work on your knowledge, math mechanics and tactics and you could easily pick up those missing points on this "side" of the GMAT alone.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[ajohnson77]

Thanks Rich, so should I not spend a ton of time on Geometry? I feel like thats a big part of the Quant. On the Verbal SC was the bigger weakness which is surprising since I usually do better on SC than RC OR CR. RC I basically panicked. If I read a difficult passage, rather than jotting down the main points of the passage,or the Author's thought/opinios, and what to infer, I scanned through the passage and looked for the closeest answer. I have been utilizing the GMAT flashcards(from beatthegmat) on the way to work and home everyday which are a good resource. IR will get some time this week and on Tuesday when I take my next CAT I will post those scores. Thanks for the help.


Anthony

[[email protected]]

Hi Anthony,

The number of Geometry questions that you see on the Official GMAT can vary; most Test Takers will see 4-9 Geometry questions, so it may or may not be a big factor in your Quant Score. Even at the "high end" of the range, all of the other categories that I listed in the prior post will show up MORE frequently than Geometry. With your limited time, you'd be best served getting good at the concepts that will get you the most points.

For the Verbal section, it's important to take notes on ALL CR and RC passages. The notes will vary depending on the subject matter, the length and the logic behind the prompt, but those notes are essential to helping you stay organized and answering questions efficiently.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[VivianKerr]

Hey Anthony,

To answer your question, the GMATPrep's do not offer full explanations, BUT the good news is that just about every question has been discussed to death here on Beat the GMAT or elsewhere on the web (GMAT Club, the MGMAT forums, etc.). So if you simply google the question you can read multiple explanations. BUT I think that makes a lot of sense as to why you're getting certain questions wrong -- you need to be able to look at a question and KNOW what it's testing.

Re: your self analysis. The only suggestion I'd make (along the lines of being specific) is to avoid simply saying you're weak in "Algebra" and "Geometry" and stopping there. It's WAY too vague. It's great you see that you're missing more DS than PS, but it's still not enough info to know WHAT you should focus you attention on.

It's a bit like saying your GMAT Quant weakness is "Math." Algebra and Geometry are huge umbrella categories for basically 80-90% of all GMAT Quant questions, so when you do your Error Log, you really have to get SPECIFIC. Otherwise, you have no idea where to start (how do you even begin to attack "Geometry"? is it Coordinate Geo? Plane Geo? Lines and Angles, or Parabolas that you're getting wrong the most often, for example) Here's a basic list you can use as you review:

Absolute Value
Angles
Area
Averages
Circles
Combinations
Coordinate Geometry
Data Interpretations
Decimals
Distance formula
Divisibility
Expressions
Exponents
Factors
Fractions
Functions
Inequalities
Inscribed Figures
Interest
Linear Equations
Lines and Angles
Midpoint formula
Mixtures
Parallel Lines
Percents
Perimeter
Permutations
Primes
Profit
Probability
Quadratic Equations
Quadrilaterals
Rates and Work
Ratios and Proportions
Roots
Sequences
Sets
Statistics (mean, median, mode, range, standard dev)
Systems of Equations
Triangles
Volume
Word Problems

So if you see you missed a Word Problem, don't just stop there. What TYPE of Word Problem? Is it Sets, Rates and Work, Probability, etc. If you miss a DS Number Properties question, ask: what was it testing EXACTLY? Prime numbers? Multiples? Exponents? Divisibility rules? To try and conquer all of "Number Properties" in one week would be insane, BUT a person could really make some substantial gains if ALL they did was do Divisibility questions, read about Divisibility, and watch videos about Divisibility for a couple days. Just food for thought.

[ajohnson77]

Vivian,

Thanks for the advice. I have started to jot down the exact type of quant or verbal question that were incorrect. For instance in verbal SC, Verb form, logical predicaton, and idioms are my weak points. Algebra its, first and second degree equations along with linear algebra. Geometry, coordinate lines, angles, and triangles triangles.With 6 weeks left I am just starting to zone in on my weaknesses and not focusing on trying to master it all. I plan to spend about 100 hours(give or take) in the next six weeks studying and testing. I have 5 weekends left, 6-7 hours each day, breaking that down to two 3.5 hour study sessions on sat & sun totaling around 70 hours. The other 30 or so will be 1-1.5 hours 4 days a week(I will need a day off). It will mean a few late nights and my weekends are gone, but with so much snow and cold who needs to go out.

On another note I was told to actually focus on the major quant areas such as number properties, arithmetic and algebra. Should I spend tons of time on geometry as well?

[ajohnson77]

Vivian,

Thanks for the advice. I have started to jot down the exact type of quant or verbal question that were incorrect. For instance in verbal SC, Verb form, logical predicaton, and idioms are my weak points. Algebra its, first and second degree equations along with linear algebra. Geometry, coordinate lines, angles, and triangles triangles.With 6 weeks left I am just starting to zone in on my weaknesses and not focusing on trying to master it all. I plan to spend about 100 hours(give or take) in the next six weeks studying and testing. I have 5 weekends left, 6-7 hours each day, breaking that down to two 3.5 hour study sessions on sat & sun totaling around 70 hours. The other 30 or so will be 1-1.5 hours 4 days a week(I will need a day off). It will mean a few late nights and my weekends are gone, but with so much snow and cold who needs to go out.

On another note I was told to actually focus on the major quant areas such as number properties, arithmetic and algebra. Should I spend tons of time on geometry as well?