Final Stage to beat the GMAT : Mocks result

[realkaka08]

Hello,

I am going to re-attempt the GMAT later this month. Last time I had scored 660 and this time I am targeting around 750.

These have been the result of the free Mocks that I have taken till now.
Kaplan : 670
MGMAT : 680(Q49, V34)
Princeton: 710(Q51, V38)
Veritas : 720 (Q50, V39)

The major problem I am facing is that in the verbal section, I am constantly getting 3-4 question wrong consecutively whenever there is a long passage and that pulls my score down drastically.

Would appreciate if someone can advice me as how to reduce the consecutive mistakes in RC.

Also, I am considering to buy the Manhattan and Veritas Mocks as I have 2 weeks before I appear for the GMAT. Would that be a right choice ?

Thanks

RealKAKA08

[[email protected]]

Hi realkaka08,

I have a few questions about your practice CAT scores and your Official GMAT score:

1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT?
2) Is this the first time you've taken these practice CATs (or have you taken any of them more than once)?
3) Did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT each time (or did you ever skip the Essay and/or IR sections)?
4) Do you have a pacing problem in the Verbal section (do you have to guess on a bunch of questions just to finish the section)?

While getting 3-4 questions wrong in a row would certainly hurt your score, the effect isn't quite as drastic as you think it probably is. So while this is certainly an issue that you have to correct, it's not the only problem you have in the Verbal section. You also need to consider how much time you're spending on SC and CR questions, how often you're "narrowing the answers down to 2 choices and then 'guessing'" but still getting the question wrong, how often you take notes vs. just running to the answers, etc.

To reduce the mistakes you're talking about, trying thinking about the following:
1) How do you handle 'wordy' questions in Quant?
2) How do you handle regular-sized RC passages?

As to buying a "pack" of practice CATs, that's fine - but taking lots of practice CATs in 2 weeks is NOT the solution to your problem. If you were to take so many CATs in such a short period of time, then you would be far more likely to score at the same level over-and-over and possibly "burn out" a bit before your Official GMAT. You should be focused on practice - precision, organization, accuracy - repeating steps that help you get questions correct regardless of the length of the prompt. THEN you take a CAT once a week (or so) to measure your progress.

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

[realkaka08]

Real kaka

[realkaka08]

Hi realkaka08,

I have a few questions about your practice CAT scores and your Official GMAT score:

1) What were your Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores on your Official GMAT?
2) Is this the first time you've taken these practice CATs (or have you taken any of them more than once)?
3) Did you take the ENTIRE practice CAT each time (or did you ever skip the Essay and/or IR sections)?
4) Do you have a pacing problem in the Verbal section (do you have to guess on a bunch of questions just to finish the section)?

While getting 3-4 questions wrong in a row would certainly hurt your score, the effect isn't quite as drastic as you think it probably is. So while this is certainly an issue that you have to correct, it's not the only problem you have in the Verbal section. You also need to consider how much time you're spending on SC and CR questions, how often you're "narrowing the answers down to 2 choices and then 'guessing'" but still getting the question wrong, how often you take notes vs. just running to the answers, etc.

To reduce the mistakes you're talking about, trying thinking about the following:
1) How do you handle 'wordy' questions in Quant?
2) How do you handle regular-sized RC passages?

As to buying a "pack" of practice CATs, that's fine - but taking lots of practice CATs in 2 weeks is NOT the solution to your problem. If you were to take so many CATs in such a short period of time, then you would be far more likely to score at the same level over-and-over and possibly "burn out" a bit before your Official GMAT. You should be focused on practice - precision, organization, accuracy - repeating steps that help you get questions correct regardless of the length of the prompt. THEN you take a CAT once a week (or so) to measure your progress.

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

Hello Rich,

Thanks alot for your reply.

First of all I would like to answer to the question.

1) Last year I took the official GMAT and scored 660 (Q49, V31)
2) I took the free practice CATs last year around the same time but I didn't find any question or even if might I didn't remember any of it.
3) All the CATs were taken with Essay's and IR section.
4) Pacing was bit of a problem last year but this year I have read reviews/post on forums and I am following a pattern in which I give around equal time to all the question and review my time remaining vs question remaining after 15 mins.

Speaking in a broader sense the entire Verbal section remains to be an issue.
4-5 question in SC+RC in my Manhattan GMAT were wrong when I came down to two options and then guessed between them.

For the RC sections in all the 4 test I have taken, I am able to understand the passage completely but I am very poor in judging the inference questions. I always feel that I have understood the passage but the questions seem to be tuffer.

In Regular sized passage I retain much of the information in the passage and attempting the questions become easier. While in a long passage, I tend not to retain much of the information in the initial passages. I don't follow the idea of taking notes while reading, do you think would that if i incorporate that change in this last phase will it be any helpfull ??

If possible for you to review my mocks, I will be more than willing to give you my log-in and P/w.

Thanks

Realkaka08

[[email protected]]

Hi realkaka08,

I think it's important to get a measure of your current ability on a brand new CAT (one that you've never taken before). For this CAT, you should try to make the details match Test Day as much as is realistically possible (so don't take the CAT at home; travel for the same amount of time that you would to get to the Testing Center, take the CAT at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

Note-taking (when done correctly) saves time, improves accuracy and raises scores, so I do think that you should take more notes. Unfortunately, it's not practical for me to review your practice CATs, but I think you already know what you need to work on.

Once you've taken another practice CAT, you should report back here with the score results.

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

[realkaka08]

Hi realkaka08,

I think it's important to get a measure of your current ability on a brand new CAT (one that you've never taken before). For this CAT, you should try to make the details match Test Day as much as is realistically possible (so don't take the CAT at home; travel for the same amount of time that you would to get to the Testing Center, take the CAT at the same time of day as your Official GMAT, etc.).

Note-taking (when done correctly) saves time, improves accuracy and raises scores, so I do think that you should take more notes. Unfortunately, it's not practical for me to review your practice CATs, but I think you already know what you need to work on.

Once you've taken another practice CAT, you should report back here with the score results.

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

Hello Rich,

Thanks alot for the advice. After reviewing your post I went back and practiced on my verbal skills and revised some aspects of Quant as well. Took 2 MGMAT CATS in the space of 1 week and here are the results.

Old CATS:-
Kaplan : 670
Princeton: 710(Q51, V38)
Veritas : 720 (Q50, V39) (10-Aug-2014)
MGMAT : 680(Q49, V34) (16-Aug-2014)

New CATs:-

MGMAT 2 : 670 (Q46, V35) (04-Sep-2014)
MGMAT 3 : 690 (Q48, V36) (07-Sep-2014)

Managed to improve the verbal score by a bit, but the QUANT is a bit tedious and the score dropped in Quant. I feel confident on Quant as I have heard that Manhattan Maths is harder than the actual GMAT.

Concerns in the verbal sections :-
1) Getting too many wrong answers in bunches ... in the MGMAT-3 i had 1 bunches 7 consecutive wrong answers and other bunch of 3 consecutive wrong answers. (Most because of Reading Comprehension)
2) Sentence Correction, although I know all the concepts but somehow I miss to apply them in a time constrained environment.

Rich, I have 10 days to the Final GMAT. I have taken off from the work and I can put extended hours to work on the issues. As I have identified verbal (RC most and a bit of SC still pulls my score down.)
Could you please advice what will be best for me to do and how I can hone up my verbal skills in the final stage.

Thanks

Realkaka08

[[email protected]]

Hi realkaka08,

Have you taken any of the 4 practice CATs from www.mba.com? Those are the Official CATs and arguably the most accurate. I'd like to know how you perform on one of those Tests.

Your problems with RC are still likely due to a lack of note-taking. You do NOT need to understand the entire text of an RC passage to get RC questions correct, so full comprehension is NOT what you should be focusing on. You DO have to be active when you do deal with an RC passage though and find the author's points that matter.

The problem that you described in SC (knowing the rules but not being able to properly draw on that knowledge) is likely a fatigue issue. You should take a good look at how you handle the physical aspects of your test-taking (food, drink, sleep, posture, breathing, etc.) and determine what you can improve.

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

[realkaka08]

Hi realkaka08,

Have you taken any of the 4 practice CATs from www.mba.com? Those are the Official CATs and arguably the most accurate. I'd like to know how you perform on one of those Tests.

Your problems with RC are still likely due to a lack of note-taking. You do NOT need to understand the entire text of an RC passage to get RC questions correct, so full comprehension is NOT what you should be focusing on. You DO have to be active when you do deal with an RC passage though and find the author's points that matter.

The problem that you described in SC (knowing the rules but not being able to properly draw on that knowledge) is likely a fatigue issue. You should take a good look at how you handle the physical aspects of your test-taking (food, drink, sleep, posture, breathing, etc.) and determine what you can improve.

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

Hello Rich,

I have taken GMAT prep officeial CATs. Took the full test including AWA and IR sections.
GMATPREP1 680 (Q48, V34) (15-June-2014)
GMATPREP2 750 (Q50, V41) (09-Sept-2014)

I took the 2nd CAT today, Quant seemed alright during the test thought I would get 51. In the Verbal I was very scared and the V41 was a surprise for me. I hope I can put up a similar performance on 17th of this month during the D-day. Having said that, I still feel I should work more on SC-RC skills for the next few days. Please advice.

Thanks

realkaka08

[[email protected]]

Hi realkaka08,

Your recent performance is a good sign; it looks like you're really hitting your stride at the right time. I recommend that you do a full, question-by-question review of this CAT (even the questions that you got correct). Take a good look at every question that you "narrowed down to 2 and then guessed" on - try to figure out the reasons why the correct answer was correct and the incorrect answers were incorrect. That analysis and pattern-matching should help you later on when you face similar circumstances.

An emphasis on Verbal over the next week makes sense, just be careful not to do too much. You don't want to burn yourself out before Test Day. With that in mind, you should take no more than 1 more practice CAT (although you don't have to take any if you don't want to) and it should be at least 3 days before your real GMAT (if at all). Light review with some drills should be all that you need to stay sharp.

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