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AleksandrM
- Legendary Member
- Posts: 566
- Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:01 am
- Location: Philadelphia
- Thanked: 31 times
- GMAT Score:640
So, I have taken my second CAT using the Kaplan CD. I was going to take the online version, but decided not to after I read here that it is easier than the CD tests. The result is actually not that bad given my past performance, which was a 480.
This time I scored a 550 (Q – 27 [22 incorrect] and V – 36 [15 incorrect]). This is a 70 point improvement in two weeks. The only change I have been able to implement thus far is timing myself every single time that I do practice problems. I only received the MGMAT word translation book two days ago and did not have the time to go through it, because I decided to do some practice problems from the OG instead.
Here is what I have discovered this time:
Math:
1. Number properties kicked my a**. This means that I definitely have to acquire the GMAT number properties guide and practice more of these problems.
2. While I have improved my ability in formulating equations for word and DS problems, I still have some distance to go and the MGMAT guide will hopefully improve my ability.
3. I spent too much time on problems where I knew I could not come up with a solution and ended up guessing wrong on them anyway. This should not happen any more.
4. Speaking of guessing. I guessed on a total of 13 problems. Of these, 5 were educated guesses and returned 3 correct answers, 8 were wild guesses and returned 1 correct answer.
5. I started running out of time around problem 30, which should tell you that the last 7 questions were wild guesses. However, of these I would be able to solve 3 problems if I had the time. This is a bit upsetting, but I know that my time will improve and I will be able to pace myself better perhaps around practice CAT 4, which will be Kaplan CAT 2 from CD.
6. This one is big for me. I found that a lot of the strategies from Kaplan and PR should not be primary go-to strategies when solving problems. These two books try to minimize your use of traditional problems solving, i.e., using equation form. I find equations to be very useful in visualizing what the answer should look like and ball parking the answer. However, that is not to say that once you have set up an equation you should not pick numbers or plug in answers – these are very useful indeed.
Verbal:
1. Kaplan sucks at writing. Their questions and passages are poorly written. This really shows me what a treat OG really is. Their questions are crystal clear, and when you get the wrong answer it is really because you missed something or lack understanding of the concepts rather than as a result of poorly written/proofread questions/answer choices.
2. Kaplan makes it hard on your eyes. It is hard enough to look at a computer screen and focus for on the words for 3 ½ hours. Kaplan made it less conducive to the eye by “packing” the text of the stimulus, question, and answer choices (I am referring to the CR section). It was hard to see where the text ended, question began/ended, and the answer choices began. Spending precious 10 or 15 seconds on each question merely adjusting your eyes was a real pain in the back side.
3. Reading comprehension gave me the most grief. This is primarily due to the fact that reading from paper practice passages is much easier on the eye than reading from a computer screen. It is much harder to go back to the passage and quickly skim through the words to find the right key phrases. This is because your eyes (well, at least my eyes) tend to jump around when reading text; probably because they are trying to bring into focus a number of different pixels, which is not a necessary work for your vision when reading text on paper. This means that I should go through all of the RC practice quizzes on the Kaplan CD. It is actually quite ironic that this section would give me the most trouble, because I am the most voracious reader I know. I am not talking about novels here. I read quite technical literature on business theory, economic theory, and overall international political and economic structure. This all goes to prove to you that reading in your daily life is not GMAT reading (obviously!!!).
4. Leaving out the RC questions that I scored incorrectly on, my total of incorrectly answered questions would amount to 6. This is huge. This means that over half the questions I answered wrong came from the RC section. This is a very useful discovery, because I would not have thought so based on the results I have seen during my OG practice.
5. In the spirit of diminishing returns, I know that I will not improve my score by another 70 points in the next two weeks and every two weeks after that. This would be a miracle. However, if I can increase my score (reliably) by 100 points by the month in which I plan to take the GMAT (June), I will be in a position to sail into most of the schools I am planning to apply to.
That’s all folks!
This time I scored a 550 (Q – 27 [22 incorrect] and V – 36 [15 incorrect]). This is a 70 point improvement in two weeks. The only change I have been able to implement thus far is timing myself every single time that I do practice problems. I only received the MGMAT word translation book two days ago and did not have the time to go through it, because I decided to do some practice problems from the OG instead.
Here is what I have discovered this time:
Math:
1. Number properties kicked my a**. This means that I definitely have to acquire the GMAT number properties guide and practice more of these problems.
2. While I have improved my ability in formulating equations for word and DS problems, I still have some distance to go and the MGMAT guide will hopefully improve my ability.
3. I spent too much time on problems where I knew I could not come up with a solution and ended up guessing wrong on them anyway. This should not happen any more.
4. Speaking of guessing. I guessed on a total of 13 problems. Of these, 5 were educated guesses and returned 3 correct answers, 8 were wild guesses and returned 1 correct answer.
5. I started running out of time around problem 30, which should tell you that the last 7 questions were wild guesses. However, of these I would be able to solve 3 problems if I had the time. This is a bit upsetting, but I know that my time will improve and I will be able to pace myself better perhaps around practice CAT 4, which will be Kaplan CAT 2 from CD.
6. This one is big for me. I found that a lot of the strategies from Kaplan and PR should not be primary go-to strategies when solving problems. These two books try to minimize your use of traditional problems solving, i.e., using equation form. I find equations to be very useful in visualizing what the answer should look like and ball parking the answer. However, that is not to say that once you have set up an equation you should not pick numbers or plug in answers – these are very useful indeed.
Verbal:
1. Kaplan sucks at writing. Their questions and passages are poorly written. This really shows me what a treat OG really is. Their questions are crystal clear, and when you get the wrong answer it is really because you missed something or lack understanding of the concepts rather than as a result of poorly written/proofread questions/answer choices.
2. Kaplan makes it hard on your eyes. It is hard enough to look at a computer screen and focus for on the words for 3 ½ hours. Kaplan made it less conducive to the eye by “packing” the text of the stimulus, question, and answer choices (I am referring to the CR section). It was hard to see where the text ended, question began/ended, and the answer choices began. Spending precious 10 or 15 seconds on each question merely adjusting your eyes was a real pain in the back side.
3. Reading comprehension gave me the most grief. This is primarily due to the fact that reading from paper practice passages is much easier on the eye than reading from a computer screen. It is much harder to go back to the passage and quickly skim through the words to find the right key phrases. This is because your eyes (well, at least my eyes) tend to jump around when reading text; probably because they are trying to bring into focus a number of different pixels, which is not a necessary work for your vision when reading text on paper. This means that I should go through all of the RC practice quizzes on the Kaplan CD. It is actually quite ironic that this section would give me the most trouble, because I am the most voracious reader I know. I am not talking about novels here. I read quite technical literature on business theory, economic theory, and overall international political and economic structure. This all goes to prove to you that reading in your daily life is not GMAT reading (obviously!!!).
4. Leaving out the RC questions that I scored incorrectly on, my total of incorrectly answered questions would amount to 6. This is huge. This means that over half the questions I answered wrong came from the RC section. This is a very useful discovery, because I would not have thought so based on the results I have seen during my OG practice.
5. In the spirit of diminishing returns, I know that I will not improve my score by another 70 points in the next two weeks and every two weeks after that. This would be a miracle. However, if I can increase my score (reliably) by 100 points by the month in which I plan to take the GMAT (June), I will be in a position to sail into most of the schools I am planning to apply to.
That’s all folks!
