5 days to go - good prep results, bad in CAT's

[MarcF498]

Hey everyone,

I am a bit confused regarding my prep and the CAT's - hopefully someone can tell me where the problem is?

I have taken 4 CAT's by now, with the last CAT score of 660 - although this is largely due to my Verbal of 89%, given that my Quant was only 49% (which usually lies between 50% and 60%). I had the same result with another CAT of 660, where I had a Verbal of 85% and a Quant of 51%. So, I know I need to improve on Quant.

Here's the issue:
Based on my CAT's, I determined where on the Quant section I struggle the most so I could study these areas more and improve. Even now, after my fourth CAT, I went back to focus on these areas by practicing the relevant questions in the Official Guide (this time using the "Problem Solving by Topic" guide and working through the OG books). However, when I did (and do) these questions, I almost always finished within 2 min and I almost always got the questions right, with just a few careless mistakes - as if I was totally fine in these and other areas. I hadn't done any of these particular questions before, so I did not have an idea of the answers in advance.

So basically, I get most of the OG Quant problems right, but once I do the CAT's I get a large amount of the Quant questions wrong. Is the OG Quant Section a little too easy? I would doubt that. What can I do to push my limits a little more and actually improve? I don't think I learn too much by doing Quant questions I can already solve...

Any advice would be highly appreciated! Thank you!

Marc

[StaceyKoprince]

If I'm reading your post right, you're taking the test (or have taken it?) today. I hope it goes / went well!

In general, your performance 5 days before is going to be your performance on the real test - in other words, there really wouldn't have been anything big I could have told you with just 5 days to go that would have made a significant difference in that short of a timeframe.

But I tell you what I think now, and if you end up wanting to take the test again, let us know.

My guess is that you're having issues on CATs due to timing problems and mental fatigue.

A CAT is adaptive, so it's constantly pushing you to your limits - unlike OG. If you spend an extra 30 seconds on this problem, then that's 30 seconds you have to take from some other problem elsewhere - and that's where people really get into trouble on the test. It's really important to be able to balance how you spend your time (and, by consequence, your mental energy).

This really comes down to mindset: how you're deciding what to do and NOT do on the test. Take a look at these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/

How does that match with your current approach? What do you think you need to train yourself to do differently in order to more closely hit the business mindset?

Hopefully you don't need this (because hopefully you don't need / want to take the GMAT again). But if you do, just let us know!

[MarcF498]

Dear Stacey,

Thank you for your response! And thanks, my GMAT went well. My score is a 690 / 86%, with a 48 / 73% on Quant and a 36 / 80% on Verbal.

I do plan on taking the test again, as I think I can do better, especially on Verbal. Three days before the test, I took a CAT via the GMAT-Prep software and scored a 710, also with a Quant score of 48 (btw, doesn't that make me eligible for the Advanced GMAT Quant book?), and with a 40 on Verbal.

Maybe I just find the Manhattan Prep Quant Section harder than the OG and the real test (which is a good thing - practicing on high altitude).

You are right regarding mental fatigue: During my CATs, I always nibbled on some nuts etc, and had half a banana plus a glass of water ready for my last half hour on Verbal. I knew about the test rules, but the fact that I could not take food into the test room and eat anything halfway through Verbal caught me off-guard - I got hungry and had increasing difficulties ignoring distractions from outside. I also got slow and started to run out of time (which I usually don't). I am sure the last 15 questions tore down my score.

I read the two articles you included in your response, the first one already at the beginning of my studies. I worked on that (most notably with regard to IR), and improved. At least I do not hold on to too hard questions for ages anymore and I know which IR questions I can skip. Generally speaking, I think I have managed to adapt a business mindset for the GMAT, although I might still need a slight push in terms of 'feeling good' about bailing on tough RC questions. Btw, on the test I had more than 6 minutes left for the last Quant question (a first-timer)...

So would you say my largest problem is finding a way to stay focused during the Verbal section? Would you perhaps advise me to just take a minute half-way through and run outside to quickly inhale some food and water?

Also, if only manage to pick up studying again in about 2-3 weeks, do you think I will have to re-gain a lot of my current GMAT-skills? Or should I definitely try and carve out some time every day to keep my brain running on GMAT mode?

Thank you and have a great day,
Marc

[StaceyKoprince]

Great job!

Yes, if you want to work on the Advanced Quant book now, a score of 48 is good enough.

Okay, so now you know what you need to do in future with regard to practice tests: they should always be taken under 100% official conditions. Don't do anything that wouldn't be allowed during the real test.

So that means: practice how much to eat and drink during the allowed breaks so that you don't have this same energy crash in future. (You don't want to plan to leave the room during a section - it will take longer than 1 minute. You have to raise your hand, wait to be escorted out by the proctor--who will have to lock the test screen--go through the security procedures to get out, go to your locker, eat, go back through the security procedures to get back in, be escorted back to your desk...and if someone else is there right before you, you have to wait for the other person to be checked in or out before you will be helped.)

Next, you need to think more carefully about how you manage your mental energy. It's good that you know what you do and don't want to do during IR and quant - but have you also considered verbal when making these decisions? Ask yourself: is this where I want to spend this mental energy? Or do I want to save it for verbal? Your mental energy is finite across the entire test; it's not like time, which renews at the start of each section.

What did you get on IR, by the way? If you got a 7 or 8, go for a 6 next time. Save that energy for later.

One idea that may or may not be feasible: the GMAT is testing a new program that would allow people to choose the order of the sections (within a limited set of options). Right now, it's not open to everyone, but if the tests go well, then I'm expecting that they will roll this out to everyone later this year. (I'm guessing - I can't predict the future, of course!) If that happens, then being able to do Q and V before you do essay and IR may make a significant difference for you. Something to keep an eye on.

Finally, feel free to take 2-3 weeks off. You shouldn't experience much atrophying of skills in that timeframe (maybe a little, but it'll come back once you get back into it). If you take more time off, you may see some loss - but then just react accordingly. Add some time and revision-type work to your study schedule.

If you do decide to take it again, you may want to consider ordering the Enhanced Score Report for your official test in order to see whether it gives you any valuable data about your weaknesses on that real test. More info on the ESR here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... re-report/

It doesn't provide a ton of data, and if the data is ultimately "you were about even across everything," then it's not hugely useful - but if it does tell you that there's a time or performance discrepancy in one area, that knowledge could be very valuable as you prep for your re-take. If you do get it, feel free to share the data here and we'll tell you what we think it means.

Finally, for verbal re-studying, add this to your analysis:
1) why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible; also, now you know this is not a good reason to pick an answer)
2) why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
3) why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong? (also, now you know that this is not a good reason to eliminate an answer)
4) why was it actually right?

And start being crazy anal / systematic. You track the 5 answers in writing on every single problem. For RC detail questions, you check the passage for the proof EVERY time, even if you think you remember. You're trying to score in the 90th percentile on verbal; you can't afford many careless mistakes at that level. That anal-ness will also help to combat mental fatigue. If you're following your set process, every time, then you have built-in checks against the sloppiness that goes along with mental fatigue.

[MarcF498]

Dear Stacey,

First, my IR was rather terrible, as I scored a 4, even though I felt confident when ticking most answers. Anyhow, that'll require some more studying here.

Thank you for the advice and the link!

Yes, I'll try and consider Verbal more when spending my mental energy. And thank you for the tips on re-studying and analysis. Most of the questions that I get wrong are those where I pick between two tempting ones and I end up choosing the incorrect one. Having a determined process in place for harder questions on that section should help me get along better.

BTW, I did read about the experiment on changing the order of the various sections on test day, and I thought about whether this has its benefits. On the one hand, more mental energy can be spent on Quant and Verbal - on the other, some people may find it useful to have some time to warm up first before tackling Quant and Verbal. If the "order choosing"-feature would be incorporated into the MGMAT CATs, it would be great for us students to find out what works best individually

[StaceyKoprince]

Oh, yes - we're on it. If they do end up making section select a permanent thing, we will adjust our CATs accordingly. Our awesome IT team has already figured out exactly how. But of course we're waiting until they announce that they're actually moving forward with this (if they do).

Try our GMAT Interact lessons for the IR section. (If you took our course, they're part of your online syllabus starting in session 4. Log in, click to launch your online syllabus, click session #4, click lessons and look for the one labeled IR.) If you didn't take our course, you still have access to the IR lessons (they're free for everyone), but I'm just not sure exactly where you would find them - poke around.