640 to 700++

[ztthorson]

Hello,

I have taken 3 MGMAT tests and have scored 640 (Q44 V34), 630 (Q40, v36) and 670 (Q44, v37).

On quant I am getting roughly 75% of all the questions below the 700 score correct but when I get into the range of 700-800 level questions my proficiency drops dramatically.

On verbal I am doing fine with RC, and Cr however my hit rate on SC is at 33%. I have gone through the MGMAT SC Guide and I dont know how much it helped me improve, I have yet to take a practice test after taking it or to go through the questions in the OG13 relating to SC. That is my next goal is to answer all the SC questions in the OG13 using the skills I hopefully developed while reading through the SC guide.

I am an engineer by trade and am not sure how to improve my quant score. I wish to get to the 700++ level, does this seem reasonable if I plan on taking the test in 1.5 months. Also what advice can you give me? I cant seem to get a high hit rate on high quant problems or SC at all.

Thanks!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, good questions.

First, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

What have you been doing so far in your approach that you now know is not going to work well after reading those two articles? What do you need to change or do differently?

Second, I'd like to get some more detailed data on your strengths and weaknesses in order. Use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

Third, here's an SC resource while I wait for your answers to the above:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

I'd also recommend using our OG Archer program (if you have access) for OG13 video explanations (we've posted video explanations for about 70 of the problems, including the 40 hardest ones).

Finally, what study materials do you have? You mention our SC strategy guide and OG13 - let me know what else you have.

[ztthorson]

Practice test #1) Quant- 44 (640)
Number of questions too long (over 2.5 minutes):
- 10 (4 right, 6 wrong)
- 1 DS, 9 PS
- 3 were 600-700 level questions and 7 were 700-800 level questions
- 32 total minutes spent
- String of 5 wrong in a row from 14-18
Number of questions too fast
- 1 PS solving question (600-700) level
Problem Solving (11 right, 11 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 2:04/660
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:27/720
Data Sufficiency
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:15/680
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:53/740
Geometry - 2 right (1:28), 4 wrong (2:04)
Number Properties - 4 right (2:15), 3 wrong (3:01)
Algebra - 2 right (2:10), 4 wrong (1:31)
Word Problems - 3 right (1:17), 3 wrong (2:51)
FDP - 7 right (1:36). 5 wrong (2:01)

Practice test #1) Verbal 34 (640)
SC (6 right, 9 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:15/720
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:47/750
CR (7 right, 7 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:37/670
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:43/690
RC (9 right, 3 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:10/680
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:47/750


Practice test #2) Quant- 40 (630)
Number of questions too long (over 2.5 minutes):
- 10 (5 right, 5 wrong)
- 4 DS, 6 PS
- 6 were 600-700 level questions and 2 were 700-800 level questions and 2 were 500-600
- 30 total minutes spent
- String of 5 wrong in a row from 14-18
- Didn’t finish one question
Number of questions too fast
- 3 DS (2 500-600, 1 600-700) level
- 2 ps (1 600-700, 1 700-800) level
Problem Solving (8 right, 13 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:59/690
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:19/690
Data Sufficiency (10 right, 5 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 2:02/630
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:22/630
Geometry - 3 right (1:22), 2 wrong (2:15)
Number Properties - 4 right (2:108), 2 wrong (2:00)
Algebra - 2 right (1:50), 5 wrong (2:05)
Word Problems - 6 right (2:18), 5 wrong (2:23)
FDP - 3 right (2:03). 4 wrong (1:31)

Practice test #2) Verbal 36 (630)
SC (6 right, 9 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:37/730
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:35/720
CR (9 right, 5 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:24/710
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:35/690
RC (10 right, 2 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:37/690
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 3:00/750

Practice test #3) Quant- 44 (670)
Number of questions too long (over 2.5 minutes):
- 7 (3 right, 4 wrong)
- 3 DS, 4 PS
- 1 was 600-700 level questions and 6 were 700-800 level questions
- 33.5 total minutes spent
- String of 5 wrong in a row from 27-31
Number of questions too fast
- 1 DS (700-800) level
- 3 ps (700-800) level
Problem Solving (10 right, 12 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 2:14/720
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:07/740
Data Sufficiency (8 right, 7 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:33/710
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 2:05/6750
Geometry - 3 right (2:44), 3 wrong (1:51)
Number Properties - 1 right (1:26), 5 wrong (1:50)
Algebra - 6 right (1:32), 2 wrong (2:11)
Word Problems - 6 right (2:02), 3 wrong (3:21)
FDP - 2 right (1:52). 6 wrong (1:49)

Practice test #3) Verbal 37 (670)
SC (5 right, 10 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:18/750
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:27/750
CR (11 right, 3 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:33/680
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 1:18/720
RC (9 right, 3 wrong)
- Average time right answers and difficulty: 1:51/710
- Average time wrong answers and difficulty: 3:20/750


Analysis: I clearly spend to much time on problems that I end up getting wrong in the end. However I have only had one time I ran out of a time, or where I felt rushed at the end. From looking at the above numbers i'd say my biggest weakness is answering harder questions correctly (700-800) it appears that I am getting to that level just not capitalizing on them.

I have most the mgmat books an have read through the math ones and the SC one, also og13.

Thanks!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Try again. :)

You gave me 50+ lines of data and only 1 paragraph of analysis. Give me 6+ paragraphs of analysis.

I clearly spend to much time on problems that I end up getting wrong in the end. However I have only had one time I ran out of a time, or where I felt rushed at the end.

Your first sentence is a HUGE problem. Your second sentence does not matter at all.

That extra time you spent (getting questions wrong!!) had to come from somewhere. It came from other problems that you might have gotten right if you hadn't been rushing because you spent too much time on the wrong ones! That's the real cost of spending that extra time.

How many careless mistakes did you make? How many times did you try a problem again afterwards and get it right and think, "Huh, why couldn't I do that during the test itself?" Those are all casualties of the extra time you spent on the too-hard questions that you got wrong anyway.

That's your problem - the problem is not that you're not getting enough 700+ questions right.

If you want to hit 700+, you can't miss many sub-700 level questions. You can miss every single 700+ question and still get to 700+... as long as you aren't missing too many of the lower-level ones.

So go back and take a look again - give me MUCH more in-depth analysis based on all of that data. Also dive all the way down to the level of content area (eg, exponents in algebra!) or question sub-type (eg, find the assumption on CR!). What's giving you the most trouble in terms of either accuracy or timing (or both)?

Also, here are two resources on time management:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

[ztthorson]

Hey Stacey,

Thanks for getting back to me. I think it’s clear that my biggest problem is not being able to let go when I know a problem is to tough. If I realize a problem is too tough should I just narrow it down quickly and ranomly guess and move on. So roughly spend a max of 45 seconds on that question? Basically make a logical guess and say cya later. I think that’s the part I can work on.

I see your second point about not getting to many of the lower level questions wrong, all the questions I am answering right are in the 670-690 range and all the wrong ones are in the 700 level range, but I believe due to my couple of misses at the lower end it is bring my score down to the 640 range.

I find it frustrating because even though I feel like I know the questions when im going through the test when I get to the end I see my average hit rate across all quant is roughly 50% give or take. Also after looking at the MGMAT analysis I see that my hit rate on problem solving 600 and above is not very good.

It appears that I have a major problem in the "formulas" area under quant. I was 0-4 on them during my 3 practice tests. When I go back and look at them now they seem pretty obvious (I reviewed them a while ago). I think this is a good sign as now in the future if I see something similar I will remember. I am just not sure how I missed it on 3 straight tests. How do you recommend overcoming this? Is it just reviewing the problems you got wrong, or is it going back through the books and re-reading those sections?

Then obviously for verbal my biggest weakness is SC for this I have went through the MGMAT SC guide I think I will need to reread through it cause I don’t believe everything "stuck". However I plan on taking the GMAT Prep test this weekend and I believe that will show me a lot about where I am at in my studies.


Thanks!!

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes! You start / try any problem. But if you are approaching the 1 min mark and you're still lost... see ya!

On math, you should know what they're asking and have a solid plan to solve, at a minimum, by the one minute mark. If you don't, bail.

On CR, you should know the question type and have deconstructed the argument, at a minimum, by the one minute mark. If not, bail.

On SC, you should have eliminated at least a couple of answer choices. If not, bail.

On RC questions, if it's main idea, you should be done. If it's specific detail, you should understand what the question's asking and have re-read the relevant text in the passage. If you're still trying to figure out what it's asking or still trying to figure out what you need to read in the passage, bail.

though I feel like I know the questions when im going through the test when I get to the end I see my average hit rate across all quant is roughly 50% give or take.

This will ALWAYS be true! This is just how an adaptive test works. As you get better, you get a harder mix of questions and the % correct doesn't really move - around 60% but that's about it. So stop looking at that metric - it's not telling you anything!

I am just not sure how I missed it on 3 straight tests. How do you recommend overcoming this?

Thorough review of every question you do, whether you get it right or wrong. There's something to learn on everything!

Read this (again - you read it when I linked it in an earlier post, right?):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Pay particular attention to the how to learn section. Those questions that you ask yourself when you're reviewing a problem? That's how you find out what issues you're having AND how you figure out what you need to improve in order to get better.

Note: get better does not necessarily mean "get them all right." Get better also includes knowing when to bail, knowing how to guess, etc.

For SC, make yourself some flashcards. On one side, right "When I see..." and on the other write "I'll think..."

Then start going through OG SCs that you have already done and taking notes on the clues that should tell you to think about certain rules or constructions. Note that those clues will not be the actual words from the sentence, because of course different sentences will use different words. Instead, those clues will be the characteristics that signal a certain issue / rule / construction.

If I see this split in the answers:
"comma + -ing" vs. "and + conjugated verb"
I'm going to think:
Should the sentence have a modifier here? Or should this be part of the core of the sentence? What is the core sentence?

After you've made a bunch of flashcards, look through your MGMAT SC to see whether you've come up with clues (we call these "Markers") that will help you notice all of these different issues that the book discusses. If not, look up problems in those OG problem sets and start trying to figure out what the markers are for whatever that topic is.

Then, start learning how to tackle more complex / convoluted sentences, where the splits / differences in the answers will be more complex. This will help:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... orrection/

Again, add to your flashcards - but do this second, because these Markers are harder, so you want to study the easier Markers first.