760 (Q 50, V 44) Debrief and Tips

[ksteiner]

Took the GMAT today, I got a 760"”very excited. I’ll post a brief overview of my path and then give my suggestions.

MGMAT CAT 1: 710 (Huge fluke, I guessed an unlikely percentage of questions correctly)
MGMAT CAT 2: 720
MGMAT CAT 3: 720
MGMAT CAT 4: 760
MGMAT CAT 5: 710 (Everything about this test just felt off when I was taking it. I didn’t put much stock in the score. It did help me realize that I can’t spend as much time on RC passages as I did)
MGMAT CAT 6: 720
GMAT PREP 1: 760 (5 days before test)
GMAT PREP 2: 750 (2 days before test)

GMAT: 760 (Q 50, V 44)

My first test was definitely skewed by my guessing. I don’t think I started at a 700+ level. Anyway, I thought the CAT exams were pretty accurate on the verbal section, but tougher on the quant section. The highest I scored on a CAT quant section was 49. I scored a 50 on both PREP exams and the actual exam. I scored between 39 and 45 on the verbal section of the CAT exams, 44 on the actual test.

I had gotten into the pattern of trying to guess my score; the experimental questions make it impossible to accurately guess on the actual GMAT. I thought I scored a 46-47 on the quant section but actually scored a 50.

Suggestions:

I highly recommend taking all 6 CAT exams before you take your 2 PREP exams. The CAT exams help you understand what you need to work on and provide you explanations. Accordingly, I think you should take them when you are still learning and developing. By the time I took PREP exams, I could look at most of the questions I missed and know why I missed them.

I also recommend that you take at least one PREP exam before the actual exam and that you take your final PREP exam 2 days before the actual exam. This advice was given to me in my office hours session. It helped TREMENDOUSLY. It allowed me to familiarize myself with how the GMAT physically looks on the computer screen, and it kept me fresh without burning me out.

**PRACTICE CRITICAL REASONING. I think CR is the reason I scored so highly on the verbal. By the time I took my last 2-4 practice tests, I was only missing one or two CR questions per test. If you can accurately identify the conclusion of the argument, you will get the right answer 90% of the time. The large majority of wrong answers relate to the argument, but not the conclusion (out of scope). If you can beat this trick, CR can significantly boost your score.

Tagging on everyone else’s rec, know the SC strategy guide. It’s the Mecca of SC study tools. If you know it, and practice with OG and CAT problems, you’ll nail SC on the test.

Have a light snack and some water or juice in between each break. You’re at the testing site for 4 hours; it is very draining. Keep yourself energized any way you can.

Finally, as cliché as it sounds, relax. By the time you get to the real GMAT, you’ve probably taken 6-8 practice tests. When I was taking the actual test, it almost felt mechanical. I set up CR diagrams just as I had a few hundred times before. I used the exact same steps to create outlines for my RC passages. Just relax and do the same things you’ve been doing for 2, 3, maybe even 6 months.

This is a long debrief. I hope you find it valuable. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. I definitely want fellow MGMATers to rock the test.

I can’t imagine another program that touches MGMAT’s effectiveness. Thank you so much to everyone that helped me achieve this. As a college student, I will highly recommend you to anyone looking to take the GMAT.

[lmc718]

good job !!!
congratulations !!


what is ur method for improving sc questions？

[PATILVI]

Hi ,
Congrates for hitting the GMAT with a gr8 Score of 760.
Hey i am sure u can guide me on eVerbal part and require your help for the same.
I gave GMAt on 5th of Oct and managed to get only 550 (q-46 and v-20) and lost 30 point as comparision to the last score of 580 q-47 v-23.
Can u please guide me how i shoulc improve my verbal so that i can tough 30 point of verbal.
please require your kind help.
reply on the forume as well as on mail id ie.patilvi@indiatimes.com

[ksteiner]

lmc:
I definitely struggled with SC before the MGMAT course. How far are you into the course?
One thing I realized is that when I did the SC problems after each week, I did really well, because I was looking for that particular component of the question (ex: if we went over pronouns in class that week, I would look for pronoun errors in the OG problems). However, I think my SC dramatically increased after the course was finished. I picked blocks of 5 or 10 SC problems in the OG book (credit to the MGMAT instructors for that advice) and ran through them all at once (making sure to time each set). This forced me to recognize what type of question it was (pronoun, verb, etc) and THEN look for the errors. If you've completed the course, that is my best recommendation.
If you haven't, stick with everything and it will come together in the end. Keep working though the Strat Guide, and make sure to review everything later. You learn so much throughout the course than you can't remember everything.

[ksteiner]

PATILVI,
Among SC, CR, and RC, which is your strongest (and which is your weakest)?
If you provide a little more information, I will try to give the best advice I can.

[PATILVI]

Dear Ksteiner,
Thanks for extending a helping hand.Really need it.
When i was giving Gmat prep i wsa getting continous 32+ and when first time i gave MGMAT first free test that time also i got 28 but not less than that.
The issue is when i was giving my real GMAT i didn't found anything difficult and at the end end up with V-20.the thing that upsets me more is that i couldn't find out the second good answer.SC is WEAK and CR also this is what i feel now after a real GMAT i require equal improvement in all.with close eyes i can get above 46 in Quant but Verbal its getting hard for me to over come. Please guide my mail id is vijay.patil@tatamotors.com

[ksteiner]

Patilvi,
If the GMAT seems easy, it's likely that you are missing questions you think you're getting correct.
Regarding SC, the best recommendations I have are those in my above post to lmc.
As for CR, I recommend that you practice locating the conclusion in every argument. As I mentioned in my original post, the majority of wrong answers relate to the argument (making them seem correct), but don't actually relate to the ultimate conclusion.
Additionally, (from a great tip I was given in office hours) often the most plain answer is the correct answer. You should never have to make any logical "jumps" to get to the correct answer. You can always reach the answer from the information provided.

Example:
John played professional basketball in Germany. John's son, Mark, played professional basketball in France.

What conclusion can be drawn from the statements above?

a. Mark's son has a greater chance of playing professional basketball than an average person does.
b. Germany has a professional basketball league.

It is easy to make assumptions (i.e. if both John and Mark played professional basketball, Mark's son probably has the genetics of a professional basketball player), but we don't know anything about his son. ONLY FOCUS ON WHAT YOU KNOW. If John played professional basketball in Germany, Germany must have a professional basketball league.

Summary:
SC, read above post
CR, practice identifying conclusion, and don't make any additional assumptions.