Gmat 720 after struggling with MGCat Quant

[thisisveek]

Just wanted to share my experience in case there were other people like me who were getting dismayed at how badly they were handling the quant section on the Cats. In my opinion the actual GMAT Quant section was easier than MGCat's but I'm not sure why I didn't ace it :(

My previous Gmat was 6 years ago and I scored 640 after going through a couple of Gmat books a couple weeks before the test. Guess I was smarter at that time.

Stretch goal: 750+. Minimum goal: 700+.

Here are my MGCat scores:

10/3/2013 Q37 V36 Overall 610
Was not able to finish Quant section. Had to rush maybe 1/3 of the questions.

11/2/2013 Q43 V37 Overall 660 IR 3.8
Still had to rush 10 of the questions and wasn't able to finish quant.

11/9/2013 Q43 V45 Overall 720 IR 3.8
Still had to rush a few questions at the end but finished quant.

11/17/2013 Q45 V39 Overall 690 IR 5.34
Was able to finish Quant with time to spare. Sadly, there is a regression in overall score.

11/23/2013 Q45 V37 Overall 680 IR 4.43
Was able to finish Quant with plenty of time to spare. However, didn't see any quant improvement and the regression in score continues. Then I searched the forums and saw someone's post about the actual Gmat quant being easier than MGCat so I decided to just let it go and take a rest.

11/25/2013 Actual GMAT Unofficial scores Q47 70% V42 96% Overall 720 94% IR 3
I really messed up on my IR. Felt that Verbal was harder than the MGCats but I performed better. Perhaps it's because the MGCat Verbal questions are a little odd. Don't know how to explain it.
Quant felt a lot easier, to the point where I thought I had screwed up big time and got all 500-600 level questions. Turns out MGCat's quant is odd too. They are more complicated, but the answers offered are not as tricky. I feel that the actual Gmat Quant questions are simplier by nature, but have offer some tricky answers to trap your careless mistakes. I'm not careful by nature and have improved in that area to a certain extent, but judging from the 47, I still have much more room for improvement.
Overall, I am satisfied with my score. Could've done better, but we always could've done better.

I'm applying for an accounting PhD, which is more quant based so this score worries me a bit, especially with the 70% quant score. However, I'm just going to roll with it, since I'm not sure if I could do any better, on the overall, if I tried.

Here are the things that worked for me:

Sugar. I had a piece of candy in my mouth each time I entered/re-entered the test room.

Take BOTH breaks.

Nootropics. There's a variety and there are minuses if you don't manage your dosage properly. There are minuses even if you manage your dosage properly. For instance, I'm super tired after the test. It's only 7 right now but my brain feels super tired even though I can still focus, and I feel a slight tingling at the back of my head indicative of a headache coming on soon. Take at your own risk.

Protein bar. Eat it before and during the test. An empty stomach is an unnecessary distraction and affects your ability to think properly.

Sip red bull during breaks. Sip, don't chug.

Arrive 1 hour early. You may start at your own leisure.

Recon the test site before hand. Avoid unnecessary stress on test day.

Open doors for people. Accumulating good karma doesn't hurt. Think positive thoughts. When I see people with their results scripts leaving I always hope that they did better than expected.

Hope this helped. Good luck!

[waqas9]

Nootropics. There's a variety and there are minuses if you don't manage your dosage properly. There are minuses even if you manage your dosage properly. For instance, I'm super tired after the test. It's only 7 right now but my brain feels super tired even though I can still focus, and I feel a slight tingling at the back of my head indicative of a headache coming on soon. Take at your own risk.

How did the nootropics work for you? I tried some last year (pirac, prami, choline, L-theanine) and did not feel much improvement. I even experimented with different dosages. Now I just drink a cup of coffee before my study session and it keeps me going solid for 2 hours. I do plan on drinking a bottle of neurosonic during the 2 breaks. Worked well during the practice tests lol.

Congrats on your great score btw!

[jackson.b.allan]

Good run down, congrats on your result.

I am getting similar results on quant, latest CAT Q37,V39. Hoping to get that Q up to 47 or 48 in about 9-10 weeks.

I love coffee. The only issue is that on both my cats in the last 15 minutes of both the Q and V sections I have really needed to use the bathroom.

[JohnyN603]

I tried a few of these https://nootropicboost.com/buy-best-noo ... luracetam/ but they seem to just overexcite my brain to the point of brain fog. I tried selegiline too and that made me antisocial and angry, so for now I`m off all Nootropics.

[eminm561]

Thank you very much for the article. I think I will use it when I have free time. Right now my schedule is full of meetings and works. I don't even have time for myself these days. At least Blessed CBD oils help me to reduce the tension and stresses of day to day life. I think I need to arrange the weekend for myself.