I have taken two MGMAT CAT exams and have scored in the low-700's BUT the only way I have been able to do so is to pause the timer in the Quant section.
I am unable to finish it, as I find some of the questions extremely difficult. While I eventually am able to solve most of them, some of the questions take me upwards of 4 minutes.
I took a CAT from the official mba.com site and was able to finish the quant section in time and score well.
In essence, I am very confused. Is the Mahnattan Quant section harder than the actual GMAT? Is it just a coincidence? I'm not really sure what to think but suffice to say it has me very nervous about my upcoming GMAT exam and whether or not I can handle the timing. Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.
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- DWG
Stacy,
I read a few older posts that have some of your thoughts on this very question. They were helpful.
You mention that the lack of experimental questions on MGMAT tests could account for some of the extra difficulty for high-level test takers. I had a followup question to that:
Do the experimental questions ever fall into the difficult category? In other words, if you are scoring at a 700+ level, is there a reasonable chance to expect experimental questions that fall in that level?
Thanks.
I read a few older posts that have some of your thoughts on this very question. They were helpful.
You mention that the lack of experimental questions on MGMAT tests could account for some of the extra difficulty for high-level test takers. I had a followup question to that:
Do the experimental questions ever fall into the difficult category? In other words, if you are scoring at a 700+ level, is there a reasonable chance to expect experimental questions that fall in that level?
Thanks.
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
NEVER use the pause button again! You are training yourself to take the test in a way that you will not be permitted to take it on test day. In other words, you are learning a very bad habit - don't do it.
I know that ours tends to create more time pressure for the reasons you read in my other posts. But still don't succumb to that pause button. I tell my students they're only allowed to use it if the house is on fire or something like that. :)
Re: your experimental question, the experimentals that you see can be at any difficulty level, from the easiest to the hardest. Technically, those questions do not have a pre-assigned difficulty level. The reason they're giving an experimental to you (and others) is to set that difficulty level when they start to give that question for real. So there's no "difficulty level" gauge when the test is deciding which experimental question to give you. Instead, it chooses a question based upon what categories you still need to hit (DS vs. PS, various topics and sub-topics, etc). It's simply the case that, if you are a 700+ level tester, your experimental questions are more likely to be below your level because most of the questions in general are below your level.
So, yes, if you see an impossible question, it could very well be an experimental. :)
I know that ours tends to create more time pressure for the reasons you read in my other posts. But still don't succumb to that pause button. I tell my students they're only allowed to use it if the house is on fire or something like that. :)
Re: your experimental question, the experimentals that you see can be at any difficulty level, from the easiest to the hardest. Technically, those questions do not have a pre-assigned difficulty level. The reason they're giving an experimental to you (and others) is to set that difficulty level when they start to give that question for real. So there's no "difficulty level" gauge when the test is deciding which experimental question to give you. Instead, it chooses a question based upon what categories you still need to hit (DS vs. PS, various topics and sub-topics, etc). It's simply the case that, if you are a 700+ level tester, your experimental questions are more likely to be below your level because most of the questions in general are below your level.
So, yes, if you see an impossible question, it could very well be an experimental. :)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- DWG
Wonderful, thanks Stacy for your response.
Truthfully, I'm all for simulating the actual testing environment. The only reason I did hit the pause button was to ensure that I get the requisite number of practice problems. My fear is that if I don't complete the exam, I'll lose out on those extra few questions from the question bank... am I incorrect in stating this assumption?
Also, one other question that I posted on the MGMAT CAT Verbal board that perhaps you may be able to help me with:
I took 3 MGMAT exams, consistently scoring in the low 700's. Upon taking practice exam #4, my score suddenly shot up to 770 (woo hoo!). I noticed that in the verbal section, most of my questions towards the end were marked as 600-700 level questions. In contrast, in the first 3 practice exams, the last 10--15 questions in verbal were 700-800 level questions.
Could the reason I was getting easier questions be because the MGMAT question bank has run out of the 700 level questions at this point? Just curious. Thanks.
And thanks for all your informative posts.
Truthfully, I'm all for simulating the actual testing environment. The only reason I did hit the pause button was to ensure that I get the requisite number of practice problems. My fear is that if I don't complete the exam, I'll lose out on those extra few questions from the question bank... am I incorrect in stating this assumption?
Also, one other question that I posted on the MGMAT CAT Verbal board that perhaps you may be able to help me with:
I took 3 MGMAT exams, consistently scoring in the low 700's. Upon taking practice exam #4, my score suddenly shot up to 770 (woo hoo!). I noticed that in the verbal section, most of my questions towards the end were marked as 600-700 level questions. In contrast, in the first 3 practice exams, the last 10--15 questions in verbal were 700-800 level questions.
Could the reason I was getting easier questions be because the MGMAT question bank has run out of the 700 level questions at this point? Just curious. Thanks.
And thanks for all your informative posts.
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
I understand why you used the pause button - but the risk is worse than the reward. You don't technically "miss out" on those questions. They're still sitting in the database, waiting to be used, so you could see them on a future test.
Re: the verbal thing, yes, that might've happened. It sounds like you were scoring very high already on verbal (if the last 10-15 q's were all 700+), so you can "max out" the question bank before the 6 tests are up if you're scoring at an extremely high level right from the beginning.
The good news is - you're at the 700+ mark anyway (at least on verbal - that score might have been inflated by using the pause button for quant), so I wouldn't worry about the verbal at this point. :)
Re: the verbal thing, yes, that might've happened. It sounds like you were scoring very high already on verbal (if the last 10-15 q's were all 700+), so you can "max out" the question bank before the 6 tests are up if you're scoring at an extremely high level right from the beginning.
The good news is - you're at the 700+ mark anyway (at least on verbal - that score might have been inflated by using the pause button for quant), so I wouldn't worry about the verbal at this point. :)
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
5 posts Page 1 of 1