Hello,
I just took CAT 2 exam and received a 550 (Q-40 V-27). On my first one, I received a 530 (Q-40 V-24). Apparently, I am not seeing any improvement.
I am taking my first GMAT on 2/7/09 and really frustrated with my score, especially with my verbal score. I want to score 650+ on my first GMAT.
An average difficulty level that I got right is
CR 480
RC 570
SC 580
PS-550
DS-620
I would really appreciate your advise on how to manage remaining 3 weeks before the real exam in order to improve my score (Especially my verbal score.) I am doing OG again as MGMAT staff advised. Also, How can I distingusih questions that have a difficulty level above 550 so that I can concentrate on the level I am at now.
GMAT Forum
6 postsPage 1 of 1
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
How are you studying? Are you in a class or studying on your own? If you're studying on your own, what materials are you using and how are you studying? In particular, what are you using for CR? How is your timing on the math and verbal sections? And what are your specific strengths and weaknesses in the other areas (quant, SC, RC)? I need to know that in order to know how to advise you.
You don't mention how long it has been since you've started studying. I'm guessing you're still earlier in the process simply because you have only taken your 2nd exam, but let me know. A lot of people don't see much improvement from the first test to the second one. Essentially, we're breaking all of your old, bad habits and trying to build new ones, but that takes a lot of time. Even after you start learning the new stuff, you're slower at first, which messes up your performance because it takes time away from the things that you do know how to do.
We have about 3 weeks to go until your test day; that may or may not be enough time to improve 100+ points. It's a little tight - I'd say some people could do that but a lot of people would need more time. Do you have any flexiblity as to when you take it or are you hitting a deadline?
You don't mention how long it has been since you've started studying. I'm guessing you're still earlier in the process simply because you have only taken your 2nd exam, but let me know. A lot of people don't see much improvement from the first test to the second one. Essentially, we're breaking all of your old, bad habits and trying to build new ones, but that takes a lot of time. Even after you start learning the new stuff, you're slower at first, which messes up your performance because it takes time away from the things that you do know how to do.
We have about 3 weeks to go until your test day; that may or may not be enough time to improve 100+ points. It's a little tight - I'd say some people could do that but a lot of people would need more time. Do you have any flexiblity as to when you take it or are you hitting a deadline?
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- Lee
Stacey,
I took your 9 week course between October-December.
I took CAT 1 before the class with no time limit. I didn't have time to take the test during the course. (However, I did all the assignments.)
After the class, I took CAT 2 and received 450.(I really didn't focus at this time.) Yesterday, I received 550 as I explained.
Because it was December with Christmas holiday, I could not keep up my study habit after the class.
I started to re-do OG problems in Janauary. Ironically, CR and DS were my strength when I was doing OG problems. SC, RC and PS were my biggest concern. However it turned out, CR and DS were my weakest area after CAT 3.
That's why I feel lost.
PS & DS - I am redoing OG problems by subject. I could distinguish questions catagory by the subject. But tend to get nervous if i see the word problems.
SC-redoing OG problems in random orders. try to review the problems how you suggested (right column left column with subject area tested with errors)
RC- making inference is my weakness area
I know it is little tight to improve 100+ point within 3 weeks, but I am actaully aiming to score 650 or above on my second GMAT in March.
Thank you Stacey in advance. I am really stressed out.
I took CAT 1 before the class with no time limit. I didn't have time to take the test during the course. (However, I did all the assignments.)
After the class, I took CAT 2 and received 450.(I really didn't focus at this time.) Yesterday, I received 550 as I explained.
Because it was December with Christmas holiday, I could not keep up my study habit after the class.
I started to re-do OG problems in Janauary. Ironically, CR and DS were my strength when I was doing OG problems. SC, RC and PS were my biggest concern. However it turned out, CR and DS were my weakest area after CAT 3.
That's why I feel lost.
PS & DS - I am redoing OG problems by subject. I could distinguish questions catagory by the subject. But tend to get nervous if i see the word problems.
SC-redoing OG problems in random orders. try to review the problems how you suggested (right column left column with subject area tested with errors)
RC- making inference is my weakness area
I know it is little tight to improve 100+ point within 3 weeks, but I am actaully aiming to score 650 or above on my second GMAT in March.
Thank you Stacey in advance. I am really stressed out.
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Okay - so you're planning to take the official test in both February and March? Is there a reason why you're doing it twice? (eg, sometimes people like to have a 'dry run' first official test to help them know what to expect the second time - in particular, people who tend to have a lot of anxiety when taking standardized tests.) I just ask to make sure you actually do have a good reason for planning to take it twice, because I also know that some people get discouraged if they don't do as well as they'd like on a first test, and I don't want that to happen to you!
You mentioned that CR and DS were your strength when doing OG but were weaker on the third CAT. There are multiple reasons why this might have happened; see if any of these apply to you:
- did you do the OG questions timed?
- did you do the OG questions in random groupings (so that you had to figure out what type of question you had next, etc)?
- what were the difficulty levels of CR and DS on your test? Did you happen to get harder questions, on average, for those two areas? [I just went and looked at your original mail and saw that, for DS, your difficulty level was significantly higher - so that's part of the reason your performance wasn't as good as it was on PS! On CR, though, your difficulty level was lower, so something else is going on here.]
- how was your timing on the practice test? One thing I see a lot, for example, is that people spend too much time on one type (say PS), and that takes time away from another / the other type (eg DS), and then they perform more poorly on DS... but they only spend, say, 1:40 on average on DS, while spending 2:10 on average on PS. Well... it's not unexpected to have DS drop in these circumstances - the person isn't spending enough time on questions of that type!
- which specific types of math are you better at vs. worse at? Did you happen to have more DS test problems in your weaker areas?
- which specific types of CR questions are you better at vs. worse at? Did you happen to have more CR test problems in your weaker areas?
- were you running out of time in either section and did you happen to have more DS / CR towards the end?
So go back and figure out why your CR & DS performance dropped. If you had harder questions on average in those areas, then don't worry about it too much (DS - see above!). If you messed up the timing such that you spent significantly less time on those question types, then your focus is on improving your timing - not necessarily fixing something fundamentally wrong with CR/DS. If you happened to get more questions in your areas of weakness within CR and DS, go study those areas of weakness.
On Word problems: try this technique. Read to the first punctuation mark (period, comma, whatever), and then ask yourself: okay, what did that tell me and how should I write it on my scrap paper. Then read to the second punctuation mark and do the same thing. Repeat to the end. Don't read the whole thing first and then have to go back and figure out what it all means. Try to figure it out piece by piece as you go along. If you misinterpret or mischaracterize something, after you've realized this (which may not be until you read the explanation), go back again and figure out WHY you misinterpreted / mischaracterized it the first time, why it is supposed to be the way the explanation says it is, and how you will remember next time around to interpret / characterize it in the right way.
On RC: go back and look at why you're getting these problems wrong. Most of the time, people infer too much. The test doesn't really want you to infer the way we infer in the real world. Instead, it wants you to find the answer choice that MUST be true given the information in the passage. No assumptions, no arguments - it has to be true according to the info in the passage.
For example, if I tell you that I think cats make the best pets, you might infer in the real world that: I like animals in general; I like pets in general; I have a cat; I have other kinds of pets; I like other kinds of cats (lions, etc); if we went to a pet store and I bought a pet, that pet would be a cat; if I came over to your house and saw your cat, I would pet it and play with it; etc. But not one of those would be acceptable as a GMAT inference answer! Instead, an acceptable answer might be something like: I don't think dogs make the best pets; at least one other type of pet is better than dogs; some other types of animals besides cats can act as pets; etc.
The "real world" inferences aren't acceptable because you could argue with any one of them. I might like only cats and no other animals or pets. I might like only house cats and no other kinds of cats. I might be allergic to cats and therefore don't have a cat, wouldn't choose a cat if I were at a pet store, and wouldn't pet or play with yours. (By the way, large parts of this scenario are true! I do think cats make the best pets - at least, they'd be the best for me - and yet I am actually allergic to them.)
The "GMAT inference" examples are acceptable because you can't argue with them. If I think cats are the best, then by definition, I don't think some other type of pet is best, and any other type of pet is not as good as cats. By the same token, if I think cats are the best, then I must accept that there are other categories of pets - "best" is a comparison, so I must be comparing to other types.
You have to hold yourself to that standard on both RC inference questions and CR draw a conclusion questions. Do NOT give them a "real world" inference. Give them something that must be true according to the info already given in the passage / argument.
Re: difficulty levels, your percentile is around 60 in quant, so you can skip the first 50 problems in OG for DS and PS. For verbal, your percentile is lower, so there you shouldn't skip any. Although your quant is better than your verbal, I'd still spend your time about 50/50 on each, because it's often easier to improve your strengths. Use the results of your most recent practice test to drive what you want to review - and don't forget about timing. You may have gotten lots of some problem type or content area right, but you may have spent too much time doing so. You still need to study those areas, whatever they are, because you need to learn how to do the work more efficiently than you have been doing it!
You mentioned that CR and DS were your strength when doing OG but were weaker on the third CAT. There are multiple reasons why this might have happened; see if any of these apply to you:
- did you do the OG questions timed?
- did you do the OG questions in random groupings (so that you had to figure out what type of question you had next, etc)?
- what were the difficulty levels of CR and DS on your test? Did you happen to get harder questions, on average, for those two areas? [I just went and looked at your original mail and saw that, for DS, your difficulty level was significantly higher - so that's part of the reason your performance wasn't as good as it was on PS! On CR, though, your difficulty level was lower, so something else is going on here.]
- how was your timing on the practice test? One thing I see a lot, for example, is that people spend too much time on one type (say PS), and that takes time away from another / the other type (eg DS), and then they perform more poorly on DS... but they only spend, say, 1:40 on average on DS, while spending 2:10 on average on PS. Well... it's not unexpected to have DS drop in these circumstances - the person isn't spending enough time on questions of that type!
- which specific types of math are you better at vs. worse at? Did you happen to have more DS test problems in your weaker areas?
- which specific types of CR questions are you better at vs. worse at? Did you happen to have more CR test problems in your weaker areas?
- were you running out of time in either section and did you happen to have more DS / CR towards the end?
So go back and figure out why your CR & DS performance dropped. If you had harder questions on average in those areas, then don't worry about it too much (DS - see above!). If you messed up the timing such that you spent significantly less time on those question types, then your focus is on improving your timing - not necessarily fixing something fundamentally wrong with CR/DS. If you happened to get more questions in your areas of weakness within CR and DS, go study those areas of weakness.
On Word problems: try this technique. Read to the first punctuation mark (period, comma, whatever), and then ask yourself: okay, what did that tell me and how should I write it on my scrap paper. Then read to the second punctuation mark and do the same thing. Repeat to the end. Don't read the whole thing first and then have to go back and figure out what it all means. Try to figure it out piece by piece as you go along. If you misinterpret or mischaracterize something, after you've realized this (which may not be until you read the explanation), go back again and figure out WHY you misinterpreted / mischaracterized it the first time, why it is supposed to be the way the explanation says it is, and how you will remember next time around to interpret / characterize it in the right way.
On RC: go back and look at why you're getting these problems wrong. Most of the time, people infer too much. The test doesn't really want you to infer the way we infer in the real world. Instead, it wants you to find the answer choice that MUST be true given the information in the passage. No assumptions, no arguments - it has to be true according to the info in the passage.
For example, if I tell you that I think cats make the best pets, you might infer in the real world that: I like animals in general; I like pets in general; I have a cat; I have other kinds of pets; I like other kinds of cats (lions, etc); if we went to a pet store and I bought a pet, that pet would be a cat; if I came over to your house and saw your cat, I would pet it and play with it; etc. But not one of those would be acceptable as a GMAT inference answer! Instead, an acceptable answer might be something like: I don't think dogs make the best pets; at least one other type of pet is better than dogs; some other types of animals besides cats can act as pets; etc.
The "real world" inferences aren't acceptable because you could argue with any one of them. I might like only cats and no other animals or pets. I might like only house cats and no other kinds of cats. I might be allergic to cats and therefore don't have a cat, wouldn't choose a cat if I were at a pet store, and wouldn't pet or play with yours. (By the way, large parts of this scenario are true! I do think cats make the best pets - at least, they'd be the best for me - and yet I am actually allergic to them.)
The "GMAT inference" examples are acceptable because you can't argue with them. If I think cats are the best, then by definition, I don't think some other type of pet is best, and any other type of pet is not as good as cats. By the same token, if I think cats are the best, then I must accept that there are other categories of pets - "best" is a comparison, so I must be comparing to other types.
You have to hold yourself to that standard on both RC inference questions and CR draw a conclusion questions. Do NOT give them a "real world" inference. Give them something that must be true according to the info already given in the passage / argument.
Re: difficulty levels, your percentile is around 60 in quant, so you can skip the first 50 problems in OG for DS and PS. For verbal, your percentile is lower, so there you shouldn't skip any. Although your quant is better than your verbal, I'd still spend your time about 50/50 on each, because it's often easier to improve your strengths. Use the results of your most recent practice test to drive what you want to review - and don't forget about timing. You may have gotten lots of some problem type or content area right, but you may have spent too much time doing so. You still need to study those areas, whatever they are, because you need to learn how to do the work more efficiently than you have been doing it!
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
- Lee
Thank you.
Thank you Stacey for your advise. I regained my motivation to study.
(I set my exame date after the class for February, but I realized that I need more time to study to score above 600. I didn't want to cancel the test to keep up my focus. I am still worried that I would get discouraged if I don't recieve a good score on the first one...)
(I set my exame date after the class for February, but I realized that I need more time to study to score above 600. I didn't want to cancel the test to keep up my focus. I am still worried that I would get discouraged if I don't recieve a good score on the first one...)
- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
Great - good luck with your study! And, yes, if you think that you would get too discouraged if you don't get the score you want on the first test, then you probably don't want to take it so early. If you think you can change your mindset to "this is just a practice test, and I'm just going to see what it's like," then it could be a valuable experience. But don't risk it if you think you'd get discouraged and demotivated. Anyway, let me know how it goes!
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
6 posts Page 1 of 1