Study and Strategy questions relating to the GMAT.
udvranto
Course Students
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2011 4:06 am
 

Need a new Plan for Verbal Improvement

by udvranto Sun Nov 27, 2011 3:45 am

My MGMAT CAT scores:
Code: Select All Code
CAT  Score  Quant    Verbal
CAT1 500     34        25
CAT2 600     46        28
CAT3 630     45        32
CAT4 670     48        33


The data clearly shows that my verbal score is improving insignificantly. Although, a closer look reveals that the difficulty level increased for me (data below).

In CAT4, I encountered more 700-800 level questions than any previous tests. But I performed poorly on the 700-800 level questions (~30% right).

Currently I am doing 4 RC, 5 CR, 20 SC from the Aristotle SC Grail and RC-99 books every day. Additionally, I read a chapter from PowerScore CR. How do I modify my study plan to improve my verbal score?

My test is in two weeks.

Verbal Detail Data:

Code: Select All Code
CR Overall   43%   43%   43%   57%
CR 300 - 500   100%   33%   100%   100%
CR 500 - 600   63%   67%   67%   100%
CR 600 - 700   0%   33%   50%   67%
CR 700 - 800   0%   0%   0%   33%
            
RC Overall   33%   42%   50%   50%
RC 300 - 500   67%   100%      
RC 500 - 600   50%   33%   100%   100%
RC 600 - 700   0%   60%   33%   67%
RC 700 - 800      0%   33%   29%
            
SC Overall   60%   53%   67%   47%
SC 300 - 500   50%      100%   
SC 500 - 600   57%   60%   100%   100%
SC 600 - 700   67%   56%   55%   50%
SC 700 - 800      0%   100%   38%
StaceyKoprince
ManhattanGMAT Staff
 
Posts: 9360
Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
Location: Montreal
 

Re: Need a new Plan for Verbal Improvement

by StaceyKoprince Mon Nov 28, 2011 12:39 pm

First, your verbal score went form 25 to 33 - I wouldn't call that insignificant. That's quite a bit.

You don't mention what your goal is for your verbal score, but given your language, I'm guessing that you want it to be quite a bit higher. If that's the case, then I have some not-so-good news: it's not reasonable to expect a very large improvement in 2 weeks. In fact, most people find that the real test score is about the same as it was a week or two before the real test (on practice tests).

So you may need to think about postponing your test if you are looking for a much higher score.

Next, you mentioned getting a lot more 700+ questions on your last test, which is fantastic. You shouldn't actually expect to get most of these right. Overall, you should expect to answer about 60% of the questions (in the entire section) correctly. You should expect your percentages to be above 60% for the lower-level questions but lower for the higher-level questions - that's just how the test works.

Now, what to do to improve your performance? We can help with that, but we need some additional detail from you on your strengths and weaknesses. Use the below article to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs and then come back here and share your analysis:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Note: please do not give us only the data - give us your analysis. It's important for you to be able to analyze your work.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep