Hi,
Is there any value in taking the MGMAT CATs multiple times? Approximately what % of questions will be repeats? Also, what about taking the official CATs multiple times? Will I end up just seeing a bunch of repeats?
Thanks.
GMAT Forum
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- StaceyKoprince
- ManhattanGMAT Staff
- Posts: 9360
- Joined: Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:05 am
- Location: Montreal
You have 6 "clean" MGMAT tests and 2 "clean" GMATPrep tests. After that, you may begin to see repeats, although there are enough questions in both databases that you will also continue to see new questions.
We can't predict the number of repeats we'll see, unfortunately. It's somewhat random. If your score is improving a lot, you won't see as many repeats, though, because you'll be moving yourself up into a harder pool of questions.
Two things:
(1) You have 8 "clean" tests, between MGMAT and GMATPrep. That's enough for anybody. You don't actually learn a whole lot simply by taking a practice test. Most of your learning comes from the analysis you do of that test, and the two or even three weeks' worth of studying that you do before you take another test. (And that studying should be based upon the strengths and weaknesses you identified in your analysis of the previous test.) Do NOT just do question after question after question. If I keep practicing the same piano piece over and over, without explicitly trying to get better at finger movement and timing and pedalwork and etc before I play the piece again... I'm just going to keep reinforcing my mistakes and I'll only make incremental progress.
(2) If you do take repeats, here are a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.
We can't predict the number of repeats we'll see, unfortunately. It's somewhat random. If your score is improving a lot, you won't see as many repeats, though, because you'll be moving yourself up into a harder pool of questions.
Two things:
(1) You have 8 "clean" tests, between MGMAT and GMATPrep. That's enough for anybody. You don't actually learn a whole lot simply by taking a practice test. Most of your learning comes from the analysis you do of that test, and the two or even three weeks' worth of studying that you do before you take another test. (And that studying should be based upon the strengths and weaknesses you identified in your analysis of the previous test.) Do NOT just do question after question after question. If I keep practicing the same piano piece over and over, without explicitly trying to get better at finger movement and timing and pedalwork and etc before I play the piece again... I'm just going to keep reinforcing my mistakes and I'll only make incremental progress.
(2) If you do take repeats, here are a few guidelines to minimize the chance of artificially inflating your score via question repeats. First, anytime you see a problem that you remember (and this means: I know the answer or I'm pretty sure I remember the answer, not just "hmm, this looks familiar..."), immediately look at the timer and make yourself sit there for the full length of time for that question type. This way, you don't artificially give yourself more time than you should have. Second, think about whether you got this problem right the last time. If you did, get it right again this time. If you didn't, get it wrong again. If you *completely honestly* think that you would get it right this time around if it were a new question (even though you got it wrong last time) because you've studied that area and improved, then get it right this time.
Stacey Koprince
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
Instructor
Director, Content & Curriculum
ManhattanPrep
2 posts Page 1 of 1