Has a bit more than 1 month for the real GMAT

[AntoineC190]

I have been training for months on your platform and I need to have my GMAT results by next January 4th (deadline of the application).

My best score on your mock exams is 680 but I had a few 660 scores. I would need more of like a 680-700 score.
I did a real test on Monday, 13th and I had 640 (42Q and 35V). My score in verbal is my usual score but I scored at least 45 in maths in most of my mock exams.
How would you do it if you were me ? I still have a month or so and so I can have two more real attempts.

By the way, I already worked on around ten mock exams on Manhattan Prep already from end of September to now and I started at 590.
Thank you,

Antoine

[StaceyKoprince]

Welcome to the forums!

Ok, so Q42 and V35, but you normally score Q45 on practice tests. And have you been taking your practice tests under 100% official conditions? Time limits, breaks, no eating and drinking during the test, etc? (Just making sure the Q45 score is valid—if we take longer breaks or give ourselves other advantages, that can artificially inflate a practice test score.)

Do you have any ideas about why your Q score dropped a bit during the real test? Did anything feel different at all? Tell us anything you can think of, even if you're not sure that it made a difference to your performance.

Did you take the test in a testing center? If so, you can order something called an Enhanced Score Report for USD30—it gives additional data about your test performance that might help you to figure out why your Q score dropped. (You don't have to order it, but if you're not sure why your score dropped, that might help. Also, this report is not available if you took the test online.)

If you can hit Q45 next time (and keep V at 35), that would take you to about 650-660, but still not to the 680-700 that is your goal. Given that you don't have very much time, you need to try to lift both Q and V. You'd need to pick up a few more points in each section (something like Q47-48 and V37-39) in order to get into the 680-700 range.

Have you used our CAT Analysis Tracker (linked in all of our online syllabi) to analyze your most recent MPrep practice tests? If not, that's the next step. We need to figure out what the best opportunities are to lift you a few more points in each section. These are the things to look out for as you analyze:

1. Improving your timing decisions. This usually involves cutting yourself off faster on problems that are taking too much time/mental energy and redistributing that time to other problems that are more likely to pay off.

2. Addressing careless mistakes. These are things that you already know how to do, but you're missing points due to some bad habits. Identify the bad habit, and then figure out the new habit to build that will address that entire class of careless mistakes. (eg, Make a mistake because you didn't write your work down? Train yourself to write everything down in future. Fall into a trap because you relied on memory and didn't go back to the passage or argument to verify a detail? Train yourself to go back and check the details, every time. And so on.)

3. Addressing "right but too slow" problems. You know how to do them, but the way that you're doing them right now is taking too much time and using up too much mental energy. Find a better / easier / more efficient way to get to the answer. On quant, a lot of the time the answer is to estimate (or estimate more aggressively). It's not a math test; nobody's ever going to check your work. It doesn't matter that you can calculate the specific number that's sitting in answer (B). All that matters is that you know it can't be ACDE, because none of them are close enough. On verbal, a lot of the time this means: Stop agonizing back and forth over the last two answers. Compare them against each other once; then make your best choice and move on.

4. Addressing "wrong but I get it now" problems. These are the ones that you legitimately got wrong, but afterwards when you review, you immediately see how to do it or the explanation makes complete sense to you, etc. These are more effort than 1 through 3, so definitely prioritize 1 through 3, but also address as many of these as you can in the time you have left.

Do *NOT* prioritize "wrong and I don't get it" or "wrong and this problem is driving me crazy" problems. Those problems will be addressed in item #1 above: Making better timing decisions. Specifically, these problems go in the "get wrong as fast as I can" bucket. Spend your time and mental energy someplace better!

If, after you analyze your most recent practice test, you want to share your analysis with us, please do so! Just summarize the data for us and then tell us your takeaways / conclusions. We'll tell you whether we agree with your analysis and let you know any other ideas we have about what to do. Good luck!

[AntoineC190]

Hello Stacey,

First thank you for your answer. I have always been taking my test under 100% official conditions without a break or anything. The only thing that could have inflated my score a little bit was the fact that after taking quite a few tests, there are some questions that I saw again in my tests.
I actually did one of the two free GMAT tests on mba website before taking the real test and I even had 48Q and 33V so a 660 score total. But this was the only time I went above 45 in quant.

I usually do one test a week on the weekend and then spend my week diving deep into each question to make sure I am understanding them right.
I took my test in a test center so maybe I should take that. I know that I have weaknesses in geometry and I sometimes take too much time to understand the environment of the question: the different hypothesis in the question. And those hypothesis are very important especially when I use smart numbers and I need to make choices fast.

I used the CAT Analysis Tracker to analyse my CATs. That's how I found out I lost many points to Reading Comprehension and to Assumptions questions on Verbal and I never had any geometry questions right in Quant.

When analysing my real GMAT test and my last CATs, I think first I don't manage time right. For the real GMAT, I had like 1 minute 30 left for the three last questions on Q and V and it can definitely help me get 1-2 points missing. Also, I believe in Q I don't master some techniques well enough like some classic question types : "ex: Ben walked at 4 miles per hour ..." so I can redo those questions types better. For the Verbal part, I feel like it would be harder for me to improve in a short period of time, especially also because my percentile is higher.

I hope I can make it in time.

[dmitryknowsbest]

Hi Antoine,

I'm subbing for Stacey this week. Here are a few thoughts in response to your analysis:

*It sounds like you're doing a good job of reviewing and analyzing your work. Keep that up! There's still time to improve your understanding of some problem types, but as Stacey suggested, you'll make the most progress from working on how to turn "almost right" or "too slow" questions into successes. You can even gain from studying your successes and identifying ways to work faster and with greater confidence. Especially with just a month remaining, you want to prioritize familiar concepts and strategies over new concepts.

*Definitely spend at least half your time on verbal. That's your lowest section by far, so there's much more upside for your overall score. Even if verbal doesn't improve for you as quickly as quant does, it can do great things for your score. Ignore the percentiles--they don't tell you anything of importance about your performance--and just focus on accuracy. The key to verbal is to keep getting better at prediction (what is the answer asking for? what should a right answer look like?) and answer analysis (why is each choice right or wrong)? Do the best job you can under timed conditions, and then take all the time you need to review for these points afterward. Then just keep looking for ways to spot more of what you notice under untimed conditions while you're doing the next timed set.

*CR Assumption questions and RC questions are fairly different, but they have a common element. On RC, especially Inference, you're most often looking for answers that are directly supported by the passage. Which answer is actually true, and how can you tell from the info in the passage? On an Inference question, 4 of the 5 answers will be statements that are NOT fully supported by the text. On Assumption questions, the right answer will be something that is missing from the passage, but that is needed to reach the conclusion. This means that the conclusion of an Assumption Family question is kind of like a wrong answer from an Inference question. If you can get good at spotting the little differences between the given info/premises and these flawed statements, you'll get better at knocking out unsupported inferences and at predicting answers on Assumption Family questions. Easier said than done, but it's worth the effort!

*Saving the most important for last . . . make a commitment not to run out of time anymore! You can do it. It's just a matter of applying a system of benchmarks and sticking to them no matter what. Any time you have a choice between staying on time or working longer to perfect a problem, choose staying on time! If you let yourself fall behind on tests, you will build that habit and fall behind on the real test. Often, people struggle even more than usual with timing on test day because they are so eager to get a high score. You don't want to fall into this trap. Work with a plan on your weekly tests, and then go into the test center and do your best to recreate your best home performance. Don't try to speed up or slow down more than usual. This is the best way to make sure you are supported by your training, and it leaves your attention free for the important work of solving as many problems as you can under the timing conditions. Get to the end every time, but guess strategically throughout the test on questions that don't look promising. That gives you the flexibility to spend an extra 20 seconds or so when it's needed. (If you don't have a timing plan you're using, check out our blog post on the subject:make_clickable_callback(MAGIC_URL_FULL, ' ', 'https://www.kaptest.com/study/gmat/time-management/', '', ' class="postlink"') )

Best of luck to you!