Poor performance in Practice CATS

[ii]

Hi All,

I have been preparing for the GMAT for about 2 months now. And thought I was making good progress till I took my first FULL practice tests (AWA, Quant, Verbal all in one 3.5hour sitting)

For example ... in my Quant preparation ... I have completed the OG Quant (Green) book ... and was scoring around 80% hit rate for PS questions and 77% hit rate for DS questions.
Also, before taking the FULL practice tests ... I attempted just 1 section in isolation: For example, I completed ONLY the Quant section of MGMAT CAT. I scored Q43(70%).
Even before this, the first practice test I took (4 weeks ago) was untimed. I completed ONLY the Quant and Verbal sections. Didnt do AWA. I scored 560(57%) - Q34(41%) V33(69%)

In the FULL practice tests (where I completed ALL sections (AWA, Q, V) in one 3.5hour sitting) which I have just completed over the past week, I scored as follows:
1) GMATPrep: I scored 520(45%) - Q32(37%); V29(56%)
2) MGMAT: I scored 500(38%) - Q28(24%); V31(62%)

Of course ... this is a very disappointing performance, especially as I thought my preparations was going well ! My assumption is that this is due to the timing ... I feel that I am rushing to get to the answers and subsequently making careless mistakes.

I have just recently purchased the MGMAT Guided Self Study Plus package ... and intend to go through all the class recordings and materials to pick up new techniques and practice drills.

My target score is 700 ... and my test date is 29 April. Is this going to be possible, in the given timeframe ?
Any ideas/thoughts/feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Both timing and stamina are MAJOR issues on this test and your previous practice scores weren't good indicators of your true performance because you weren't doing them under normal test conditions. From now on, you need to do everything under timed conditions - even when you're practicing just a single problem. (This doesn't mean that you spend only 2 minutes on that problem and move on forever - but the first time you do it, make yourself get to an answer SOMEHOW within 2 minutes. Then spend all the time you want going over that problem.)

It is going to be challenging to improve by 200 points in a month - this doesn't mean it can't be done, but it is not very common / typical. Most people do prepare for 3-4 months total, but your first two months, unfortunately, weren't entirely targeted in the right way b/c you weren't testing yourself under normal timed conditions (I'm assuming this also means you weren't timing yourself strictly even as you did individual practice problems or groups of problems from OG). Also, the self-study course you've purchased typically takes about 2 months to complete. So you're going to need to both continue on with your study plan and go back and redo some if not most of your prior work under timed conditions. (Eg, your hit rate for the Quant supplement - anything that wasn't done under timed conditions can't properly be counted in that hit rate. The issue is not simply whether you can get the questions right but whether you can get them right in 2 minutes, on average.)

If you've already scheduled the test date, you don't need to change it right now; as long as you change it more than 7 days in advance, you can get most of your money back. So see how things go over the next couple of weeks and then decide whether you need to push your test date out.

[II]

Thanks Stacey.
PS. Are you available for private tutoring ?

[StaceyKoprince]

Yes - all of our instructors do private tutoring as well as teach classes! If you're interested in tutoring, contact the office (800.576.GMAT or studentservices@manhattangmat.com). You can definitely request a specific tutor and the student services team will do its best to make that match, but be aware that scheduling issues may interfere (eg, if you're only available on week-ends and the tutor in questin is already booked on week-ends).