Additional resources to purchase (Help!) ?

[anguyen2107]

I sat for the real thing today and got a disappointing score of 590. I won't debrief on everything right now as i have a theory for my poor performance and a strategy for improving my score. Essentially, i think need to work on my nerves and really master weak quantitative and verbal concepts.

Here is the break down of my scores:
MGMAT CAT 1: 650 Q43, V36
MGMAT CAT 2: 630 Q46, V31
MGMAT CAT 3: 660 Q42, V38
MGMAT CAT 4: 630 Q43, V33
MGMAT CAT 5: 650 Q43, V36
MGMAT CAT 6: 620 Q43, V32
Actual: 590 Q40, V31 (worst scores per section from all CATs)

My question is about purchasing other online resources from this site; i don't need the private tutoring or classroom course options as i've taken the Kaplan classroom course and was able to bring up my score into the 600 range. I wish i had discovered you guys first, however. Your materials are really designed to help students break into the 700 range!

I am planning to purchase the online q-banks to master weak areas, then retake all the CATS. Will it be OK to retake all the CAT's at some point in the next month, or should i browse for other CATs from different companies (i've taken Kaplan and MHGMAT to date). Does MHGMAT offer post-test consultation as a stand-alone service?

Thank you!

[StaceyKoprince]

You don't mention what you do want to get - what's your goal score? Mid-6, high 6, 7+?

When you took the practice tests, did you also take the essays? Did you spend as much time and mental energy on the practice essays as you did on the real essays? Did you do the tests under full official conditions (not spread out over a longer period of time or with longer breaks)?

How did you feel, stamina-wise, during the test?

How was your timing in each section? Did you generally move steadily through the test, giving appropriate time and attention to each question? (2m for quant, 1 to 1.5m for SC, 2m for CR, 2-4m to read a passage, 1m for general RC questions, 1.5 to 2m for specific RC questions) Or did you have to rush at times and possibly make random guesses? If you did have to rush and/or make random guesses, on how many questions would you say you did that? Did you do it on a lot of questions in a row or were the guesses scattered? Alternatively, did you move too quickly and finish with a lot of time (>3min) left over?

CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses. The actual act of taking the exam does NOT actually help you to improve all that much. It's what you decide to study (and HOW you study) between tests (based upon your specific test results) that helps you to make a big improvement.

So I wouldn't say that it's a good idea to do a small amount of additional study and then start taking lots of CATs again. The ratio should be more like: two weeks of in-depth study to 1 CAT. There's pretty much never a reason to take a CAT more frequently than once a week.

What have you been using that teaches you the actual content (quant and grammar) and how to deal with the different question types (especially DS, RC, CR)? I'm guessing you still have the Kaplan materials? You can either go through those again or you can identify other sources that you think will help you with the "next level" of questions. (eg, we have lots of books, as do other test prep companies)

The online question banks are designed to test you after you've learned the lessons in our books and done the accompanying practice exercises. If you haven't actually used the books in the first place, you probably won't get as much out of the online question banks as you should / could.

You can still take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs (and others) as long as you follow 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.

Finally, we do post-test debriefs for free with our course students. Those who haven't taken one of our courses can sign up for a short amount of private tutoring to do a post-test debrief and build a gameplan. Something like that would probably take 1.5 to 2 hours. (Warning: private tutoring is expensive, of course.)

If you want more details on the books, take a look at the "Store" section of our website. If you want more details on tutoring, contact the office (800.576.GMAT or studentservices@manhattangmat.com).