Advice needed on Improving Performance

[rahul.ferns]

Hi,

I have been studying for over four weeks now and have covered most of the OG and all the MGMAT books for Quant and Verbal.

My MGMAT CAT scores are below:
CAT 1 Taken almost 8 months back.
CAT 2 640 (43 Q, 34 V)
CAT 3 640 (43 Q, 35 V)
CAT 4 660 (44 Q, 36 V)
CAT 5 670 (45 Q, 36 V)
CAT 6 680 (48 Q, 35 V)

At this point, I have completed all the CATs and have not yet crossed the 700 barrier. Ideally, I want to score a 720+ on the GMAT. My test date is in 10 days.

Currently I am having timing issues on the Verbal Section. I tend to skip RC passages thinking that I would not have enough time left for less time consuming SC and CR questions. Infact, today I skipped the 3rd and 4th RC passages blindly and unfortunately ended up with 8.5 mins to spare at the end of the Test.
Do you suggest that I should practice only the Verbal section full length? I intend to give my test within 10 days and hopefully score a 720+. Looking forward to your advice.

Thanks.

[StaceyKoprince]

Ideally, I want to score a 720+ on the GMAT. My test date is in 10 days.

As a general rule, whatever you're scoring about 10 days (under 100% official testing conditions) out is roughly what you should expect to score on the real test. Your current scoring level is 680 (or possibly lower, if you have been doing things like skipping the essays, taking longer breaks than allowed, etc). If you're okay with the possibility of a 680, take the test as planned. If you're not, postpone your test. (I know you don't want to hear that, but better to make good decisions based upon available information than have a really bad test day.)

Lots of people have timing problems, so the good news is that you're not alone. The bad news is that it often takes 4 to 6 weeks to fix significant timing problems - and if you're skipping entire passages outright, then you do have significant timing problems. This is another reason you may need to consider postponing your test.

Read this article and start doing what it says:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... anagement/

You may also want to read the Scoring section of our free e-book The GMAT Uncovered Guide. If you have an account with us of any kind (even a free account), the guide is already in your Student Center.

Also, some other things. I think this means that you have taken 5 CATs in the last 4 weeks?

Stop taking so many CATs so frequently. First, progress on this test doesn't tend to be linear. It usually takes a while before you see any significant progress because a LOT of things all have to come together well in order to perform well on the entire test. For example, when you're first learning new things, you're often slower than you will be several weeks later with lots of practice. That's normal, right? But that'll hurt you right now on a timed section, because that extra time you're taking has to come from other questions - and CATs cover ALL material, not just the material you've already studied or mastered.

Second, it's not worth it to take another CAT until you've made such significant progress that you can expect to see some big differences in the data (though you still may not yet see a big difference in scoring). Each CAT tells you a wealth of info about your strengths and weaknesses. Don't even consider taking another CAT until you have worked through enough of the weaknesses that you feel you have made significant progress since your last CAT.

You can use this article to analyze your results:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

You can also share your analysis here if you want our advice (note: don't just post the raw data - we want to hear your analysis). If you do, please also tell us whether you deviated from official testing conditions and, if so, how.

Next, if you decide to take more time to study, how are you studying now? How deeply are you reviewing and trying to master these problems? Take a look at this article; are you doing these kinds of things?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

We can talk about this more if you tell us that you intend to take more time and tell us your test analysis.