Beaten up by GMAT-560 - Requesting help on retake strategy.

[jbk786]

Hi Stacey,

I gave my GMAT exam this week and scored an abysmal 560 (Q40, V27). My target is 700+. I will certainly be retaking the exam sometime at the end of June or early July.

Let me elaborate on the prep strategy that I have used over the last six months. Although I have been preparing for the GMAT for almost a year, I really became serious in December 2012.

First, I started my preparation using the Manhattan strategy guides, and in five months I went through the first iteration of these guides. Additionally, I also used Manhattan GMAT OG Archer to monitor my performance on the OG problems. Furthermore, as I am a non-native English speaker, I signed up for E-GMAT verbal live course.

Second, as a part of my preparation, I not only solved around 750 quant and 350 verbal problems from the OGs, but also spent a significant amount of time in reviewing these problems. My reviews were based on your article "How to review a practice problem".

Eighty percent of these problems were solved under timed conditions. As per OG Archer stats, for quant, I had 90% correct problems with an average time of 1:42. Overall, I found myself in a comfortable zone with quant; with the exception of the last 10% problems that I decided to skip if I see them on GMAT. I am not math prodigy, but as an engineer I thought that I can hold my own. (BAD IDEA!).

For verbal, I had 79% correct problems with an average time of 1:35. However, I believe that I did not practice verbal as much as I did quant. Solving 350 problems out of the 830 or so that are given in OG guides are not enough. In verbal my strength is SC and weakness is RC.

Third, I also purchased the set Manhattan CATs. All the tests were taken under actual test taking conditions. The scores on the Manhattan GMAT and GMAT Prep CATs are as follows:

Manhattan GMAT CAT 1 - 570 (Q41, V28) - 02/28/13
GMAT Prep CAT 1 - 550 (Q36, V29) - 03/13/13
Manhattan GMAT CAT 2 - 540 (Q38, V27) - 04/2/13
Manhattan GMAT CAT 3 - 610 (Q38, V35) - 04/12/12
Manhattan GMAT CAT 4 - 570 (Q41, V28) - 04/19/13
Manhattan GMAT CAT 5 - 590 (Q44, V27) - 04/27/13
Manhattan GMAT CAT 6 - 590 (Q39, V32) - 05/09/13
GMAT Prep CAT 2 - 610 (Q46, V28) - 05/18/13
GMAT Prep CAT 3 -710 (Q47, V40) - 05/19/13

With the exception of one outlier data point of 710, all other scores were in a standard deviation of 25.8. Both the mean (578.75) and the median (570) are quite close to each other. I have disregarded the 710 data point in my calculations. Therefore, based on the above mock test score, I knew that I will be scoring somewhere near the mean of 578.

I reviewed all these exams very thoroughly. Additionally, before looking at the solutions for incorrect problems, I tried them again. Surprisingly, I found that I could solve 80% of the incorrect problems correctly on the second try. I knew how to classify the problem and what strategy to use.

Finally, two weeks before the exam I changed my focus of study as per your two part article: The Last 14 days. I am an ardent follower of the Manhattan GMAT blog and especially your articles (You are the all mighty GMAT Oracle). I developed my game plan and reviewed exactly as directed in your article.

On the real exam day, I arrived at the center on time, checked in and started the test. I did both the essay and the IR part swiftly without wasting a lot of energy. Then took my first break and afterwards started the quant section. As I had made a commitment to myself that I will stick to my game plan and timing strategy, I found the quant section easy. I knew what I was doing on most of the problems, with the exception of a few data sufficiency problems that I had to guess. By the time I was on the 36th question I had 4 minutes left. I finished the quant section and then went for the second break. Then I started the verbal section.

This is where things started going south. After I had done 5 questions I don’t know what happened. I started getting really tough sentence correction questions one after the other. Although I had 83% success rate on the SC questions, I found myself in a real tough position. In any case, as I had to stick to my timing strategy I made educated guesses and moved on. In the middle of the section I also noticed that I made some careless mistakes on at least two questions. Finally, I completed the section and looked at my score of 560.

Now I am planning to retake the exam in approximately 1-1.5 months.

Here comes the dilemma. The results of both the mock test and the real GMAT test do not measure up to my real conceptual understanding of the material, and with the OG Archer stats. I am confused because I know the concepts very well and have reviewed them again and again in the last one month.

However, I believe that I may have poor test taking skills. But I don’t know how to identify and rectify these poor skills. I know that I need more practice. May be I should do drills with large sets of both quant and verbal questions. Moreover, I am not sure if retaking the test in 1-1.5 months is a good timeframe.

At this point, I am feeling a bit lost on what type of retake strategy to employ. I will appreciate if you can push me in the right direction.
Thanks,

[StaceyKoprince]

560 (Q40, V27). My target is 700+. I will certainly be retaking the exam sometime at the end of June or early July.

As you suspected, the timeframe is probably not enough. What's more important to you - the target score of 700+ or taking the test again in 4 to 6 weeks? The vast majority of people would not be able to go from 560 to 700+ in 4 to 6 weeks, so you're likely going to have to choose.

I believe that I may have poor test taking skills. But I don’t know how to identify and rectify these poor skills. I know that I need more practice. May be I should do drills with large sets of both quant and verbal questions.

Yes, it's probably the case that your test-taking skills are holding you back. Knowing the content is just the first level of a two-level skill set. The second level is knowing how to "read" the test questions - knowing how to take the test.

Drilling a bunch of problems will be an inefficient way to rectify this. You've got to learn how to learn first, and make sure that you actually extracted what you needed to extract from those problems you've already done. :)

For example, go take a look at 5 random quant questions from the OG - ones you've already done before. Spend 30 seconds asking yourself, "What is this problem testing and what approaches could I use to solve it?" If you think of more than 1 approach, ask yourself which one you'd try first and why.

Then go ahead and do the problem. Were you on target? Was it actually about what you thought it was about? Was your approach a good one? Why or why not?

With the hindsight of knowing the solution now, what are the clues that told you - or should have told you - that this problem was really about weighted averages, even though that term never appeared in the problem? What are the clues that should have led you to try a certain approach?

Is the approach that you did use actually the best approach? Look on the forums, look in OG Archer, etc. If there's a better way, what are the clues that should have led you to think about that way?

For example, I'm working with a tutoring student right now who (before) rarely used the "pick your own numbers" approach on "smart numbers"-type problems. He's learning to do this now and learning how he would even know in the first place that he could do this on a problem. He's also training himself to look - actively! - for these kinds of opportunities. (In fact, on every math problem, one thing I look for at the beginning is: can I just pick my own number on this problem? I look for this every single time because I know how much easier it is to do this than to do algebra or percentages or fractions or any abstract math.)

Then go do the same kind of analysis, but for verbal questions this time. This is also, by the way, where we use those 10 questions from the "how to analyze" article series. It sounds like you need to push yourself further at that stage.

Of course, there are other options as well, such as taking a class or working with a tutor. If you're struggling with this "second level" of test-taking skills, then you may need some outside help to learn how to do this. I try not to recommend that explicitly, though, because that involves spending money - and I work for a company that offers these services, so I have a conflict of interest.

Anyway, that's how you learn how to get better. Then, you do new problems to test yourself, to see whether you really did learn anything from your analysis and get any better. :)

But the learning comes before you try those new problems. Learn first (on old problems), really pick everything apart and ask yourself "What does this mean and why is it best done this way and how do I know that this is the best way?" (The latter two questions are where most people fall short in their studies.) Then test yourself by doing practice problems and repeat the analysis.

If you would like any advice on specific content areas, certainly let me know.

[jbk786]

For example, go take a look at 5 random quant questions from the OG - ones you've already done before. Spend 30 seconds asking yourself, "What is this problem testing and what approaches could I use to solve it?" If you think of more than 1 approach, ask yourself which one you'd try first and why.

Then go ahead and do the problem. Were you on target? Was it actually about what you thought it was about? Was your approach a good one? Why or why not?

With the hindsight of knowing the solution now, what are the clues that told you - or should have told you - that this problem was really about weighted averages, even though that term never appeared in the problem? What are the clues that should have led you to try a certain approach?

Stacey,

Thank you for the guidance you have given to me. I appreciate it. I will work on my skills as you have directed.

As you suspected, the timeframe is probably not enough. What's more important to you - the target score of 700+ or taking the test again in 4 to 6 weeks? The vast majority of people would not be able to go from 560 to 700+ in 4 to 6 weeks, so you're likely going to have to choose.

I agree with you here. The score 700+ is more important to me than taking the test again in 4-6 weeks. If I devote 3-4 hours everyday including weekends, can you please guide me on what would be a good time frame to retake the test. (2, 3, or 4 months) ?

Best Regards,

[StaceyKoprince]

You take the test again when your practice CATs (taken under 100% official conditions, including essay and IR) are in the range that you want on the real test. At least two tests - because one outlier test doesn't count. (And you can't have seen the questions before - that might've been why your GMATPrep #3 score was higher...)

When will that be? I don't know. I wish I could read the future! :) Most people would be looking at between 2 and 4 months, but there are too many variables to give a narrow time range.

What you basically need to do now is buckle down and start studying. Take a practice test every ~3 weeks. You should see progress every time (though that progress might not necessarily be a higher score - sometimes you're timing is better, for example, even though your score didn't go up a lot).

If your score isn't really changing, or if it's fluctuating up and downa lot, then something's wrong and you need to figure out what that is. Don't just keep doing the same things.

Every single time you take a test, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

If you'd like, you can come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. We'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)

It should take you several days to "process" a test, including analyzing the overall results, going over the individual questions, and using all of that to figure out what you need to do over the next 2-3 weeks as a result.

I recommend reading this (pay particular attention to the how to learn / study section):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

[jbk786]

Hi Stacey,

Thanks for the feedback.

I have started to work on my test-taking skills and now I am analyzing each OG13 problem as per your direction. I am making progress (or at least I feel I am :)), albeit rather slowly. I can see a change in the inherent way I used to approach GMAT problems. Now, before attacking any problem I spend 30-60 sec trying to think my way through it.

However, I am not able to solve a lot of problems, and I fear that this may eventually result in forgetfulness.

Another factor contributing to my slow progress is my work. I am a project manager, currently leading a major construction project that is worth $350 million and has more than 200 stakeholders. Therefore, at any given time in a 12 hour day, 10% of the stakeholders are looking forward to hunt me down. Even after working hours when I sit down to study, the probability that I will get disturbed and loose focus is 0.7. However, I believe this is a part of my life that I need to struggle with and just continue studying.

(And you can't have seen the questions before - that might've been why your GMATPrep #3 score was higher...)

If I reset the six tests from Manhattan GMAT, am I going to see several repeat question? If yes, do you recommend any other set of CATs?

BTW, Today I received my official score report. Scored a 6 in AWA and 6 (67%ile) in IR. In retrospect, if I had scored good in quant and verbal, the IR & Awa scores would have been helpful, but they are of no use now. :(

Best,

[StaceyKoprince]

I am not able to solve a lot of problems

Do you mean that you are answering a lot of questions incorrectly? That's okay - as long as you're learning from them.

Or do you mean that you aren't able to get through a large number of problems? That's okay, too. You don't need to do 20 or 30 rates and work problems. You need to do 5 or 10 but really pick them apart and understand how they work, how to think through them, how the test writers might throw variations or twists at you, how to guess, etc.

You're learning on a smaller number, but the lessons that you're learning should be universally applicable to problems of that type in general. You're not trying to expose yourself to every possible individual problem out there and memorize them all.

Yes, you may see repeated questions when you start doing the next set of six CATs. It's perfectly fine to take both GMATPrep and MGMAT CATs with repeats 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 vaguely 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.

I will mention - if you have studied the CAT questions so extensively that you think you will see many repeated questions, try once to see what happens. If you see more than a few (that you still remember) per section, then try different CATs instead - either Kaplan or 800Score. But if you only see a few repeats per section, that's fine, as long as you follow my guidelines above.

Finally, I disagree that the essay and IR scores are of no use now. On the contrary. Now you know that you don't need to prep for essay or IR (beyond doing those sections on practice CATs). Further, you know that you don't need to stress about them on the real test. Those are two great things to know. :)

[jbk786]

When I say that I. Am not able to solve a lot of problems I mean I cannot solve 50 or more problems in a day. In any case I have been using the analysis approach a lot more than before.

I have seen a good improvement in my RC and CR. It has been a month since I gave my gmat, and now I will take my first CAT again. I will follow your method for retaking the CATs and share the analysis with you.

Thanks,
JBK

[StaceyKoprince]

I wouldn't want you to solve 50 or more problems in a day - that's way too many and people who are doing that aren't learning very much. The only time that should happen is when you're taking a CAT. :)

Let me know how the practice test goes!

[jbk786]

Hi Stacey,

After almost 1.5 months of my real GMAT exam, on July 12th I repeated my first practice test from GMAT Prep. Here are the results:
Total Score: 690 (Q46, V38)


Background:

Let me first recap what I have done in the last 1.5 months. After the exam, I took a one week break to rethink my strategy on GMAT. This is where I sought your advice on the forum. Subsequently, I started my prep, but this time focused more on verbal. As I had not done any RC question from OG13 and Verbal2, I went through all the passages from these two books, and analyzed them thoroughly as you suggested. However, I was not able to spend much time on quant in the last 1.5 months. Life and work got in way; a week long business trip and then another week of long working days (Blah! Blah! Other excuses for not studying GMAT.). Finally, I managed some time last week to take the exam.

General feelings about the practice test:

Before starting the test, I was a bit skeptical about my timings. I am a very practice oriented person. I believe that if I have to imbed a particular quant problem solving technique or a concept in my long-term memory chip, I can only do it by practicing problems until they become second nature. However, I had not solved or analyzed any quant problems before my practice test, and while starting the test I was wondering if this will have any effect on my performance. And yes it did affect my performance. I badly screwed up the timings, especially on quant. By the time I reached question number 30, I had only 9 minutes left. Overall, I had to guess on 18 quant questions. Some of these guesses were educated and some were random.

For quant, I saw 12 repeated questions. However, I could not recall the answers to 9 of them. I only remembered the questions, but completely blanked out on how I solved them last time or what was the answer. So I treated them as new questions.

For verbal, I saw 25 repeated questions. Especially all the RC passages were repeated. However, I used your approach on analyzing the verbal questions, and then solved them.

Overall, I felt that I was not in a proper state of mind for taking the test. My timings got screwed up because of my lack of practice of quant questions that I always do one to two days prior to taking a test. I need to again review some of the quant concepts. I felt comfortable with verbal; however, I need to improve my timing on some SC questions.

Details:

Table 1 (see below image url) gives of the number of repeated questions and the number of questions I guessed. Please note that there is no correlation between the repeated questions and guessing. Table 2 (see below image url) gives number of questions that were incorrect, and whether they were repeated questions or not.


Quant Analysis:

As a part of detailed analysis, before looking at the correct solution, I solved all the incorrect questions, and questions that I had guessed again under timed conditions. As usual, I was able to solve 15 out of 18 questions correctly within the approximate amount of time (2 min: +/-30 sec). The remaining three questions I classified as too difficult for me.

Additionally, I broke down the question by topic and classified them as:

1. Know very well- Do in less time
2. Need Revision- Do in the allotted time.
3. Out of your league - Guess and move on with your life.


Verbal Analysis:

I did the same type of analysis for verbal as I did for quant.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I need to continue to practice on more problems while analyzing them thoroughly. At the same time I also need to revisit some concepts for both quant and verbal. Lastly, I have take more practice tests and try to bring my score in my desired range.

I will appreciate your feedback on my analysis and whether you agree or disagree with my approach of reviewing the practice tests.


Image URL
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2qdmnpe&s=5

[StaceyKoprince]

Okay, so you know you've got to work on your timing. :)

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

You saw enough repeated questions that we can't trust the score itself as a valid prediction. You still got good practice though.

Lastly, I have take more practice tests and try to bring my score in my desired range.

This makes it sound like you think the act of taking the test will bring your score into the desired range - I just want to make sure you know that it doesn't work that way. :) You get better between tests. The practice test just tells you *whether* you got better with all of the stuff you were doing since your last test.

Read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... many-cats/

And this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track because you're focusing on global issues (such as timing) - and that's what you need!

[jbk786]

This makes it sound like you think the act of taking the test will bring your score into the desired range - I just want to make sure you know that it doesn't work that way. :) You get better between tests. The practice test just tells you *whether* you got better with all of the stuff you were doing since your last test.
Other than that, it sounds like you're on the right track because you're focusing on global issues (such as timing) - and that's what you need!

Thanks Stacey.

I agree with your above suggestion. I will continue to follow your guidelines and improvise. Finally, when I am ready to take the test, I will update you.

Best,
JBK.

[StaceyKoprince]

good luck!