Better on 700-800 than 600-700 - why?

[Tim_Jacobson]

It seems clear that on the question bank problems, I am consistently doing better on 700-800 than 600-700 problems. I am setting my clock to 120 sec/question and strategically guessing. Could it be that 600-700 are actually harder? Has anyone else noticed this? Suggestions?

[StaceyKoprince]

In a sense, yes - that is, some of the 600-700 level questions might be harder for you, based upon your own strengths and weaknesses.

Also, have you gone back to figure out specifically why you got the problems wrong that you got wrong? You might be making more careless mistakes on these - sometimes, when we think something's easier, we make mistakes because we're trying to work a little too quickly or we lose a bit of concentration.

It's also the case that we all have certain types of careless mistakes that we keep making, over and over. If you happen to make the kinds of careless mistakes that were tested on more of those 600-700 problems, well, you're going to do worse on those!

So it's probably some combination of all of the above.

[Tim_Jacobson]

I have gone back through. Careless mistakes was not really the issue so much as I just thought the problem was harder. I generally spend less time and get more right on the "tougher" problems. Sounds like I just have a hole in my content mastery.

[StaceyKoprince]

That sounds like a good problem to have - if you find the higher-difficulty questions easier, then you probably won't have too much trouble getting better at the 600-700 stuff (assuming you put in the necessary work, of course!).

[GregN]

It seems clear that on the question bank problems, I am consistently doing better on 700-800 than 600-700 problems. I am setting my clock to 120 sec/question and strategically guessing. Could it be that 600-700 are actually harder? Has anyone else noticed this? Suggestions?

Yes, absolutely.. I've noticed this as well. For me, it's most pronounced in the sentence completion; there's a significant negative correlation between the difficulty and the likelihood of me getting it right.

I think I've honed it down to a few answers incorrect due to a "change of meaning". I'm literally yelling at the computer screen in some instances because I spend time thinking about and trying to avoid this and specifically rejecting the right answer because it seems that that is the one that changes the meaning. Is it possible that I'm being overly literal or too logical in these?

If the original sentence doesn't make as much logical sense as an alternative but is gramatically correct, do you stick with the original or no?

[StaceyKoprince]

Grammatical correctness is always the primary thing. Clarity of meaning issues on the real test are typically very big issues (though not necessarily obvious - it might be hard to spot, but once you do spot it, you know that there is a big problem with the meaning). So if you're agonizing over whether there is a change of meaning at all, stick with the original, assuming it is grammatically correct. You won't necessarily be right 100% of the time, but the odds are with you. :)