Big Problem?

[KC]

I don't have a specfic problem question, but what I think is a "big problem"...
For the last month, I have taken 10 various quant section exams to help narrow my weaknesses so I may improve on them.
My scores are improved from 580->620->650

I downloaded the GMATPrep sample CAT exam and I totally bombed the quant section! All I remember was that the problems were mostly
Story problems, which seemed easy, but timely to complete and abundant in the stroy question problems.

I scored a 530? What should I be my strategy? I am taking the exam in 2 weeks and now I'm thinking of rescheduling.

[gmatkid]

I don't have a specfic problem question, but what I think is a "big problem"...
For the last month, I have taken 10 various quant section exams to help narrow my weaknesses so I may improve on them.
My scores are improved from 580->620->650

I downloaded the GMATPrep sample CAT exam and I totally bombed the quant section! All I remember was that the problems were mostly
Story problems, which seemed easy, but timely to complete and abundant in the stroy question problems.

I scored a 530? What should I be my strategy? I am taking the exam in 2 weeks and now I'm thinking of rescheduling.

I struggle with the Quant section, too, so I feel your pain.

My guess is that time management is what killed you. You HAVE to be able to answer a Quant question in 2 minutes or less. If you're approaching the 2 minute mark and still fumbling around, just make your best guess and move on. Easier said than done, I know, but you HAVE to do it. Screwing up time management is suicide on the GMAT.

Do you practice GMAT questions with a stopwatch? If not, you should. For Quant questions, set your stopwatch to 2 minutes. If you haven't picked an answer by the end of the 2 minutes, force yourself to make a guess. Doing this consistently will get your brain to start sensing when you're spending too long on a problem--an absolutely crucial instinct to have when taking the actual GMAT.

As for what specifically you need to work on, it's hard to know without a breakdown of which questions you got wrong and what type of questions they were. Have you taken a ManhattanGMAT CAT? They have an excellent assessment feature that is worth its weight in gold.

Good luck!

[KC]

Thanks for your input--Yes, I have taken the MGMAT CAT exams--for the last 7 tests. My worry is based on when I switched to the Free GMAT TestPrep Cat Exam on MBA.com, and my average score droped 120 points?!

So, my question is is the GMAT Qunat section more like MGMAT or TestPrep?

[RonPurewal]

Thanks for your input--Yes, I have taken the MGMAT CAT exams--for the last 7 tests. My worry is based on when I switched to the Free GMAT TestPrep Cat Exam on MBA.com, and my average score droped 120 points?!

So, my question is is the GMAT Qunat section more like MGMAT or TestPrep?

3 things:

(1) did you take any repeat tests? our normal test package is only 6 tests, although there's also the free practice exam (which you cn "buy" from the online store for $0.00), which has a smaller, separate pool of questions that is its very own.

(2) the one discrepancy between our quant sections and those on the real test is that ours tend to have longer, or more labor-intensive, questions. normally, though, the effect of this discrepancy is to cause higher scores on the official practice tests (and the real exam!), because if you have tight enough time management to get through our longer questions, then you'll be lightning on the actual test.
there are occasionally "innovative" problems that are of new and unfamiliar formats, because the test (and the gmatprep software, whose various updates reflect recent changes in the test) is constantly evolving. we are doing our best to stay on top of those changes.

(3) i'm moving this post to the general folder where it belongs.