CAT Stagnation

[MarkR121]

So a few minutes ago I completed my 4th CAT, hoping for some increase on Quant which I studied hard the past two weeks. I increased from a 39 to a 40... Not the change I was looking for.

Cat 1 (2/13) Q 37 V 32 (2nd Week of Course)
Cat 2 (3/20) Q 40 V 36
Cat 3 (4/30) Q 39 V 35
Cat 4 (5/14) Q 40 V 37

I finished my classes about a month ago and my goal was to score around 700, but these latest results are not encouraging. For the 2 weeks following CAT 3, I targeted quant problem solving hoping to see big improvements but the score remained the same. In fact, My % correct in PS took a nosedive from 45 to 32 while my % correct in DS went from 53 to 80...

I'm looking for input on a plan for self-study (and maybe a few hours tutoring) between now and my next CAT, especially on PS.

[StaceyKoprince]

First question: have you already done your Post-Course Assessment (PCA)? This takes place after your 3rd CAT - but you have to sign up for it. It's a phone call with an instructor to develop a study plan.

It's only available for 1 month after class ends. If you are still within that time, look in the Office Hours section of your student center and sign up right away. If you are more than 1 month out, call 800.576.GMAT and ask very, very nicely whether there is any way you can get an extension.

You also need to analyze your own study habits and CAT data.

First, read these two articles:
http://tinyurl.com/executivereasoning
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat
Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

Then, use the below to analyze your two most recent CATs:
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do.

If you haven't already done your PCA, do this before your PCA and share your thoughts / conclusions with your PCA instructor. If you have already done your PCA, then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Your analysis should include a discussion of your buckets - you'll understand what that means when you read the last article. 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!)

Of course, you can also do both: your PCA + continue this thread here. But if you haven't done your PCA, definitely do sign up for that (or try to get an extension). It's like half an hour of free tutoring.

p.s.

My % correct in PS took a nosedive from 45 to 32 while my % correct in DS went from 53 to 80...

How were your average difficulty levels? Since this is an adaptive test, things can happen - eg, you do really well on DS and happen to get a harder mix of PS questions, and so your PS performance suffers. Or did you make more careless mistakes than usual? Or did you mess up the timing? Etc. This kind of analysis should be part of your big analysis, above.

[MarkR121]

Thanks for the advice! I was able to schedule a PCA for next Tuesday.

I had awful quant timing issues on CAT 2, but I've been using the watertight timing strategy (dividing up the notepad with times at the bottom) and i was about to write that it fixed those issues on CAT 3 and 4, but CAT 4 still had four PS questions (all wrong) between 3:20 and 4:20. I need to get better at letting go and develop my one-minute sense.

I'm developing my buckets right now, and I will share my analysis here when done.

Its hard to say if the difficulty went up.

In CAT 3, I had (7) 5-600 level questions and (6) 7-800 level questions, with all else 6-700.
In CAT 4, I had (8) 5-600 level questions and (4) 7-800 level questions, with all else 6-700.
CAT 3's average DS was 630/680; PS was 600/670 (Right/Wrong)
CAT 4's average DS was 630/650; PS was 610/660

Here is my timing, CAT 3 is on the left and CAT 4 is on the right:

[StaceyKoprince]

Great, let me know what happens with your PCA.

It looks like there isn't a huge difference in difficulty level. Did you happen to get more in areas of weakness for you on that test where your PS performance dropped? Did you make more careless mistakes that time or fall into traps?

On both tests, your DS performance was better when looking at both % correct and difficulty level. So know that DS is a strength and that you don't ever want to make yourself rush DS in order to spend more time on some PS problem somewhere. When you need to bail, bail on PS problems. And this feeds into the other stat you found - that you spent 3m20s+ on 4 PS problems that you missed anyway. So in general: PS not a strength. Don't listen when your brain tries to tell you, "If I spend more time on this PS problem (that I don't know how to do right now), I'm sure I can figure it out!"

All right, I'll await your buckets!

Oh, re: 1-minute time sense, see section 4 of this for more:
http://tinyurl.com/GMATTimeManagement

[MarkR121]

So one of the big takeaways from the PCA was that I should generate a more even Quant-Verbal mix of problem questions. Rather than a 95/5 I should get closer to 50/50...

We set in place a 2 phase plan, where Phase 1 is targeted improvement and Phase 2 is overall readiness. P1 will let me do some deep dives in the targeted areas (bucket #2), while working in a CAT or two in the next 3-4 weeks to track my progress. Additionally I will be focusing on timing and letting go (I get 33% of CAT problems longer than 2:30 correct... which is not terribly better than 20% i.e. guessing randomly). P2 will emphasize mixed practice and repetition, where I will do 1 CAT / week up until the test week (5-6 weeks from now).

Here are my buckets:

Strengths:
Q:(3-500 and most 5-600)

Geometry
Number properties

V:(3-600 and most 6-700)

SC:parallelism

My focus areas (my prioritize bucket):
Quant: 6-700 harder + some moderate PS

exponents and roots
divisibility and primes
algebraic translations
rates and work

Verbal: (7-800 devilish + harder CR)

CR Strengthen (assumption family)
CR Role
SC sub-verb, pronouns, modifiers (harder to say, less clear pattern)

I think the third bucket are
Quant: 7-800 devilish

3D Geometry
harder combinatronics

[StaceyKoprince]

That all sounds good. If you're going to hit 700+, your verbal has to get up to 40+, so don't neglect that in favor of spending all your time on quant. (Note for others reading: either Q or V has to be really high to get to 700+. It isn't the case that everyone has to have 40+ specifically on verbal. Basically, your stronger section has to be really high; if verbal is your stronger section, then it needs to be 40+.)

Buckets:
(1) Quant: I don't see FDPs in any of the groups. Where does that fall? What about the rest of algebra, besides exponents and roots?
(2) Verbal: Ditto RC. Where does RC fall?

And, just as a reminder, use this to dig in and analyze the individual problems:
http://tinyurl.com/2ndlevelofgmat

Focus on bucket 2 problems, but it's also a good idea to run bucket 1 problems through the full list of questions, just in case. For bucket 3 problems, the main question is: How would I know in future that, within 30-60 seconds, I want to let something like this go?*

*Note: it's possible that, later in your studies, you will decide to move something from bucket 3 to bucket 2. Placing something in bucket 3 does NOT mean that you are giving up on it forever - you're just not concentrating on it right now. But if you saw it on a test right now, how would you know to let it go?

Good luck - let us know how it goes!