Help with game plan (gmat test date a week from now)

[omar.ps16]

Hello,

My 2nd try for the GMAT is scheduled for the next week and a half and so far I have not reached my desired score on the CAT tests. I would like some help on this area. Before I dwell into details let me provide some context first.
I need a score of 600 on the GMAT to get accepted at b-school (confirmed with b-school) so that’s my goal, to get a 600 at least. This would be the second time I sit the GMAT; the first time was a month ago and my score was 570.
I was studying by myself before the first time I tried the GMAT. I studied for a month and scored 630 and 660 on the 2 GMATPREP exams. After receiving my results I enrolled myself in the self-study 9 week course offered by Manhattan GMAT.
Since time is an issue I only had 1 month to study so in order to make sure I was not going to do something wrong I scheduled some office hours with a GMAT instructor and we both came up with the compressed study plan.
Two days ago I finished all the syllabus contents for the course. I kept an error log, which contains reflections on each mistake and recordings about time, number question and source, for all my mistakes (every single one of them whether careless or conceptual including those on the red books).
Yesterday I finished my 3rd CAT exam and scored a 580. In total I've done 6 exams one of them being official. All of them under official conditions (no pauses, essay and IR included, using the breaks)
1st. GMATPREP 630 (Q 43, V34, IR 6)
2nd GMATPREP 660 (Q 47, V 34, IR 6)
3rd. Official 570 (Q 36, V33, IR 6, AWA 6)
4th MGMAT 600 (Q 41, V32 IR 3.1)
5th MGMAT 580 (Q 42, V29 IR 2.4)
6th MGMAT 580 (Q 38, V32 IR 0.0)
I decided to take advantage of the reporting capabilities of the CAT exams and I found something interesting. I have serious timing issues; for the first CAT I have 12 questions in quant above 2:30 (the worst being 3:45), For the second CAT I have 12 quant questions above 2:30 (the worst being 5:38 min), for the 3rd CAT I have 9 quant questions above 2:30 (the worst being 5:30) in this particular exam I didn't finish the Quant part on time leaving the last question unanswered -I did tried to follow a pacing strategy on this one but failed miserably-.

Looking at the number of right vs wrong answers for those "slow" questions, I can conclude that I have a hard time letting go difficult questions. Furthermore I have the "but" feeling that Stacey mentioned in one of her posts, which I read AFTER doing the 3rd CAT.
Analyzing my second CAT question by question I realized that for the Quant section 59% of my mistakes were careless. I don't know if that is the same for the 3rd CAT but on average I would say that the question levels were harder for this test. Nonetheless after the 2nd CAT I tried to be more careful and avoid careless mistakes although I feel that I am slower.
Using the reporting tool for the CATs I found a discrepancy that I don’t understand. Before I talk about my analysis of the data, I’ll present my numbers; The data goes as follows (from assessment summary report).
MGMAT CAT 1: PS 45% accuracy, Avg Right 620 Avg Wrong 670
DS 53% accuracy, Avg R: 630 AvG W: 660
SC 53% accuracy, Avg R: 580 AvG w: 720
CR 64% accuracy AVG R: 580 AVG W: 690
RC 50% accuracy Avg R: 620 AVG W: 650
MGMAT CAT 2: PS 50% accuracy, Avg Right 580 Avg Wrong 690
DS 53% accuracy, Avg R: 610 AvG W: 710
SC 60% accuracy, Avg R: 580 AvG w: 650
CR 57% accuracy AVG R: 550 AVG W: 720
RC 33% accuracy Avg R: 600 AVG W: 730
MGMAT CAT 3: PS 48% accuracy, Avg Right 670 Avg Wrong 690
DS 36% accuracy, Avg R: 580 AvG W: 670
SC 53% accuracy, Avg R: 690 AvG w: 720
CR 57% accuracy AVG R: 620 AVG W: 730
RC 42% accuracy Avg R: 690 AVG W: 750
All 3 together: PS 48% accuracy, Avg Right 620 Avg Wrong 680
DS 48% accuracy, Avg R: 610 AvG W: 680
SC 56% accuracy, Avg R: 610 AvG w: 700
CR 60% accuracy AVG R: 580 AVG W: 710
RC 42% accuracy Avg R: 640 AVG W: 710
Looking at the progression of each report individually, CAT 3 seems the one to have the highest levels yet is still in the 580. Something worth mentioning on this CAT is that I ran out of time before I could submit the last question (i.e. 1 question is blank on the 700-800 level) on the quant section.
Furthermore looking at the report with the data of the 3 exams combined it is clear that I am on the 600 level, yet I can’t seem to be able to reach that score on the exam. Is it just because of the timing issues? Why is this discrepancy happening?
Moving on to the per topic section I classified all the topics into the 5 buckets (for those not familiar with "the buckets" read this: http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ts-part-2/). I found out which topics are my absolute weaknesses, which ones are my strengths and which ones fall on the other 3 categories.
So far ever since I started studying (even before my enrollment at Manhattan GMAT) I do all my questions under timed conditions I believe I have a solid 1 minute sense but sometimes when the question is challenging I lose track of time and get obsessed by it. During practice (since I practice problems individually and time them individually) the alarm rings and I let go but during the exams this is very difficult for me to calculate.
During the 3rd CAT I tried to follow the pacing schedule (mentioned here https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... nt-part-2/) but even though I managed to catch up, when I realized I was behind I got stuck in a question and ran out of time.
Furthermore approximately, per exam I have strings of 4 or more incorrect questions. In fact on the 3rd CAT that happens twice on the quant section and twice on the verbal section. What does that mean?
I have 9 days left or 54-72 hours available. I plan to build "personalized" mini tests that cover the 5 buckets with the remaining questions of OG13 by using the OGNavigator capabilities to tackle both my weaknesses and my timing issues.
Yet I would like to have some recommendations or insights as to what is happening to me. What baffles me the most is that I started with a 630 and a 660 on the GMATPREP, which supposedly is the best predictor for performance, and now I am around 580.

**Update: As I was building my mini-tests, while using OG Navigator, I realized that OG13 has more questions from certain topics than from others (e.g. there are more questions regarding inequalities than questions regarding combinatorics). Does that has anything to do with the frequency on which a topic is tested on the GMAT? Can figure out the frequency of a topic based on the relative amount of questions for a certain topic to the total amount of questions?

[StaceyKoprince]

You did some good analysis. My first question for you: when is the deadline? I think you have a good shot at getting above 600, but you may need more than a week. There's just not a lot you can do in only one week.

First, no matter how good you get, the test will ALWAYS give you questions that are too hard or will take you too long. Your task is to identify those and cut yourself off faster. If you can learn to do this, then you have a very good chance to get your score above 600 - but you've GOT to cut yourself off and move on!

Think of it as a business decision. You've got 2 potential products you could greenlight, but you only have enough resources to make one:
(1) A product that is easy to make, comes off of the assembly line perfect 90% of the time, and will give you profit margins of 15%.
(2) A problem that is difficult to make, is prone to random errors such that it comes off of the assembly line perfect only about 70% of the time... and still gives you profit margins of 15%.

Which one do you want to make? No contest, right? Why deal with the annoying one that doesn't actually give you any more chance for profit?

The harder questions are not "worth more" to your score. So why spend so much more time and energy trying to get those ones right - especially when that means you're giving up better / easier opportunities?

Start treating this test like a series of business decisions: where is the best place to spend your limited time and your limited mental energy? You cannot do it all. Choose.

I am on the 600 level, yet I can’t seem to be able to reach that score on the exam. Is it just because of the timing issues? Why is this discrepancy happening?

The score is NOT based on an average of your performance throughout the section. The GMAT is a "where you end is what you get" test. You could be at the 99th percentile partway through the test, but if your score drops to 50th percentile by the end, then your score is 50th percentile.

This just underscores why it is so important to let some problems go throughout the section. If your stubbornness causes your score to drop by the end of the section... where you end is what you get.

sometimes when the question is challenging I lose track of time and get obsessed by it

You probably aren't actually losing track of time. Instead, you're overriding that time sense because you're getting stubborn / "obsessed." Until you truly internalize / believe that the test is NOT asking you to get everything right, you're going to continue to have this problem.

They are not interested in how good of a test taker you are, or even how good of an academic you are. They are interested in how good of a business person you are. The best business people can assess a situation, take stock of their limited resources, and make decisions about which opportunities to take and which opportunities to dump. That is what you want to show them you can do. Stop trying to show them that you're a good "academic" test taker. Start showing them that you're a great business person.

If you can change that mindset, it will do wonders for your timing problems. :)

4+ wrong in a row can mean issues with timing (you rush, you make more careless mistakes). It can also means issues with mental fatigue (you're getting tired, so you get sloppy). If you see this happening, you want to see whether it was legitimate (you really did have 4 very hard questions in a row) or whether your performance fell short in a way that you can fix.

Re: topic frequency, it is true that some topics are tested more frequently than others. OG sort of follows this, but not completely. It is true that combinatorics questions are not very common - so feel free to reduce their importance in your study.

The single biggest issue for you is going to be this timing + mindset stuff - it's all tied together. If you can learn to deal with that stuff appropriately (like a good business person!), then you've got a great chance to hit 600. You may not be able to do that in a week - but if you do have a deadline and have to take the test then, give yourself up to 7 "freebies" in each section. When you get the stubborn "but" feeling, when you realize you're getting obsessed with a problem, or (ideally) sooner, when you realize something's just really hard, cut yourself off, guess your favorite letter, and move on immediately. If you can take a very hard line with this, then you *might* stand a chance on test day. (But if you can take more time to solidify all of this, do so.)

[omar.ps16]

Update:

Dear Stacy,


Thanks a lot for your tips, I did my GMAT today and got a score of 670 (a 100 point increase from my previous exam). I sticked to the timing strategy as you said and during the last week spent most of my time working on my weaknesses and on battling the "but" feeling.

Anyway, I thought you might wanted to know that your tips helped somebody to get into b-school.

[StaceyKoprince]

That's great! Congratulations - I'm really happy for you. :)

Good luck in b-school!