how close manhattan score to actual GMAT score

[lalmani]

Hi,

After a month study (basics + some practice) i gave my first MGMT CAT test.
I scored Q-45, V-31, which is kind of higher than my first diagnostic test (GMAC - Q44, V19). so i want to know in normal conditions how close MGMT scores with real GMAT?

Can someone share some tips for RC section. In CAT exam i almost lost my interest from RCs. Just marked them to bypass, 90% RC answers were wrong and i finished my test 16 min. before.

Also i would like to know what is the best way to revise SC rules?

My next CAT exam is 2 weeks later. This time i want to prepare well.

Thanks in advance.
-Lalmani

[mohitkant]

Though i am struggling with verbal myself, here's a tip for RC.

Read Passage 1, Summarize it and note down the main points, this forces your brain to understand the passage. The main problem occurs when our mind wanders off in middle of reading and we end up missing or even worse understand incorrectly the key information.

Do the same with other passages, it would perhaps increase the overall time by a small amount but since you will be able to answer questions quicker, it would be more or less compensated.

[StaceyKoprince]

Wow, that's really great improvement on the verbal side - congratulations!

Our tests have about a 50 point standard deviation, compared to about a 30 point standard deviation on the official test. Most of our students score within 50 points of their final MGMAT test score before they take the official test (though obviously not everyone does). We also have a bias of less than 10 points (that is, people are just as likely to score higher or lower on the official test compared to their final MGMAT test score - the scores don't consistently skew only higher or lower.

What materials are you using to study so far? In general, you do need some books that will teach you the material you need to know - not just OG books or other books with questions. I like our SC and RC books (I like all of our books!), but I'm biased of course. :)

If you already have an SC book and you're just asking how to review the material (I can't quite tell from the way you worded the question), then I really think flash cards are a great method. You can look on this page for links to flash cards that we've made to get an idea of how to make the flash cards:

http://www.manhattangmat.com/freegmatlearningforum.cfm

Just one thing: try to make the flash cards yourself instead of using pre-made ones. A large part of the value is in making the cards in the first place.

For RC, I agree the passages are mostly boring, so it's really important to trick yourself into being interested. I try to think of someone I know who is interested in that topic, and then I pretend that I'm going to talk to this person later on after the test and I want to tell them about this passage. That helps. :)

[lalmani]

Thanks a lot for reply.

I'm using Manhattan SC and RC books to review to rules but usually when i read it then i understand it but when more than 2-3 rules are combined together then i miss the answers.

I hope with practice i'll able to choose best answer where more than 3-4 grammatical problems are combined together.

I'll try to follow advice from Mohit. Thanks Mohit.

regards,
-Lalmani

[StaceyKoprince]

Ok, good, so it's important to understand why you missed things when you miss them, so first go back to some recent questions you've done and articulate:

- why was the wrong answer so tempting? why did it look like it might be right? (be as explicit as possible)
- why was it actually wrong? what specific words indicate that it is wrong and how did I overlook those clues the first time?
- why did the right answer seem wrong? what made it so tempting to cross off the right answer? why were those things actually okay; what was my error in thinking that they were wrong?
- why was it actually right?

Also, take a look at these articles:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/a/2009/10/09/how-to-analyze-a-practice-problem
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/27/modifier-madness-breaking-down-a-gmatprep-sc-problem
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2009/11/03/breaking-down-a-gmatprep-sc

They may help you learn how to study SC.