interpreting CAT 1 results for LO course

[jeremy.hansen]

Starting my Live Online class on Monday (6/14) and completed CAT 1. I would like some additional help in review.

A couple of notes. In Feb/March I started studying on my own with the MGMAT books and other resources but was not happy with my how it was going. Specifically did not like the lack of structure and regular feedback. I never felt like I knew what to do next and was unfocused. I did take CAT 1 previously and scored a ~670 (taken with simulated conditions, exams etc). After a couple of months I felt burnt out and frustrated. Thus I decided in early May to register for the LO class. Have not studied sense as I wanted to refresh and refocus.


Goal score is 700+

CAT 1 results (taken with a close to real conditions as possible, did essays, no water during, no pausing) I printed out all of the review reports and ran a full assessment on CAT 1 and printed as well
overall 570: Q 32 (35%) V 36 (81%)

very surprised at the Q results given prior results but not overly concerned. I could tell I really struggled with problem recognition. I think I def more capable then this but will clearly need to work hard to get refreshed starting with foundations work. Looking at the course syllabus I think i can get by the first week during which I need to study study study. The good news is that I have lots a room for easy improvement and a 570 on Cat 1 is not that bad.

Specifics
Quantitative
Time - I ended the Q with 21 minutes remaining
not going to bother with the slowest - fastest as clearly plenty of time to slow down in all areas

p/s avg right 470 - avg wrong 630
d/d avg right 550 - avg wrong 630

I missed 5 in a row early Q's 3 -7, 4 in a row once & 3 in a row twice. disappointing - maybe a lack of focus?

Verbal
Time - ended with 30 minutes remaining - again lots of room to slow down

I missed the last 4 questions in a row, but never had more than 2 in a row before that

s/c avg right 640 avg wrong 750
c/r avg right 690 avg wrong 730
r/c avg right 680 avg wrong 750

Feel pretty good about verbal especially since I feel as though I am educated guessing my way through most questions. Basically choosing what I "feel" is the correct answer as opposed to knowing what the correct answer is.

Would like some ideas on where to start with reviewing.
Am I approaching reviewing the exam correctly?
Any suggestions on getting up to speed quickly on the fundamentals?
Other suggestions or ideas that pop in your head while reading this?

I will also go back through a missed questions, study and redo

[jeremy.hansen]

to follow up on my own here is what I'm doing so far.

going through every question (right & wrong)

reworking each one.

I am also giving a subject title so for example a question that is solved by understanding triangles is titled triangles.

then on the questions I missed I am keeping a list of all the subjects I missed questions about so for example after reviewing 11 questions my list looks like this

Triangles
Scientific Notation
Exponents -problem solving

these are the subjects I will concentrate my independent studying on.

Additionally If I don't understand the question after reviewing the answer I'm posting it in the forums.

still very interested in opinion about cat 1 results from OP and any additional review tips.

thanks

as a note - it occurred to me that while 570 may be a long ways from 700 - it only requires improving my score by 13 points each week for 10 weeks. not too bad

[StaceyKoprince]

CAT 1 results (taken with a close to real conditions as possible, did essays, no water during, no pausing)

Just to make sure: you know you can have food or something to drink on the breaks, right?

So, yes, based on your first test, you're obviously moving way too quickly on quant. Big question: why? Is there a bunch of stuff you just don't know yet, so you moved on from those quickly? Were there a bunch of questions you thought you were getting right, but you missed things about them because you were going so quickly? The difficulty level for the correct PS category is significantly lower than DS, and the spread between correct PS level and incorrect PS level is also much wider than is typical. That tells me that there are probably a number of PS questions on which you made mistakes possibly due primarily to speed - careless mistakes of some sort, most likely.

I missed 5 in a row early Q's 3 -7, 4 in a row once & 3 in a row twice. disappointing - maybe a lack of focus?

Maybe. Maybe speed. Maybe lack of knowledge. Go back and figure out why you got each one wrong. Some were probably legitimate - you should have gotten them wrong. Others were ones you should have gotten right, so figure out what prevented you from doing so.

Feel pretty good about verbal especially since I feel as though I am educated guessing my way through most questions. Basically choosing what I "feel" is the correct answer as opposed to knowing what the correct answer is.

Agree that's good as a start, but if you want to improve that area, you're going to have to become more systematic and knowledgeable. (But you already know that, right? :)

You're asking very good questions and I'm glad to see that you're so thoughtful about how you're studying, right from the start. Generally speaking, for the next 9 weeks, you should follow the course syllabus, but you should adjust somewhat based upon your strengths and weaknesses. In some of the quant areas, you may need to do some work in the Foundations of Math book that comes with the course. In some of the verbal areas, you may be able to move to the advanced material very quickly.

So start with the basics on the syllabus. If something in quant is giving you too much trouble, go "back to basics" even more, including going back to the Foundations book. With verbal, try to employ the new techniques you'll be learning in order to be more systematic and in order to learn how the test makers think so that you can avoid traps. (One of the biggest differences between an 80th percentile verbal score and a 90+ percentile verbal score is that the latter scorer knows what the real rules and expectations are from the test-writers and so can avoid traps set for people who just rely on "hearing" and "feeling" - which only get you so far on this test.)

In summary:
(1) figure out when and why you're going too fast and figure out how to slow yourself down. I require myself to spend at least a minute on any quant question. If I finish in less than a minute, I make myself do it again. On verbal, I require myself to have one solid reason for eliminating each answer choice - not just "Oh, I know that's definitely wrong," but "Oh, I know that's definitely wrong because of this right here." (I can point to a specific thing and - briefly! - say why it's wrong.)
(2) where necessary, go back to the Foundations on quant; spend a bit more time on quant at the beginning (and possibly throughout the course), given the big discrepancy between the two scores right now
(3) talk to your instructors; they are always happy to help and give advice!