Manhattan tests

[paruloberai]

hi Stacy,

my concern is as follows:- i have my date on 1st sept and i have to still give five of may MANHATTAN tests and the GMATprep tests. Last time when i gave the Manhattan test , i scored 640 ( q-46 and v-31) and thought that there is still a scope of improvement and hence, decided to give no test for another 15 days. However, would be giving some timed sectional tests. i have given some of them and think i should give more. But the problem is that as i had decided to give the remaining Mnahattan tests and GMAT Prep test starting from 15th Aug., i fear that i wont be able to complete my tests and even if i have to then i will have to give a test every 3-4 days. Would that be helpful, or should i go for a Manhattan test 2 this weekend.

thanks,
parul.

[StaceyKoprince]

It's really not helpful to take a practice test more than once a week.

CAT exams are really good for (a) figuring out where you're scoring right now, (b) practicing stamina, and (c) analyzing your strengths and weaknesses after you're done and using that to set up a study plan. The actual act of just taking the exam is NOT so useful for improving. It's what you do with the test results / between tests that helps you to improve.

So don't think of this as "I must take all of the tests before the real test." You really don't have to. Most people don't need to take more than 4-5 tests TOTAL (including GMATPrep). Do the study that you need to do and take a test when you feel that you have made enough progress that your prior data from your last practice test is out of date, and you need to take a new test to get more up to date data on your strengths and weaknesses.

[paruloberai]

hey Stacey,

thanks for the reply. i gave the Manhattan test 2 and scored a 680 ( q-47, v-35), which is better than my earlier score of 630( 46 and 41). would u rate this performance as 700 in actual gmat. i hav some queries.

1. i have heard that to get 49-50 in actual test there should be 5 or fewer mistakes in quant. However, i gt arnd 12 wrong in Manhattan test and still managed 47. That means if i get around 12 mistakes in actual test, my score would be less than 47.

2. how much does the verbal score of MH test vary from the actual. Although i think that i have improved, i still know that its my weakness. How much is the maximum number of mistakes for a score of 38-40.

3. Please let me know how to plan my next 3 weeks. I still feel that i can improve a lot and i have to. I am planning to give another test this weekend.

specially in verbal i alwys feel that i am doing fine but end up seeing that i have made many mistakes.

thanks,
parul

[StaceyKoprince]

The MGMAT tests have a standard deviation of 50 points, so if you were to take the real test very soon, you would have a 2/3 chance of scoring within 50 points (plus or minus) of your last MGMAT test score. The standard deviation on GMATPrep tests is about 30-40 points (the standard deviation of the real test is about 30 points).

The test is not scored based upon percentage correct. It is not the case that a certain number wrong (or right) will get you a certain score. For example, you can get 12 wrong and get a lot of different scores, depending upon the difficulty levels of the questions, the spread of the errors, and other variables.

In terms of improving on verbal, what have you been using so far to improve? What resources have you been using to learn grammar? What about the techniques for CR and RC? It's going to be a matter of diving into those sources, and doing lots of review and analysis, especially when you take a test or do practice problems and find errors or things about which you are uncertain.

Generally speaking, concentrate on either quant or verbal for any particular study session (up to 2 hours). Figure out what you need to review, based upon the data from your most recent practice test, and set up a study schedue to do so. Ask yourself these questions when reviewing a problem:

Was I able to CATEGORIZE this question by topic and subtopic? By process / technique?
Did I make a CONNECTION to previous experience? Or did I have to do it all from scratch?
Did I COMPREHEND the symbols, text, questions, statements, and answer choices?
Did I understand the CONTENT being tested?
Did I choose the best APPROACH?
Did I have the SKILLS to follow through?
Am I comfortable with OTHER STRATEGIES that would have worked, at least partially? How should I have made an educated guess?
Do I understand every TRAP & TRICK that the writer built into the question, including wrong answers?
Have I MASTERED this problem? Could I explain every aspect, fully, to someone else?
How will I RECOGNIZE similar problems in the future?

Also, on verbal, ask yourself:
- 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?