Massive Jump in Practice Test Score - False Confidence?

[happy student]

The thread continues!

So, I had a wonderful session with Kate last night. She was quickly able to diagnose some things I need and should be doing to get myself where I need to be (a.k.a. calling me out on any B.S.). A lot of what she said wasn't new since I've heard most of what she said in class once before but talking to her was a nice kick in the bottom and obviously tailored to my current abilities. She seemed to feel my Verbal score from test day was a fluke and said that if I was scoring high 30s consistently, there's no reason I should of high 20s on test day. Thanks Kate!

I will be specifically working on SC by getting down pat the types of errors in different answer choices. She assigned me an awesome drill to do over the next 3-4 weeks which will have me know, inside and out, all the different errors. Assuming I execute, I should be able to quickly and effectively spot errors in sentence correction answers.

As for CR, I will be performing another drill that will allow me to tear apart arguments and lay a foundation for answering any main CR problem type.

For Quant, it was more of attacking my weak areas, getting my better areas even better as well as a having a general improvement in all areas of Quant.

After these 3-4 weeks, Kate and I will talk again, and if I did my end of the work, we will work on fine tuning my skills for a SUPER++ score.

Stay tuned.

[StaceyKoprince]

Glad to hear it - Kate's great! Good luck with all of your work. If you want, to help keep you motivated, come on here once a week and tell me what you've done that week. Even if you don't have any questions, just knowing that I'll be reading it should motivate you. :)

[happy student]

Thanks! It already has been beneficial to post on here. I really enjoy having you and Kate as a support team. Talk soon.

[StaceyKoprince]

happy studying!

[happy student]

Stacey,

It's been a while since I've posted so I figure I'd check in and give an update.

By the end of this week, I will have wrapped up everything that Kate has assigned me. I am finishing my Word Translation review consisting of Ratios, Statistics, Overlapping Sets and Work/Rate problems (Re-read MGMAT chapters, re-did the In Action sets and worked all of the related OG Sets regular and advanced). When completed I will round out my Quant. review with Number Properties (Primes and Exponents specifically).

I've completed a super beneficial CR drill 2 weeks ago and just finished my last set of the SC drill.

I will need guidance as to my the next 4 weeks leading up to Game Day #2. I am sure my work over the last 3 weeks will translate to some gains but I am hankering to do some practice tests and the like. When I am done with the rest of my first assignment, I will reach out to Kate for what's next. As always, your advice is always appreciated.

[StaceyKoprince]

That sounds great! Yes, it sounds like you're getting ready to take either a full practice test or a GMAT Focus quant section so that we can see what kind of progress you've made! Then use that to determine your next-couple-of-weeks study plan. (Once you have those results, you can let us know here if you like.)

I can't remember whether I gave you these articles before, but these two articles are about what to do during the final 2 weeks before your official test. They're worth reading now just so that you have an idea of what's to come.

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -game-plan
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/08/ ... -to-review

[happy student]

Yes, you've sent me those links before. I've read them over again.

I am planning on a full practice test this weekend. After we get this data, would you be willing to help me analyze it and get my game plan together?

[StaceyKoprince]

Of course! You need to do the initial analysis, of course, via that article that tells you how to analyze the tests. Then post your analysis and I'll help you interpret.

FYI - I'm traveling Wed thru Sun this week and won't be on the forums.

[happy student]

Sounds good. I look forward to your help next week. Safe travels.

[StaceyKoprince]

thanks! about to run out to the airport... :)

[happy student]

Here come's a long one. I am going to give you the results of my latest practice tests, my analysis (data) and then start to formulate my game plan.

Practice Tests:

I took a practice test on Saturday (Q35:V36 - 600) and one on Sunday (Q46:V35 - 670). It's been 7 weeks since my last practice test and I fell right into a silly mistake. I was so eager to take CAT 6 that I forgot to eat something before taking it. My Quant score suffered because of it and I ate something quickly between my Quant and Verbal sections (not quite test like conditions here). My Verbal score was on mark with some of my best (I think I've hit V36 for the last three practice tests in a row).

Disappointed with Saturday, I figured I'd give it another go on Sunday but this time with some food in my stomach and with better testing conditions. My CAT1A test conditions on Sunday were as close to actual test conditions as possible. The only downside on Sunday was that I remembered some of the questions on CAT1A from Saturday and previous tests (more so on Verbal). This prob inflated my score a little and gave me a little more time. With that being said, I hit my Quant high of Q46 and a consistent Verbal score of V35.

I felt good about timing on Sunday and want to forget anything that happened in Quant on Saturday. Never an issue with timing on Verbal.

Data:

The good news is that I improved decently in the areas I practiced from the drills my instructor gave me in the post exam analysis. In addition, I was asked more challenging questions in CAT1A (and in the average of CAT1A and CAT6) than the average difficulty of questions in all my tests combined. Note: I looked at my test data in the following way. I took the data from my last practice test (CAT1A) and compared it to the average of the last 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 tests. I then broke down the specific question types that were less than 50% correct for Q and V. Some of the areas I've practice over the last 4 weeks still came up as problematic but improved. Moreover, I've identified other areas that could use some attention.

Areas to Improve and use in my Study Plan:

I am three weeks from game day and one week from implementing a study plan. According to the data, I need to work on the following areas:

Quant
WT: Probability, Overlapping sets*, Rates of Work*
Algebra: VICs, Exp Equations and Basic Equations (my gut tells me to go crazy in algebra so I can work faster through problems)
Number Prop: Exp Roots* and Pos/Neg*
Geometry: Circles and Cylinders
FDPs: Connections, Decimals and Digits

Verbal
CR - Draw a conclusion, find an assumption and make an inference
SC - Subject-Verb*, Comparisons*, Quant Expressions, Concision and Idioms
RC - Tone, Main idea and Passage Structure

* = Subjects covered in my post test drills and studying

According to my gut I need to work on Exponents/Roots, Algebra (for speed), VICs, Rate and Work, Geometry (review) and Overlapping Sets. For Verbal I feel improved in CR but not so much in SC, I still want to go hard with SC as I am not getting some of the heavily tested concepts down pat (ex: SV agreement). RC seems to be my strongest time and time again.

Stacey, I've stepped my game up considerably over the last 4 weeks and will keep stepping it until Dec 14th. I think I am a little all over the place with getting a game plan going and could use your help. I still feel that my score is bouncing around but I know I've improved. I want to continue taking practice tests over the weekend (I'd like to get in 3 more before test day) and am wondering if using the GMAT's free tests is the way to go or to do CAT2A, 3A, etc. I don't think there is any reason I am not actually at Q41-46 and V:35-38. I want to be as close to 100% solid on obtaining the upper ends of these numbers if not push beyond them. In doing so, I will hit/crush my goal.

Please help me get a study plan going so I can crush this thing once and for all. I am getting there, I know I am. Oh, and if going to MGMAT center here in NYC to work with someone will help me, let me know and I will do it.

[StaceyKoprince]

I felt good about timing on Sunday and want to forget anything that happened in Quant on Saturday.

Don't totally forget about it. Push yourself further to figure out exactly why you did so much better on Sunday. Do you think it really was only about the food and a few repeated questions? Or do you think anything else was going on? Uncover everything so that you know what is replicable (make sure to eat food) and what is not (seeing repeated questions). Take steps to make sure you replicate good things / don't replicate bad things, and just discount your results when things aren't replicable (eg, yes, your score is probably inflated if you recognized questions).

Also, when you see repeated questions, immediately look at the clock and stay on that Q for the full length of the expected time for a Q of that type. Do NOT move on more quickly. Also, if you got it wrong last time, get it wrong this time too.

I want to continue taking practice tests over the weekend (I'd like to get in 3 more before test day)

Why? What are you hoping to get out of these practice tests?

If you are mostly happy with your current score and looking to practice stamina and just general familiarity with the testing experience, those are good reasons.

If you are looking for additional improvement in that timeframe, taking practice tests is an extremely inefficient way to do so. So it depends on why you want to do this. Let me know and I'll let you know whether I think it's a good reason. :)

Re: content, the stars / priorities that you've set also generally reflect the more frequently tested topics (of the ones on your specific list), so those are good calls - though I might spend a bit less time on overlapping sets and a little bit of time on FDP "connection" problems, specifically problems that combine fractions and percents. So you've got your content plan already.

In terms of how to actually study all of that on a day-to-day basis, this article can give you some ideas about extracting the most benefit from your study sessions:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/09/ ... your-study

Re: working with a tutor, I have an obvious conflict of interest in making recommendations here. It's true that working with a tutor can be very effective and efficient because you've got an expert diagnosing you and telling you exactly what you need to learn to do. On the other hand, private tutoring is seriously expensive and there are no guarantees - so you have to decide whether you think that expense is worth it.

[happy student]

You are right. I should not forget but rather I should use those instances as examples of issues to correct. I think that not eating food was 75% (if not more) of the reason for a poor Quant showing on Saturday (I could literally feel it -- not good and just an amateur mistake) as energy returned for Verbal, I did fine but not above my usual scores.

As far as Sunday's good score goes, I think 5-10% of that is related to seeing the same questions. The big question, as you have pointed out, is if I got those same questions right or wrong, etc. I can say there was at least 1-2 that I def. knew the right answer right away. As far as time adjustment goes, I was right on par with where I needed to be (let's say with in a question or less time). I will be reviewing those two tests in depth tonight for today's studying.

All in all, I am not phased by the testing procedure at this point (after all I've done enough practice tests and one real GMAT to feel more than okay) - and I am certainly capable of telling when I've done something silly like not eat or test in place that is far from real conditions. Therefore, I'd like to take one practice test this weekend in as identical of a situation as last Sunday's test (CAT2A) to see it comes out close to Sunday's test score. However, I agree that most of my time is going to be best used working on weak areas (which should in hand help my timing over all). What do you think?

Yes, I am happy with the content selection, the data stated more areas but I checked that against my gut and other ways of looking at the data. I can go crazy on these topics by attacking as many OG problems as possible along with reviewing the MGMAT book(s) topics. I will take the same/similar approach to what Kate has instructed me to do after my post test assessment (and read that article you just gave me).

At the rate I am going, and with the intensity I feel (better late than never) I think it's realistic to hit 650 +/- 20 points in three weeks time and 680 +/- 20 in 7 weeks time. As always, I appreciate your help and I will be plugging right along in the weeks to come. I look forward to your reply.

[StaceyKoprince]

The re-test this week-end sounds good. Remember two things:
(1) if you see a repeat, make sure to stay on the question for the full length of the "normal" time for that Q type
(2) don't automatically get all of the repeats right. If something is still hard for you, consider getting it wrong on purpose

However, I agree that most of my time is going to be best used working on weak areas (which should in hand help my timing over all).

Yes, up until you hit about 2 weeks out from Game Day and you start to switch over to review. So now you've got your plan - get to it and let us know how things go! :)

[happy student]

Right-o. Two weeks out is this Tuesday.

I am assuming "review" would be timed sets of random questions and going over general main GMAT principals, question type procedures and "tricks".

Therefore, I am going to continue to attack the areas I've discussed previously the rest of this weekend and, given the time I have left, into this coming week (yes, unfortunately I may have to give up a few review days for attacking weakness days). I will work as effectively as I can in both situations. My last practice test (again for the reasons stated previously) will be next weekend 10-days from Game Day.

Time to get to work and, unless there is something outside of this plan going on, you will hear from me post Game Day. Thanks.