Need help interpreting last CAT exam results

[Istudy4Gmat]

Hi everyone

I still have until Friday to practice for the GMAT. To get a feeling in which percentile I currently am, I tried my last manhattan CAT exam today. The results were the following:

IR: scaled 3.94, percentile: 3-5%
Quant: scaled 44, percentile: 58%
Verbal: scaled 34, percentile: 71%
Total score: scaled 640, percentile: 72%

I have not finished the last IR question and the last quant question due to timing issues. I completed AWA and respected all official GMAT timings.

However, I also took a GMATPrep practice exam before I started my study for the GMAT several weeks ago. These results were the following:

IR: scaled 2 percentile 12%
Quant: scaled 47, percentile 73%
Verbal: scaled 30, percentile: 72%
Total score: scaled 630 percentile: 72%

I finished all questions successfully. I did not complete AWA and paused the exam to complete the verbal section on the next day.

First, I want to express my sincere disappointment that although studying ALL Manhattan strategy guides, I only improved my score with 10 points (and the percentile hasn't even changed). Second, I would like to have your opinion on the development of my scores. With only 4 days left until D-day, I would like to know what you would suggest me to do next: focus on quant or on verbal?

As a non-native English speaker most of my effort when prepping for the GMAT went into verbal. This clearly improved my verbal score. However, now my quant skills seem a lot worse. Or can I not compare the Manhattan CAT with the GMAT Prep CAT?

Thank you in advance for your replies!

[StaceyKoprince]

Hi, I'm sorry that we're just getting back to you now - it's busy season (which means longer wait times for responses). How did your test go?

My response would have been that there's really not much you can do to change your score in 4 days. At that point, your scores are what they are. In the last few days, you just want to do an overall review of the question types and content areas so that you don't forget things you may not have looked at in a few weeks.

It's also that case that several weeks is typically not enough time to see any substantial improvement on the GMAT. Most people study for 2 to 4 months (and 2 months is on the low end). This is a challenging test; it's not really possible to cram for it. (You did see improvement however - you skipped the AWA on the first test and also completed the verbal section the following day. Both of those - particularly the latter - would likely have resulted in a score boost on the multiple choice portions of the test. Your first test score was likely artificially inflated.)

You don't mention a goal score, but I'm going to guess that it's higher than your practice test scores. If you did not like the score that you got on the real test, then we can talk about what to do to prepare to retake the test.

In preparation for that, first, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

Then, use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CATs (this should take you a minimum of 1 hour):
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Based on all of that, figure out your strengths and weaknesses as well as any ideas you have for what you think you should do. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. (Note: do share an analysis with us, not just the raw data. Part of getting better is developing your ability to analyze your results - figure out what they mean and what you think you should do about them!)