Progress with Manhattan GMAT CAT tests

[yogesh.kumar]

Hi,
I've taken the Free GMAT CAT test offered by Manhattan 2 months back and scored a meagre 580. But the quality of the questions impelled me later to purchase the 5 additional tests. Tonight I attempted the first of the 5 CAT tests, and scored 700 (Q: 47 and V: 38). I must say I am not pleased with my performance because I wanted a score more than 720. Especially, my verbal score hurts me because, I am a post graduate in English Literature besides being a Computer Scientist! I'd like to know what can I do to improve my score so that I get my desired score of atleast 720 in the actual GMAT. I've answered all but one of the SC questions in CAT 1 correctly and that can be attributed to my foray in Literature. The other sections in Verbal however, have little to do with one's skill in Literature, save it imparts you good reading speed.

I should like to know how can I improve my overall score and how can I better my performance in CR section, which is where I've been found wanting.
thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

First of all, I would be thrilled with your performance - you have shown fantastic improvement in 2 months! Nice work.

All standardized tests have a standard deviation; you probably know something about this from your CompSci background. Most people are surprised to learn how wide the SD is on these tests. The "within student" standard deviation on an MGMAT CAT is about 50 points, which means your "true" score is somewhere between 650 and 750. The "within student" standard deviation on the official test is about 30 points, so if this had been an official test, your "true" score would be somewhere between 670 and 730. In other words, you are already within the range of your desired 720.

You mention that you are upset with your verbal score - I just want to make sure you're aware that your verbal score is a bit higher than your quant score. Q47 is about the 79th percentile and V38 is about the 83rd percentile. The quant and verbal scales are not the same - the highest quant score (99th percentile) is 51, while 46 is the 99th percentile on verbal. When looking at your scores, you can pretty much ignore the 47/38-type scores and just look at the percentile ranking.

In general, I recommend that you keep doing whatever you have been doing - whatever it is, it has been working very well. You don't mention what sources you have been using for your study. CR and RC generally require some sort of resource that teaches you the kinds of reasoning that those types of questions test. My company has a book for each one and other companies do as well; it's just a matter of identifying a book that you think will work for you.

I also recommend that you do some wrong answer analysis for verbal. On any problem you study, be able to articulate:
- specifically why each wrong answer is wrong (well enough articulated that someone else would understand and agree!)
- which wrong answer is the most tempting and why it is so tempting
- how to recognize that the tempting wrong answer is still wrong anyway so you can eliminate it
- why someone might be tempted to eliminate the right answer; how would they (or you!) convince themselves that this answer (which is actually correct) is wrong?

[jgranchi]

HEY Big improvement. Please advise what you are doing.

[yogesh.kumar]

Hi Stacey,
Thanks for your detailed response and suggestions offered!

As you mentioned, I've not described what has been my sources for preparing for CR and RC questions. Well, I've the OG11 book and the Princeton and Kaplan prep books on me. Unfortunately, in India (that's where I am) we don't find Manhattan GMAT books anywhere and that has been a serious impediment. The only Manhattan book I own is an old tattered copy of Manhattan SC and that has helped me immensely in scoring well in SC section. As I mentioned in my last post, I got all but one question wrong in the SC section in the CAT test I took last week.

What I've observed about myself in the CR and RC sections is that upon seeing a CR and RC question, I instinctively get a response as to which one is right. But I tend to keep my instinctive voice at bay for a while and try to corroborate my instinctively arrived answer with sound reasoning by analysis of the argument/passage presented. Now, when my analyses and instinct converge on the same answer, I am more than 100% sure that I've got the answer right. It's when they don't converge, I run into trouble: First, I spend too much time on that question torn between logic and instinct. Second, I tend to feel worked-up which makes me edgy, atleast while the page with that question is still staring into my face. Third, and more interestingly, I go with the answer that my reasoning suggests, and I move on. BUT after the test, when I see the answers to those questions, more often than not, I discover that my instinct had got it right, and also, the logic beneath what my instinct was prompting also becomes clear to me. The reason I don't go with the instinctive answer is that while I am taking the test, the logic beneath my instinct is vague to me. And this is almost always the reason, when I get a CR/RC and even SC, question wrong.

Your idea that I analyse why I find a wrong answer tempting and why I skip over the correct answer, precisely points at this dilemma of mine. I'll keep your points in mind and redo some tough RC/CR questions from the OG.

thanks

[StaceyKoprince]

Here's info from Brie in our student services department on bookstores in India that carry MGMAT books:

There are currently 2 locations in India which sell our books. You might want to check with the individual stores first, though, to make sure they have our books in stock. Here are there addresses:

Bookzone
Shop# 1 Cassinath Bldg,
172/174 Dr D.N. Road,
Mumbai 400 001
Tel # +91-22-22054616/17
Fax# +91-22-22054620
e-mail: customerservice@bookzone-india.com

GOELS COMPUTER HUT
126,BUDHWAR PETH
PUNE-411002
MAHARASHTRA
INDIA
email: compuhut@pn2.vsnl.net.in
Tel: 020-24451958, 24451959

So, if you're finding that your instinct is right more often than your logic, go with your instinct when the two conflict. Just make sure that your data really is accurate. (For instance, if you always go with logic vs. instinct when there's a conflict, AND you're only reviewing the problems you got wrong (for this issue), then you're only ever going to notice when the logic was wrong. You're never going to notice all the ones on which you went with the logic and you got the answer right, because you're not looking at the ones you got right!)

So, if you're checking ALL of them and the instinct is really right 75+ percent of the time, fine. But if there are actually a bunch that you got right using logic (vs. instinct), then you have to factor those in, too.

Good luck with your answer analysis - hopefully that will help you to have "matches" between your logic and instinct most of the time and then you won't have to worry about this anymore! Oh, and one more thing. On any verbal question, once you get down to two answers, look at each ONCE more. Then pick one and move on. Agonizing doesn't help you make a better decision. It just uses up time that you could be using on other problems.