Requesting Opinion- Consistently getting 680 in MGMAT CATs

[RB]

Hello Experts,

I am currently taking CATs on MGAT and since I am not seeing progress despite all my efforts and time, I would like to seek your thoughts so that I can locate the areas of weakness and understand how to strengthen them.

I started with serious studies in early November. I gave the free MGMAT CAT to access my potential and got the score of 680 (Q 47, V 35), and was satisfied with it since I had read that MGMAT was tougher than actual GMAT. Brimming with over-confidence, I neglected OGs (very foolish thing to do), did some practice with online material and went straight for the exam on 15th Dec where I got a disappointing 630 (Q49, V26) considering that my target score was 730. The score of 630 made me to delay my plans of applying to schools in R2, probably for good, following which I made up my mind to give another shot at GMAT.

Gathering courage and with renewed vigour, I got back to studies in middle Jan, started reading success stories, blogs and MGMAT forums to understand how to get a score over 700. Since my last attempt at GMAT I have done Verbal OG, Offical Guide (with focus on Verbal), 800 & Premier Guide and 4 CATs of another Test preparation company, MGMAT sentence correction guide, 3 more MGMAT CATs and GMAT Prep 1 (2nd attempt).

My MGMAT scores(after thoroughly completing the study material above) are as below-
CAT Exam #1 680, Q 47, V 35 (11/2/2011)
CAT Exam #2 700, Q 47, V 38 (3/8/2012)
CAT Exam #3 680, Q 48, V 35 (3/19/2012)
CAT Exam #4 680, Q 47, V 35 (3/29/2012)............Latest score

All exams were timed and taken under test conditions.

Between 1st and 2nd MGMAT CAT, I gave GMAT Prep 1 (2nd attempt since early November) and got 730. I understand that this score is an inflated one but nevertheless holds some importance because there were few repeat questions and I also made considerate effort to spend reasonable time on the ones I already knew answers of.

Now could you please help me to understand how could anyone get the same scores (680 twice since Initial zero preparation score of 680) after 4 months of intensive preparation. You know, I can sense that I have improved a lot since I started preparation, relative ease with which I am able to solve problems and regular appearance of bold faced questions in Practice CATs are my evidence, but that improvement is just not getting translated into better scores. In fact, in my 3rd MGMAT CAT I maintained 99 percentile till 22nd Question which decreased to 91 by 28th question but ended with a 75 by the end of the section. I would admit that I laxed a bit in the middle of the section otherwise I would have scored higher.

Please tell me what am I doing wrong to deserve a below 700 score consistently despite all the good efforts I have made so far.


Can I expect to see a score of 730 in Actual GMAT, if I take it within the next 3 weeks. Please advise.

Thank you,
Robin

[StaceyKoprince]

Can I expect to see a score of 730 in Actual GMAT, if I take it within the next 3 weeks.

Nobody can answer that. If I could predict that, I'd also be playing the lottery and I would be very, very rich. :)

Unless and until your practice tests (taken under 100% official conditions) are in that range, you shouldn't expect to get that score on the real test. So let's go back to your real question: what's up with all of the 680s?

First, your last three tests are quite close together in time - it's not unusual not to see much of a difference in score over several weeks, even if the person is objectively improving. So it's possible that you just haven't actually given yourself enough time.

Second, there are two main culprits of the "I've been studying a lot but my scores haven't been changing" syndrome:
(1) You've been studying the wrong way / inefficiently.
(2) You have timing problems.

Possible both are true. First, how to know whether you have timing problems? Analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT using this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Then come back here and tell us what you learned. (Note: don't just post all the data. Tell us what you think it means. Being able to self-assess is really important!)

If you do have timing problems (and almost everyone does), then that is almost certainly contributing to your stagnant score. Your sentence here tells me that you probably do have timing problems (and possibly stamina / concentration problems as well):

In fact, in my 3rd MGMAT CAT I maintained 99 percentile till 22nd Question which decreased to 91 by 28th question but ended with a 75 by the end of the section.

Next, you've done a lot of work. How much have you been focusing on review and analysis? Most of what you learn from a problem comes from the review and analysis you do AFTER you finish the problem in the first place. I can easily spend 5, 10, sometimes 15 minutes analyzing a single problem!

Are you asking yourself these questions when reviewing?
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/a ... roblem.cfm

If not, then you're not learning what you need to learn - you're just cycling through a ton of problems but leaving a lot of the learning on the table. This is *especially* important when you want a 700+ score. The higher you go, the more you're really being tested on how well you can think your way through a completely new problem (that shares some similarities with other problems you've seen in the past, but doesn't look exactly alike). It's all about your ability to *recognize* what to do on a new problem you've never seen before.

You may want to read this:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/articles/7 ... erence.cfm