Score regressing?

[AceTheGM@]

Hi- I am taking the GMAT exactly two weeks from yesterday, and as of today, my score is regressing. Here are my most recent scores:

11/30: GMAT Prep: 680 (Q44, V39)
12/12: MGMAT CAT #4: 680 (Q44, V39)
12/15: GMAT Prep: 650 (Q41, V39)

Clearly, the drop in my Q score is driving the decrease. How do you think I should focus my energy in the next two weeks given the data outlined above? My goal is to hit 700. Thanks!

[StaceyKoprince]

I know this will be a surprise, but that isn't actually a drop - that's within the standard deviation of these kinds of tests. It feels like 650 to 680 should be a huge difference, but the real test has a standard deviation of about 30 points and our tests have an SD of about 50 points. This is part of the "noise" of taking this kind of test (you get a few more questions in your area of weakness, you make a couple more careless mistakes, you get lucky on a couple of guesses, etc.).

Your scoring range about 1-2 weeks out is the same range you should expect on the real test, so you're on the border here - you might make it to 700 in 2 weeks and you might need another week or two. The key is to figure out what's going on with your strengths and weaknesses right now and try to find the "low hanging fruit" to help you pick up a few more points in a short period of time.

Use the below to analyze your most recent MGMAT CAT(s):
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ice-tests/

Note that this analysis should take a minimum of an hour - you really have to dig in! Figure out what you think you should do based on that analysis. Then come back here and tell us; we'll tell you whether we agree and advise you further. Also, if you took our course, you might also want to send your analysis to your teacher and ask him / her for advice as well.

I'll also recommend reading the first article below before you do your full analysis - have you been approaching the test this way? If not, the second article has some ideas for you about how to start doing that.
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

(Note: do share an analysis of all of this 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!)

[AceTheGM@]

Stacey, thank you so much for your reply! Those articles are incredibly helpful. As I noted previously, I had scored Q44/V39 twice before dropping to Q41/V39. Per your advice, I emailed my instructor, who thought I might be dwelling on some math problems. I brushed up on my math skills a bit and was more careful not to get stuck on time-intensive problems, and scored a 640 overall (Q46/V31).

Good news: this clearly helped my quant score!

Bad news: The drop in Verbal from 39-39-39 --> 31 is obviously not good. Do you have any tips on how to overcome this before my test this Saturday, 12/28?

Many thanks again,
Molly

[StaceyKoprince]

Oh, I'm sorry I'm just seeing this now - unfortunately, the forums aren't the best place for last-minute questions. For future (and for anyone else reading this), please contact our office directly (gmat@manhattanprep.com) for any last-minute, urgent questions.

How did it go? I'll answer you briefly anyway, in case someone else reading this has a similar issue.

The real issue is why the verbal dropped to 31 - was it a fluke or is something more serious going on? For that, you need to analyze the data to try to figure out what happened.

It's possible that you were SO focused on quant that you used up too much brain energy and so your verbal performance dropped because you just couldn't sustain your mental level. Did you feel more tired out than usual during verbal? Did you feel anything like the symptoms described in this article:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

Use the article that I linked to in my last post to analyze the verbal section and try to figure out more concrete details about why your score dropped. You can also analyze the test before, when you scored 39 - compare the difference in performance on the two sections.

Hopefully, though, you got the score you wanted and don't need to worry about this! Let me know.

[AceTheGM@]

No worries- good to know about the email address for future use.

Unfortunately, the real test did not go as well as I'd hoped. I scored a 650 overall (Q41, V38). My goal is still 700-710 realistically. I am ultimately aiming to score in this range by June (although I'd rather buckle down and be done sooner!)

Based on your reply and my latest result, I have several questions for you:

1.) You said: The real issue is why the verbal dropped to 31 - was it a fluke or is something more serious going on? For that, you need to analyze the data to try to figure out what happened.
My last two practice tests were both GMAT Prep exams. Do you have any tips on how to analyze mistakes on those tests? It looks like MGMAT has some solutions for Test #2 on this forum, but very few solutions for Test #3 questions, perhaps since those cost extra $.

2.) The follwing practice tests were taken over the past month (practice test dates: 11/30, 12/12, 12/15, 12/21, with the actual test score on 12/28*) . It's interesting to look at the trends in Q and V:
Q: 44 / 44 / 41 / 46 / 41*
V: 39 / 39 / 39 / 31 / 38*
I made a big push to study Verbal between practice tests 2 and 3, because I believe a Q44/V41 would get me to a 700. Clearly, I was spending too much time studying Verbal and not enough time on Quant, which explains Test 3. For Test 4, I focused on brushing up on Quant, but that led to the Verbal drop. In the two weeks leading up to the test, I made a serious effort to balance Verbal and Quant studying time.
Based on this, I'm wondering:
a.) Do you have any tips for maintaining both scores? I've already achieved a Q46/V39 (but separately!)--just can't get everything to work at the same time.
b.) Assuming I can achieve #1, is there any strategy behind whether to try to bolster my Q or V score? I believe a Q46/V39 would land me at a 690.

3.) I'm obviously feeling pretty discouraged at this point. I took the Complete Course, went to every class, carefully did the homework every week, took time off of work to study, etc., and ultimately devoted about 15 hours/week to studying over the past 3 months. I thought I was good about specifically practicing problems in my weak areas (based on the Assessment Reports) and really studying the logic from the solutions / the cause of my errors. What are the next steps from here for studying for the GMAT?

4.) I've been told that since my Verbal percentile is higher, I should consider jumping ship to the GRE. I'm a bit hesitant to do that given that I have previously attained reasonable subscores on GMAT practice tests, and because I hear some bschools secretly favor the GMAT. At the same time, I gave studying for the GMAT my best effort. Any thoughts here?

Apologies for a long post! Thank you so much.

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry that you had a disappointing test day. I'll just point out: even though you haven't gotten to your goal yet, you've made a lot of progress. Don't give up now. :)

It's not a small thing that you've hit Q46 and V39 separately; you're much further along than someone who hasn't hit those scores at all, even separately.

Interesting - so the verbal score held up on the real test. The quant score, unfortunately, was at the low end of your range.

Because you had only one dropped verbal score, I'm inclined to regard the 31 as more of a fluke. You know what happened (you ignored verbal leading up to that test), so you just won't do that again.

On the quant side, though, the 46 is looking like more of the fluke, so we have to figure out what happened there in order to come up with a plan to solidify / replicate the performance.

Take a look through, first, just to see how many careless mistakes you made relative to mistakes on other tests. Also take a look at how many strings of wrong answers you had - this can especially help you to guess at any potential timing or mental stamina issues. (If you take GMATPrep again, make sure to set up a mechanism to allow you to time yourself on each question - you want that data!) Try to gauge, too, whether you had an unusual number of lucky guesses (more than a couple).

The GMAT is mostly about managing two very scarce resources: your time and your mental energy. Talk to me about the essay and IR sections - how much mental energy did you have to expend there? How did you do on those two sections? If you received very good scores, next time you could try to do a little less and save more of your mental energy for later. If you received average scores, then you would do some studying for both sections with the goal of making it mentally easier for you to achieve those same scores (that is, you wouldn't try to get great scores; you'd just try to get average scores again but with less needed effort).

What did you do leading up to the test where you got the 46? It worked once, so we should see whether we can get it to work again. Specifically, we would try to do a modified version of that prep (since you did it once already, it shouldn't take as much effort to do it again), one that will also allow you time to keep your verbal skills up.

Re: GMATPrep, tests 3 and 4 (the paid tests) were only published for the first time in October - so there just aren't as many solutions out there yet because they haven't been around very long. You might also want to try Beat the GMAT.

Finally, you mention that you were diligent about practicing weak areas and studying logic from the solutions, etc. Did you also study how to guess? When to let go of a problem? You actually don't want to try to get everything right - but it takes practice and skill to know how to do that, too!