Stacey & Ron - HELP!

[ericsoncarvalho]

Hey Stacey:

I've been up against the GMAT since April of '13 with MGMAT (my "base" test before I began studying was a whopping 430 with a 13 in quant. and a 34 in verbal) and have literally completed 20 CAT's (including 3 official sittings).

I'm plateauing, I'm freaking out, and I'm desperate. I got a disappointing 620 at my last official sitting in October and the highest I've scored (recently) was a 660 on an inflated GMATPrep test in June (I had seen several questions twice). Coincidentally, around this time I wasn't "focused" studying on weak areas - I was just cramming about 70 problems a day in quant. instead of focusing on what I figured were weak areas.

This was all before I discovered your blogs and realized that I was doing TOO MANY CAT's and needed to refine a bit more. I'm stuck, though. I feel like I need to be pointed in the right direction - someone to TELL me what to study after ANALYZING my CAT's (I've done more than my share of MGMAT CAT's). I've seen you do it before, and although I've read your blog and all of your articles I don't feel I am doing the analysis correctly. If I post my data as you laid it out in your "Evaluating Your Practice Tests" post, would you be willing to help me as you have done others previously (a quick analysis)?

I've read through all of the links which you've mentioned in the post and have even tried contacting MGMAT to get some time with you, but (of course) you're a hot commodity. If you find some time, though, please consider me!

Previously I didn't even study verbal much as I felt I had to get my quant. up to an acceptable level - my strategy since is to focus-study my verbal in order to get up to the 90% or so range in order to help carry my score to 680 - PLEASE help!

I'm aiming for a 680 in about +/- two months.

Thank you!

EC

[StaceyKoprince]

I just got an email about you today from our Student Affairs team! Yes, unfortunately, I am solidly booked through the end of the year. I already have someone who has been waiting a month (and I won't be able to start with her until the first week of Dec).

I will of course help you analyze your CATs BUT...you have to tell me your own analysis first. You can give me the data, but you also have to tell me what you think the data means. (This is how you will learn how to read the data for yourself the next time. Don't worry - I'll tell you if I think you've misinterpreted something or missed anything.)

Sounds like you know what to do, but I'll make it easy by repeating the instructions below. ALSO, though, you'll need to tell me how you handled repeated questions. Did you answer correctly no matter what, or did you purposely get any wrong because you figured you would get them wrong if they were new? Did you answer those questions more quickly than you would have had they been new, or did you make yourself take the normal time?

If you answered correctly no matter what and you worked more quickly than normal, then you'll need to estimate approximately how many times this happened in each section, because the data will be skewed.

Okay, here are the full instructions. First, read these two articles:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013 ... lly-tests/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/2013/ ... -the-gmat/

Think about how what you've been doing does and doesn't match up with that and how you may need to change your approach accordingly.

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!)

[ericsoncarvalho]

Sorry for the delay, Stacey! Crazy week at work.

I appreciate your help and observation. Any direction you could point me in would help tremendously.

November 16th exam:

Quant. Correct/Incorrect

Strings of 4+ wrong?

Yes, 1 string:
700+; DS; 2:05; Odds & Evens/Exp. & Roots/Pos. & Neg.
600+; DS; 2:13; Overlapping/Percents
600+; DS; 2:38; Exp. & Roots
600+; PS; 2:21; Exp. & Roots

*Exp. & Roots as well as Overlapping Sets were my focused studying recently (re-reading chapters & doing all questions in the OG 13 & Quant. 2 guides.); should have only gotten the first question incorrect as the rest weren’t that difficult; overall pacing was good (30:48 of expected 30:00) after all 4 q’s

Also got 1 string of 2 incorrect, 1 correct, 3 incorrect:
600+; PS; 2:13; Ratios
600+; DS: 1:55; Inequalities
600+; PS; 2:15; Statistics (correct)
600+; PS: 2:02; Formulas
600+; DS: 0:47; Odds & Evens
600+; PS; 3:37; Statistics; Fractions

*None were exceptionally hard, but admit I need to work on the content a bit; should have gotten maybe 2 incorrect; the second to last question took :47 but the next took over 3.5 minutes – I was doing OK on timing, so I was allowing a bit more time for this question

Takeaways:
Need to keep hitting those focus areas hard; I haven’t spent as much time repeating the questions in order to fully understand the content; Odds & Evens (2 wrong) Polygons (2 wrong) & Linear Equ. (2 wrong) need to be added to focus

Quant. Timing

Cumulative I was never over > 2 min. and finished at 72:15
According to your criteria, this was a disaster.
I was too fast (< 1:15) on 7 questions, and only got one incorrect: the 1 700+ question that I purposely skipped.
I was in the warning track (2:00 – 2:30) on 8 questions, and got 5 incorrect.
I was too slow (> 3:00) on 4 questions, and got one incorrect.

Takeaways:

My strategy is usually to nail the questions that I am certain of quickly, and use that time on the more difficult questions where I struggle a bit more with the content. By that measure I was successful on the 7 I skipped (too fast), but got only 50% of the ones I spent more time on correct. I really think this takes me back to content, where I need to get better. (Where do you think I should change my approach? What do you suggest?)

Verbal Correct/Incorrect (I am much stronger in verbal)

Strings of 4+ wrong?

Yes, 1 string:
700+; 2:46; SC; Comparisons/Meaning (was at 32:05 of 36:00 cum. time (so I took longer on purpose) and at 91% at this point, the 20th question)
700+; 1:58; SC; Idioms
700+; 1:34; CR; Weaken
700+; 2:29; CR; Explain the Discrepancy
Cumulative time here was never over the target time; in fact, I finished at 66:37, with almost 8.5 minutes to spare.

Takeaways:

The questions that I got incorrect weren’t all that difficult, to be honest, with exception of a few super difficult SC. I got 2/12 incorrect in RC (1 600+ and 1 700+), 5/15 incorrect in SC (all 700+), and 6/14 incorrect in CR (all 700+). In this area I could see SC as my major focus for the next few weeks, dabbling into RC as I go.

My timing was all over the place in regards to how much time I took on each question (for example the 2:46 on the SC), but I ALWAYS finish with time left on verbal because when I don't know something, I usually realize it quickly regardless of time. For that reason, I don't really have a timing strategy for verbal. Should that change?

The interesting thing is that when I went to my latest official sitting a few weeks back I actually did worse on my verbal than I EVER have (including my initial “measuring stick” CAT). I’m baffled by it, but maybe it was fatigue or nerves. I’m just trying to put it behind me and move forward. If you have any thoughts, I’d love to hear ‘em.

Please let me know what you think, and I'm sorry for the novel!

EC

[StaceyKoprince]

Quant

should have only gotten the first question incorrect as the rest weren’t that difficult

Why, specifically, did you get them wrong? Careless errors? Or something else? If careless errors, what was the specific mistake on each one? What new habits could you build that would help minimize the chances of that type of mistake in future?

So, the extra time spent (above 2.5 minutes) resulted in 6 wrong out of 12 (ie, a standard 50/50 performance, not an improved payoff for extra time spent).

It's great that you missed only one of the fast ones and you wanted to miss that one. But that's not the only place you can make careless mistakes - and you did say that you had at least some questions that you thought you "should" have gotten right. So did the extra time--AND extra mental energy--that you spent on some of the "too long" problems take away elsewhere in the test? (Even during the verbal section. Mental energy is limited.)

Go to the low-hanging fruit - the ones you thought you "should" have gotten right - not the hardest ones. That's where you'll more easily pick up points.

Verbal

The questions that I got incorrect weren’t all that difficult, to be honest, with exception of a few super difficult SC.

Ditto as to why you did get them wrong and what new knowledge or habits you need to build to get them right in future. Ditto focus on the low-hanging fruit, not the hard ones.

Re: your question about verbal timing, I have one for you. How often do you make careless mistakes on verbal? How often do you look at something afterwards and think, What was I thinking? The answer is clearly B!

If that happens more than once in the section, then timing and/or mental fatigue (likely both) are pulling your score down. We already know that you finish verbal with time left over, so if you are making mistakes on things you know, then you are working more quickly than you should.

The mental fatigue is cumulative to this point in the test, so the extra mental effort you spend on the hardest quant problems is likely hurting you during verbal. (This isn't to say you can never go over 2.5 minutes on quant - you can of course. You just need to make better decisions about when to do so.)

What do you think?

[ericsoncarvalho]

I appreciate the overview, Stacey. Thank you for the attention!

I made a lot of careless errors in quant, yeah, so I focusing on the low-hanging fruit is definitely good advice (e.g. not switching a > to < when dividing by a negative, those kinds of things).

Before I used to try to take on everything rather than focus on the specific "little" errors, but I will take that strategy on. I think being conscious of where I usually make "stupid" errors and really honing in might be the key. I really don't think the mental energy in the longer ones affected the slower ones, but I'll try anything!

I think I just need to keep practicing and drilling. I'm going to work a tutor in order to have someone TELL me where to focus (topics) after reviewing my results, since I can't seem to do it myself.

In verbal, I actually don't make a lot of stupid mistakes (usually no more than 1, as you indicated). I have begun taking more time, though, as you instructed, in order to be certain. Specifically, in RC I've come to slow down while reading the passage (where I lose most of the verbal points). I am going after the low-hanging fruit elsewhere as well. We'll see what happens. I certainly do agree that the mental drain in quant may be hurting the verbal.

Again, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to review my post (on T-day of all days).

EC

[StaceyKoprince]

Yep, the low-hanging fruit thing is key. Try to do too much and you'll remember none of it very well. And try to focus on the hardest stuff and you'll just take way too long to get better (if ever!). It sounds like you've got a solid focus now on what you need to do and a tutor should help you keep on track.

Also, I'd like to take credit for being dedicated enough to answer on a holiday, but I must confess: I live in Canada. We had Thanskgiving in October. :)