What's my problem?

[liu1993918]

After I took 3 MANHATTAN CAT, I still remain same score on Verbal part: 36, 35, and 36. Every CAT is seperated at least by one month study and I have been studied for 3 months.

After viewing the Assessment Summary, I can see that I really get improved; the average difficulty of right/wrong questions are higher.

I think that my biggest problem in my lastest CAT probably is that I made 5 questions wrong in a string. The 1st question of this string seems really difficult and it broke the smooth of the test. Thus, I have some timing issues.

Dear instructors, I can only find out the timing issues. Can you review the General Assessment of my CATs and check whether I have some other problems, please?

Since I remain the same score on Verbal, I think I may have some other problems.

CAT1(Verbal36):
--------Average---Average--Average--Average
----------Time ----Time----Difficulty--Difficulty
--%Right--Right---Wrong---Right---Wrong
SC--67%--1:03---1:31----680----710
CR--50%--1:54---1:57----680----680
RC--67%--2:12---3:04----660----700

CAT2(V35):
--------Average---Average--Average--Average
----------Time ----Time----Difficulty--Difficulty
--%Right--Right---Wrong---Right---Wrong
SC--40%--0:55---1:10----680----730
CR--50%--2:21---2:23----740----700
RC--83%--1:53---3:16----670----700

CAT3(V36):
--------Average---Average--Average--Average
----------Time ----Time----Difficulty--Difficulty
--%Right--Right---Wrong---Right---Wrong
SC--73%--1:17---1:38----690----750
CR--64%--1:51---2:27----690----750
RC--42%--2:17---1:59----730----710

[StaceyKoprince]

I'm sorry you're struggling with this test. But I don't think that you're struggling as much as you think you are. :)

In general, the top schools think that a 36+ is good enough for verbal. So you're already just about at the necessary threshold for verbal, even for top 10 schools!

I do have one suggestion that might help. Are you going to have to take the TOEFL? If you did your undergraduate degree in a language other than English, then most schools will require the TOEFL. If so, then I would actually stop your GMAT studies for a while and go take that test. You will be studying certain things that many GMAT books assume people already know (because most books are written by native speakers).

TOEFL materials are written specifically for non-native speakers, so this may help to lift certain skills that you're not necessarily getting from your GMAT materials.

Timing issues can cause your score to stall out - you could be getting better but your score would stay the same (or even get worse) if you have significant enough timing issues. Have you tried to use this article to help you analyze your results?
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

If you have and there are certain parts that you're finding difficult, let me know which parts and we can discuss how to do the analysis.

You'll need to use all of the data in your MGMAT score reports, not just the data that you posted for me. That information is a start, but it's not enough to do a full analysis.

If you do want to meet one-on-one with someone to do this analysis and discuss remedies, then there is the possiblity of private tutoring. (We don't actually provide full analyses for free. It takes about an hour to analyze a test and then another 1-2 hours to convey that information to the students and help them come up with a plan.)

[liu1993918]

I do have one suggestion that might help. Are you going to have to take the TOEFL? If you did your undergraduate degree in a language other than English, then most schools will require the TOEFL. If so, then I would actually stop your GMAT studies for a while and go take that test.

Thanks so much.
Dear Stacey, I am not a native speaker and I am going to take the TOFEL. Do you know some websites or forums that teach how to learn TOFEL or do you have some suggestions?
You know a forum such as MANHATTANPREP is really helpful!
Thanks in advance.

[StaceyKoprince]

I would definitely get the TOEFL's version of the official guide - they also publish their own book with real past questions and other resources.

I don't know of a specific forum that is good, but I'd go onto Beat the GMAT and ask some of the community members there. They will probably have a good idea of what TOEFL forums would be worth investigating.

I also don't know what specific test prep companies are making good prep materials, but I've asked a colleague of mine who might know; I'll come back and tell you if he has any recommendations. And I'd also ask people over at Beat the GMAT what other materials they've used and liked.

[liu1993918]

Thanks so much.

[StaceyKoprince]

My colleague said that he hasn't investigated specific prep company TOEFL programs, so he doesn't know who's doing a particularly good job. Talk to some fellow students over at Beat the GMAT and see what they have to say.

good luck!

[liu1993918]

Timing issues can cause your score to stall out - you could be getting better but your score would stay the same (or even get worse) if you have significant enough timing issues. Have you tried to use this article to help you analyze your results?
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Dear Stacey, thanks for your suggestion.
After listening your suggestion, I am trying to analyze my strengths and weakness, so I can make my game plan before my test in 8th, April.
However, I am quite confused about the data of the 3 CATs. Although the accuracy of CR, RC, and SC seems subtle, I think my strength is RC. Not only because the accuracy is highest there, but also in my most recent exam ( I don't include this CAT because poor internet connections totally interfere the tracking of time), the accuracy is also highest. And I do find that my timing issues lead to the lower percentages correct on lower-level questions on RC part.


I think my weakness is SC. I cannot find out evidence from my data, but meaning in SC is a difficult part to me. However, since I have been tracking all the problems I did, the average timing of SC is 10 seconds ahead of 1M30S. That's something weird.

Dear instructors, can you give me some advises on how to find my strengths and weakness please? Am I right?

[StaceyKoprince]

Did you try using this to do the analysis?
http://tinyurl.com/analyzeyourcats

Did you click on the link at the end of the first half to read the second half of the article? That's where the detailed analysis is described. If you did read that, let me know which specific parts of the analysis process described there are giving you trouble.

If not, go follow that link (especially to the second half of the article) and tell me what topics / question types are in each of your three buckets.