6 Practice Tests - No Improvement in Score!!!!!!!

[tricia.lin]

At this point I am desperate to improve so any help is much appreciated.

I started GMAT studies more than 2 months ago. Since then I've been studying diligently every day (I'm unemployed at the moment also so I have a lot of extra time). I've been breaking up my studies into chunks of 2 hours each, sometimes 4 hours a day, sometimes 7 or 8, it depends on life circumstances.

I've been following the materials diligently, finished all of the OG questions, made flashcards which I am periodically reviewing, finished ALL the Manhattan GMAT books 2 weeks early, and as of yesterday I've finished the other OG books (green and blue quant/verbal guides). I've taken all of the Manhattan GMAT CAT's, first one I took was on 3/17/13 and that was my diagnostic and I scored a horrible 540. Since then I've improved my score up to 640 (I haven't taken any other practice CATs aside from MGMAT... no GMAT Prep, nothing). I have heard that MGMAT CATs are way harder than the real thing, but I don't want to bank on this because it seems like a GMAT urban legend.

The problem is that my score has been stuck in the 630-640ish range for a month, no improvement at all! It's generally around a 41/36 or 42/35. I've analyzed all my mistakes, made flash cards and gone through them multiple times, and done tons of problems. My score is stuck. I feel as if with each CAT and all my practice, the math is getting easier/better and I feel like I am less in the weeds, but the score isn't improving.

In addition, there's no rhyme or reason to my mistakes. I'm not particularly weak in one area or particularly strong in another. I am making careless errors, technique errors, computation errors. The only thing that's OK is timing. I really don't know what to do at this point.

I'm dreaming of a 740 but at this point I'd be happy with anything above 700. But getting a 700+ seems way far (nearly impossible) at this time and I don't know what to do. How should I adjust my strategy for my third month? I haven't scheduled a GMAT appointment yet, I said I wouldn't until I score around a 680 at least on the practice tests, but I don't think I could stomach another month or two or three of studying without any score improvement.

I have so much anxiety over this. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated....

THANKS so much

[StaceyKoprince]

Typically, progress on the test isn't linear - usually people will have improvement, followed by a stagnant period, followed by more improvement. The critical thing is to figure out what's causing the stagnant period so you can break through it.

You say that timing is fine, but I'm going to be skeptical about that. I think I've talked to one person in the past year whose timing really was fine. All the others (hundreds!) who told me their timing was fine... their timing was NOT fine. :)

You can finish a section on time and still have serious timing issues - the balance of your timing between questions can be way off. (This is one of the most common problems I see.) Also, finishing more than 3-4 minutes early IS actually a timing problem - it's not a good thing.

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

Then come back here and tell us the results of your analysis and what you think you should do based on that analysis. 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!)

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

Also, I strongly recommend reading through the resources here, particularly in the "how to learn" section:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

My guess is that you've improved a lot on your content (the actual knowledge we need to take into the test) but you're now at the next level, where you have to improve your test-taking skills. (Not math skills. Not grammar or reasoning skills. Test-taking skills - such as plugging in numbers on algebra problems, or knowing how the trap answers tend to trap people on CR.)

I see this a lot: people (of course) start with the content, and that gets you a certain amount of improvement, and then you keep trying to go with that when you've tapped out the content. Now you need to focus more on the "higher-order" thinking skills that the GMAT is really testing. (And this is the big difference between a 600 and a 700!)

Finally, are you feeling burned out? Doing GMAT all day, every day, for this long would burn almost everybody out. You might need a bit of a break so that you can come back again refreshed. :)