Just got a 620 on MGMAT1 - pretty discouraged - any advice?

[mokura]

Hi guys,

been studying quite intensely for about a month now. Took me a while to get used to it, as i've been out of school for 7 years! I just took my first MGMAT CAT1 and got a 620(Q40, V35). I did horribly on the IR also... mostly because of bad time management on that though.

My GMAT exam is in about a month. I've already gone through all the MGMAT material and the OG questions. My plan was to redo the OG questions timed and maybe also but the official question pack to supplement. I've read a lot of the success stories but have not gotten much info about what people did after their first CAT? what would you high scorers recommend to do?

I plan to take a few weeks off work to focus 100% on this.

Would love to hear any feedback!

Thanks.

P.S. I've watched about 20 Thursdays with Ron videos as well which are very helpful

[StaceyKoprince]

I need some additional info in order to advise you.

What score do you want to get?

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!)

FYI - unless 620 is pretty close to your goal score, you're probably going to need more than a month. I'm going to guess that 620 is not that close to your goal score, since you describe yourself as "discouraged."

Also, the fact that you said you did all of OG plus our materials in one month tells me you're probably focused way too much on the quantity of your study (get through it ALL!) and not focused enough on the quality of your study.

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

Assuming that's the case, then it's a really bad idea to take a few weeks off of work and spend all of your time on this. You need to learn *how* to study effectively, first of all. Second of all, while a small percentage of people do succeed using the "cram" approach, most people do not. People who try to do it all in a month or two are usually setting themselves up for a cycle of underperforming on the real test, cramming again, underperforming again, etc - and 4 to 6 months later, you're burned out, frustrated, and ready to give up.

I can't know, of course, whether you're one of the few people who can succeed using the cram approach or whether you're like most of the rest of us. But the best advice I can give you is actually to plan to take more time (ie, postpone your real test) and to learn *how* to study before you keep plowing through mounds and mounds of material. Really, it'll be so much better that way. :)

[mokura]

Hi Stacey,

I apologize for not replying any sooner - I never got the notification that someone replied to me.

Well, I have done a few more CAT's and funny enough, I scored 3 out of 5 with the score of 660. I still have 2 more weeks and I would be happy with a 700 at this point.

I've checked out a lot of your posts and they are pretty great and encouraging. After analysis, I see that my main weakness is in the DS of the quant section. Funny though, I'm a computer engineer with a really high GPA from a top school. I got an A in Advanced Calculus but struggling with the GMAT :) funny but sad I guess!

I'm still going to plow through for the next 2 weeks. I figure that the MGMAT CAT for the quant is quite a bit tougher than in GMATprep, but its great practice.

My scores for the last test I took with MGMAT (test 4) was 660 (Q44/V36).

My overall breakdown is as follows. For quant, it shows the geometry is my weakness, but the funny thing is that in the OG, quant was my best subject according to my error log.


QUESTION FORMAT Total Right Wrong Blank % Right Average Average Average Average
Time Time Difficulty Difficulty
RIGHT WRONG RIGHT WRONG
Answers Answers Answers Answers
Problem Solving 22 12 10 0 55% 1:59 2:26 680 730
Data Sufficiency 15 6 9 0 40% 1:41 1:50 670 710

Sentence Correction 15 7 8 0 47% 1:32 1:26 750 750
Critical Reasoning 14 10 4 0 71% 2:00 1:52 710 750
Reading Comprehension 12 7 5 0 58% 2:22 1:33 710 710
QUANTITATIVE Total Right Wrong % Right Average Average
CONTENT AREA Time Time
RIGHT WRONG
Answers Answers
WORST Geometry 5 0 5 0% NA 2:08
BEST Number Properties 8 5 3 63% 1:26 2:26
BEST Algebra 8 5 3 63% 2:01 1:37
Word Problems 9 5 4 56% 2:23 3:06 SLOWEST
Fractions, Decimals, & Percents 7 3 4 43% 1:34 1:23 FASTEST

This report was generated with DATA from the following exams:

CAT EXAM #4 Completed 06/11/2013



I am planning to just do as many practice tests as possible in the next 2 weeks. I will also re-do the OG questions that I got wrong.

Stacey, I would love any advice you can give me and hold your articles in the highest regard.

Thanks,
M

[StaceyKoprince]

What kinds of timing issues are you having on quant? (Everyone has timing issues, even if they're relatively minor. If you tell me you don't have any, then that just means you don't know what your timing issues are yet. Figure it out by analyzing your tests, as I described in my last post.)

Are you 100% sure that DS is really a weakness? I talk to people all the time who tell me DS is a weakness, but it turns out that they're spending too much time on a subset of PS questions, and going too fast on DS to make up for it, and then of course their DS performance suffers. Make sure that's not happening to you.

You gave me lots of data... but you didn't give me analysis. Did you use that article that I linked in my last post? I can't do it for you. (Well, I can, but I won't - you won't learn if I do it for you. :)

For example, you know that question I asked you earlier about DS? Well, go look at your timing data for DS vs. PS. See what's happening there?

If you can fix that timing, then you might be able to get your quant score up a little bit in 2 weeks. (Though to fully fix timing usually takes about 4-6 weeks - so you'll have to decide whether you want to postpone to work on that more or whether you're okay with taking the test in 2 weeks but going for a little lower of a goal score.)

Really, at this point, if you want to take the test in 2 weeks, then you should accept that your score is about where it is and you should focus mostly on a comprehensive review, following the guidelines in these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ew-part-2/

If, on the other hand, you want to spend some more time working on improving your score before you then do your review and take the test, then you should postpone your test. If you want to do that, then do the full analysis I describe in the article I posted last time and let me know what your analysis is (not just the data!).

Good luck - let me know what you decide.

[mokura]

What kinds of timing issues are you having on quant? (Everyone has timing issues, even if they're relatively minor. If you tell me you don't have any, then that just means you don't know what your timing issues are yet. Figure it out by analyzing your tests, as I described in my last post.)

Are you 100% sure that DS is really a weakness? I talk to people all the time who tell me DS is a weakness, but it turns out that they're spending too much time on a subset of PS questions, and going too fast on DS to make up for it, and then of course their DS performance suffers. Make sure that's not happening to you.

You gave me lots of data... but you didn't give me analysis. Did you use that article that I linked in my last post? I can't do it for you. (Well, I can, but I won't - you won't learn if I do it for you. :)

For example, you know that question I asked you earlier about DS? Well, go look at your timing data for DS vs. PS. See what's happening there?

If you can fix that timing, then you might be able to get your quant score up a little bit in 2 weeks. (Though to fully fix timing usually takes about 4-6 weeks - so you'll have to decide whether you want to postpone to work on that more or whether you're okay with taking the test in 2 weeks but going for a little lower of a goal score.)

Really, at this point, if you want to take the test in 2 weeks, then you should accept that your score is about where it is and you should focus mostly on a comprehensive review, following the guidelines in these two articles:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... an-part-1/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... ew-part-2/

If, on the other hand, you want to spend some more time working on improving your score before you then do your review and take the test, then you should postpone your test. If you want to do that, then do the full analysis I describe in the article I posted last time and let me know what your analysis is (not just the data!).

Good luck - let me know what you decide.

Hi Stacey,

Thanks again for your thorough input - as usual it is much appreciated. So I will give the breakdown of my last exam according to your article:

I did have a string of 700+ questions in quant in which I spent 3.5 min on average. This caused me to rush my next few questions which were relatively easier and caused me a string of wrong answers. Although I did the work correctly, I had missed some key "tricky" facts in the questions probably from rushing too quickly. In math, I had a string of 5 wrong answers, and in verbal I had 6 wrong answers in a row (although on verbal I was mostly on time and I didn't feel rushed). In general, I'm at a higher percentile in verbal than math based on the MGMAT cats. I am getting between 70% to 80% in verbal. However in quant, I am barely cracking the 60% mark.

The timing of my last 5-10 questions are usually pretty good and don't have any consecutive wrong answers.

I had 3-4 questions in quant where i went the 2.5 min (between 2.5 and 3.5). In verbal, I had one RC where I spent 8 minutes but it was a long passage and I might have taken more notes than I should have. I had a few "too fasts" in math which I didn't guess, and yes, as you state in your article, those are because of careless mistakes due to rushing.

From the assessment summary, my geometry shows as very weak, at 31% - but I am thinking this is because MGMAT geometry tend to be quite difficult. I was able to get most the OG geometry questions, this is why im a bit confused on this discrepancy. In the summary, the only thing that sticks out seems to be the geometry. My summary for timing seems OK - the highest is 2:23 average for wrong answers in quant PS.

Based on your article, you are right, it may not be totally a timing issue. For sure there are a few problems I should have given up for a bit earlier, but it looks like maybe I just need to review the material in geometry a little bit more and maybe redo some more OG questions on the other quant sections as well.

By the way, a couple of links in your article are broken:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -the-gmat/

I really think that my quant scores might be lower than my actual skill level. When I review the test, I can solve 80-90% of the problems within 5 min... but yes, I know, its the GMAT and I need to solve in 2 min :) so this is what I will mostly focus on.

I wish postponing was an option, but for now I am going to truck on and see what I can accomplish over the next 10 days or so.

I appreciate the time and effort, I hope my analysis was OK.

Thanks again.

[StaceyKoprince]

Thanks for letting me know about the broken links - I've just emailed our blog-master to fix.

Okay, so yes, there are some timing issues that are costing you points, so you know what you need to go start doing there. Do what you can in the time you have left and we'll see how it goes!

My summary for timing seems OK - the highest is 2:23 average for wrong answers in quant PS.

If you're speeding up to finish on time, though, then you can't rely on the summary / overall averages. They'll still average out mostly okay, but the details will still show that you have big problems. Note that you're averaging 30 seconds longer on incorrect PS than incorrect DS, yet the difficulty levels of your correct answers are about the same for both. You're not really worse at DS. Rather, you're rushing and costing yourself points due to that extra time that you're spending on PS (at times).
Read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

If you can manage to switch your mindset and really internalize what this test is testing then you might have a shot at making some headway on the timing issue in the next 2 weeks. :)

Re: geo, also just take a look at difficulty levels. It's possible that those happened to be primarily 700+ and so that's why your performance was lower. If so, I wouldn't worry about it much.