MGMAT CAT: Higher level of difficulty but same score?!?

[julchik.m]

Dear MGMAT Expert Team,

The assessment reports for my CAT 2 exam show an increased average difficulty for both quant and verbal questions. Yet I got exactly the same scores on both CATs: 610. Why does this happen? What is the best strategy to combat this?

Here are the aggregated CAT Statistics
CAT 1

%Right TimeR TimeW DiffLevelR DiffLevelWr
Problem Solving 41% 1:51 2:40 490 590
Data Sufficiency 73% 1:31 1:53 530 560

Sentence Correction 67% 1:08 1:43 690 750
Critical Reasoning 50% 2:17 2:27 680 720
Reading Comprehension 50% 2:09 1:40 670 700

CAT 2
Timing:
I finished the CAT 2 Quant section with 3 minutes to spare and had to rush throught the last 5 verbal questions (did not left any questions unanswered though).


Problem Solving 64% 2:15 1:37 560 650
Data Sufficiency 33% 1:55 1:47 590 680

Sentence Correction 73% 1:27 1:15 740 730
Critical Reasoning 57% 2:11 2:18 690 720
Reading Comprehension 33% 2:03 1:47 730 740

Thanks a lot in advance for your help!!!
Kind Regards,
Julia

[StaceyKoprince]

This is quite common for a computer adaptive test. The test is not scored based upon your average performance throughout the test section. Think of it more as: where you end is what you get. You can do very well earlier or in the middle of a section, but if your score drops by the end of the section... then where you end is what you get.

Go look through your performance by question # and see what's happening towards the end of the section. Were you getting more questions wrong the later you got in the section?

The other major factor that can cause a score drop (besides timing) is mental fatigue.

You do have some timing issues, by the way - it looks like you spent too much time on some questions on the first test (especially incorrect PS), so you tried to cut yourself off faster on questions on the second test - except now you're going too fast. If you're *averaging* only 1.5m on incorrect questions, then some questions are way too fast, and you likely had some careless mistakes on things you really did know how to do.

Have you seen this yet? Use it to analyze your CATs:
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!)

And read this:
https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/inde ... lly-tests/

And these two for timing:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... -to-do-it/
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

[julchik.m]

Dear Stacey,

Thank you for your response.

I have analysed my results and decided to do the following:

1) Verbal: I had the worst timing issue on the verbal section (probably up to eight minutes behind schedule in the middle of the test) + the mental fatigue. This is probably partially explaining the bad RC score for CAT 2 since I got two RC passages at the end of the test.

a. To combat the mental fatigue I am going to do long timed sets of questions -for instance 50 verbal questions at once. I thought of doing a CAT once a week. But I understand that you do not recommend doing CATs so frequently? Also I was not sure if I should redo each question that goes wrong on the timed sets/CATs, as this takes a lot of time-and those are not OG questions.

b. I am trying to develop my "žone minute sense" by timing each question with "žlap timing"

c. I am doing more training on RC OG passages, which is probably important anyway since I am not a native English speaker

2) Quant:

a. I am redoing each question that went wrong. If the question belongs to an overall week area of mine (25%-33% correct rate over two CATs) - I (re)read the MGMAT theory section and do some OG questions. Plus I am redoing the slowest questions I got correct

The points mentioned above constitute most of my training right now. Not sure if I am missing on smth-maybe doing more OG questions?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Kind Regards,

Julia

[StaceyKoprince]

Good, you've identified some of your issues.

Verbal
a) To build stamina, do NOT do sets of 50+ questions. That would be the equivalent of saying, I want to train to run a marathon (26 miles), so I'm going to train by running 35 miles multiple times a week. No way! That's a waste of your training time - you'll burn yourself out and you won't actually be able to learn well for most of that time! You build mental stamina via different activities.

Let's say that you're going to sit down for a 2-hour study session. In advance, figure out what you're going to do for the entire 2 hours. In fact, plan extra, just in case you finish early. Then GO for 1 hour without stopping. No checking email, no chatting with a friend, etc. Take a 10-15 minute break, then GO again for another hour, no stopping.

Then stop. Don't do the above for 4 hours straight. It's actually a lot more mentally fatiguing to study than to take a test. When studying, you're both recalling existing memories and trying to create new memories to use in future. When taking a test, you're only trying to recall existing memories.

So if you try to study for 4 hours straight, you'll be so mentally fatigued for the last couple of hours that you won't make very good memories... and your study time will be very inefficient.

If you want to study for more than 2 hours in one day, that's fine - but take a substantial break (at least 1 hour) in between. If you're going to do more than two 2-hour study sessions, you have to break for at least 2 hours in between study sessions.

b) and c) both look good.

I was not sure if I should redo each question that goes wrong on the timed sets/CATs, as this takes a lot of time-and those are not OG questions.

Re-doing is not your focus. Learning from the problems (every single problem, including the correct ones) is your focus.

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

Follow the links in that article. This is actually how you learn - not by doing a million questions or even re-doing a ton of questions. :) After you've looked through the above and tried it out, let me know if you have any questions.